A ceremony was held on Wednesday morning to commemorate the 2,573rd birthday of Confucius in Qufu, Jining city, Shandong province, the hometown of the great Chinese thinker.

People across China also held commemoration ceremonies.

People can also log on to a cloud platform launched by Jining to pay their respects to Confucius.

Confucius (551-479 BC) was the first Chinese person to set up private schools and enroll students from all walks of life. His disciples collected many of his sayings and quotations and compiled them into a book known in English as the Analects which continues to have

deep influence over Chinese culture and society.