For more than two thousand years, Confucius has been a fundamental part of China's history. Yet despite this fame, Confucius the man has been elusive, and what could be called a definitive biography does not exist. In this book, the scholar and writer Ann-Ping Chin has negotiated the reconstructions, guess-work and numerous Chinese texts in order to establish an absorbing and original account of the thinker's life and legacy. It shows how Confucius lived and thought, his habits and inclinations, his relation to his contemporaries, his work as a teacher and as a counsellor, his worries about the world and the generations to come.In this book, Chin brings the historical Confucius within reach so that he can lead us into his idea of the moral and to his teachings on family and politics, culture and learning. "Confucius" is the culmination of years of research, and an important contribution to biography and Chinese history.

金安平，毕业于密执安州立大学数学系，之后在哥伦比亚大学取得中国思想的博士学位。金安平曾任教于卫斯连大学，现任教于耶鲁大学历史系。著有《中国的孩子》（Children of China: Voices from Recent Years）、《戴震论孟子》（Tai Chen on Mencius）与《合肥四姊妹》（Four Sisters of Hofei）。与先生史景迁（Jonathan Spence）合著有《二十世纪的中国》（The Chinese Century: A Photographic History of the Last Hundred Years）。她的研究领域涵盖儒家、道家与中国思想传统。

金安平克服万难，使我们得以理解圣人的人生、作品与话语。如同苏格拉底与耶稣，孔子留下许多语录，句句蕴含深奥微妙的智慧。金安平协助我们了解其中的微言大义，可说是前所未有的创举。

——哈罗德•布鲁姆（Harold Bloom），耶鲁大学人文科学史特林讲座教授

虽然作者惊叹于孔子思想的永恒价值，但她仍试图以人生历程的方式展现。本书阐述的虽然不是永恒而唯一的“真实”孔子，却是特定时空背景下以及我们心中的真实孔子。

——夏含夷（Edward L.Shaughnessy），芝加哥大学中国古史研究教授

两千五百多年来，孔子的学说并未因政治动荡与野蛮压制而消亡，反而更加昌盛。金安平长年研究中国上古史的断简残编，描绘出一幅极为可读且发人深省的孔子人生时代肖像。

——亨利•基辛格（Henry A.Kissinger），美国前国务卿

金安平在缜密研究与审慎判断下完成此书，不仅是完美的《论语》指南，也是了解早期中国儒家的杰出导论。

——莎拉•艾伦（Sara Allan），达特茅斯学院亚洲研究教授

要重现这位形塑世上最伟大文明的历史人物是项吸引人的尝试，而它也是一幅动人的肖像，因为很少有人能像这位哲人一样，在面对“人类的形式与命运”的同时，又能充满感情地拥抱自己看见的事物。

——乔纳森•利尔(Jonathan Lear），芝加哥大学社会思想委员会