Ceremonies on Sept 28 marked the birth of Confucius, an ancient Chinese educator and philosopher, 2,571 years ago in Quzhou, the home of Southern Confucianism in East China's Zhejiang province.

The ceremony was held at the Nanzong Confucius Temple, one of the Confucius family temples, gathering officials, representatives from Confucius Institutes worldwide, scholars, students and descendants of the sage.

The number of people attending at the temple was the lowest since the restoration of Nanzong Confucius Temple in 2004. Due to coronavirus epidemic prevention and control, the number of people was reduced to dozens, but the online "cloud sacrifice" platform attracted more than 100,000 hits.

Kong Lingli, the first grandson of the 76th generation of Confucius's descendants made his debut as the person in charge of the rites.

"As a descendant of Confucius, it is my mission to promote Confucianism," Kong said.

In 1128, Kong Duanyou, an officially recognized direct descendant of the 48th generation of the Confucian family, moved most of his family members, along with Southern Song Dynasty Emperor Gaozong (420-479), from Qufu to flee from the invading Jin army. They headed south, and finally resettled in Quzhou.

Since then, Quzhou has served as the second-largest center for studying, interpreting and spreading Confucian concepts in southern China.