This morning we have a local guide, Kevin, to take us to the Confucius temple and the Confucius mansion. Confucius’ family name was Kong and most of the residents of Qufu are Kong’s and are descendants of Confucius. Before we go into the temple we first go to the daily gate opening ceremony that starts at 8am. It is wonderful with much fanfare, music & dancing!
Confucius was born in 551 BC and died in 479 BC and is considered to be a famous ancient thinker, statesman & educator.
The Confucius temple is used to make sacrifices to Confucius with 12 Emperors in history having come here to do so. Confucianism is still practised today by people in China, Korea, Japan & Vietnam.
We are guided through the complex of gates, temples & gardens with trees that are over 1,000 years old.
In 1994 the Confucius temple was listed by UNESCO on the world heritage list.
At the main Confucius temple there is a ceremony going on for students who are about to sit some exams and have come to give an offering to Confucius and be blessed for luck.
We walk to the Confucius mansion and gardens where the eldest descendants in each generation of Confucius lived. The last one to live here left and went to Taiwan to live.
After a quick morning snack and a cup of tea we have a short 100 km drive to Taishan, where we will go to visit the Taishan Mountain.
After booking into our hotel we catch a local bus to the bottom of the Taishan mountain where we catch a bus to the start of a cable car. The cable car takes us up onto the mountain where we walk along paths, up and down stone stairs & through gates to visit the many temples on the mountain.
The largest of the temples is the Bixia Temple which is one of the important Taoist temples in China.
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