Cemetery of Confucius
The Cemetery of Confucius（Chinese:孔林） lies to the north of the town of Qufu. The oldest graves found in this location date back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-256 BC). The original tomb erected in memory of Confucius on the bank of the Sishui River had the shape of an axe. In addition, it had a brick platform for sacrifices.
The present-day tomb is a cone-shaped hill. Tombs for the descendants of Confucius were soon added around Confucius' tomb. Since Confucius' descendants were given noble titles and were given imperial princesses as wives, many of the tombs in the cemetery show the status symbols of the noblemen. Tombstones started being used during the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD).
Today, there are about 3,600 tombstones dating from the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties still standing in the cemetery. In 1331 construction work began on the wall and gate of the cemetery. In total, the cemetery has undergone 13 renovations and extensions.
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