He Spent Years Traveling Around War-torn China

One of the interesting facts about Confucius is he went with his dependable followers across China's war-torn nations in an effort to persuade other rulers to adopt his teachings after banishing himself from the state of Lu in 497, perhaps for failing to achieve his political goals. He alternated between eight of the smaller states in China's central plains for a period of fourteen years. He only stayed a few weeks in some and years in others. So, it can be said that he had an adventure in many different lands in China to fulfill his mission.

During that long period, Confucius and his followers frequently got lost and occasionally faced kidnapping while caught in the crossfire of warring states, frequently perilously near to dying. They ran out of food for seven days at one point while they were stuck. Confucius developed his theories during this trying time and developed the idea of the morally superior man, a man of righteousness known as "The Exemplary Person."