Confucius (2010 film)

Welcome back, readers! I am very curious as to why there are three Confucius statues during my visit. Why was he so famous? I made up my mind to research about him on YouTube. I came across a movie by his name on the first search result. The movie was 2 hours long and I watch it yesterday until past midnight.

He had three names apparently. They were Confucius, Kong Jiu and Kong Tze. Chow Yun Fat starred as Confucius. In the start of the movie, he had a white long beard and a moustache. He was sitting down remembering the past.

I was taken to a flashback where he was younger with black beard, moustache and hair. He arrived at His Majesty building and doing a prostrating tradition out of respect for His Majesty and his disciple, Yan Hui also does the same behind him.

This period was during the Zhou dynasty and there were many kingdoms in China at that time. The kingdom he was in was called the Kingdom of Lu. His Majesty was the ruler of Lu, Duke Lu Dinggong. Duke Lu was impressed by the intelligence of Confucius and he was promoted to the Minister of Law after the previous one had died.

Confucius said, “A year shows progress, three years would show much more.”

This can also be applied to users who start Steemit to be consistent in their blogging and not to have instant gratification.

After that, a scene was shown that someone with higher ranking had died. I saw people with chains linking up with one another while they were being beaten up. I was confused why was this happening.

After I watched further, I now understand that they were sacrifices for their Boss who had just died. They were called “burial slaves”. This was an ancient tradition in Zhou dynasty if a higher up had just died, all his servants will be required to die with the person. This was a barbaric act with no morals whatsoever. One of the burial slaves had just broken free and was running from the authorities.

The burial slaves were led to the cave and were killed there. One unfortunate child had not been killed and was running towards the door which was closing but it was too late. The child would starve and thirst to death.

I would learn that one of the disciples of Confucius saved the life of a burial slave from being caught by the authorities.

Confucius returned to his home and was surprised to see an unknown person in his residence. The slave was injured by a poison arrow and asked his disciples for a doctor. He came to know from the disciple the seriousness of the situation. This was when I admired Confucius. The person who rescued the slave was named Zilu. He said to Zilu that he had done the right thing to rescue the boy and don’t be afraid to stand up to righteousness.

Not long after that, the authorities barged into their home after they knew that the slave was here. Confucius bravely told them that they will be keeping the slave here. The General reminded him that relations with the ministers will greatly deteriorate if he did not comply with his instructions but he did not care.

Confucius attended the meeting with the ministers regarding the Winter Sacrifice whereby the ministers voted on whether the bird should be a sacrifice. In my opinion, sorry for disrespecting but this is so absurd. Of course, the bird should live man. Fortunately, the bird was spared because they were unanimous the bird should be free.

After this, Confucius brought up a subject of abolishing the practice of “burial slaves” and getting the permission of the head of the Jinshi clan of whom the slave was from to be freed. He was the same person who starred in Cao Cao from the drama “Three Kingdoms” in 2010. The General was angry with his proposal and Confucius sneered at him.

“General Gonshan, you were so close to the Lord before he died. You should join all the servants who had died with him.”

His Majesty was laughing quietly while the General backed down in despair. In the end, the head of the Jinshi clan, Jishu Si, relented and free the boy.

The ruler of Qi wanted to have a meeting with the ruler of Lu to begin an alliance with an ulterior motive. The ruler of Qi, Duke Jing would kidnap his counterpart and abolish the Three Noble families. Duke Ji would then take control of Kingdom of Lu.

Confucius being so close to the ruler of Lu wanted to make sure that the meeting with Duke Jing would not endanger Duke Lu’s life. He asked his disciples to make arrangements for this special event. He also asked for 500 chariots to accompany him and Duke Lu to the Kingdom of Qi but he had problems with dispatching the chariots. The chariots were under the command of General Gonshan who disliked Confucius. He proceeded with Plan B.

During the meeting with the two rulers, the advisor to Duke Jing, the ruler of Qi, was unhappy with the terms of alliance and summoned their army to trap their small delegation. A few chariots from the Kingdom of Lu came charging down informing Confucius that reinforcements are on their way. Roars of war were heard from behind the mountain.

Duke Jing was afraid there will be a lot of bloodshed if a fight breaks out here and Duke Jing told his advisor to retreat the army and he complied. There were never 500 chariots, to begin with, but his followers who had been shouting. This showed the level of strategic aptitude that Confucius had. This was a major victory for both kingdoms and an alliance was made.

Confucius days were numbered in this Kingdom as His Majesty indirectly threw him into exile not knowing where to go. This was when Duke Lu refused to follow the advice of Confucius of demolishing the last city wall of one of the Three Noble Families because of the threat from a neighbouring kingdom. Jisun Shi now close to His Majesty gave a parted jade symbolizing a parting gift that Confucius was no more welcome in this Kingdom. Confucius left his wife and children.

“The best thing to do is to do nothing” Duke Lu quoted as saying from Confucius teacher, Laozi, when he decided not to demolish one of the walls.

I was displeased with His Majesty for not recognizing the contributions he had made while Confucius was in service to the Kingdom of Lu. He also crushed the uprising of General Gongshan’s ambition to kill him and seize the capital. After using him, he was discarded as useless.

Yan Hui and his other followers soon find and followed him to wander from state to state spreading his teachings and living like a beggar’s life. He was being kicked while teaching. A few of his disciples had been killed while wandering.

Confucius and his followers were riding on a thin piece of ice when suddenly the ice make way and the scrolls were submerged slowly into the water. Yan Hui in his vain efforts tried to rescue every scroll but he got himself drowned in the end. Confucius mourned his body for 8 hours refusing to eat.

Zilu wanted to join the Kingdom of Wei but Confucius warned him not to do so in this times of chaos. Zilu was adamant and left Confucius. He was finally killed protecting the ruler of Wei. His last words, “When a gentleman dies, die with dignity.”

Jinshi Shu grew old and regretted what he did in the past. He told his son to asked Confucius and his followers to come back giving a wholesome Bi Jade. He lived in the kingdom not interfering with politics and teaching his values.

I am sorry for all the spoilers I had written. This is a very great movie, recommended to be watched with the emotional up and down while on a journey with Confucius showing his intelligence, bravery and humbleness. I now understand he deserved to be immortalized as a statue. Signing off Sejuk!