Confucius was a thinker and statesman in the late Spring and Autumn Period of China, and was the greatest figure in the history of Chinese political thought. Beginning with Confucius, Chinese political thought entered an era of complete systems. Confucius' contribution to Chinese political thought is that he systematically organized, inherited and enriched the historical heritage of the past, and created political thought with benevolence and propriety as the core.

Confucius’ political thoughts include: the rule of virtue and benevolent government, and he proposed “Government with virtue” ("Wei Zheng"). Rule by etiquette, Zhou etiquette is a social and political norm advocated by Confucianism Confucius. Confucius requires rulers to "restrain themselves and return to etiquette" and treat the people "with virtue and harmony with etiquette" ("Wei Zheng"). Respecting the emperor and respecting the people, Confucius emphasized that "rituals and music come from the emperor" ("Ji Shi"), and cannot come from princes and ministers. Regarding the rule of man and the promotion of talents, Confucius warned Ji Kangzi of Lu State, "A politician must be upright, and the commander must be upright. Who dares to be unrighteous" ("Yan Yuan"), and warned Duke Ai of Lu, "A politician must be upright, and the king must be upright. Then the people will engage in politics (?)" ("Book of Rites? Asked by Duke Ai"). Advocating the idea of ??rule by man, Confucius emphasized the promotion of talents and called for "promoting talents" and "promoting the right and rejecting the wrong" ("Wei Zheng"). Advocating for great unification; Confucius longed for a prosperous civil and military age, missed the unification of the world in the early Zhou Dynasty, and proposed the political ideal of a "Great Harmony" society and a "moderately prosperous" society. Confucius's political thoughts are mainly collected in the Analects, a collection of remarks by him and his disciples. In addition, the "Six Classics" compiled by Confucius ("Poetry", "Book", "Rites", "Music", "Yi", "Spring and Autumn") also reflect Confucius's basic political thoughts.

Confucius’ political thought is a complex and complete system. After Confucius, Meng Ke and Xun Kuang inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts on benevolent governance, moral governance and ritual governance respectively, thus forming a huge system of pre-Qin Confucian political thought. After being inherited and carried forward by later generations, Confucius' political thoughts became the orthodox thoughts of China's feudal society. They profoundly influenced the politics, economy, and culture of China's feudal society as well as the political concepts of the Chinese nation, and had an impact on East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe.