Confucius, he say: "Blessed are those who come from far away to visit my homeland, Shandong Province, and my hometown, Qufu....."

　　Well, if he did not actually say that, Shandong tourism officials would like to think he would have, were he alive today.

　　Confucius, who li ved from 551BC to 471BC, was China's greatest philosopher, revered among its people to this day as a "Supreme Sage and Foremost Teacher."

　　A Shandong delegation in Sydney recently listed the areas where Confucius was considered a sage, among them wisdom, science, medicine, agriculture, military strategy, literature and calligraphy.

　　Confucianism has had an enduring, deep effect on Chinese culture; temples bearing his name were built all over China with the largest and most famous in Qufu.

　　The Temple of Confucius, built in 478BC, is one of Shandong's most popular tourist attractions: a group of handsome Oriental-style buildings set over 33 hectares inside the city's south gate.

　　The palatial complex, with nine rows of courtyards, includes 466 halls, pavilions and other rooms.

　　It's one of the three largest such complexes in China, along with the Summer Palace in Beijing and the Mountain Resort in Chengdu.

　　The temple's main structure, the Great Accomplishment Hall, is 33m tall with a roof of yellow glazed tiles and octagonal eaves.

　　The front 10 stone columns are carved with dragons.

　　In addition to a statue of Confucius, the hall also houses stone inscriptions of the Ming Dynasty, which tells the life story of Confucius in 120 pictures and many stone tablets.

　　East of the Temple of Confucius, is the mansion of Confucius's Kong family, where his first son and first grandson lived - a building ranked alongside the royal palaces of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

　　Covering 15.8 hectares, the mansion grounds house 463 buildings - including the family residences and gardens, halls, pavilions and towers. There are large quantities of documents, files and cultural relics.

　　Also on tourists' visiting lists is the Confucius Forest which contains the the great man's tomb in his family's cemetery, where over more than 100,000 of his descendants are buried - claimed to be the world's largest family graveyard.

　　The mansion, cemetery and temple of Confucius were World Heritage-listed in 1994.

　　Qufu holds memorial rituals for Confucius on the 28th day of each month between April and October, to popularise his thoughts and to promote tourism.

　　The activities are a smaller version of the grand ceremonies held annually on September 28, the sage's birthday, when people in traditional costumes perform rituals first held in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

　　Officials say the rituals appeal to both domestic and overseas tourists.

　　Shandong Province, between Beijing and Shanghai with a population of 95 million, has a large and varied number of tourist attractions awaiting discovery by most Australians.

　　Last year, about 1,000 Australians visited the province, representing a minuscule 0.5 per cent of the total from home and overseas.

　　The province has 750 officially-listed scenic areas.

　　Provincial capital Jinan is called the City of (Hot) Springs - 72 of them - with Baotu Spring, set in scenic gardens, known as "Number One in the country."

　　Other attractions include Lingyan Temple, set among emerald mountains, Daming Lake and Thousand Buddha Mountain with pavilions containing scholarly writings.

　　Tai-an has a sacred mountain where emperors of all Chinese dynasties came to worship amid beauty spots and historical sites.

　　Quingdao City in the southeast of Shandong peninsula is one of a number of cities boasting beautiful beaches, others including Rizhao and Weihai; Olympic Games water sports will be held here in 2008.

　　Weifang is the "world kite capital," with an international kite festival held every April; Dezhou is notable for its garden of over 400,000 pomegranate trees and Heze is the "Home of Peonies."