In the Mansion of Coufucius' Descendants

An oral history by Kong Demao, one of the last direct descendants of Confucius to have intimate knowledge of its affairs, this book tells the legends, stories, cerenomies and intrigues connected with the mansion of the main branch of the Kong clan-the lineal posterity of Confucius. In it the authoress, a seventy-seventh generation descendant of the sage, conveys first-hand accounts of the highly-ritualized life style that developed over the course of 2,500 years among what might well be called China's most prominent family-a house that survived the collapse of a dozen dynasties purely by virtue of its link with the nation's most revered philosopher and teacher.