More than 100,000 of Confucius's descendants lie in his family cemetery at Qufu.

479 BC

Over two and a half millennia the Kong family graveyard has grown to 183 hectares and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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The event

• Death of Confucius479 BC · Qufu (State of Lu). Confucius, a teacher who stressed filial piety, ritual and virtuous government, died in the state of Lu. His disciples compiled his sayings as the Analects; under the Han dynasty Confucianism became China's state ideology.

5th century BC

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