Qufu Han and Wei Stone Tablet Exhibition Hall

Qufu Han and Wei Stone Tablet Exhibition Hall

The Qufu Han and Wei Stone Tablet Exhibition Hall is a management institution established by the Qufu cultural relics authorities to protect the precious stone tablets of Qufu. After its completion in 1998, Han and Wei stone tablets originally stored or scattered across sites such as the Confucius Temple and the Confucius Forest, along with some key stone tablets, were relocated here for centralized preservation and display. To give full play to the hall’s important role in promoting and spreading Han and Wei stone tablet culture, and to allow the general public to share the fruits of human civilization, the museum is open to visitors free of charge.

Qufu has a collection of over 6,000 stone tablets from various dynasties, making it one of China’s three major stone tablet forests. The Qufu Han and Wei Stone Tablet Exhibition Hall brings together the finest examples of Qufu’s stone tablets, currently housing 131 stone tablets and six stone carvings. These artifacts span the Western Han, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and Republican periods, covering the entire history of Chinese stone tablet inscriptions. Among them are six Western Han tablets, 18 Eastern Han tablets, and four Wei tablets—the largest number of Han tablets in the country. The North Platform Stone is an extremely rare early Western Han engraved stone discovered to date, while the Five Phoenixes Stone is one of China’s renowned Western Han stone carvings. The Yiying Stele, Liqi Stele, Kong Zhou Stele, and Shichen Stele are representative examples of Han Dynasty clerical script, and the Zhang Menglong Stele represents the pinnacle of Wei-style calligraphy. These world-rare stone tablets serve as the most direct and authentic carriers of historical information, and are invaluable materials for studying the politics, ideology, culture, evolution of Chinese character scripts, and historical development of the Confucius Temple through the ages. They are also treasured works of Chinese calligraphic art. Literary figure Ouyang Xiu and epigraphist Zhao Mingcheng both visited Qufu to study these tablets and included them in their respective writings.

Address: Former West Warehouse of the Confucius Mansion, behind the Confucius Temple, Qufu City, Jining

Business Hours: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Visiting Time: Approximately 1 hour

Featured Attractions: Yiying Stele, Liqi Stele, Kong Zhou Stele, Shichen Stele