Located inside the south gate of Qufu City, Shandong Province, this temple is for worshipping Confucius. It was initially built in 478 B.C., using Confucius' former residence as the temple and constructed according to the specifications of an imperial palace. It is one of the three major ancient architectural complexes in China, occupying an important position in the history of world architecture. The Confucius Temple in Qufu is the main temple for worshipping Confucius and serves as a model for more than 2,000 Confucius temples distributed across China, North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and the United States. It is said that the Confucius Temple was originally built in 478 B.C., when Duke Ai of Lu renovated Confucius' former residence into a temple in the second year after his death (478 B.C.). Since then, emperors from successive dynasties have continuously conferred titles on Confucius and expanded the temple complex. By the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng ordered a major renovation, expanding it to its current scale. The temple has nine courtyards arranged along a north-south axis, divided into left, middle, and right sections, stretching 630 meters longitudinally and 140 meters wide. It contains over 460 halls, chambers, altars, and pavilions, and 54 gates and archways engraved with laser technology. There are also 13 "Imperial Stele Pavilions," forming a massive architectural complex covering approximately 95,000 square meters. The Holy Relics Hall, Thirteen Stele Pavilions, and the east and west corridors of the Dacheng Hall within the Confucius Temple house a large number of steles and stone inscriptions. In particular, the Han steles preserved here are the largest collection in the country. The steles from various dynasties also include rare treasures, and the number of steles is second only to the Xi'an Stele Forest, earning it the reputation as the second-largest stele forest in China. The Confucius Temple is the second-largest surviving ancient architectural complex in China, after the Forbidden City, and can be regarded as a model of large-scale ancient temple architecture in China.
The overall design of the Confucius Temple is very successful. Before the temple lies a sacred path flanked by cypress trees, creating an atmosphere of solemnity and reverence, cultivating a sense of respect among visitors. The main body of the temple runs along a central axis, with symmetrical structures on the left, demonstrating strict layout. There are nine courtyards in total, with the first three serving as introductory courtyards, featuring smaller doors and arches. Pine and cypress trees are planted throughout the courtyards, creating a tranquil environment shaded by lush foliage. A deep path is formed amidst the towering ancient cypresses, evoking a sense of the long history of the Confucius Temple and highlighting the profundity of Confucius' thought. The inscriptions on the doorways and arches extol Confucius' achievements, leaving a strong impression and naturally evoking admiration. The courtyards beyond the fourth one feature magnificent buildings with yellow tiles, red walls, and green trees, symbolizing the depth and breadth of Confucius' thought as well as his great accomplishments. The eastern and western halls dedicated to Confucian sages, each measuring 166 meters, symbolize the long tradition of Confucian thought.
The Confucius Temple consists of over 100 buildings and more than 460 rooms, covering an area of about 16,000 square meters of ancient construction. Major buildings include the Jin-Yuan Stele Pavilion, Ming Dynasty Kuíwén Pavilion, Xìng Tán, Déyáng Tiāndì Archway, etc., and the Qing Dynasty rebuilt Dàchéng Hall and Qǐn Diàn. The wooden structure of the Golden Stele Pavilion retains many Song-style features: sparse dougong brackets, gusizhuang, lingzhuang, and manzhuang lengths increase sequentially; six layers of bracket sets reduce two layers inside; the appearance of column head bracket sets and supplementary inter-columnar bracket sets is the same, etc. The use of surrounding corridors in the main courtyard is a rare example of the closed temple style commonly used during the Song-Jin periods. The Dacheng Hall, Qǐn Diàn, Kuíwén Pavilion, Xìng Tán, and Dacheng Gate adopt a wood-stone hybrid structure, which is a relatively rare form. The arrangement and detailed techniques of the dougong brackets are flexible, varying according to need. The number of pingshenke varies between rooms, as does the density and length of brackets. Even to compensate for visual deficiencies, the lengths of xiangzhuang, wan zhuang, and gua zhuang are extended, resulting in different bracket lengths in adjacent rooms of the same building and significant differences in bracket lengths on either side of the same column head set. This is a unique practice in the architecture of the Confucius Temple.
The Confucius Temple preserves 1,044 steles from the Han Dynasty onward, recording the posthumous honors, additional titles, sacrifices to Confucius, and the construction of the Confucius Temple by feudal emperors, as well as the poetic writings and inscriptions of emperors, generals, scholars, and literati visiting the temple. The texts include Chinese, Mongolian, Phags-pa, and Manchu scripts, and the calligraphy includes regular, cursive, clerical, and seal scripts, providing valuable historical materials for studying politics, economy, culture, and art in feudal society. Among the steles are more than twenty Han steles and carved characters from the Han Dynasty, making it the place with the most preserved Han steles in China. The Yíng, Lǐqì, Kǒngqiè, and Shǐchén steles are representative works of Han Li script, while the Zhāng Měnglóng and Jiǎ Shǐjūn steles are models of Wei script. Additionally, there are calligraphic works by Sūn Shīfàn, Mǐ Fú, Dǎng Huáiying, Zhào Mèngfǔ, Zhāng Qǐyán, Lǐ Dōngyáng, Dǒng Qíchāng, Wēng Fānggāng, and others, inscriptions by Yuán Hǎowèn, Guō Zǐjìng, and a large-scale calligraphy anthology by Kǒng Jìsù consisting of 584 stones known as the Yùhóng Building Calligraphy Anthology. The steles of the Confucius Temple are a treasure trove of ancient Chinese calligraphy art.
Famous stone carvings in the Confucius Temple include Han pictorial stones, Ming-Qing carved stone columns, and Ming-dynasty carved St. Trace diagrams, etc. There are over 90 Han pictorial stones, with rich and diverse themes reflecting records of social life, historical stories, and mythological legends. The carving techniques vary widely, including line engraving and relief carving. Line engravings have reduced ground, removed ground, plain ground, and lined ground; relief carvings have deep and shallow variations, smooth and rough surfaces. The styles range from meticulous and precise to bold and unrestrained, with smooth lines and beautiful shapes. There are seventy-four carved stone columns from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with fifty-six reduced ground flat engravings and eighteen high reliefs. The patterns of the reduced ground flat engravings mostly feature small cloud dragons and phoenix peonies, carved in the seventh year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign. The Chongsheng Shrine features carved flowers such as peonies, pomegranates, lotuses, etc., with elegant compositions and is a relic from the seventeenth year of Hongzhi's reign in the Ming Dynasty. The masterpiece of stone carving is the relief dragon column; the ten columns in front of the Dacheng Hall are the tallest, each reaching six meters. The two dragon columns in the Chongsheng Shrine feature robust dragon postures and lively cloud shapes, representing the highest level of craftsmanship. The shallow relief cloud dragon stone steps at the Shèngshí Gate, Dacheng Gate, and Dacheng Hall also possess high artistic value. The St. Trace Diagrams were completed in the twentieth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1592), based on the Song-Jin woodcuts and supplemented in the Confucius Temple. They were compiled by Máo Fèngyì, illustrated by Yáng Zhī from Yangzhou, and engraved by Zhāng Cǎo, a stone craftsman from Suzhou. The series consists of 120 panels, vividly reflecting the life journey of Confucius, making it one of the earliest large-scale continuous paintings in China with both high historical and artistic value. For over two thousand years, the Confucius Temple in Qufu has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt but never abandoned. Under state protection, it has developed from a private residence of Confucius into a vast architectural complex comparable in scale and format to imperial palaces. Its long history and rich documentation make it a unique case in the history of human architecture.
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