Four Sages

The Four Sages, also known as Assessors or Correlates (Chinese: 四配; 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 (四氏) 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 (子渊)
2	Zengzi		Ziyu (子輿)
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, 四氏 is following:

希言公彥承，宏聞貞尚衍；
興毓傳繼廣，昭憲慶繁祥；
令德維垂佑，欽紹念顯揚；
建道敦安定，懋修肇彝常；
裕文煥景瑞，永錫世緒昌。