The Chinese people and several other people of East Asia and South-East Asia have had the privilege of having grown in the shadow of Confucian thought. Confucius (551-479 BC.) lived in an age of flux and chaos, which was further characterized by a loss of values and morality. Confucius analyzed the malaise from which Chinese society suffered and proceeded to offer a whole system of ethics, at once deriving from the ancient culture and philosophy of China and the basis on which the rebuilding of Chinese society could be attempted.