Four Sages

The Four Sages, also known as Assessors or Correlates (Chinese: 四よん配はい; pinyin: Sì Pèi), are four famous Chinese thinkers in the Confucian tradition. They are highly respected and given special status, almost like sainthood, in Confucianism. The spirit tablets of the Four sages are placed in important spots in Confucian temples. Two tablets are on the east side and two are on the west side of the Hall of the Great Completion (Dacheng Dian). In these temples, Yan Hui's tablet is placed first on the east side of Confucius.

The families of the descendants of the Four Sages (四よん氏し) still hold special hereditary offices in the Republic of China, like the Sacrificial Official to Confucius, Sacrificial Official to Mencius, Sacrificial Official to Zengzi, and Sacrificial Official to Yan Hui. They use generation poems for their names, which were given to them by the Ming and Qing Emperors.

Four Sages

The Four Sages within Confucianism are:

S. No.	Name	Portrait	Courtesy name
1	Yan Hui		Ziyuan (子こ渊)
2	Zengzi		Ziyu (子こ輿こし)
3	Zisi
4	Mencius

Generation poems

During the Ming dynasty, Emperor Jianwen respected Confucius and Mencius so much that he honored their families with generation poems. These generation poems were extended with the permission of the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming dynasty, the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the Ministry of Interior of the Beiyang government. The generation poems of the descendants of the Four Sages; the Kong, Meng, Yan, and Zeng families called the the Four Families, 四よん氏し is following:

希まれ言げん公こう彥承，宏ひろし聞貞尚なお衍；
興きょう毓傳繼ままし廣こう，昭憲しょうけん慶けい繁しげる祥さち；
令れい德とく維垂佑たすく，欽紹念ねん顯揚けんよう；
建たて道みち敦あつし安定あんてい，懋修肇はじめ彝つね常つね；
裕文ひろふみ煥景瑞みず，永えい錫すず世よ緒いとぐち昌あきら。