Qufu, in Shandong province, is home to the temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, great philosopher of the 6th century BC. First built just after his death to show respect for his life and teachings, the temple has been torn down and rebuilt several times over the centuries The complex now includes over 100 buildings and houses the remains of more than 100,000 of Confucius’s descendants.

There are three main parts of Qufu - the Confucian Forest, the temple complex and the mansion. Confucius’s tomb lies in the two hundred hectare Confucian Forest. It’s on a simple hill of raised earth and it bears the inscription ‘sacred father’. There are more than twenty thousand trees in the forest, providing shade to hundreds of tombs and tombstones. It is believed that these trees were brought here by the descendants of Confucius after his death. There are also a number of markers that commemorate the visits of several emperors who came to pay their respects to the great master.

The temple complex is a huge labyrinth of halls and bell towers. These towers are located at the corners of the temple and have been decorated with carvings and paintings. More than two thousand stone tablets, using many different types of calligraphy, are housed inside the temple complex. The Great Accomplishment Hall is the largest hall at 54 meters long, 34 meters wide and 32 meters high. The roof of this hall is supported by twenty-eight stone columns standing on pedestals shaped like lotus petals. The front ten columns are carved like dragons. A great statue of Confucius stands at the front of the hall. The hall also includes the famous Lu Wall, a hollow structure in which one of Confucius’s descendants hid a book from the hands of a greedy emperor.

The Kong family mansion stands to the east of the temple complex. Kong was Confucius’s surname and the surname of his descendents. The mansion is not just one building, but 463 buildings sprawling over 39 acres. The huge complex is divided into three sections - the family temple to the east, the main buildings in the center, and the institute in the west. The central portion is further divided into the office buildings in the front and the residential ones in the back. The largest mansion of its kind in China, the Kong mansion houses luxurious furnishings, decorations and cultural relics - links to China’s rich past. Though it is said that Confucius never enjoyed living in such grandeur, his descendants occupied the mansion for nearly 2500 years.

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