Confucius Temple
Now, we are arriving Liyuan Road. Look around, well, you may think the buildings are so plain, nothing special. But along this road, I will lead you to have a look at one of the most famous interests in Nanjing’s centre----Fuzimiao, better known as Confucius Temple.
In effect, there are many Confucius Temples in different places in China, large or small, famous or plain. All of them were mainly built in order to commemorate Confucius. Why do Chinese people put Confucius into such an important position? At first, I’d like to tell you who he really is.
In 551 BC, he was born in a big family in Shandong Province. He was regarded as a great philosopher, a great sage as well as a great educator of China, just like the Aristotle’s position in Westerners’ mind. When he was 30 years old, he accepted disciples and gave them lectures. In his late years, he concentrated on compiling ancient codes and classics. He lived in a trouble age---the Spring and Autumn Period, full of endless chaotic wars among different states. Faced with this reality of the society and the miserable life people lived, Conf
worshippingucius was dedicated himself of working on the fundamental principles of social order and harmony, setting up moral standards and social value, and convincing rulers of his political theories and right way of governing.
Nowadays,Confucianism is a major system of thought in China, concerned as the official ideology through the Chinese history, the principles of good conduct in people’s daily life. Therefore, it is not hard to understand why some people say to foreign friends: “if you wanna know what is going on Chinese mind, know Confucianism well at first!”
To be honest, this Confucius Temple is neither the largest nor the most luxurious one in China. But it owes its fame around China with its own specialty.
It sites on the bank of the Qinhuai River. The Qinhuai River is a branch of the Yangtze River totally 110 kilometers long. Built in the song Dynasty, it is the ritual place of worshipping and offering sacrifices to Confucius. However, the Confucius Temple people talk about should include three great building complexes: Confucius Temple, Palace of Learning(学宫) and Imperial Examination Yard(贡院). Most of the buildings in Confucius
Temple area were destroyed and rebuilt and renovated in Mid-1980s and 1990s, and the area becomes a tourist site of culture and commerce. It is an ideal place for tourists to understand traditional Chinese culture as well as enjoy shopping.
Now, we are arriving the square of the Confucius Temple. Look around, you may find that all the buildings here are laid along the south-north axis, which is one of the traditional Chinese charactors of Chinese ancient architecture. Please turn to the south, what we are seeing is the Pan Pool(泮池), on its south bank sites a huge red wall, we call it the Screen Wall(照壁), 110 meters long, which was built in the Ming and is the biggest still preserved in china. It gives people an impression of the grandeur and magnificence. And on the north bank of Pan Chi, The Gateway of All Scholars(天下文书坊) is the first entrance to the temple. It was built in 1586 in an imitation of the Gateway in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius. At the east corner of the Square on front of the temple is a three stored building named Kuixing Pavilion(Top Star Pavilion)(魁光阁). Kuixing means the top candidate in the imperial examination in Chinese.
Next, please follow me to visit the core buildings of the Confucius Temple.
The first gate to the temple is Lingxing Gate, which is decorated with the magnificent carvings in relief. The purpose of building the gate was to show the persons of virtue coming forth in large numbers, and the stability of the country. Pass the Lingxing Gate(棂星门), we still have one gate to go through before reach the Dacheng Hall (大成殿). It is called Dacheng Gate(大成门). Beyond the gate, There are four ancient tablets, and the most famous one is the one erected in the west, called “(孔子问礼图？？)”。When dacheng Hall of the temple was renovated, the tablets was unearthed form the ground and erected here again. In the centre of the yard, stands bronze statue of Confucius, which ranks the highest one in China with the height of 4.18 meters. Dacheng Hall, or the Hall of Agglomeraton of Confucius Merits and Virtues, was employed to enshrine and worship Confucius. In the middle of the hall is the seat of the super Great Saint Confucius, with 4 saints of Yan Hui, Zeng Shen, Meng Ke and Kong Ji on both sides. In addition, the tablets of 72 persons of virtue are also enshrined.
Walking out of the Dacheng Hall, we are going to visit Jiangnan Imperial Examination Centre. Jiangnan Imperial Examnination Center was located to the east of Confucius Templ
e. It was first built during the Song dynasty in a grand scale. It was called Jiangnan Examination Center because there was Jiangnan Province in the Qing Dynasty. Chinese emperors began to select officials thought imperial examination from Sui Dynasty in the 7th century, ending in 1905. The imperial examination system made possible a constant infiltration of talent from the poor families to the bureaucratic herarchy and from the country to the cities. Therefore, theh system, modified in the following dynasties, opened a door for all to rise from the bottom of the society to power and fame. It had its heyday during the early Ming Dynasty when Nanjing was the capital of China. It was for the examinations at a provincial level. Visitors can see a watchtower, where teachers watched the students during the examinations. 22 ancient stone tablets here tells us the up and down history of this place. Nowadays, 40 cubicles were rebuilt, in which the students took the examinations in the daytime and slept at night. Sometimes visigtors can also see a demonstration of the imperial examination.