Attractions:

Temple, Cemetery and Mansion of Confucius

The temple, cemetery and mansion of Confucius are located at Qufu, in Shandong Province. Confucius was a great philosopher, politician and educator of the 6th-5th centuries B.C. Confucianism has had the most profound influence over Chinese culture for a long term. As time went by, Confucius was respected as a pillar of Chinese civilization.

Qufu Confucian temple with total 9 courtyards is the largest and earliest one of Confucian temples in China. It is in shape of rectangle, occuping the space of 327.5 acreages, 1120 meters from south to north. The temple was built for worshiping Confucius in 478 B.C, the second year after the great thinker died. Since then, sacrifices were often offered to the sage, either by Emperors themselves or by emperor-appointed high officials. It has been destroyed and restored over centuries with more than 100 buildings of oriental style today. The temple is one of the three largest ancient architectural complexes in China together with the Summer Palace in Beijing and the Mountain Resort of Chengde. 
   

The cemetery contains Confucius' tomb and the remains of his descendants, over 100,000. It has the history of over 2,340 years. The mansion of Kong family is a gigantic aristocratic residence with 152 remaining buildings, including halls, pavilions and towers, where the first son and the first grandson lived. It is the largest of its kind in Chinese history, boasting luxury furniture, exquisite decorations and precious cultural relics. The Qufu complex of monuments has retained its remarkable artistic and historic character due to his dedication to successive Chinese emperors over 2,000 years.     

In 1994, the Temple, Cemetery and Mansion of Confucius were recognized as World Cultural Heritage buildings.