Irene Bloom :: Confucius
is believed to have been born in 551, before the Common Era, and to have
died in 479. In other words, he was born in the middle of the sixth century,
before the Common Era, and lived well into the fifth century.
He was from a family of what would appear to have been impoverished nobility.
In other words, people who had had noble status, but who had fallen on hard
times and who are living in straightened circumstances. Indeed, the world
in which Confucius lived was one of extreme social mobility. |