Zizhong Confucius Temple (zī zhōng wén miào 资中文庙) is located in Neijiang City (nèi jiāng shì 内江市) of Sichuan Province (sì chuān shěng 四川省). It was first built in Northern Song Dynasty (běi sòng 北宋) and moved to the north gate of the county town during the reign of Emperor Daoguang (dào guāng huáng dì 道光皇帝) in the Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝). Zizhong Confucius Temple was famous for its long history, consummate architectures, and rich connotation.

Zizhong Confucius Temple covers an area of 6787 square meters. The main architectures in the temple are all covered with colored glaze tiles. The ridges of the houses are decorated with carved dragons. With the turnup eaves, the buildings are delicate. Nowadays the well-preserved architectures are the Wanren Wall (wàn rèn gōng qiáng 万仞宫墙), Moon Pool (yuè chí 月池), Screen Wall (zhào bì 照壁), Lingxing Archway (líng xīng mén 灵星门), Dacheng Hall and the Bell Tower (zhōng lóu 钟楼), etc.

In the Dacheng Hall, there are the steles inscribed by Emperor Kangxi (kāng xī 康熙), Yongzheng (yōng zhèng 雍正), Qianlong (qián lóng 乾隆), Jiaqing (jiā qìng 嘉庆), Daoguang (dào guāng 道光), Xianfeng (xián fēng 咸丰), Tongzhi (tóng zhì 同治), Guangxu (guāng xù 光绪) of Qing Dynasty and Chiang Kai –shek (jiǎng jiè shí 蒋介石). The steles are the best preserved ones within China.

What’s more, there is the standing statue of Confucius, which is different from the statues on other Confucius Temples. The reason is that Neijiang is the hometown of Confucius’ teacher, Changhong (cháng hóng 苌弘). Confucius is standing there so as to show his respect to his teacher. Besides, there is the memorial tablet of Confucius, which is the higest and grandest one in China. It was made in Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), during the reign of Emperor Jiajing (jiā jìng huáng dì 嘉靖皇帝). With a long history of more than 470 years, the tablet is well preserved. It is regarded as the No. 1 Tablet in China (zhōng huá dì yī pái wèi 中华第一牌位).

Zizhong Confucius Temple
Location: outside the north gate of Zizhong County, Neijiang City
Admission fee: CNY 20
Opening hours: 7:00 a.m – 5:30 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus in Chengdu North Bus Station to Neijiang, and then change another bus in Neijing to Zizhong.