Southeast China's Taiwan Province was discovered to have descendants of the influential Chinese philosopher, teacher and political figure Confucius.
The World Association of the Descendants of Confucius, which is responsible for collecting, collating and publishing the 2,500 years worth of genealogical data associated with the philosopher, revealed to Taiwanese media that the country has about 4,000 descendants of Confucius.
Kong Deyong, secretary-general of the association, told the Taiwanese media that 900 of the descendants were included in the most recent update of the Confucius Genealogy, the printed edition that lists all of the philosopher's descendants, Women of China reported.
Since the Han Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius were recognized, honored and even given noble titles by successive imperial governments. But only the male ones are acknowledged.
However, as gender equality movement rises up, the female descendants were also given honored.
Around the world, the philosopher has approximately 3 million descendants, whereas over 2.5 million are found in China.
In 1998, the Confucius Genealogy started tracing the descendants of the late philosopher. The search ended in 2008.
There were five recorded editions of Confucius Genealogy. The last one was printed in Sept. 2009.
Kong Weiqian, one of the 78th-generation woman descendants of Confucius, has studied in National Chung Cheng University (a public research university in Taiwan which is devoted to teaching core humanities and the natural and social sciences) as an exchange student since May 2014 due to her father's request to join the noble clan, People's Daily reported.
Born as Kong Qui, Confucius is the founder of Confucianism, an ethical and philosophical system which promotes the establishment of a harmonious society through an individual's self-refinement in manners and taste. His teachings were preserved in the Analects. He died in 479 B.C.