2015 China

6 April, Qufu
Huancheng Hotel 98CNY

Within the restored Ming-era moat and wall of Qufu’s old city lie the Confucius Temple and Kong Family Mansion, which we visited today.

In the past 2000-plus years, the Temple of Confucius has undergone 15 major renovations and 31 large repairs, many undertaken following fire, desecration and, in 1966, destruction of statues during the Cultural Revolution. “The temple complex is the second largest historical building complex in China (after the Forbidden City) ... it covers an area of 16,000 square metres and has a total of 460 rooms ... The main part of the temple consists of 9 courtyards ... The buildings ... are impressive structures with yellow roof-tiles (otherwise reserved for the emperor) and red-painted walls ... they are surrounded by dark-green pine trees to create a color contrast ... The Dacheng Hall is the architectural center ... It is supported by 28 richly decorated pillars, each 6m high and 0.8m in diameter and carved in one piece out of local rock. The 10 columns on the front side of the hall are decorated with coiled dragons. It is said that these columns were covered during visits by the emperor in order not to arouse his envy. Dacheng Hall served as the principal place for offering sacrifices to the memory of Confucius (Wikipedia)”.

Unesco.org: “Lying to the east of the Temple, the Kong Family Mansion developed from a small family house linked to the temple into an aristocratic mansion in which the male direct descendants of Confucius lived and worked ... it now covers 7 hectares with a total of some 170 buildings ...”