Qufu

Geography

Qufu used to be called by ancestors as County Lu is a prefectural-level city in Shandong province. It is located around 130 km south of Jinan, the provincial capital and borders Jining to its northeast. It is a famous historical city and is the birth place of Confucius, the most reputed thinker and philosopher in the world. The city is known as the “Eastern Jerusalem” and has three major sites associated with Confucius which are the Temple of Confucius, the Cemetery of Confucius, and the Kong Family Mansion. These famed sites have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1994. In other words, Qufu is a city about Confucius.

Historical Relics

The famed Cemetery of Confucius lies to the south of Qufu. As the tomb of Confucius family’s, it has many records recognized as the top of the world. The oldest graves found in this location dated back to Zhou Dynasty when Confucius was an activism in carrying on private education and disseminating his political proposals. After the death of Confucius, his descendants were conferred noble titles and the tombs of these descendants’ which showed the status symbols of noblemen were added around Confucius’ tomb. After been through of 13 renovations and extensions, the perimeter wall of the tomb reached a length of 7.5 km, enclosing an area of 3.6 square kilometers. To sum up, there are more than 100,000 descendants of Confucius, who have been buried there over a period of 2000 years dated back to Zhou dynasty and there are about 3,600 tombstones dating from Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties still standing in the cemetery. The main road though the cemetery is 1226 m in length and lined by cypresses and pine trees while these 10,000 mature trees give a forest-like appearance to the tomb.

The Temple of Confucius was first constructed in Zhou Dynasty and was completed by Qing Dynasty. It is the largest temple memorializing Confucius among the other 2,000 congeneric temples around the world. There are three main roads lie in the temple and the biggest architecture inside is the Dacheng Palace which is praised as one of the “three splendid palaces in the east”. The Temple is a mix of ancient architectures and Confucianism.

The Kong Family Mansion located to the east of the Temple. It is the place where Confucius’ descendants lived in. The Kong Family Mansion is the oldest and biggest ancient architecture complex ever found in China and is known as “the very first family of all”. The first mansion was built in 1038 during the Song dynasty and was originally connected directly to the Temple. During the reconstruction by the first emperor of Ming dynasty, it was moved a short distance away from the Temple. After several renovations and extensions during the next hundreds of years, the mansion comprises 152 buildings with 480 rooms, which cover an area of 12,470 square meters nowadays. The annual Confucianism Culture Festival takes place during September 26th and October 10th every year. During the festival, people will consecrate ancestors and other colorful ceremonies will be performed in the Confucius Temple.

Education

Qufu Normal University is the most famous educational institute in this location and it is highly reputed in cultivating qualified teaching group.