A philosopher with the vision of an Olympian

Confucius, one of the many pillars of Chinese intellectual thought, is arguably the Chinese philosopher

best known to the rest of the world. The words of the sage, who lived in the Middle Kingdom from about 551 BC to 479 BC, still provoke much thought today, but what is not so well-known is that he was also a sportsman and espoused many of the ideals which form the basis of the Olympic movement ? centuries before Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin inspired the rebirth of the games.

Confucius was a keen student of archery, one of the modern-day Olympic disciplines, and could have held his own in any competition. He also promoted the art of boxing in China, where schools practised the sport in order to achieve ?inner perfection?. His other sporting pursuits included charioteering, fishing, hunting, excursions and hill-climbing.

Paying equal attention to moral, intellectual and physical development of his 3,000 pupils, he carried out an educational system of ?Six Arts?, namely rituals, music, archery, charioteering, writing and mathematics, which were supplementary to each other.

In archery, he insisted on proper conduct, or what we call ?sportsmanship? today, pointing out an archer should do his best to win and what?s more important, ?be modest and observe rituals?.

Such guiding principles were similar to those of the great Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 BC), who held that physical training and sanitation should become an important part of education and that one should train his physique through sports and mould his temperament through music.