Today you are going to explore the life story of the great sage Confucius and his influential Confucianism in three sacred sites in Qufu – Confucius Temple, Kong Family Mansion and Confucius Cemetery.
The Confucius Temple is the largest and most influential temple of Confucius in East Asia. It was originally constructed on the former residence of Confucius in 478 BC, two years after Confucius’ death. Since the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC ~ 8 AD), successive emperors had been conferring posthumous titles on Confucius, and the scale of Confucius Temple had be expanded generation by generation. The history of the tradition of paying homage in the Confucius Temple can be traced back to 205 BC when the emperor Gao of West Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to memorize Confucius and blessed for good fortune for his empire. Since then, many emperors and high officials followed Gao’s example. In total, there were 12 emperors of different dynasties came to Qufu Confucius Temple personally to worship Confucius. Today, the Confucius Temple is not only a popular site to learn about Communism culture, but also an important site to hold many ceremonies, festival and events about Communism including the annual Qufu International Confucius Culture Festival held during September 26th and October 10th in Qufu City. Every day at 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., there are grand ceremony of city gate opening and closing at the South Gate of the Confucius Temple, with grand performances of ancient music and dance.
The Kong (Confucius’ family name) Family Mansion is located to the east of the Confucius Temple. It was the home to Holy Duke of Yen, the direct descendants of Confucius who were in charge of governing the Confucian sites and organizing elaborate ceremonies to worship Confucius. Since its establishment in northern Song Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius have lived, also worked in the mansion for over a thousand years. The Holy Duke of Yen is a marquis title which is hereditary. With the title, the dukes enjoyed many privileges, own judicial system and the right to tax in their domain.
The Confucius Cemetery is the private cemetery of Confucius, his more than 100,000 descendants and some of his disciples. The oldest graves can be traced back to Zhou Dynasty, and the most recent graves belong to the 78th generation of Kong family. They are the witnesser of the dominant position of Confucianism in the long feudal society of China. It has great value to the study of the evolution of China's tomb system and ancient politics, economy, culture, customs, calligraphy and art.
After the Confucian sites exploration, you will be provided a rare chance to experience the First Writing Ceremony, also known Enlightenment Ceremony, was a very important ceremony for every ancient Chinese student before they were admitted to school. During the ceremony, you will wear traditional costumes, get a red dot on your forehead (meaning opening the wisdom eye), toll the bronze bell and learn to write Chinese characters. There are some other authentic cultural activities which are interesting and helpful for you to strengthen your understanding about Confucianism. You can choose from making bamboo-slips book, archery, ancient lyre class, etc. Please tell your like to your travel consultants or guide.
After the full day tour, return to your hotel.