Qufu (Clay's visit)

As a mid way stop between Beijing and Jiangsu province (where I live) Clay and I went to Qufu, which is best known as the home of Confucius, the ever important ancient scholar. Because he lived 2500 years ago, there’s a fair amount of confusion (or distortion) about the specifics of Confucius’ life (even as to exactly if ‘he’ existed). Regardless, his descendents did a fantastic job of promoting his legacy and spreading his philosophical/religious teachings across China and other parts of Asia. He is revered throughout the country, and thus Qufu, where he (supposedly) lived, taught, and is buried, has been restored and is filled with museums and shops. From what I’ve read or heard, I pretty much disagree with all of Confucius’ teachings, but that’s beside the point.
At the center of Qufu is a walled in old city, which contains the Confucius palace, ancient home, and all the shops, etc. It has been rebuilt as a traditional Chinese village, and offers a very nice respite from the wide streets and white tile buildings that are the norm in the rest of the country. We had a really nice time walking around, mostly people watching, and enjoying some of the snacks from the various street vendors. The Confucius Temple was pretty interesting, and had a fair amount of English signs. It was pretty similar to other temples I have visited, but I think Clay really enjoyed it. I had to remember that I have been here for a year, and seen a few ancient Chinese temples, so they don’t seem as neat to me. After checking the temple out, we bought some beers, some tasty food from a street vendor, and sat on one of the park benches and watched the town shut down. I may get tired of temples, but I’ll never get tired of people watching the Chinese.

Clay got to see just how sketchy of hotels I am willing to stay in while we were in Qufu. It was in the guidebook, and as we sauntered through the hallway after climbing some unmarked stairs, a guy came out of a room, and after I asked, walked us into a souvenir shop out on the street. I chatted with the young girl (presumably his daughter) who was super shy and apparently couldn’t speak in English (despite 6 years of English classes). The room was outrageously dusty, the air conditioning didn’t seem to work, our view consisted of a bundle of wires and scrap metal on a roof, but the naked woman image on the tile in the bathroom made up for it all.
We experienced the best thing Qufu has to offer early the next day. We headed to the Confucius Forest, which is located at the edge of town. It was absolutely awesome. The forest is filled with the tombs of almost all of Confucius’ ancestors, as well as his supposed burial area. There are pretty cool, iconic statues at various places near the trail. It seemed as if you couldn’t look in any direction without seeing a large gravestone. For most of our walk, we were the only people around; it was really nice to get out of the bustle, hear the birds chirp, enjoy nature, and the smallness/historical perspective that seeing graves from forty generations of a family gave me.

The funniest thing we saw in Qufu occurred as we walked on some of the outer streets at night, sipping beer and checking out the city. We heard a loudspeaker blasting from some store on a corner. I listened as well as I could and it seemed like there was some sort of contest or games going on. We crossed the street for a better look. Indeed, it was a children’s birthday party inside a restaurant. This restaurant was China’s Best Chicken, or CBC, an almost perfect copy of the widely popular KFC. If the Chinese are good at one thing (and they’re actually good at many) it’s copying American/Western businesses. It’s done in all industries, to many different levels of proficiencies. You’ve heard of fake iPhones or fake purses, but Qufu is boasting it’s very own fake fast food restaurant chain.