Listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994 Location: Qufu City, Shandong Province, east China Best Time to Visit: Anytime

THE Temple of Confucius, the Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion are located in Qufu City, Shandong Province. The temple was first built in 478 B.C. to commemorate and offer sacrifices to Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator of the sixthfifth centuries B.C. It has been destroyed and reconstructed over the centuries, and today comprises more than 100 buildings.

The cemetery contains Confucius’ tomb and the remains of more than 100,000 of his descendants. The small house of the Kong family developed into a gigantic aristocratic residence, of which 152 buildings remain. The Qufu complex of monuments has retained its outstanding artistic and historic character due to the devotion of successive Chinese emperors over more than 2,000 years.

Confucius, a renowned philosopher in ancient China whose system of belief involved philosophy, politics and ethics, all subsequently known as Confucianism, has exerted profound influence on Chinese culture. He was revered as the “sacred