Works on the comparative study of the two sages Confucius and Socrates at the ideological and cultural level are rarely found. Confucius and Socrates were born in the same epoch in the East and the West, and both rose to fame in the great Axial Period when frequent wars, political turmoil and ideological confusion prompted them to assume the responsibility of spiritual mentors. Confucius was praised as a wooden bell to warn, educate and civilize the people in his time; Socrates was described by himself as the gadfly that stung the state and stirred Athenians into life. On the historical stages of the East and the West, they pondered over and reformed the world in a civilized, moral and rational way. Comparing the ideological convergences of Confucius and Socrates, we can gain an understanding of our own respective cultural roots and facilitate the mutual understanding and blending of the Eastern and Western cultures in this new Axial Period.
