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Home Travel in Jiangsu Nanjing Confucius Temple
Nanjing Confucius Temple

  Confucius Temple
Nanjing Confucius Temple
(nán jīng fū zǐ miào 南京夫子庙) is located in the Nanjing City (nán jīng shì 南京市), at the north bank of Qinhuai River (qín huái hé 秦淮河). It is built for consecrating and worshipping Confucius (kǒng fū zǐ 孔夫子), who is the great thinker and educator of ancient China.

Confucius TempleNanjing Confucius Temple was built in the Song Dynasty (sòng cháo 宋朝) and expanded in the Western Jin Dynasty (xī jìn 西晋). After its rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝) during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi (tóng zhì huáng dì 同治皇帝), it was seriously destroyed by the Japanese aggressor troops in 1937. In 1984, Chinese government rebuilt and fixed the Confucius Temple so as to protect the old city. It was elected the Forty Best Scenery Spots (zhōng guó lǚ yóu shèng dì sì shí jiā 中国旅游胜地四十佳) in 1991 and nowadays, the temple is regarded as the special scenery of Nanjing.

Confucius TempleThe whole temple covers a huge area. To the south, it is the north bank of Qinhuai River, from Wende Bridge (wén dé qiáo 文德桥) to Lishe Bridge (lì shè qiáo 利涉桥). In the late Qing Dynasty, the structure and the distribution of the temple is in the top range of all the provinces in southeast China. The main architecture in the temple is facing a pond, surrounded by long and high walls. The front gate of the temple is called Lingxing Gate (líng xīng mén 棂星门), the rear is called Dacheng Gate (dà chéng mén 大成门). Dacheng Hall is the place for sacrificing Confucius. To the east and west side of the hall, there are subordinate halls and long corridors. At the back of the Dacheng Hall, there is the Chongsheng Hall (chóng shèng diàn 崇圣殿), which is great and high, close to the Zhishan Mountain (zhì shān 治山). On the top of the mountain, there is the Jingyi Pavilion (jìng yī tíng 敬一亭), in which you can get a bird’s view of the Zhongshan Mountain (zhōng shān 钟山) and the whole Confucius Temple.

Jiangnan Examination SchoolNext to the Confucius Temple, there is the Jiangnan Examination School (jiāng nán gòng yuàn 江南贡院). The school was founded in the Song Dynasty (sòng cháo 宋朝), the school was used to administer the rigorous civil service exams used to choose officials during China's imperial age. At the height of its prosperity, the complex contained 20,644 examination cells, each just one square meter in area. Candidates spent a total of nine days in their cell--the wooden desk plank turned into a bed at night--without the freedom to leave. Success was rare as only 200 of the 20,000 candidates passed.

Confucius Temple
Location: Zhonghua Road (zhōng huá lù 中华路), Qinhuai District (qín huái qū 秦淮区), Nanjing City
Admission fee: RMB 30
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 1, 7, 31, 40, 301 or tourist bus Line 2, 4 to get there directly