 The
Confucius Temple
Located in the center of the old city of Qufu, the Confucius Temple
is a p;ace for temple for people to offer scarifies to Confucius,
the philosopher, educator and politician in the Spring and Autumn
Period. The temple used to be a place of making sacrifices to Confucius,
and now it became a historic site under special protection by the
government. Following the year after Confucius's death, Lu Aigong,
king of Zhou, changed three rooms of his residence into a temple with
the clothes and utensils on display in 478 B.C. and offered scarifies
to Confucius every
yuar. After the Western Han Dynasty, the temple had been rebuilt and
renovated andexpanded many times, and has become a large architectural
complex. Today's Confucius Temple was completed in Ming and Qing dynasties.
The whole complex was modeled on the imperial palace with many courtyards
and on the north -south axes. It is one kilometer long from north
to south and the whole complex covers an area of 9.6 hectares. There
are 54 archways, 466 rooms and many halls, pavilions and chambers.
Encircled the complex is the wall with watchtowers on each corner.
Inside pine trees lined, along with splendid halls, beautiful paintings,
exquisite bridges and chirping birds. There are more than 2,000 tablets
of various kind. These well-preserved tablets are rare ones in China
and enjoy good fame at home and abroad and attract thousands of tourists
to visit and worship. |
