Confucius Museum 孔子博物馆

About Confucius Museum

Confucius Museum (孔子博物馆) stands on Confucius Avenue (孔子大道) in Qufu (曲阜), Shandong, 4 km south of the Temple of Confucius; its collection comes mainly from the old holdings of the Kong family mansion (孔府).

The museum sits at the southern end of Qufu's central axis and was built as an extension of the town's 'Three Kong' (三孔) World Heritage sites. It was planned and designed by Wu Liangyong (吴良镛), and the main building takes an imitation Han-dynasty style. Work started early in 2013, trial operation began on 26 November 2018, and the formal opening came on 6 September 2019, the day that year's China (Qufu) International Confucius Culture Festival opened, in the 2,570th anniversary year of Confucius's birth. The national first-grade museum rating followed in December 2020. It belongs to the Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies (尼山世界儒学中心).

Its holdings run to about 700,000 objects. Best known are some 300,000 private documents of the Kong family dating from the Ming onward, more than 40,000 volumes of old books from the Song onward, over 8,000 Ming and Qing garments and hats, and a large set of ritual and musical instruments once used in sacrifices to Confucius.

The permanent displays occupy five galleries on the second and third floors. The 'Great Confucius' (大哉孔子) exhibition opens with Confucius's era, from traces of people in Shandong hundreds of thousands of years ago to the fief granted to the Duke of Zhou (周公旦) in the early Western Zhou. It then follows his life: study in youth, journeys to Zhou and Qi, office, years of travel between states, and a return to Lu to teach and edit the Six Classics. Further galleries turn to his ideas, with benevolence (ren) at their core and ritual (li) as their rule, to Confucian learning as the mainstream of Chinese tradition, and to its spread across East and Southeast Asia. The fifth gallery holds a separate display, 'Poetry and Ritual in the Family' (诗礼传家), arranged in three units, one of them on the Kong family archives. It follows Confucius's descendants from 195 BC, when the ninth-generation descendant Kong Teng (孔腾) became the first of the direct line to receive a noble title.

What to look for

• The 'Great Confucius' (大哉孔子) permanent exhibition, from Confucius's era and life to his ideas and their spread abroad
• Documents from the Kong family mansion archive, some 300,000 pieces from the Ming onward
• More than 8,000 Ming and Qing garments and hats from the Kong family collection
• Ritual and musical instruments used in sacrifices to Confucius
• The 'Poetry and Ritual in the Family' (诗礼传家) display on Confucius's descendants and the Kong family archives
• The imitation Han-style main building by Wu Liangyong (吴良镛) at the south end of Qufu's axis

Location & getting there

Getting to Confucius Museum

• Search for 孔子博物馆 with 济宁市 and 曲阜市.