Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu


World Heritage Identification Number: 704

World Heritage since: 1994

Category: Cultural Heritage

Transboundary Heritage: No

Endangered Heritage: No

Country: 🇨🇳 China

Continent: Asia

UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific

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Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu: A Cultural Legacy of Ancient China

The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu, Shandong Province, China, is a significant UNESCO World Heritage Site that offers a unique glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of ancient China. This complex of monuments, built to honor the renowned philosopher, politician, and educator Confucius (551–479 BC), has been revered for over two millennia by successive Chinese emperors.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator of the 6th–5th centuries B.C., are located at Qufu, in Shandong Province. Built to commemorate him in 478 B.C., the temple has been destroyed and reconstructed over the centuries; today it comprises more than 100 buildings. The cemetery contains Confucius' tomb and the remains of more than 100,000 of his descendants. The small house of the Kong family developed into a gigantic aristocratic residence, of which 152 buildings remain. The Qufu complex of monuments has retained its outstanding artistic and historic character due to the devotion of successive Chinese emperors over more than 2,000 years.

Encyclopedia Record: Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu

Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu, Shandong Province of China, include Temple of Confucius, Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion.

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Additional Site Details

Area: 183 hectares

UNESCO Criteria: (i) — Masterpiece of human creative genius
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions

Coordinates: 35.613215 , 116.994561

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Nearby World Heritage Sites

Mount Taishan
73 km — China
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Country Information: China

Flag of China

Official Name: People's Republic of China

Capital: Beijing

Continent: Asia

Population (2024): 1,408,975,000

Population (2023): 1,410,710,000

Population (2022): 1,412,175,000

Land Area: 9,388,210 sq km

Currency: Chinese yuan (CNY)

Country Data Sources

Last updated: January 18, 2026

Portions of the page Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu are based on data from UNESCO — World Heritage List Dataset and on text from the Wikipedia article Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes made. Additional original content by World Heritage Explorer (WHE), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. WHE is not affiliated with UNESCO or the World Heritage Committee. Legal Notice. Privacy Policy.

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