Temple of Confucius

In Shandong Province in eastern China, a $48 million restoration of the Temple of Kongfuzi (Confucius) began on July 18 in the city of his birth, Qufu, and is expected to take three to five years. Kongfuzi was an important politician, philosopher and religious leader in ancient China whose work inspired the philosophical system and religion known as Confucianism.

Parts of the temple, which includes pieces of his family’s mansion, date back to his lifetime, 551-479 BC. Confucian locations in Qufu are home to more than 5,000 stone inscriptions and 100,000 relics of Kongfuzi’s life and work.