since then have often made pilgrimages to the spot. The most
famous temple in the empire now rises near the place of the
grave. The second and greatest of the rulers of the present
dynasty, in the twenty-third year of his reign, the K'ang-hsi
period, there set the example of kneeling thrice, and each time
laying his forehead thrice in the dust, before the image of the
sage.
In the year of our Lord 1, began the practice of conferring
honourary designations on Confucius by imperial authority. The
emperor Ping [3] then styled him-- 'The duke Ni, all-complete and

l Li Chi, II. Sect. I. iii. 43. This eulogy is found at greater length in
the ¥ª¶Ç, immediately after the notice of the sage's death.
2 See the ¸t¼qªÁ¨å¹Ï¦Ò, ¨÷¤@, art. on Confucius. I am indebted to
this for most of the notices in this paragraph.
3 ¥­«Ò.


illustrious [1].' This was changed, in A.D. 492, to-- 'The venerable
Ni, the accomplished Sage [2].' Other titles have supplanted this.
Shun-chih [3], the first of the Man-chau dynasty, adopted, in his
second year, A.D. 1645, the style, 'K'ung, the ancient Teacher,
accomplished and illustrious, all-complete, the perfect Sage [4];'
but twelve years later, a shorter title was introduced,-- 'K'ung,
the ancient Teacher, the perfect Sage [5].' Since that year no
further alteration has been made.
At first, the worship of Confucius was confined to the
country of Lu, but in A.D. 57 it was enacted that sacrifices should
be offered to him in the imperial college, and in all the colleges
of the principal territorial divisions throughout the empire. In