Name: Qufu

Title: Oriental Holy City; Hometown of Confucius

Population: 615,300 (permanent population)

Area: 815 square kilometers

Geography and transportation

Qufu is located between the Yangtze River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces. It is adjacent to the blue economic zone in Shandong peninsula and the central plains economic zone.

It is an emerging transport hub in southwestern Shandong. Its high-speed railways and highways radiate in all directions.

Administrative divisions

Qufu governs eight towns – Wucun, Yaocun, Lingcheng, Nishan, Xizou, Wangzhuang, Shimenshan and Fangshan – four subdistricts – Lucheng, Shuyuan, Shizhuang, Xiaoxue – and 457 village committees.

Economy

In 2023, Qufu's GDP hit 40.76 billion yuan ($5.63 billion).

Culture and tourism

Qufu, a county-level city in Jining, Shandong province, was the capital of Lu Kingdom in the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771BC) and Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256BC). It has rich tourism resources and cultural heritage. It was in the first batch of 24 historical and cultural cities announced by the State Council and the first batch of China's outstanding tourist cities.

The Three Confucian Sites (the Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion), as a world cultural heritage site, is very classical in style. The "New San Kong", including Nishan Sacred Land, the Confucius Museum and Confucius Research Institute, are becoming more and more popular. Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies provides a physical platform for research into Confucianism.

There are 11 3A-level and 4A-level scenic spots in the city. The Three Confucian Sites were collectively rated as a national 5A-level scenic spot in 2007. There are 819 cultural relic sites, 195 historic and cultural sites protected at the national, municipal and district level, and 205 intangible cultural heritages. The Confucian Memorial Ceremony was named in the country's first batch of intangible cultural heritages.

The Three Confucian Sites scenic area [Photo/Official WeChat account of the information office of the Jining municipal government]

Nishan Sacred Land [Photo/Official WeChat account of the information office of the Jining municipal government]