East China's Shandong Province has announced it will stage a grand ceremony in Hong Kong next month to commemorate Confucius, China's most famous thinker, philosopher and teacher of all teachers.

Shandong, the home province of Confucius, will take the opportunity to commemorate the 2,557th anniversary of his birth, as well as to introduce his teachings to the world, a spokesman with the provincial government said on Saturday.

The province will send a 180-member team to the attend the memorial activities in Hong Kong, which will last from October 2 through 7. Members of the team will consist of Confucian scholars as well as singers, dancers and executants of a professional troupe at the Confucian Temple in his hometown Qufu.

The memorial activities in Hong Kong will include a Confucian culture exhibition, an international symposium on Confucianism and its significance in the present-day society, and a grand public memorial service scheduled for Oct. 7 -- the largest ever Confucius memorial in Hong Kong.

The events will also draw Confucian specialists from the United States, Russia, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, according to the Qilu Evening News, a local newspaper based in Shandong's provincial capital Jinan.

Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), or Kong Fuzi in Chinese, has had a great impact on both Chinese and world cultures for more than 2,000 years. His doctrine of love, fidelity, modest and self-discipline has been the mainstream thought in the minds of people in East Asia, including China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
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(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2007)