Actor Gong Yoo confirms to be a descendant of Confucius

Their last names appear to be different in English but Gong Yoo's name in Chinese characters is the same as that of Confucius's name

Gong Yoo
Actor Gong Yoo in 'Goblin.' youtube.com/tvN DRAMA

Actor Gong Yoo who played the role of an immortal in his last drama Goblin is reportedly a descendant of Confucius. The actor in his recent visit to Taiwan revealed about the mind-blowing relation when he asked about a report, which stated the information.

According to DramaFever, the actor confirmed the report and said, "My parents wouldn't have lied to me, would they?"

The report mentioned that Gong Yoo is from the 79th generation among Confucius's descendants. Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) is well-known as a philosopher, great educator and statesman in ancient China. The real name of Confucius was Kong Qiu and he was respectfully called as Kong Zi or Kong Fu Zi in China. When hundreds of years ago, the Western missionaries came to China and found out that they are already very advanced, having many great thinkers, they translated Kong Fu Zi as Confucius which is a respectful format in Latin.

An interesting fact about the family of Confucius is that despite changes in dynasties over thousands of years, his family remained protected, mostly. Therefore, a continuous family record has been kept. In fact, in 2005, the Guinness World Records acknowledged it as the world's longest family tree, which has documented about 86 generations with over 2 million descendants.

It was first of the 54th generation that a Korean branch of the extended family is noticed. It is also the only non-Chinese branch acknowledged in the family tree of Confucius.

The outlet mentioned that popular Korean actor Gong Yoo's last names appear to be different in English , however, his name in Chinese characters is the same as that of Confucius's name.

This article was first published on May 9, 2017