Confucius remains vague on the exact nature of human nature and says precious little in the Analects for his disciples to record. In the Confucian tradition, it is Mencius who defined human nature in essentially positive terms as good. I propose to look at the interpretive strategies that traditional commentators employed to read the Analects in order to eliminate any possible discrepancies between Confucius and Mencius, and to establish the Confucian tradition of philosophical and moral humanism. I shall discuss the significance of such manipulative commentaries for the making of a Confucian humanism, and situate Confucian humanism and its ramifications in the larger context of East-West comparative studies.