Confucius (551-479 BC) is arguably the most influential philosopher in human history. I say "is" rather than "was" because he is still very much alive.
Confucius is recognized as China's first teacher both chronologically and in importance; his ideas have been the rich soil in which the Chinese cultural tradition has grown and flourished. In fact, whatever we might mean by "Chineseness" today, some two and half millennia after his death, is inseparable from the example of personal character that Confucius provided for posterity. And his influence did not end with China. All of the Sinitic cultures -- especially Korea, Japan and Vietnam -- have evolved around ways of living and thinking derived from the wisdom of the Sage.