Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePhotographJune 1935

Tomb of Confucius at Qufu

Shandong Province Road Administration Bureau · June 1935

A 1935 photograph of the tomb of Confucius at Qufu, published in a Shandong government road bureau bulletin.

This 1935 photograph documents the tomb of Confucius at Qufu, the site honoring his burial.

Ask Confucius about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Blue-toned photograph of a tall carved stone stele with an ornate top and vertical inscriptions, set behind a low stone tomb enclosure. Trees fill the background, and a man in a long coat stands to the right. Chinese caption below reads 曲阜孔子陵墓.
Tomb of Confucius at Qufu. Shandong Province Road Administration Bureau bulletin, June 1935.

About this source

What it is

This is a photograph published in June 1935 in a bulletin of the Shandong Province Road Administration Bureau. It shows the tomb of Confucius at Qufu, featuring a tall carved stone stele and a low stone tomb enclosure, with a Chinese caption identifying it as the tomb of Confucius.

Why it matters

The image documents the physical site where Confucius was buried, a place that remained a focus of memory and reverence long after his death. Its publication in a government road bulletin shows how the tomb was promoted as a site of historical and cultural significance in 1930s China.

Look closer

  • Why might a road administration bureau choose to publish a photograph of this historical tomb?
  • What does the presence of a man standing beside the stele tell you about its scale?
  • How does photographing a tomb centuries after someone's death shape how we remember them?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Confucius on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Confucius sources

Meet the AI Confucius →
Scan of a page from a Japanese woodblock-printed edition of the Analects (Rongo), in vertical columns of Chinese characters. The header reads 論語 and 卷二八 (volume two). The page has yellowed paper, a central fold, and a printed page number at the bottom.Book

Secondary source

Analects

c. 480 BCE – 2nd century BCE

Front cover of a bound Chinese book with blue-grey patterned silk brocade of cloud scrolls. A tan label on the left bears large black brush characters reading 聖蹟圖 and a smaller 前頁, with a red seal impression below. The cover edges are worn.Book

Secondary source

Pictures of the Sage's Traces

Unknown · 1758

Book

Secondary source

Records of the Grand Historian, Vol. 47: Hereditary House of Confucius

Sima Qian · c. 94 BCE

Black and white photograph of an interior hall with a carved wooden altar and incense burners on a long table, flanked by large pillars with Chinese characters on the walls and red-framed inscriptions; the view looks toward a shrine niche with ornate wooden canopy.Photograph

Primary source

Temple of Confucius, Peking (Interior)

John Thomson · 1871

Two facing pages of a classical Chinese manuscript in black ink brush calligraphy on aged, yellowed paper, written in vertical columns with some smaller annotation characters between lines. The text is a commentary on a historical chronicle, with the handwriting appearing in a regular, cursive-influenced style.Document

Secondary source

Spring and Autumn Annals

Confucius · 5th century BCE

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Confucius now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions