Temple of Confucius is one of the most renowned Confucius temples in China, and certainly among the most important.
Temple of Confucius was built to worshipConfucius(September 28, 551 BC – 479 BC), the Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life by Chinese Feudal dynasty.
It is a group of grand, majestic, oriental-featured ancient buildings. It is the second largest scale Chinese ancient buildings (the largest one is theForbidden Cityin Beijing). The temple, now listed as China's Top Three Ancient Buildings (the other two are: theForbidden Cityin Beijing and theSummer ResortinChengde) and played an important role in the world’s architecture history, was built at the site of Confucius’ former residence with a standard of ancient Chinese imperial palace.
Temple of Confucius was first built byLuaigong(the emperor of Lu) in 478 BC – the second year after Confucius' death. Later on, the temple was rebuilt by many past emperors for expansion. The latest expansion was accomplished byEmperor Yongzhengof Qing Dynasty.
To seek the footprints and to feel the wisdom of Confucius - the great master of oriental philosophy, visitors should visit the Temple of Confucius as well asCemetery of ConfuciusandKong Family Mansion.
