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The Cemetery of Confucius () is a
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
of the Kong clan (the descendants of
Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
) in Confucius' hometown
Qufu Qufu ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, and a total population of ...
in
Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
. Confucius himself and some of his disciples are buried there, as well as many thousands of his descendants. Since 1994, the Cemetery of Confucius has been part of the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
"Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu". The two other components of the site are the
Temple of Confucius A temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is a temple for the veneration of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism in Chinese folk religion and other East Asian religions. They were formerly the site of the administration of t ...
dedicated to the memory of the philosopher and the Kong Family Mansion, where his descendants lived. The three sites are collectively known in Qufu as ''San Kong'' (), i.e. "The Three Confucian
ites ''Ites'' is a genus of longhorn beetles of the subfamily Lamiinae,Biolib.cz - ''Ites''
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.


History

By the 2nd century AD, at least 50 of Confucius's descendants had been buried alongside him. In 1331 construction work began on the wall and gate of the cemetery. In total, the cemetery has undergone 13 renovations and extensions. Eventually, by the late 18th century, the perimeter wall reached a length of , enclosing an area of . In this space, the tombs of more than 100,000 descendants of Confucius, who have been buried there over a period of about 2,000 years, can be found. The oldest graves date back to the
Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
, the most recent of which belong to descendants in the 76th and 78th generation. The cemetery suffered serious damage in November 1966, during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
, when it was visited and vandalized by a team of
Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
from Beijing Normal University, led by Tan Houlan. The corpse of the 76th-generation
Duke Yansheng The Duke Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Wisdom", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant o ...
Kong Lingyi was removed from its grave and hung naked from a tree in front of the palace during the desecration of the cemetery in the Cultural Revolution.


Layout

The Cemetery of Confucius is located north of the historic walled city of Qufu, about two kilometers north of the Temple and Mansion of Confucius (which are in the south-central part of the walled city), and 1.5 km north of the
Temple of Yan Hui The Temple of Yan Hui, commonly known as simply the Temple of Yan or Yan Temple (), is a temple in Qufu, China, dedicated to Yan Hui (521-490 BC), the favorite disciple of Confucius. Location and layout The temple is located within the historic ...
, dedicated to the sage's favorite student (which is just inside the northern gates of the city wall). The main north-central axis of the walled city, Gulou Jie ("Drum Tower Avenue"), becomes Beiguan Jie ("North Gate Avenue") after passing through the north gate of the city wall. The avenue runs north for 1266  m as a wide boulevard decorated with the ''Wan gu chang chun'' () '' memorial arch'' and lined by
cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...
es and
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
trees, finally arriving at the main (southern) gates of the cemetery.第三十二篇文物名胜 -  第一章孔孟古迹 - 第三节林墓 - 孔林
ultural Relics and Scenic Spots. Historic Sites of Confucius and Mencius
The cemetery occupies and is surrounded by a perimeter wall 5,591 m long. File:Kong Yanjin - looking north - P1060200.JPG,
Spirit way A spirit way () is the ornate road leading to a Chinese tomb of a major dignitary. The term is also sometimes translated as spirit road, spirit path or sacred way. The spirit way is lined on both sides by a succession of statues, pillars, and ...
of Kong Yanjin (59th generation
Duke Yansheng The Duke Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Wisdom", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant o ...
) File:Kong Chengqing - bixi, guardians, and tomb stele - seen from S - PP1060192.JPG, Spirit way of Kong Chengqing (60th generation) File:Kong Hongxu - bixi and tombstone - P1060163.JPG, Spirit way of Kong Hongxu (61st generation) File:Kong Hongtai - arch and bixi - P1060139.JPG, Spirit way of Kong Hongtai (61st generation)
The oldest graves found in this location date back to the
Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
. The original tomb erected here in memory of Confucius on the bank of the Sishui River had the shape of an
axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...
. In addition, it had a brick platform for sacrifices. The present-day tomb is a cone-shaped hill. Tombs for the descendants of Confucius and additional stelae to commemorate him were soon added around Confucius' tomb. Since Confucius' descendants were conferred noble titles (
Duke Yansheng The Duke Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Wisdom", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant o ...
) and were given imperial princesses as wives, many of the tombs in the cemetery show the status symbols of noblemen. Tombstones came into use during the Han Dynasty. Today, there are over three thousand stone tablets (mostly, tombstones) dating from China's imperial period still standing in the cemetery. According to an official count, among them there are 22 tablets from the
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
Dynasty, six from Jin, 45 from Yuan, 506 from
Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
and 2626 from Qing still standing in the cemetery. There are also 568 tablets from the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
period and 50 modern (
PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
-era) tablets, as well as 180 tablets whose age cannot be determined; this brings the total to 4003. The Ming burials are primarily found in the western part of the cemetery, and those from the Qing era, in the eastern part. In the Ming section, particularly notable is a comparatively small area located about 1 km to the northwest of the Tomb of Confucius, where about a dozen of Dukes of Yansheng, from the 55th to the 64th generation, have been buried. The dukes' tomb sites in this area are arranged more or less chronologically in rows from the south to the north, and, within each row, from the east of the west. Each duke has his own
spirit way A spirit way () is the ornate road leading to a Chinese tomb of a major dignitary. The term is also sometimes translated as spirit road, spirit path or sacred way. The spirit way is lined on both sides by a succession of statues, pillars, and ...
, oriented from the south to the north, which typically includes (in the south-to-north order) the following sculptures: three pairs of animals (felines, sometimes winged; rams; horses); a memorial arch; a ''
bixi Bixi, or Bi Xi (), is a figure from Chinese mythology. One of the 9 sons of the dragon, 9 sons of the Dragon King, he is depicted as a Chinese dragon, dragon with the shell of a turtle. Stone Chinese sculpture, sculptures of Bixi have been used ...
'' with a stele; two guardian figures (a warrior on the west side of the path, and a civil official on the east side); and a stele in front of the small
tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
under which the duke is buried. A smaller subsidiary area with late Ming - early Qing spirit ways, is located about 500 m northeast of this main area.See e.g. the entry for Kong Shangtan (孔尚坦) i
孔林 - 墓葬 - 族孙墓
More than 10,000 mature trees give the cemetery a forest-like appearance. File:Kong Zhengan - seen from S - P1060221.JPG, Kong Zhengan (63rd generation) File:Kong Shangxian - view from S - P1060216.JPG, Kong Shangxian (64th generation) File:Qufu kong lin spiritway 2010 06 05.jpg, Kong Shangtan (64th-generation) File:Kong Yuqi - spirit way - P1060283.JPG, Kong Yuqi (67th generation) File:Kong Lin - Tomb of Lady Yu - P1060280.JPG, Lady Yu, wife of Kong Xianpei (72nd generation) File:Kong Fanhao - tombstone - seen from south - P1060278.JPG, Kong Fanhao (74th-generation)


See also

*Temple of
Zengzi Zeng Shen (505–435 BC), better known as Zengzi (Master Zeng), courtesy name Ziyu (), was a Chinese philosopher and disciple of Confucius. He later taught Zisi (Kong Ji), the grandson of Confucius, who was in turn the teacher of Mencius, thus b ...
曾廟 * Mencius's sites- Meng family mansion 孟府, Temple of Mencius 孟廟, and Cemetery of Mencius 孟林


References


External links


Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu
{{World Heritage Sites in China Qufu Cemeteries in China Confucius Buildings and structures in Shandong Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shandong World Heritage Sites in China 1331 establishments in Asia 14th-century establishments in China