QuFu, China

After our trip to Mt. Tai we boarded a bus for about an hour to the city of QuFu to spend the night. QuFu is the birth place of Confucius. Confucius is revered here and his descendants actually became Chinese royalty. They were granted land and mansions (over 1500 rooms and 500 servants) and temples by the emperor. There have been 75 generations since Confucius, the last ones escaping to Taiwan at the beginning of the revolution. Confucius didn't have many male heirs, and the 74th generalization male, sired a son by his wife's servant, then he died. His widow poisoned the servant girl. It's a tale of blood and power. That only remaining heir while still a baby was whisked away to Taiwan to escape Maos Red guard. The army came to QuFu and destroyed many of the priceless scrolls, writings and tablets of Confucius. They even desecrated graves and as a result not one of his Taiwan descendants will ever return.

This means...do not climb on the rocks

Original bridge  and fancy rock work that has
 been carved..guess it was too sturdy to beat to pieces.

1000 year old trees

Quite a good job of repairing the pieces.  Confucius tables

This is a wooden structure and it is amazing that it wasn't 
burned down over all of these many years.

This is called a "Gou xin dou jiao".  See how the roof on
 each building fitting together like a puzzle?  This show how
 people should settle problems and live together.  Might
 not always agree but work out a solution.

Many tablets like this all over the Temple grounds...

These two little kids were dying to have their picture taken.
 They love to say "Hello"...sometimes the only English word they know.

This is quite a column...there are twelve around the Temple

One of the rooms had these worship areas for as long
 as you could see...must have been a busy place.

The seat where Confucius would sit

I thought this was a bedroom but only a 
sitting room for important guests.

Confucius would be carried in this"box" by several
 servants or some of  his wifes.

The Emperor would have to pass by this mural daily to
 remind him of his place in the kingdom.

Inside one of the rooms

This is a bedroom for the newly weds.

An interesting story:  Confucius had narrow places like this
 build so the servant girls could not walk shoulder to shoulder
 and gossip about the women.  They had to walk single file...no talking. 
Now that was probably so boring without ANY gossip!

Servants that misbehaved would have to kneel on this
 for a day as a little punishment

Very large forest area that we road around in golf cart
 type carriages.  The entire forest is dotted with headstones of the
 posterity of Confucius.  We were told that so many people in
 QuFu claim to be from the family.

Lane really likes this Confucius Guy..

The actual burial place on the large mount of grassy hill

Many,many people were here to visit the grave.

Confucius Tomb - you can see where this was repaired.

Fresh flowers are placed here everyday.  
551 to 479 BC  That was a long time ago.

The top of the tomb..repair marks again.  Students from 
Peking University spent three days raising cane.

They must worship tree because they go to a great deal
 of trouble to prop them up and never cut down even the dead ones.

A few old and a few new (1000 yrs. new)

This was probably planted in 500 BC

People burn three sticks of incense or the entire
pack if you want more blessings...

This  Temple was built in 500 BC - give or take a few

Buddha - people bow 5 times

Beautiful flowers for the visitors to enjoy

The Bonsai garden...don't you love this entrance

This is our friend from Provo - Andrea McCann.  We knew Andrea 
and her husband in Upland, Calif. when Darin was a baby.  They 
had 10 children!  Her husband passed away about 10 years ago. 
 She is also with the Kennedy Teachers.

Rob and Rae Rancie

You can get an idea of the massive size with the brick wall all around the area.

Men were not allowed into the area of the mansion 
where the women lived.  The water was delivered in this
 rock vat and then it drained into the other part of the mansion.