"Confused in Qufu" a Qufu Travel Page by DSwede

OK, similar to my visits to Beijing and Xi'an, I was working in Qingdao and still had no workers due to the Lunar New Year. Despite the managers assurances that they would return many days before.

So what did I do, I grabbed a map and tried to find something both close and interesting. That's when I found Qufu.

Being ~4hours overland from Qingdao it was relatively easy to get to, however halfway during my visit a snow storm rolled in so the trip back took over 7 hours. But I survived all the iced roads, the frozen rest stops and the near-blizzard conditions.

Qufu is the ancient home of Confucius, and the Kong family. (note the similarity here... KONG -- CONfucius) There are still some of the lineage living there today, but much of the limelight has passed from the ancient days.

Out of the north city gate is the cemetery, know as Confucius Forest. There are over 100,000 tombs going back over 2500 years since Confucius himself was buried there.

Qufu, I'm told, is a small town, tipping the scales at a over 100k people. There is an old city wall, wherein lies the sites of Confucius' Temple and Mansion.

In the heart of the old city, these sites are among the largest temples you can visit anywhere. And I must say that they were rather well maintained too.

[OK, did I mention the snow storm?!? See the photo and the one above... they were about 10 minutes apart, the drive home was fun... This was one of the last photos I could take before the visibility went to zero]

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