Question: When Did Confucianism Start?

Confucius is a Chinese name associated with words of wisdom (e.g., "Study the past if you would define the future") and silly "Confucius says" jokes, pictures of an old bearded man, eastern Asia, and the term "Confucianism". What is Confucianism and when did it start?

Answer: Confucius (the Master) is more correctly Kong Qiu or Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.). He was the founder of a way of life, philosophy, or religion named Confucianism after a Latinized form of the founder's name.

Confucius was born in the state of Lu, which was in eastern China, with a section of coast along the Yellow Sea. Although the Master was honored as a sage in his own time, and a shrine built for him upon his death, the religion based around him died out at the end of the Chou Dynasty. During the Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor persecuted Confucian scholars. Confucianism survived, however, and revived in about 195 B.C. in the Han Dynasty.

Source: Religions of Ancient China