Yan Zhengzai (568 BC – 535 BC) was the third daughter of Yan Xiang and the mother of

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

Life

Kong He's family

Kong He, known as

Shuliang He Kong He (), (622 BC – 548 BC) also known as Shuliang He (), was a scholar and military officer of the Lu (state), State of Lu. He was the son of the Lu political figure Bo Xia and the father of Kong Pi and Confucius. History On the 69th day of ...

, married his first wife Lady Shi. She gave birth to nine daughters but no sons. Later, he married a concubine and gave birth to a son, called Kong Pi,

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Meng Pi, who was said to have deformities in his feet and could not become his father's heir.

Marriage

Anxious for a son, the aged Shuliang He approached the father of the Yan family for a marriage to one of his daughters. Yan Xiang (顏襄) had three daughters, the youngest of whom was called Yan Zhengzai. Yan Xiang asked his three daughters, "Shuliang He was a scholar and came from a noble family. His height was ten feet and had unparalleled military strength. He was very nice, although he was old and impatient, but that is not worth the hesitation, you three who want to be his wife?" While the two daughters kept silent, the third daughter Yan Zhengzai said, "By heeding father's decision, so what should I ask?" Yan Zhengzai's father said, "So it's you may marry to him." When Yan Zhengzai married Shuliang He, she was 18 years old while he was 72 years old. Due to her husband's old age, Yan was worried that she would not be able to conceive a son in time, so she went to Mount Ni to pray to its mountain

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

for a son. She eventually gave birth to a son, so they named him Kong Qiu, courtesy name Zhongni.

Death of Kong He

Kong Qiu was three years old when Shuliang He died. Yan Zhengzai later moved to Queli (闕里) with her son and stepson Kong Pi, whose mother had also died. They lived in poverty and had a very difficult life. Due to her being literate thanks to her well-educated father, Yan Zhengzai personally taught Kong Qiu, which would have influences into his adult life and raised him into a nine-foot six inches man who everyone called "long man".

Death

Yan Zhengzai died in 535 BC at the age of 33 when Kong Qiu was 17 years old. Her son first stationed her coffin along the crossroad of Wufu (五父之衢) and began asking around for the location of his father's grave. He eventually got told by Zou Man Fu (郰曼父)'s mother and managed to locate his father's grave near Fangshan, and Yan Zhengzai was buried together with him.唐，杜佑，《通典》卷103

References