Day 32 Qufu

June 27, 2011 (Monday)

Thirty-second day in China, second day in Qufu: 孔府 Kong mansion, 孔林 Confucius’ grave, 孔庙 Confucian temple, 北京 Beijing

Hanno and I walked to Kongfu, the “Kong mansion”, or the complex where the descendants of Confucius lived from the 14th Century on. The gray brick buildings did not look old. A few rooms showed bedchambers as they were used by the last occupants of the estate. Big cupboards sat against the wall. The room had a high cieling, but the bed was recessed in the back wall, with a very low entry. At the back of the complex was a garden. We took a cab 1.5km to the stone gate on the road leading to the Confucian forest, where Confucius, or 孔子 Kongzi, is buried. The inscription read: 萬古長春. We walked a stone path into the forest. Passed many mounds and tombstones. A large stele with a gold inscription stood in front of a mound of earth, the grave of Kongzi. It looked much like Yue Fei’s grave in Hangzhou. We took a bicycle cab back to the Confucian temple, a complex with several large wooden halls with colorful ceilings and eaves.

From the bus station Hanno left for Qingdao, and I for Taian. I talked to some guys from Taian and watched music videos on a TV in the bus. In Taian I ate some dumplings for a snack and caught a high-speed train four hours to Beijing. I arrived at Beijing South Station and a young woman who had ridden the same train kindly showed me how to buy subway tickets at the window (the machines in Beijing won’t take 1 yuan bills, but also won’t give coins). I took the subway up to northeast Beijing to my hosts’ place.

KM