Cemetery of Confucius

The Cemetery of Confucius is a cemetery of the Kong clan (the descendants of Confucius) in Confucius' hometown Qufu in Shandong province. Confucius himself and some of his disciples are buried there, as well as many thousands of his descendants.

Since 1994, the Cemetery of Confucius has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu". The two other components of the site are the Temple of Confucius dedicated to the memory of the philosopher and the Kong Family Mansion, where his descendants lived. The three sites are collectively known in Qufu as San Kong (三孔), i.e. "The Three Confucian [sites]".

History
By the 2nd century AD, at least 50 of Confucius's descendants had been buried alongside him. In 1331 construction work began on the wall and gate of the cemetery. In total, the cemetery has undergone 13 renovations and extensions. Eventually, by the late 18th century, the perimeter wall reached a length of 7.5 km, enclosing an area of 3.6 km2. In this space, the tombs of more than 100,000 descendants of Confucius, who have been buried there over a period of about 2,000 years, can be found. The oldest graves date back to the Zhou dynasty, the most recent of which belong to descendants in the 76th and 78th generation.

During the wars between the Song dynasty and the Jurchen Jin, the surrounding region was occupied by Wanyan Zonghan's force. Among them, there were soldiers who wanted to dig up Confucius's tomb. Wanyan Zonghan (完顏宗翰/粘沒喝) then asked his translator Gao Xingrui (高慶裔), "Who is Confucius?" "A great saint from the ancient time." answered Gao. Wanyan Zonghan said, "How can we dig up a great saint's tomb!" He then executed the soldiers who wanted to do so.

The cemetery suffered serious damage in November 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, when it was visited and vandalized by a team of Red Guards from Beijing Normal University, led by Tan Houlan. The corpse of the 76th generation Duke Yansheng Kong Lingyi (1872-1919), a late Qing official known for his collaboration with Japan, was removed from its grave and hung naked from a tree in front of the palace during the Cultural Revolution.

Layout
The Cemetery of Confucius is located north of the historic walled city of Qufu, about two kilometers north of the Temple and Mansion of Confucius (which are in the south-central part of the walled city), and 1.5 km north of the Temple of Yan Hui, dedicated to the sage's favorite student (which is just inside the northern gates of the city wall). The main north-central axis of the walled city, Gulou Jie ("Drum Tower Avenue"), becomes Beiguan Jie ("North Gate Avenue") after passing through the north gate of the city wall. The avenue runs north for 1266 m as a wide boulevard decorated with the Wan gu chang chun (萬古長春) memorial arch and lined by cypresses and pine trees, finally arriving at the main (southern) gates of the cemetery.

The cemetery occupies 183.33 ha and is surrounded by a perimeter wall 5,591 m long.