Qufu
Discover Qufu
Qufu (曲阜 Qūfù) is a town in Shandong Province, located about 2 hours by bus from the provincial capital Jinan. Famous as the birthplace and the hometown of Confucius, its Confucius-related sites have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Qufu is known as the "Holy City of the East". Here there is no commercial hustle and bustle, only a millennium of history, making for a quiet cultural journey.
What to Experience in Qufu
Taste of Qufu...
A great variety of restaurants can be found in the eastern part of the old walled city, a block or two east of Gulou Ave (the main north south street of the old city). For Halal food, fresh produce, tofu, baked goods, etc. head to the Muslim neighborhood: Xiguan St that runs west from the old city's west gate. Most restaurants you will easily find have marked up prices due to the tourist nature of the city. Beware asking cab drivers or "wooden cab" drivers as they seem to receive kickbacks. You can expect to pay at least ¥100 getting a meal for two if you are not careful and savvy. Finding a place to sleep isn't difficult, as you will probably be approached by people offering accommodation. Outside of the tourist season you can probably bargain pretty hard on the prices. There are a large number of small and mid size hotels within the walled city, on the main north south street and in the blocks to the east. There are also bigger and somewhat more modern looking hotels in the streets south of the walled city, near the visitor center.
A Rich Past
Explore the historical roots that shaped Qufu into what it is today.
Qufu has more than 2,500 years of history. Best known as the hometown of China's "first sage", Confucius, it was the home of his descendants who often ruled the place as feudal lords for many centuries, until being forced by the Communist revolution to leave China's mainland for Taiwan. The center of the national cult of Confucius, and the birthplace of the mythical Yellow Emperor (the legendary founder of the Chinese nation), Qufu saw many emperors decorate its temples with stone tablets (steles), praising Confucius and other heroic figures of the past. Usually written in Chinese, but during some dynasties also in Mongol or Manchu, these steles are among the most characteristic objects to be found at the city's historical sites. The most important of them are supported by mighty stone tortoises (which since the Ming era have become known as bixi). Entire books have been published in China cataloguing Qufu's steles and transcribing their content. Since the Han Dynasty's "exclusive veneration of Confucianism," the Confucianism founded by Confucius has become the mainstream doctrine in Chinese society, and Qufu has consequently become a revered cultural holy site for successive dynasties. For over two thousand years, countless emperors, generals, scholars, and literati have made pilgrimages, leaving behind numerous stone tablets (steles) in the Confucius Temple and Confucius Cemetery....
Climate
Qufu lies in southwestern Shandong Province and has a temperate monsoon climate with four distinct seasons.Summers are generally hot and humid, winters cool to cold, and spring and autumn transitional periods tend to be short. Precipitation is mainly concentrated in summer months, while winters are relatively dry. On average, the yearly mean temperature in Qufu is 14–15 °C. The hottest month is July, when average daytime highs reach around 32 °C and nighttime lows around 23 °C. The coldest month is January, with average highs near 4 °C and lows around –6 °C. Annual rainfall totals 820–850 mm, with the bulk of rain falling in summer especially July and August, when monthly precipitation often exceeds 220 mm. The driest months are typically January and December, with rainfall below 15 mm.
Essential Information
Best Time to Visit
Apr – Octbest time to visit Qufu is usually in spring (April–May) or autumn (September–October), when temperatures are moderate and rainfall is less frequent....
Getting There
Multiple OptionsBus from Jinan is the usual way, or on a tour. There are buses all day, but check the last departure or you may be spending the night. There are regular buses from Tai'an (1 hour), Qingdao (5 hours), and other major cities within the province. There are two main railway lines between Beijing and Shanghai: the high speed line opened in 2011, and the century old "conventional" railway. If you are also visiting Mencius Temple and Mansion in the nearby Zoucheng, you may choose to travel by train to Zoucheng (which is also on the Beijing Shanghai mainline), and go to Qufu by bus (¥6-7, about 30 min travel time) or taxi. However, buses stop running around 18:00. The closest airport to Qufu is the rather misleadingly named Jining Qufu Airport. While the airport is fairly close to Jining, the capital of the prefecture that Qufu belongs to, it is over 90 km from Qufu by road. Bus J963 can take you from the airport to Qufu....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Walk or if you stand in one place too long, hordes of people will offer to transport you via all manner of vehicle, from rickshaw, to bicycle, to taxi, to beast. The historical central city, surrounded by the restored Ming-era city wall and a moat, and containing Confucius Temple and Kong Family Mansion near its center, is about a mile across, and is small enough to walk. The modern visitor center is located outside the southern gate of the city wall. From the northern gate one can walk to the Confucius Cemetery (Confucius Forest) along a pleasant tree-lined (and, in the summer, vendor-lined) avenue. Qufu has a small and inexpensive local bus system. The buses run along the east-west street south of the walled city, and can be used to travel to various locations on the city's outskirts, such as Shou Qiu (see below), the Qufu Railway Station (see below), and the intercity bus station.
Where to Stay
Finding a place to sleep isn't difficult, as you will probably be approached by people offering accommodation. Outside of the tourist season you can probably bargain pretty hard on the prices. There are a large number of small and mid size hotels within the walled city, on the main north south street and in the blocks to the east. There are also bigger and somewhat more modern looking hotels in the streets south of the walled city, near the visitor center.
Money & Budget
There are tourist stands all around the temples and shouts of "hello! hello!" can be irritating. The main buys are copies of the Analects and a "chop" with your name engraved on it or something like that. Otherwise, it's the usual tourist stuff. Rubbings of inscriptions: These are the most distinctive high end cultural souvenirs of Qufu. Rubbings of original steles (such as the famous Han Dynasty steles in the Confucius Temple) are cultural relics and are strictly prohibited from being made or sold. Rubbings sold on the market are all made from newly made replicas of the original steles, and are divided into red rubbings and black rubbings. When purchasing, pay attention to whether the content is a famous passage or inquire about the mounting.
Safety Information
Glimpses of Qufu
Zhongshan Park 中山公園
A street in old Qufu, Shandong, China
A city street with buildings and cars on a rainy day
A bunch of boxes of food sitting outside of a building
A woman standing in front of a store window
A man riding a skateboard down a street next to a building
a sign that is on the side of a wall
Zhongshan Park 中山公園
A street in old Qufu, Shandong, China
A city street with buildings and cars on a rainy day
A bunch of boxes of food sitting outside of a building
A woman standing in front of a store window
A man riding a skateboard down a street next to a building