Disclaimer: I meant to publish this more than three weeks ago, but thanks to shoddy Internet, it reaches you now.
“Isn’t it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn’t it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when he is not understood by people around him, isn’t he a sage?” -Confucius
November reached our little group in Jinan with chilly days and rainy nights. In the span of two weeks, the weather shifted from humid days in the 80s, to the low 40s, making us pull out our sweaters and mittens in a frenzy. We also quickly found out that the heating in our dorms isn’t activated until late November, which has resulted in wearing lots of layers and thick socks to bed. The new month also meant that it was time for our trip to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius.
Confucius, or Kong Zi, was one of the great (many say the greatest), Chinese sages. During our lecture about his life and teachings, the professor used the moniker “Chinese Jesus” to describe how influential his thoughts have been. Born in 558 B.C. to a concubine, Confucius is said to have been so ugly that he was abandoned in a mountain cave. It was only after his parents discovered that the child was being kept alive by the milk of a mother tiger and cooled by the wings of great eagle that they decided the kid might be kind of special and decided to keep him (other records state that he was born to a fairly wealthy family and the whole tiger/eagle thing might not be true). His father died early on his life, leading to a modest upbringing and lots of hard work. At the age of thirty, Confucius was an established teacher, creating the first private school in China. There, he taught the great arts of archery, music, social rites, chariot driving, arithmetic, and calligraphy. His school was especially unique as it provided exemplary education to non-aristocratic students. While the six great arts were vastly important at the time, Confucius is largely remembered for his concepts of ren and li. Ren can roughly be translated as “great love” or humanness while li refers to rites and customs. Confucianism also revolves heavily around notions of filial piety and junzi, or being a virtuous man.
On our first full day in Qufu, we visited the Confucius temple. Even though Confucianism is not technically a religion and Confucius was a real person and never a saint or god, he still has a very large temple complete with incense and a place to hang prayers. The complex was large and peaceful with traditional architecture from the Han, Song, Jiu, and Yuan dynasties. I will never cease to be amazed at how artifacts from the ancient Chinese dynasties will be displayed with no protection for tourists to touch and climb around on. A lot of artifacts are good luck to touch, but like, they’re thousands of years old and it just feels wrong to watch hundreds of people pet them and pose for pictures. Unfortunately, many things in the temple were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution as members of the Red Guard saw Confucianism as not being pro-revolution. Despite the touching and various other destructions the grounds have suffered, it remains a beautiful complex full of trees, pavilions, and temples devoted to Confucius and his wife.
The second half of the day we spent at the Confucius cemetery where the man himself, along with countless other descendants, have been buried. Male descendants along with their wives and concubines are allowed to be
buried there, but all female descendants have to make other plans. One of my least favorite things about Confucius and his legacy are his philosophies about women’s roles in society. The school that he opened was influential for poorer students, but no women were allowed to study. In Confucius’ writings, the ideal woman is complacent and should try her hardest to appease her husband. While it might not be fair to say that Confucius was responsible for creating gender disparity, his philosophies definitely carved a pathway for Chinese gender roles.
The famous cave
Our last morning was spent at the Kong manor, which Confucius never actually lived in, but was created by his descendants. It was a really beautiful compound with large gardens, many trees, and over 400 rooms. Later, all nine of us piled into our van and drove to a village near Ni Shan (mount Ni), which is actually where Confucius’ legendary cave is. On the mountain there is a temple dedicated to Kong He, Confucius’ father, along with a few halls of a Confucian academy. It was a rainy day with grey clouds, but it fit the small temple on top of the mountain. Many Cyprus trees and bright red and gold archways lined the grounds giving it a studious atmosphere. On the walk down, we reached the cave, which was… cave like.
On our trip to Qufu, we got to celebrate a very special day. Our group’s co-leader, Professor Guo celebrated her 50th birthday. Along with a delicious and massive dinner, Professor Zhang got a cake covered in fruits and frosting. During my time in China, I have felt so lucky to have both Zhang lao shi and Guo lao shi. Both of them have become my mothers over the 
course of the trip, pushing me to work hard and do challenging things, but always there to try and make things go smoothly. Our group is so little that we do most things all together; hence, we’ve all become very close. It’s so comforting to know that we have Professors Guo and Zhang to reach out to. I really don’t know how to capture my gratitude towards our two professors in words. In short, both of them have been essential to creating the experience we have all had here.