nly trying to produce men of character, who by their example could change society.
             As his inspiration for the present and future he had to look at the past. According to writings of the era, the days in which Confucius lived were, compared to the past, a time of moral chaos, in which common values were widely rejected and disregarded. Crime was on the rise, with theft and robbery increasing in the countryside and murder was a serious problem in cities and at court; there was a serious lack in trying to reintegrate criminals into society. The gap between rich and poor was broad and growing, with the rich living extravagantly while an abundance of food somehow seemed to fail to reach the hungry who needed it.
             The economy was changing as well. The productive class -mostly farmers-was shrinking while the merchant sector was growing. The marketplaces were flooded with goods that wer
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