- The life story of the highly-influential Chinese philosopher, Confucius.
- In 500 B.C., during Chinas famed 'Spring and Autumn Period', Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner revered for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu ascends to new heights but becomes a target of conquest for the warlike nation of Qi. Threatened with annihilation by their powerful neighbors, a desperate people turn to their greatest teacher to lead their most powerful army. When Confucius delivers a stunning victory against all odds, a jealous aristocracy sets out to destroy him, but they should never under-estimate a remarkable man whose wisdom is more powerful than the sword.—Canon y mus
- The film begins with Confucius or Kong Qiu (Chow Yun-fat) as an old man, thinking back. Yan Hui (Ren Quan) is the disciple of Confucius. During the Ding regime, the power in the kingdom of Lu was in 3 clans or the 3 noble families (Jishi, Sushi and Mengshi). Duke Lu Dinggong (Yao Lu) is the ruler of Lu. Then we see him in his early 50s, being promoted from Mayor to Minister for Law in his home state of Lu. Lu Dinggong appoints Kong Qiu to the post over the nominees of the 3 noble families. Ji Sunsi (Chen Jianbin) is the head of the Jishi clan and a minister in Lu's court. Ji Sunfei (Lu Yi) is the son of Ji Sunsi.
Lady Qiguan (Kai Li) is the wife of Confucius. Kong Li (Qiao Zhenyu) is son of Confucius. Kong Jiao (Chen Rui), the daughter of Confucius. He is confronted with ethical issues after saving a slave-boy Qi Sigong (Liu Fengchao) who was due to be buried alive with his former master who has just died. Zilu (Li Wenbo) a disciple of Confucius explains that Jishi clan soldiers are after the boy. Gongshan Niu (Zhang Xingzhe), a retainer of the Ji Clan and mayor of Biyi City invades Confucius's home in search of the boy. Gongshan is forced to withdraw when Kong refuses to collaborate. Shu Sunwu (Wang Ban), head of the Shushi Clan and is a minister of the Court of Lu. Meng Sunhe (Wu Liansheng), head of the Mengshi Clan and minister in the Court of Lu. At the court, Confucius has to agree with Shushi and Meng clan leaders on deferment of a religious ceremony on signs of a bad omen.
Confucius uses the court's attention to beg for Qi Sigong's life and also advises Lu Dinggong to abandon this outdated tradition. This is fiercely contested by the 3 noble families. Confucius agrees to send Qi Sigong to his master's grave if Ji Sunfei agrees to also accompany him (since Ji Sunfei made a hue and cry over his master's dying wish). When Ji Sunfei backtracks, COnfucius wins the argument and Qi Sigong's life is approved by the court.
meanwhile in the neighboring Qi dukedom, Li Chu (Wang Huichun), a minister in the Qi Court, warns Duke Jing (Ma Jingwu) of Qi, of the threat posed by Kong's ascendancy in the Lu court. He reminds Duke Jing of Qi's eternal quest to conquer Lu and suggest that Jing invite Lu Dinggong for a meeting to celebrate the rise of Lu at the border. Then Qi's soldiers would take Lu Dinggong hostage and ask the 3 noble families to pledge their allegiance to Qi in exchange for Lu's release. Kong Qiu immediately senses a trap and asks his disciples to plan for an escape. He needs chariots which are controlled by Gongshan Niu. Kong Qiu is told that Ji Sunsi is in Biyi for an archery tournament. Kong travels to Biyi to ask Ji Sunsi for 500 chariots for a show of force against the Qi kingdom. Ji Sunsi challenges Kong Qiu to an archery match and promises him the chariots if he wins. Kong Qiu wins, and Ji Sunsi reluctantly has to grant the chariots.
But on the day of the meeting, Ji Sunsi's chariots maintain a safe distance from the meeting venue and do not move. This alarms Kong Qiu, who orders plan B into effect. As the meeting starts Kong Qiu deftly leads negotiations and at one point convinces Duke Jing of returning 3 villages to Lu that were won in war 30 years ago. Duke Jing is about to agree when Li Chu orders the Qi military to move into place. Kong Qiu once again displays calm and says that 500 Lu chariots are waiting nearby for attack. He also makes sure that 10 chariots arrive right on cue as an advance party. Li Chu and Duke Jing can see the dust swirling in the distance, apparently from the movement of 500 chariots.
