Pictures from Qufu, Confucius' place

Qufu is the place where Confucius was born and lived about 2500 years ago. He is the most important philosopher of China and his teachings are again gaining in popularity. Up to now there are 83 generations. His direct decendants are between 2 and 3 millions and there is an extra telephone directory in Qufu only dealing with the Kong family. Here is an interesting link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

That's what you see when you enter Qufu

It's a nice walled town...

The Drum Tower

... a bit background information...

...it's a big complex, worth of an aristocrat ranking second to the emperor...

...these are the various styles of bases for the stelae. Turtles are the animals symbolizing longevity...

A very high ranking building...

The stone carvings are exquisit...

 

...nice garden...

...the living quarters...

...these stairs never would pass the building code...

The entrance to the family cemetery with about 30000 graves...

... the cemetery was partially devastated during the Cultural Revolution...