Abstract: In this article I discuss some of the problems I have encountered in writing Confucius: An Approximation towards the Historical Truth (The future title is: The Portrait of Confucius as a Human Being), which is, at the same time, a novel and a scholarly chronology of Confucius with some examples as illustration. The materials for writing a biography of Confucius are exceptionally abundant and readily available and one does not need to dig for sources, but there is a need to comprehensively manage these materials. Due to Confucius’ status in traditional Chinese culture it makes sense to weed out any material which appear to be untrue. The adaptation of such a criterion makes life much easier in selecting source materials but much harder in sorting out the selected source materials.

Key words: Confucius, biography, material

Paul Y. Shao, writer and independent scholar, gained a Master degree in mathematics from California University, Berkeley and a doctorate degree in literature from Stanford University. He makes a living as a real estate and insurance agent. He published the novel The Dynasty of Shilung in series in in the magazine The Perspective (Hong Kong, 1986). His recent publications include Kongzi zhe ge ren yu ta suo mian dui de wen ti (Confucius the Man and the Problems He Faces, 2009), Kongzi zhe ge ren (Confucius the Man, 2010), Kong fuzi (Confucius, 2013) and Wenxin diaolong zhebenshu (In Regards to the Book Wenxin diaolong, 2013).