Kong Family Mansion 孔府

About Kong Family Mansion

Its layout moves from formal administrative halls in front to domestic quarters and a garden behind. This progression makes social hierarchy visible in doorways, courtyards and the placement of rooms. The surviving buildings largely belong to the Ming and Qing periods, offering a different experience from the neighbouring temple’s ceremonial grandeur.

The mansion is also called Yansheng Gong Fu (衍圣公府), the residence of the hereditary Duke Yansheng, the title held by Confucius's descendants. Descendants of Confucius had lived near the temple for generations before construction began in 1038, during the Song dynasty. The complex was relocated and rebuilt in 1377 under the Ming founder, then expanded to three rows of buildings with 560 rooms and nine courtyards, matching the neighboring temple, during the Hongzhi era (1503). It was renovated again in 1838, before a fire destroyed the women's quarters in 1886; the damaged section was rebuilt two years later at imperial expense. The mansion was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution.

In its present layout the mansion comprises 152 buildings with 480 rooms across 12,470 square metres. The senior descendant occupied the central of three main halls. Its tallest structure is a four-story refuge tower (避難樓), built as a shelter against attack but never used. An archive of about 60,000 documents records four centuries of life in the mansion during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Together with the Confucius Temple (孔庙) and Confucius Cemetery (孔林), the mansion is known as the ‘Three Kong Sites’ (三孔). It is designated a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (中国重点文物保护单位) and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in December 1994.

What to look for

• The front administrative halls, arranged like an official yamen.
• The rear residential courtyards, studies and garden of the Kong household.

Location & getting there

Getting to Kong Family Mansion

Use the mansion’s own entrance immediately east of the Temple of Confucius in central Qufu. It is a separate enclosed complex, so leave the temple by its visitor route and follow the public approach to the mansion gate.