They sue for peace and Duke Jing blames Li Chu for this shameful act and is forced to accept peace with Lu. the dust was from 10o ox carts arranged by Kong Qiu's disciples. Duke Ling (Bi Yanjun) of Wei, has Kuai Kui (Li Huan), crown prince of Wei. Nanzi (Zhou Xun), is the royal consort of Wei. Kuai Kui is upset that Duke Ling allows Nanzi a full voice in court affairs. He proposes that Wei offers refuge to Gongshan Niu, who wants to defect from Lu. Nanzi reminds Duke Ling that taking in Gongshan Niu would offend the Duke Lu Dinggong and the Wei kingdom had other enemies and therefore could not afford to upset its only ally. She also tells Duke Ling to invite Master Kong Qiu for a meeting at the Wei court.
Duke Lu Dinggong now rides rod-shod over the 3 noble families to elevate him to the post of Minister of Interior. As the resentment of the 3 families against Kong Qiu grows, he decides to advice Duke Lu Dinggong to remove the walls from the citadels of each of the 3 families as he believes they are becoming a power onto themselves. The 3 nobles get advance warnings of Kong Qiu's plans and decide to launch a counterattack of their own on Lu Dinggong and Kong Qiu by attacking the capital of Duke Lu. Gongshan Niu attacks the capital city as Lu Dinggong and Kong Qiu try to take refuge in the house on Ji Sunsi, who himself is out for a hunt. Kong Qiu defends the capital with a handful of soldiers when he drops ignited oil on top of the invading Jishi armies. Lord Ji Sunsi decides to sacrifice Gongshan Niu by ordering his reserve armies to eliminate Gongshan.
The walls of the cities of the 2 noble families are brought down. The 30,000 strong army of Duke of Qi led by Li Chu moves in place to defend the last city. Li Chu demands the sacking of Kong Qiu. As a practical man, Lu Dinggong accepts the demands & dismissed Kong Qiu. There are a lot of complex politics and war, ending with Confucius being rejected and becoming a wandering scholar (Ji Sunsi arranges for a parted jade to be delivered to Kong Qiu in the name of the emperor. A parted jade is a parting gift and Kong takes the hint that the Duke Lu wants Kong to leave). In 497 BC, Kong Qiu leaves the Duke of Lu and wanders from state to state with his disciples.
Confucius reaches the Kingdom of Wei, where the ruler offers Kong Qiu a land for his school with 60,000 stones of grain each year. While Kong refuses to train Wei's army, but can't refuse the King's request to meet Nanzi. His disciples warn Kong against it, saying she has a bad reputation. Kong meets Nanzi and she wants to be his student of poetry. Nanzi is besotted with Kong and wants him to take her. But Kong manages to resist, politely declines the invitation and leaves the kingdom. Shortly thereafter Nanzi is assassinated and in her last moments she realizes that she loved Kong.
Kong reaches the Kingdom of Song next, where he is again forbidden from spreading his teachings. Next is Kingdom of Zheng. in 484 BC Qi invades Lu. Duke Lu Dinggong is dead, and the Lu lacks a good commander. Ji Sunsi asks his son to bring Kong Qiu back to save Lu. But his son protests and to save face asks that Kong be requested to send his disciple Ran Qiu (Ma Qiang) back to Lu to defend it. Kong agrees and Ran Qiu is made the commander of Lu's forces. Ran Qiu defeats Qi in battle, but Ji Sunsi refuses his request to allow Kong back to Lu. The Duke of Wei dies, and the new Duke is a big fan of Kong. He invites Zigong (Kan Jinming) another disciple of Kong to be a governor of one of his provinces. Zigong takes Kong's permission to leave.
In further years, in an unfortunate accident, Yang Hui (a favorite disciple of Kong Qiu) sacrifices himself to save his masters scrolls, when they fall into a cracked ice sheet. Then Kong receives news that Zigong was killed in the political upheaval in Wei. Kong was afraid precisely of this. Meanwhile Ji Sunsi, on his deathbed, asks his son Ji Sunfei to call Kong back to Fu. Kong agrees to return, but only as a teacher. Ji Sunsi dies waiting for Kong to return.
After many hardships and losses, he is invited back as an old man. We see him finally preparing the Spring and Autumn Annals, expecting that this book will determine his future influence. Confucius died at the age of 73 and was the pioneer of the concept of education for all.
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