Tomb Of Confucius

Confucius Cemetery, Qufu

Confucius is buried here - or is he? The cemetery was desecrated by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, but when they opened Confucius' grave, no human remains were found. It is a mystery.

The seeming peacefulness of this scene is misleading. The spot is overrun by tourists (including, of course, us) and spoiled by the incessant din of electric cart horns blasting their way up and down the Spirit Road, and - even worse - by the screaming of innumerable tourist guides (not ours, of course) through their megawatt-powered megaphones. Handling large crowds of visitors is a problem in cultural heritage management of the popular sites, not only in China, but in many other countries too.