the wall when troops of the First Emperor came to the city
to burn classical writings.
In one important way, architecture of the Qufu Confu-
cian temple is unique. Since the ninth-generation descen-
dants of Confucius, the temple has been adjacent to the man-
sion of the Kong family. Descendants of Confucius resided
in the mansion for seventy-seven generations, until the
founding of the People’s Republic of China. Through the
centuries, the rank and influence of the chief resident of the
Kong family mansion rose to the equivalent of prime minis-
ter. He was the leader of all wen, or civil officials, and was
allowed to ride his horse inside the Forbidden City. He
owned tax-exempt “sacred fields” from which income was
used in Confucian ceremonies. He was even allowed to sell
official titles.
Confucius’s tomb and those of his parents are also in
Qufu. So is the academy where Confucius taught and tem-
ples to Confucius’s disciples Mencius, Yanzi, and Zengzi.
Mencius’s residence and tomb, and his parents’ tomb, are
there as well.
The most famous Confucian temple compound outside
Qufu is in Beijing. One of the few Confucian temples con-
structed during the period of Mongolian rule in China, in
the late thirteenth century, the majority of buildings date
from the Qing dynasty. A stone tablet at the entrance orders
civil and military officials to descend from their horses or
sedan chairs as a sign of respect for the sage. Consisting of
two parallel building lines, passage through the central gate
was a privilege allowed only to the Chinese emperor. The
eastern side of the compound is occupied by six successive
courtyards, the back two parallel, which contain a shrine to
Confucius; tablets recounting the 700-year history of schol-
ars who achieved success in the national exams; the Great
Achievement Gate; the multi-roofed Great Achievement
Hall containing a central wooden tablet whose Chinese and
Manchu inscriptions glorify Confucius, a pair of flanking
tablets on either side of it dedicated to Confucius’s four most
important disciples, and eight more tablets for less eminent
sages lower and behind them; the Hall for Reverence to Con-
fucius’s Ancestors with tablets for members of five genera-
tions who preceded him; a library; and a shrine to officials.
The western sector has only three courtyards, all focused on
the central one that houses the imperial academy. Built by
the Mongols for the education of imperial and other select
children, in the eighteenth century the structure was rebuilt
and named Biyong Palace to recall the name of the place
where princes and official sons were educated in the Chinese
capital at the time of Confucius. The multi-eaved, elevated
structure is enclosed by a circular moat and further surround-
ed by a marble balustrade, following the pattern of the impe-
rial academy in Confucius’s day and of the Temple to Heav-
en complex where the emperor performed annual sacrifices
in the name of the state in Ming and Qing times. Originally
all structures had gray roof tiles but they were replaced with
golden ones in the eighteenth century.
Today, some of the most active Confucian temple com-
pounds are in Taiwan. The best-known one is in the capital,
Taipei, but two others have older buildings of greater archi-
tectural importance. The Confucian temple compound in
the southern city of Tainan was built by the son of Zheng
Chenggong (Koxinga, 1624–1662), a Japanese-born, anti-
Manchu commander who retreated to the southern island
after the Manchus overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and
who subsequently led the resistance that chased the Dutch
away in 1661. Its most important building, Great Achieve-
ment Hall, contains a wooden tablet honoring Confucius
and sixteen tablets dedicated to famous sages. The Confucian
Temple in Zhanghua, in central Taiwan, first built in 1716,
was carefully restored in the 1970s and is today a premier
example of eighteenth-century southeastern Chinese archi-
tecture.
The most important event at a Confucian temple is the
celebration of Confucius’s birthday, which usually occurs on
September 28. Wearing the costumes of civil officials, atten-
dants carrying ax-shaped weapons, fans, umbrellas, and in-
struments in the style of those from Confucius’s day perform
music and dances
Confucian temples survive in many other major Chi-
nese cities. Many have been used as schools throughout his-
tory and a few are educational institutions today. Some
towns have a corresponding temple complex for military offi-
cials, or wu, the most famous of which is in Yuncheng,
Shanxi province.SEE ALSO Chinese Religion, overview article; Confucianism,
overview article.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Han Baode. Zhanghua Kongmiao de yanjiu yu xiufu jihua.
Taizhong, Taiwan, 1976. Detailed account of the restoration
of the Confucian temple in Zhanghua, including a general
discussion of Confucian temples and excellent drawings of
the Zhanghua buildings.
Kang Yuancuo. Kongshi zuting guangji (1311). Taipei, 1970. The
most important text about the Confucian shrine at Qufu, in-
cluding drawings of the site and building plans.
Kong Xiangmin and Wei Jiang. Qufu. Shandong, 1982. Guide-
book to Qufu and its Confucian monuments, largely pictori-
al, prepared by a descendant of Confucius.
Pan Guxi, ed. Qufu Kongmiao jianzhu. Beijing, 1987. The most
thorough architectural analysis of every structure in the Con-
fucian temple compound of Qufu.
Shryock, John K. The Origin and Development of the State Cult of
Confucius. New York, 1932. A history of Confucianism in
China that makes reference to Confucian architecture.
Wilson, Thomas A. On Sacred Grounds: Culture, Society, Politics,
and the Formation of the Cult of Confucius. Cambridge,
Mass., 2003. Nine essays that seek to understand the role of
Confucius and Confucianism through Chinese history.
NANCY SHATZMAN STEINHARDT (1987 AND 2005)9060 TEMPLE: CONFUCIAN TEMPLE COMPOUNDS