REGIONAL> Culture Tourism
Qufu launches the 2009 Confucius Tourist Festival for Study
By Ju Chuanjiang and Wang Xiantao (China Daily Shandong Bureau)
Updated: 2009-07-14 15:06

Qufu: The 2009 Confucius Tourist Festival for Study officially kicked off in the hometown of Confucius on July 13.

More than 150 sightseers from Hong Kong's Wing On Travel Company strolled through Qufu's Minggu gate, flowing into the sacred Temple of Confucius by its southern gate. Visitors took part in the tours "worshipping Confucius in the millennium" and "experiencing the parent/children culture in Qufu" as part of the first tourist group for study in Qufu this summer.

The festival will hold a variety of thematic activities such as the opening ceremony of Minggu City, bat mitzvahs and students' first day in the Confucius Temple. The school-opening ceremony will take place in the Hall of Achievement, with lectures at the Apricot Pavilion, sacrifice at the Confucius Cemetery, square dance appreciation and sightseeing to San'Kong (the Confucius Family Mansion, Temple and Cemetery).

Other aspects of Qufu's folk culture, such as tours involving Confucius' family delicacies and liquors will be carried out, along with appreciation of traditional Chinese culture, including painting, calligraphy, martial arts, medicine, food and weddings, according to Chen Peng, head of the Qufu municipal tourist administration.

Another tourist group, which contains more than 300 people and organized by ctrip.com, is expected to take part in the grand rite of bat mitzvahs in the early part of August. The Confucius cultural experience and activities will run until August 20.

The annual event, which started in Qufu in 2006, is the first with a Confucian cultural theme and is popular among teachers and students, both at home and abroad.