The Three Confucius Sites
Confucianism is a cornerstone of Chinese civilization. The Three Confucius Historical Sites (三孔, San Kong in Chinese) consists of the Confucius Temple, the Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion. Ancient architectural buildings, ancient stone tablets, and Confucius culture are the highlights.
The Cemetery of Confucius has become the graveyard of the Kong family, and more than 100,000 Confucius’ descendants are buried there. That why it is called Kong Lin (literally meanning Confucius Forest) in Chinese. The Kong Family Mansion, was where the descendants of Confucius lived.
Qufu Confucius Temple is the second largest scale ancient architectural complex, after the Forbidden City. The temple was originally built as Confucius’ house, and was changed into a temple to worship Confucius in the second year after his death. After that, extension of the temple continued, and today’s 95,000 square meters was completed in the Yongzheng period (1722–1735) of the Qing Dynasty.