曲阜 Qufu (pronounced: Chew-foo)

Knocking on Confucious' door...

Hey all,

Here is the long awaited blog about my trip to Qufu! I haven't gotten around to posting it because I have been too busy to sit in front of the computer!! I've been a good girl and have been studying hard! I've just been bumped up into a higher level now too, which means not only does my reading class have twice as many new words as the last one...I now have to take a writing class too. I haven't been to it yet, but it sounds pretty interesting. It's about the break down of individual characters etc. Chinese history is woven into each of the characters and what they're made up of...once you know the break down, it makes it easier to remember too. I'll tell you all about that stuff another time though! This blog is going to be long enough as it is!! :)

This is mostly a post that I wrote just after I got back...I'll do a little editing to make it more up to date, but I'll leave most of it... [also note, this all took place before the semester started..]

We (some of the other students and I...Paul was working!) decided to go on a day trip..and so left early the next day...in peak hour of course! Trying to organise 13 people who don't really know each other (or the city) was difficult to say the least! After debating whether it was worth trying to find 4 taxi's to take us all to the long distance bus station...we caught the bus...

This is the packed bus...it took about 30mins to get to the station! And they just kept letting people on!!

Once we got to the station, it was a 2 hour bus to Qufu. This one wasn't as crowded however, and it had air-con. Most of us weren't used to being up before the sun is in the middle of the sky, so we all had a nap!

Some scenery on the way...we chose a nice day! A little smoggy, but we've seen a lot worse!

They've just harvested the corn...and they leave it to dry on the road!! In other areas, it's on roofs or actually on the road leading off the highway in a checker pattern...people just drive around it.

Entrance to 孔庙和孔府 (Confucious' Mansions and Temple). Look at the old twisted Pines!

Finally, we arrived at Qufu. The first thing we did was find a toilet. I think it's always a sign in China that if you have to pay for it....DON'T USE IT!!!!! As you can imagine, almost all of the girls needed to go, so we all paid our cash (it was only 0.5rmb, but still..) and lined up. These were definitely the worst toilets I have seen so far...in my whole life. It was a trough that ran about 30 cms deep under 4 stalls, with no running water (everything just sat there in the trench) and the doors on the front of the stalls were not only too short (anyone walking past could see you trying to pull up your pants..) but they also just swung open. Once you were behind these swinging doors...there were no partitions between the stalls! It was a little off putting! Extremely dirty! Perhaps the man collecting money was a scam...these hadn't been cleaned or looked after for a very long time!!

Ok so, after toilets, and then some lunch, we had to decide what we'd all do next. After another long debate (note to self: don't travel in a big group!) we split up and bought tickets only to the places we wanted to go. Qufu is divided into 3 parts (well the touristy bit is): Confucious Forest, Confucious Mansions and Confucious Temple. I decided that I'd save some cash and only see the forest and the mansions.

This is the Bell Tower which is on the was from the Forest to the Mansions. The 3 facing the camera are (r-l) Florie and Francois (they're both French) and Anna (she's German).

First I went to the Confucious Mansions. When Confucious was around, he was relatively poor and did not become famous until after he died. His descendents were lucky...and lived like kings. They had the most amazing aristocratic lodgings in all of China! The Mansions have some 450 halls, rooms, buildings, and side passages - needless to say I didn't get to see them all!! The Kong family's (Conficious' real name was 孔子 Kongzi - family name Kong) mansions and surrounding area was even an autonomous state at one stage!! They had powers of taxation and execution! They ended up building a wall around the mansions (and later the forest too)...of course it was to keep those pesky rabbits out. Those who lived in the city were all servants etc of the family. In case they decided to rebel...the Kong family built a nifty hideout they called the "Tower of Refuge"! It has an iron-clad ceiling on the ground floor and a staircase that could be yanked up into the inside and lots of room for food etc so they could stay there till it calmed down outside!!

Here's some pics of what I saw:

One of the many passages through buildings.

The big character here means 'longevity'. It was a gift from the Qing empress Cixi. (The Kong family were so well known that they received gifts from the emperors etc!

While everyone is watching something...I'm taking photo's of the ceiling! It's so beautiful though! They don't make 'em like this any more...now we're lucky to get a ceiling at all! Sometimes it's just pipes!

A bit of creative photography...I am a noob in China.

A handwritten series of Confucian analects

It's the little things....

After wandering around the mansions for a while, I started towards the Forest. The street between the Mansions/Temple and the Forest, is lined with vendors. After a while in China you get used to ignoring them and always looking indifferent, which helps to get a good bargain! In the end I bought a large silk scroll painting of bamboo with some Confucian writings (...that I can't read coz they're in calligraphy - but it looks beautiful!). I also bought some slip on 'inside-the-house' shoes that are made entirely from some sort of reed/bamboo, a poster of Chairman Mao when he's about 20something, and lots of other little trinket things that tourists love! I like tourist shopping!! :) I'm a sucker!

Now the forest! It's the largest artificial park and best preserved cemetary in China. The Kong family have been buried here for over 2000 years. Pretty cool huh! You can even see the writing change from 'seal' script, to traditional characters, and now to simplified (Mao simplified the writing when he was in charge...to make it accessible to the workers, farmers, etc). I was wandering around with Arne, who learnt only traditional characters in both Belgium and Taiwan before coming to Jinan. He helped translate a little of what we saw.

A tomb in the Forest!

Arne and I

A view of some of the tombs.

The tranquil scenery!

Some of this one is in seal script!

The guards....

This little guy left his own mark! (Note to Dad: I was showing Arne how to look for the little things when we found him!! teehee)

After the forest, we all met up and waited for the bus. The driver had said that the last bus left at 6.30pm so we waited for 40 somthing mins...and no one came. We called the number that the driver had given us and were informed that the last bus was already back in Jinan (remember...it's a 2 hour trip!) So we jumped in the pedicabs and they took us to the nearest bus station...and we eventually got home! It wasn't so bad though...the pedicabs were one of the best things during the whole trip!!! The guy starts pedalling and then we get onto the highway and he switches to electicity and we zoom along! It was awesome!

Liz and Tegan in the pedicab.

We also rode in one of these too (just for the fun of it!!) We took it from the Mansions to the Forest...it's a whole 20min walk!

Ok...that's all from me for now...an update on school will be coming really soon! I promise!

xox

Over and out.