Tomb Sweeping Festival 2014
During the Tomb Sweeping Holiday, my husband and I went to Qufu, and on the way we climbed Mount Tai. When my coworkers excitedly told me that he was going to climb Mount Tai, I asked, “Why?” I had never heard of it before and I didn’t understand his fascination with it. I asked some of my Chinese coworkers about it and they confirmed that it was the top of the top 5 mountains in China and they also told me about Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. This immediately sparked my interest because I wanted to go somewhere culturally significant and not so popular because I have a crowd aversion. So I decided to visit Mount Tai despite teasing my coworker for going there. My attitude towards Mount Tai is this: I’m glad we went there; it was challenging and I felt accomplished afterwards; the sunrise was really beautiful; it was horribly crowded and the sunrise alone is not worth the journey.
Negativity aside, Qufu was really beautiful and without a doubt the highlight of our trip. As I said before, I have a crowd aversion so traveling anywhere during a public holiday is generally not a good idea, but Qufu was nice, quiet, and calm. First we visited the Confucius cemetery late in the day so the sun was setting. Having just climbed down Mount Tai, we didn’t quite have enough energy to explore the whole cemetery, but we saw the main site–Confucius’s burial mound and wandered through the fields of lavender topped burial mounds and stone tablets.
The next day, we visited the Confucius Temple and Mansion. My favorite part of the Confucius Temple complex was the Apricot Altar where Confucius preached his teachings to his disciples. Behind that stood the temple itself, which was a very large building and housed a statue and shrine devoted to Confucius.
The highlight of the Confucius Mansion was the longevity scroll presented to the Kong family by Empress Dowager Cixi.
Both complexes had very old and beautiful architecture with great aesthetic gateways. I really enjoyed the peace and calm of Qufu and I highly recommend to other people who share my crowd aversion. The old town is very small and walkable. Additionally, the International Youth Hostel of Qufu was the most beautiful hostel I’ve ever seen.