Figure designs from the cartoon series of Confucius

China's famed philosopher Confucius had got cartoon images in a cartoon serial, said the cartoon's playwright in Jinan, Shandong province on Tuesday.

The 104-episode cartoon series tells the life story of Confucius from a little boy to a master. It will be on television around September 28 this year, the 2560 anniversary of his birth, said Zhao Xiande, the chief playwright of the cartoon.

The painters designed three images, including a young, middle-aged and aged Confucius.

The image of 10-year-old Confucius will be unveiled. "He is a cute boy with bright eyes, holding a book," Zhao said.

The images had been revised for dozens of times by the designer group consisting of cartoon painters and more than 30 experts from Taiwan, Hongkong, Shanghai and south China's Shenzhen City, Zhao said.

"It took us more than a year to design it. We want it to be modern and traditional at the same time," Zhao said.

The TV series is jointly invested by China Confucius Foundation, Radio and Television Station of Shandong Province and a Shenzhen-based film and radio company.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), was born in ancient China's State of Lu, today's Qiufu County of Shandong Province. He was a great educator, philosopher, renown politician, and the founding father of Confucianism.

So far, 256 Confucius Institutes and 58 Confucius Classrooms have been established across the world.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2009)