Published : 2026-06-09
The statue of Confucius on the pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building went viral due to remarks made by U.S. President Trump during his visit to China. But many netizens found pictures of it and said this sculpture of Confucius looks too "Western". This image is very different from the Confucius in the minds of Chinese people...
So, what did Confucius actually look like? Do you know that there are standard portraits of Confucius?
The sculptures of Confucius can hardly recognise
The U.S. Supreme Court building is located on First Street in Washington, D.C., was completed in 1935, and faces the Capitol Building. On the pediment of the east door behind its main building are sculptures of 16 figures, the 3 central figures from left to right are Confucius, Moses, and Solon.
Confucius is the founder of the Confucian school of thought, and was the greatest thinker and educator in ancient China, honoured as the "Model Teacher for All Ages".
Moses is a prophet from the Bible, while Solon is a pioneer of the rule of law in ancient Greek civilisation. The designer, MacNeil, once stated that the sculptures symbolise drawing on fundamental laws and precepts from the East.
The statue of Confucius at the U.S. Supreme Court has existed for nearly a century, and while it has been reported by the media in the past, it never generated much excitement.
In May 2026, U.S. President Trump visited China, and mentioned the statue of Confucius in his speech at a welcome banquet, stating that he was extremely honoured by it. Under the celebrity effect, the distant statue of Confucius in the United States went viral in China.
In this new wave of attention, some netizens still felt that the U.S. Supreme Court should have enshrined a figure from the Chinese Legalism, so why was Confucius from the Confucian school chosen?
After viewing the relevant images, more netizens felt that Confucius was depicted with deep-set eyes and a high-bridged nose, looking too much like a westerner, and that his image wearing a formal hat was also different from their perception, some said "he is almost unrecognisable as Confucius".
Was Confucius almost as tall as Yao Ming?
Returning to the initial question, what did Confucius actually look like? And, how did the image of Confucius in people's minds come to be?
Confucius was born in 551 BC in the town of Zou (陬) in the state of Lu, which is modern-day Qufu, a county-level city with a population of over 600,000 under the administration of Jining, Shandong.
Many ancient Chinese texts describe Confucius's appearance. The Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty wrote that Confucius was born with a concave-shaped crown, which means his head was sunken at the top.
He also stated that Confucius was "nine chi and six cun tall, and everyone called him a giant and amazed at him".
According to later calculations where one Han Dynasty chi is approximately equal to the modern 23.1 centimetres, Confucius would have been over 2.2 metres tall, almost the same height as basketball superstar Yao Ming.
Is the depiction accurate? In ancient times when there was no photography, and with a gap of several hundred years, a slight discrepancy is not surprising.
But perhaps this is not the most important thing, because many people's impression of Confucius does not come from difficult-to-understand ancient texts, but from portraits passed down over thousands of years. After all, portraits are more intuitive and leave a more lasting impression.
Of course, even when created by Chinese artists, the images of Confucius from different eras and in different versions still vary greatly. However, some versions have been widely circulated and are particularly ingrained in the public consciousness, such as "Portrait of Great Master Confucious Teaching" by Wu Daozi from the Tang Dynasty.
3 recommended versions of Confucius's Portrait
In these paintings, Confucius wears a Confucian scarf, his eyes gaze forward, and his beard and hair flow. His body is slightly bent forward, his hands are clasped in a gesture of greeting, appearing humble and polite. This is a stark contrast to the style of the sculpture on the lintel of the US Supreme Court, yet this is the Confucius in the hearts of many Chinese people.
In 2016, the Qufu Municipal Government, the World Federation of Confucius Descendants, the China Confucius Temple Protection Association and the Qufu Confucius Museum jointly released three recommended versions of Confucius's portrait for use. "Portrait of Great Master Confucious Teaching" is one of them, and it is also the one that has been in circulation for the longest time.
The relevant parties stated that in order to safeguard the image of Confucius, it is necessary to further regulate the use of his portraits, based on respect for historical evidence and conventionally accepted images.
As for the other two recommended versions, they are "Confucius at Leisure" from the Ming Dynasty and "Portrait of Confucius Teaching" from the Qing Dynasty. In both paintings, the image of Confucius is similar to that in "Portrait of Great Master Confucious Teaching". Some media outlets have said that these three versions are Confucius's standard portraits.
The world's tallest Confucius statue: 72 metres
In Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, the world's tallest statue of Confucius, 72 metres, was completed in 2016 and named the "Nishan Confucius Statue". Its design is based on Portrait of Great Master Confucious Teaching. In addition, many people will find Confucius at Leisure the most familiar. Why? Because it is often used as an illustration in history textbooks.
The original painting of Portrait of Great Master Confucious Teaching has been lost. The most famous surviving version is a stone rubbing from an engraving made in the Qing Dynasty, which is housed in the Confucius Temple in Qufu. Confucius at Leisure and Portrait of Confucius Teaching are housed in the Confucius Museum in the same city. If you travel to Shandong, you might want to look out for them.
To add a bit more information, it was mentioned earlier that netizens felt one difference in the US Supreme Court's Confucius statue was that he was wearing a ceremonial hat.
In fact, there are indeed portraits of Confucius wearing a hat in China, such as Portrait of Confucius as the Minister of Justice of Lu by the Eastern Jin painter Gu Kaizhi. The painting depicts Confucius during his time as an official. He is wearing official robes and a ceremonial hat, a stark contrast to his image as a model teacher of all ages.
On the other hand, many Confucius temples have been built in regions around China that were influenced by Confucianism, and some of the Confucius statues enshrined within them also have images that are very different from those in the minds of the Chinese people.
For example, the Confucius statue in the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, is dressed in the official attire of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
