Who Was Confucius?By: Michael Burgan, Who HQ Illustrator: Robert Squier Series: Who Was? Learn more about China's most famous teacher and philosopher, whose ideas are still influential today. Born in 551 BC, Confucius was a young man when he set his heart and mind on learning as much as he could. By his thirties, he'd become a brilliant teacher who shared his knowledge of several subjects, including arithmetic, history, and poetry, with his students. Confucius wanted