Beijing-Qufu Tour via Overnight Train

Highlights:

�Visit the hometown of one of the world's greatest and legendary philosophers, Confucius. You will visit his temple, mansion and cemetery in Qufu, Shandong province. All three sites colelctively were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994

�he price of the tour includes train tickets along with your own personal English-speaking guide and driver, who will pick you up and drop you off at both the Beijing and Qufu railway stations

(B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner)

Package Price

Price is based on the time of travel and number of customers. Please inquire through the form on the left side of the page, we'll quote the best price we can get. As this tour package involves domestic transfers, the package price will vary from time to time because of the changing airfares and hotel rates.

TOUR ITINERARY

Tour code:
P-BJQUFU

Day 1 : Beijing-Qufu

At about 10:15pm your English-speaking guide and driver will come to your hotel and drive you to the Beijing Railway Station in order for you to take the overnight train to Qufu. With a history of more than five thousand years, Qufu is the legendary birthplace of many Chinese sages, such as Confucius and Mencius.

To memorialize these great sages, the locals built temples and cemeteries, later opened to the general public as tourist attractions. The most famous attractions are the Temple of Confucius (Kong Miao), the Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin) and the Kong Family Mansion (Kong Fu), together now called the Three Kongs. The Three Kongs was listed in the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1994, along with a comment that said: "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."

Day 2 : Qufu (B, L)

Upon arrival at the Qufu train station you will be met by your local English-speaking guide adnd river. After a refreshing breakfast we'll get started on your tour by first visiting the Temple of Confucius. Temple of Confucius is one of the most renowned Confucius temples in China, and certainly among the most important.

The Temple of Confucius was built to worship Confucius (September 28, 551 BC – 479 BC), the Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life by Chinese Feudal dynasty. It is a group of grand, majestic, oriental-featured ancient buildings. It is the second largest scale Chinese ancient buildings (the largest one is the Forbidden City in Beijing). The temple, now listed as China’s Top Three Ancient Buildings (the other two are: the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Summer Resort in Chengde) and played an important role in the world’s architecture history, was built at the site of Confucius’ former residence with a standard of ancient Chinese imperial palace.

The Temple of Confucius was first built by Luaigong (the emperor of Lu) in 478 BC – the second year after Confucius’ death. Later on, the temple was rebuilt by many past emperors for expansion. The latest expansion was accomplished by Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty.

After our tour of the Temple of Confucius we'll next head to the Kong Family Mansion. The Kong Family Mansion, also called the Holly Mansion, was where the descendants of Confucius lived. In Chinese history, Confucius’ descendants were called “Yanshenggong”. The Kong Family Mansion is a massive structure, almost as large as the mansions of the emperors in the Ming Dynasty (1364-1683) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

In the beginning, the Mansion included more than 170 buildings with more than 560 rooms. Now, the Mansion has 152 buildings with 480 rooms, as some of the original buildings were damaged or destroyed throughout history. Some of these buildings were established during the Ming Dynasty, and most were built during the Qing Dynasty. The total area of the preserved Kong Family Mansion is as more than 12,740 square meters.

Numerous precious historical relics are preserved in the Kong Family Mansion, including calligraphies of emperors, royal poetry, books and royal instruments. Almost everything bestowed to Confucius and his descendants by emperors of past dynasties to show their honor to them is preserved here. Confucius� descendants got into the habit of collecting these ancient relics to enrich their collection. Until now, the Kong Family Mansion maintains its original furnishings from the late Qing Dynasty and the early days of the Republic of China, 1912-1949.

Our last stop on your Qufu tour will be the Confucius Family Graveyard. The Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin called in Chinese) is located at the north gate of Qufu (about 1 km north of Qufu). It is the largest family cemetery in the world, and with the longest history. Confucius died in April 479 BC and was buried in the northern part of Lu City (now called Qufu), where his descendants were also buried after their deaths. More than 1,000 trees were planted since Zigong, one of Confucius� favorite pupils, planted the first tree.

The Cemetery of Confucius was repaired and rebuilt 13 times by the emperors of many Chinese dynasties since the Han Dynasty (202 BC�220 AD). Guo Moruo (1892-1978), one of the most famous Chinese modern writers, praised the cemetery: �The Cemetery of Confucius is one of the best nature museums and preserves the annals of Confucius� family.� Nowadays, the Cemetery of Confucius plays an important role in the analysis and development of ancient Chinese politics, the economy and culture, as well as changes in Chinese funeral customs.

After the tour you will be taken to back to the Qufu train station for your overnight train back to Beijing.

Day 3 : Qufu-Beijing

Upon arrival at Beijing Rialway Station you will be met by your guide andd river, who will drive you back to your hotel.

Flight Information

Beijing-Qufu: K51 23:31-08:19

Qufu-Beijing: K52 21:11-05:13