The Temple and Cemeter
of Confucius and
the Kong Family Mansion
Qufu, in southern Shandong Province, was the home of one of China's most ancient peoples and the birthplace of one of China's ancient cultures.
Qufu is also the birthplace of Kong Qiu (551-479 B.C.), known as Confucius in the West. Confucius was one of the great thinkers, statesmen, and educators in Chinese history and the founder of the school of thought now known as Confucianism. His doctrines and ideas have not only exerted a great influence on Chinese society, history, and culture, but have also made contributions to the development of the civilization of the rest of the world, especially the Orient.
After his death, Confucius became widely respected all over China. The Temple of Confucius and the Cemetery of Confucius were established, and the Kong Family Mansion was expanded in the city of Qufu. Today, these three memorials together have become a historical site, encapsulating the traditional Chinese culture.
The Temple of Confucius
The Temple of Confucius is a grand architectural complex in the central part of Qufu City and is one of the three most famous ancient architectural complexes in China, the other two being the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Mountain Resort in Chengde.
The temple was where people in the feudal dynasties offered sacrifices to Confucius. It was built in 478 B.C., the year after Confucius died, but had only three rooms at the time. During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), Emperor Wu Di forbade all non-Confucian philosophical schools of thought and made Confucianism the state ideology. During the following dynasties, Confucius, honored as the Supreme Sage and Teacher, was increasingly respected, and his ideas were interpreted and stretched to suit the needs of the rulers.
Emperors of every dynasty sent high-ranking officials or went personally to the Temple of Confucius and offered sacrifices there. Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) visited the temple eight times, and bowed to the image of Confucius each time. The temple was rebuilt and enlarged many times during the feudal dynasties.
After several expansions and reconstructions during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties, the Temple of Confucius acquired its present state. It is built in the style of an imperial palace, with nine rows of courtyards. The main buildings are arranged on a north-south central axis, and the less important buildings are arranged on the eastern and western sides in a neat, symmetrical order. The entire architectural complex covers an area of 218,000 square meters and includes 466 halls, pavilions, and shrines and 54 gates and archways. The temple is surrounded by red walls decorated with exquisite gateways and watchtowers. It is resplendent and imposing with its carved beams, painted rafters, red walls, and yellow tiles, and it is well preserved.
The Temple of Confucius houses an impressive collection of cultural relics, especially stone tablets and stone carvings. There are more than 2,100 ancient tablets in the temple, all of great artistic and historical value.
The Cemetery of Confucius
One kilometer north of Qufu City is the Cemetery of Confucius, also known as the Cemetery of the Supreme Sage, where the tombs of Confucius and many of his descendants are to be found. It is the oldest, largest, and best-preserved family graveyard in China.
After his death, Confucius was buried by his disciples on the bank of the Zhushui River in the north of Qufu. As Confucius became increasingly respected, his burial place was rebuilt and expanded many times, and during the Qing Dynasty, a two-square-kilometer manmade park took shape on the site of the cemetery, with a wall 3.4 meters high and 7.5 kilometers long surrounding many ancient structures.
Inside the cemetery are more than 20,000 millenarian trees and 100,000 large shade trees with abundant branches and leaves. Ancient stone tablets dating from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) to the Qing Dynasty can be found here and there. A solemn, quiet atmosphere prevails.
The Kong Family Mansion
There was only one son, and thus only one male heir, in each of the first nine generations of descendants of Confucius, and these sons lived at the residence where Confucius had lived. During the Han Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius began to receive titles of honor, and the family residence was gradually expanded. Emperor Ren Zong of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) bestowed the title of Duke Continuing the Sage's Lineage on a 46th-generation descendant of Confucius, and since then, the residence has also been known as the Mansion of the Duke Continuing the Sage's Lineage. The mansion covers an area of 160,000 square meters, two kilometers from north to south, and contains 463 rooms, halls, and pavilions.
The Kong Family Mansion is situated to the east of the Temple of Confucius and faces south. The building complex is divided into three parts and contains offices and residences. The eastern part, known as the East Seat, was the site of the former ancestral temple of the Kong family; the western part, known as the West Seat, was where the Duke Continuing the Sage's Lineage studied and entertained guests; and the central part, the main part of the mansion, was divided in two the front office and the back residence.
The mansion cannot rival Beijing's Forbidden City in scale, but visitors sill marvel at the sumptuous furnishings, exquisite decorations, and rare cultural relics here. Some of the cultural relics were bestowed by emperors or high officials and noble lords, and some were bought with huge sums of money. All are of great value to the research of the history and culture of ancient China.
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