Tourist attractions China-Qufu

Tourist attractions China-Qufu - Temple of Confuci

Qufu is famous around the world for the birth place of the sage Confucius. There are lots of historical monument and cultural relics, such as the temple of Confucius, the Mansion of Confucius and the Cemetery of Confucius, which has been included in the World Cultural Heritage.

Confucius is a famous thinker, educator and the founder of Confucianism. It is said that he has about 3000 disciples and 72 are outstanding among all. He wrote many books and made great contribution to spread knowledge. The words and deeds of him were compiled by his disciples into a book 'Lunyu', which become the classic of Confucianism.

Confucius created great influences to the character and temperament of Chinese nation during the 5000 history. The World Cultural Heritage Committee praised Confucius as the greatest thinker, educator and politician between the 6th and the 5th Century B.C.. The 'World Celebrities Dictionary' of American put Confucius the No.1 of the list of ten great thinkers of the World. The 'People Almanac Handbook' also put Confucius No.1 in the list of the ten thinkers and culture celebrities of the world.

Confucius Temple is where set sacrifice to Confucius, and is the biggest sacred place in China. With an area of 21.8 hectares, the temple has nine courtyards. There are altogether 466 halls, 54 gate archways, more than 1700 age-old tree and more than 1200 tablets in the temple. Confucius Temple, the former Imperial Palace in Beijing, and those in the Summer Resort of Chengde are called the three great ancient architecture complexes in China.Dacheng Hall in the Confucius Temple, the hall of Supreme harmony in the former Imperial Palace, and Tiankuangdian in Daimiao Temple in Mt. Tai are the three important halls in China. Since 2000 years ago, tourists paid visit and lingered here.

Confucius Mansion, also called Yanshenggong's Mansion, located near the Temple, is the dwelling place of the descendents of Confucius. With 463 rooms and the back garden, it has nine courtyards along three routes and covers an area of 16 hectares. There are a large a mount of precious cultural relics about 30,000 pieces in all, which are mainly largess from the court. Besides there are abundant materials also, which is rare resource of making research of the China feudal society.

Located in the north of Qufu and covers an area of more than 200 hectares, the Cemetery of Confucius is the special cemetery for Confucius and his descendents, which has the longest history and largest scale in the world. It is also the oldest and largest man-made garden in the world. There are over 100,000 ancient trees, and several hundreds of other plants in the Cemetery.The trees set off one another, with many of steles and groups of stone images, Stele forest is worthy of the name.

In 1982, Qufu is enrolled in the 'first group of Historical and Cultural Celebrity Cities in China, 24 in all'. In 1994, the 'Three Kongs' is enrolled in the World Culture Heritage by UN. Because of the contribution of Qufu to the culture of Orient, it is called one of the three divine cities in the world: 'Mekka in Orient'. Every year from 26th September to 10th October, International Confucius Cultural Festival is held here and becomes a classic tourism brand.