The Cemetery of Confucius, traditionally known as the Kong Forest (Kong Lin), is the burial place of Confucius and generations of his descendants in Qufu. Following the philosopher’s death in 479 BC, what began as a simple grave gradually expanded into the oldest and largest family cemetery in the world, covering around 200 hectares and containing more than 100,000 tombs, together with thousands of historical stelae and memorial monuments. Together with the Temple and the Confucius Mansion, it forms the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Three Confucian Sites.
More than a cemetery, Kong Forest is a cultural landscape where ancestor veneration and Confucian tradition have continued for over seventy generations. Tree-lined avenues lead visitors to the tombs of Confucius, his son Kong Li and his grandson Kong Ji, surrounded by an extraordinary collection of stone monuments that preserve the history of one of the world’s longest continuous family lineages. Although severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, the cemetery remains one of China’s most important sites of cultural pilgrimage.
- Address
Lindao Rd, Qufu, Jining, Shandong, China - Web
None - Visiting Hours
Every day from 8:00am to 6:00pm - What to see
The Tomb of Confucius, tombs of Kong Li and Kong Ji, forest of stelae and funerary monuments
