Editing Confucius (section)

===Early life===
It is thought that Confucius was born on 28 September 551 BCE,{{sfn|Huang|2013|p=3}}{{sfn|Creel|1949|p=25}} in Zou ({{lang|zh|鄒}}, in modern [[Shandong]]).{{sfn|Creel|1949|p=25}}{{sfn|Rainey|2010|p=16}} The area was notionally controlled by the [[list of Zhou kings|kings]] of [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]] but effectively independent under the local lords of [[Lu (state)|Lu]], who ruled from the nearby city of Qufu. His father [[Kong He]] (or Shuliang He) was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison.{{sfn|Legge|1887|p=260}} [[Family tree of Confucius in the main line of descent|His ancestry]] traced back through the [[Song (state)|dukes of Song]] to the [[Shang dynasty]] which had preceded the Zhou.{{sfn|Legge|1887|p=259}}{{sfn|Yao|1997|p=29}}{{sfn|Yao|2000|p=23}}{{sfn|Rainey|2010|p=66}} Traditional accounts of Confucius's life relate that Kong He's grandfather had migrated the family from Song to Lu.{{sfn|Creel|1949|p=26}} Not all modern scholars accept Confucius's descent from Song nobility.<ref name=Eno>{{ cite journal
| last = Eno | first = Robert
| title= The background of the Kong family of Lu and the origins of Ruism
| year = 2003 | volume=28
| journal=Early China 
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| pages = 1–41
| doi = 10.1017/S0362502800000651
| jstor=23354229
| s2cid = 20828205
}} Eno concludes of Confucius's ancestry that the descent from Song nobility has been constructed to serve an ideological purpose. However he rejects the stronger statement that Confucius's immediate parentage is also fabricated, as proposed by Creel and Jensen.{{pb}}{{ cite journal
| last = Jensen | first = Lionel
| journal=Early China
| publisher=Cambridge University Press 
| year = 1995 | volume= 20
| pages = 407–437
| jstor =23351776
| title= Wise man of the wilds: fatherlessness, fertility, and the mythic exemplar Kongzi
| doi = 10.1017/S0362502800004570
| s2cid = 163177601
}} p. 409{{pb}}{{harvnb|Creel|1949|pp=297–298}}, cited in Eno.</ref>{{rp|14–15}}

Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother [[Yan Zhengzai]] ({{lang|zh|顏徵在}}) in poverty.{{sfn|Huang|2013|p=4}} His mother later died at less than 40 years of age.{{sfn|Huang|2013|p=4}} At age 19, he married [[Lady Qiguan]] ({{lang|zh|亓官氏}}), and a year later the couple had their first child, their son [[Kong Li]] ({{lang|zh|孔鯉}}).{{sfn|Huang|2013|p=4}} Qiguan and Confucius later had two daughters together, one of whom is thought to have died as a child and one was named Kong Jiao ({{lang|zh|孔姣}}).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schuman|first1=Michael|title=Confucius: And the World He Created|date=2015|publisher=Basic Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wb6DBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT25|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416230225/https://books.google.com/books?id=wb6DBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT25|archive-date=2017-04-16|isbn=978-0-465-04057-5}}</ref>

Confucius was educated at schools for commoners, where he studied and learned the [[Six Arts]].{{sfn|Huang|2013|pp=4–5}}

Confucius was born into the class of ''[[Four occupations|shi]]'' ({{lang|zh|士}}), between the aristocracy and the common people. He is said to have worked in various government jobs during his early 20s, and as a bookkeeper and a caretaker of sheep and horses, using the proceeds to give his mother a proper burial.{{sfn|Huang|2013|p=4}}<ref name=buryl/> When his mother died, Confucius (aged 23) is said to have [[Ancestor veneration in China#Mourning|mourned for three years]], as was the tradition.<ref name=buryl>{{cite book|last1=Burgan|first1=Michael|title=Confucius: Chinese Philosopher and Teacher|date=2008|publisher=Capstone|page=23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vM8GCpBncjEC&pg=PT12|access-date=August 12, 2015|isbn=978-0-7565-3832-3}}</ref>