Visiting Confucius :)

Do you know who Confucius is? I`m sure you do :) or I assume you would at least know the name :)

When studying history of philosophy and learning the wisdom of the past (including the wisdom of Confucius) I could have never imagined I would one day visit the cradle of this wisdom - QUFU - the home town of this Chinese thinker, educator and social philosopher where he was born, lived, studied and was buried. So last weekend was the time to give into philosophical past and walk the footsteps of the man whose teaching has almost religious significance in China.

Qufu is a relatively small town (~ 60 000 ppl) and the Old town of Qufu is a real cosy maze of streets surrounded by a city wall.


Cool gate



"Chill" -ing by the wall :)


Peaceful life within the walls


The wall


The major cultural sites in Qufu are all associated with Confucius. A must-see is so called 3 KONGs: the Temple of Confucius, the Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family (Confucius family) Mansion.

We decided to start our path where Confucius finished his - in Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin).




Path leading to the tomb of Confucius



Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)


Salary to Confucius...he is truly being worshipped here


The Cemetery of Confucius is told to be the largest and oldest family cemetery in the world. The tombs of more than 100,000 descendants of Confucius, who have been buried there over a period of about 2000 years, can be found.



Wall of Qufu - entrance gate


School is over


Tough life of Qufu


And of course as usual the most interesting things are discovered when one wonders off the busy tourist attraction track and takes a random street.. This time "red lantern" street only without actual lanterns... Afternoon "offer" was not so fresh ;)



The wall of Qufu



Ancient vs Modern


Street food market..."dogga dogaa"...(read: cooked dog heads).... no thanks!


Second day was the time to discover the 2nd of the 3 KONGs: Mansion of the family of Confucius (Kong Family Mansion (Kong Fu).

The family mansion was inhabited by descendants of Confucius until 1937, when Confucius' descendant in the 76th and 77th generations fled to Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War and later during the Chinese Civil War to Taiwan, where the head of the family still resides.

Confucius' family tree is regarded as the world's longest, recording more than 80 generations of the Confucius family. Confucius' descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments. The family records have been kept in the philosopher's hometown of Qufu. The estimate is that there were more than three million descendants of Confucius around the world, including 2.5 million in China and several thousand living in Taiwan. I read that one fifth of the Qufu`s inhabitants have the family name KONG and are descendants of Confucius... who knows :)


It`s all in the picture ;)


Mansion








Favourite Chinese sports :))