As acknowledged by most common readers, the commentaries of Mr. Yang are the best. My only regret is that I had made an error of picking the simplified Chinese version, which does not include all the content one can find in the one printed in traditional Chinese. The publisher explains that some pieces cannot be translated into simplified Chinese without loosing their flavor. I don't know. Anyway, I'll be more meticulous when it comes to my next reading of the classics.
I had been always suspicious about Confucius and his teachings, the same feeling still prevailed the first half of my reading. Of course this is not my first time reading of his words, the same feeling every time, maybe the only difference had been how quick and how often I would find something to sneer at.
However, maybe it's part of the commentaries, this time I began to see Confucius in a different light. Little by little I began to see the belief and struggle of him, his strength and his richness in soul and personality. It's not Confucius' fault that generations of of ruling parties took his teaching to serve their own purposes, to fool the people and ask them to be unconditionally obedient. That's never what Confucius wants. His teachings are mainly for intellectuals and governors, showing those with power how to behave, those with knowledge how to help, showing the way to a better society.
Maybe to some extent Confucius is like Karl Marx, their teachings and ideas being abducted and tampered by those greedy for power, and leaving the great scholars abused, misunderstood, and even hated by the very people they want to help, the people for their sake they want to change the world.