Chapter 7 China 255this offense he was sent to the “Room of the Silk Thread” and castrated. A
man of his station would normally commit suicide under such humiliating cir-
cumstances, but, as he explains in his history, he stayed alive in order to com-
plete this great work.
In Lu Confucius attempted to implement good government by offering his
services as advisor to regional rulers, but neighboring rivals plotted his over-
throw. Entertainers and dancing girls were sent to distract the Duke of Lu from
his responsibilities. Confucius resigned in disgust. For 10 years he and a band of
disciples wandered from state to state seeking an opportunity in government
service where they might apply their ideals, but they encountered opponents
wherever they went whose arguments are recorded as lengthy speeches by Sima
Qian. Toward the end of his life Confucius returned to Lu, resigned to political
failure, and lived out his life peacefully writing and teaching his disciples. Only
after his death, Sima Qian records with bitter irony, did Confucius achieve the
respect he deserved. The Duke of Lu, who ignored him in life, sent an extrava-
gant eulogy to be read at his funeral, recorded in its entirety by Sima Qian.The immense Kong family,
all descendants of Confucius,
maintains a vast forest of a
graveyard in Qufu, in Shan-
dong Province, where graves
go back to the Zhou dynasty.
Confucius himself is buried in
the hillock behind the stone
column bearing his name
(although during the Cultural
Revolution, students dug it up
looking for his bones but
found nothing). In front of the
inscription is a stone altar on
which his descendants sacri-
fice cattle, sheep, and pigs. His
direct descendants in the main
line now live in Taiwan, where
Kung Tsui-chang, of the 79th
generation, is the Sacrificial
Official of Confucius.