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Published: September 22nd 2007
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The Tourist Honeypot at Qu Fu
Along this lane leading to the Confucius Mansion are many stalls trying to sell trinkets to the tourists - of whom we saw abouit six. Our Trip to Qu Fu
On Saturday we got up early, rode bikes to the bus station, and caught a bus for Qu Fu (pronounced Choo Foo) which is Confucius's birthplace. We were told the trip would take three hours, but it took three hours and 40 minutes, and the first forty minutes were spent getting out of Lin Yi, and crawling along touting for passengers. Eventually we arrived in Qu Fu, a nice clean town, whose economy seems to revolve around the Confucius family mansion, the Confucius Temple, and the Confucius Forest in which the sage is buried. By Chinese standards the entrance fee is very steep - we had to check that if we paid for it we had enough money to get us home. Since I was allowed in at half price because of my age, we had enough. A girl tried to sell me a guide book at 12 yuan, but gave it to me and returned my money when the police arrived. So it was obviously illegal to sell the book. Then someone offered it to me officially at less than half the price. The Confucius Mansion consisted of a large number of rooms off
Resting before the performance
These young actors were getting ready for a performance just for us and few other selected VIPs. various sized courtyards, and after a few, the whole became a bit tedious. Even when we lashed out 0.10 euros on some turkish delight, that was disappointing, too, being chewy, and not sweet. Since we were visiting the mansion and the temple in the wrong order, we got involved in a walk of over a kilometer. Before going into the temple I wanted a quick snack.
French at last!
As we were looking around for a place to eat in a man asked me in English if we were going to see the ceremony. A special cermony was about to take place, for the benefit of the chief of Police and a few selected visitors, among whom he and now we, were included. We learnt that he was the Taiwanese minister of Culture and ex-ambassdor to Peru, and that he had come to Qu Fu with a view to setting up a Confucius University. His assistant Eric, and the man himself, both spoke French, which was a great relief to Francine, who has not heard any real French spoken for a long time. We had seen some of the performers getting ready for their part in the cermony. After
Waiting for the Chief of Police
These young ladies lined the path along which the Chief of Police was due to appear. a long wait heralded by a lot of loud recorded Chinese music, they eventually appeared through the gate in the wall, and a number of girls dressed in traditional Chinese costumes took up positions along the path where the VIPS were due to appear. The young people put on an impressive performance, but the VIPs turned their backs on it so they could be photographed. When the ceremony was over, we all filed into the temple of Confucius. It was similar to the Mansion - many similar rooms, and one very old tree. Not terribly exciting. Some pretty rooftops caught our attention, but after much looking at dusty rooms without much soul, we were happy to leave and say Goodbye to our Taiwanese friends.
Stranded!
We had time for a meal and a leisurely cup of coffee before catching the bus back, which we had been told left at 6:30. We got to the bus station, to find the last bus had gone nearly an hour before. No problem, said the man in the ticket office - you can catch the bus at 7 am tomorrow. However it was a problem - we had not brought our passports, so
Sacrifice Confucius
This notice in English told us what it was all about. we couldn't stay at a hotel, and anyway, we had very little money left. What to do? We were stranded.
We knew that the nearest railway was 16 km away at Yan Zhou, there being no railway at Qufu itself, since the Confucius family had always objected to such a development. But the man in the bus station said there were no trains to Lin Yi until tomorrow.
As I was buying tickets for the bus to Yan Zhou someone came to tell me to hurry - the bus was about to leave. When we got to the station I was told there was a train tomorrow at 11 am. But what about this evening? I asked. Oh yes, there's a train at 7 pm - in 20 minutes' time.
So we caught the train. It took us to Lin Yi in two hours, and cost less than the bus. And while waiting for the train we made some friends, who arranged for us to get a lift from the Lin Yi station to the bus stand where we had left our bikes.
Unfortunately the bike shed was closed and locked up, but a friendly policeman came with us and
Roofs in the Confucius Temple compound
These roofs glowing in the evening sunshine caught our attention. banged on the door until the guardian woke up and opened the shed so we could ride the 2 kilometers home. He didn't seem at all annoyed to be woken so rudely from his sleep.
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