Memorial rituals for Confucius (551BC - 479 BC), a great thinker and educator in ancient China, will be held on the 28th day of each month from April to October in his hometown of Qufu in China's eastern Shandong Province.

The monthly activities are a simplified version of the grand ceremony held on Sept. 28, the birthday of Confucius, when people dressed in traditional ancient costumes perform the rituals which had been held in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), accord to a tourism official of the city.

The monthly rituals are aimed at entertaining domestic and overseas tourists who want to appreciate the memorial activities for Confucius, the official said.

Confucius, or Kong Fuzi in Chinese, was a great ancient Chinese educator and philosopher, with benevolence being one of his key doctrines. His profound thinking has been an integral part of China's cultural system.

Such memorial events can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) in China. Since the 1980s, a grand ceremony is held annually in Qufu on Sept. 28 to commemorate the birth of Confucius.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2006)