What is the significance of Confucius Temple

In China's more than 2,000 years of cultural integration, the function of the Confucian Temple has far exceeded the meaning of the monumental building itself, and has become a symbol of Chinese multi-ethnic culture.

The existence of Confucius Temple reflects the mainstream position of Confucianism in traditional Chinese culture.

The Confucian Temple complex is a time-honored museum of history, architecture, sculpture, painting, calligraphy and other achievements.

It is not only a historical witness to the activities of successive rulers who honored Confucianism and Confucius, but also a comprehensive embodiment of traditional Chinese thought and culture, and the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people.

Since its construction, Confucius Temple has had a significant and far-reaching impact on the development of Chinese society.

1. Cultural heritage and edification.

From the development history of Confucius Temple, we can see the trajectory of Chinese cultural inheritance.

At the beginning of the Confucian temple, the spread of Confucianism is still in its infancy.

Although the beginning of the Han Dynasty had already established the cultural policy of "Dismissing the Hundred Schools and Exclusively Respecting Confucianism", but due to the battle between the local religious Taoist culture and the foreign Buddhist culture against Confucianism, as well as the subsequent three kingdoms, the Wei Jin and the North and South Dynasties stretched over hundreds of years of social division and turbulence caused by the ideological chaos, so that Confucianism is difficult to achieve The "sole" status of Confucianism is very difficult to achieve.

But during this period, Confucianism absorbed elements from other schools of thought in order to adapt to the needs of society.

By the Sui and Tang dynasties, the unification of the world was formed, and the spirit and academic ideas expounded by Confucius and the Confucian school he founded stood the test of time, and the value of Confucian culture was widely recognized by the society, which made it possible to build Confucian temples on a large scale and disseminate Confucian culture over a long period of time.

The Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties followed the cultural policy of "respecting Confucianism alone," and continued to honor Confucius with posthumous titles and raise the specifications of Confucian temples again and again, all of which demonstrated the affirmation of the cultural value of Confucianism.

In addition to the Confucian Temple in Qufu, since the Northern Dynasties began to set up in the relevant counties in the country Temple Palace, Temple Palace from now on the function of the "school".

This important function of the Sui and Tang dynasties to play a role in the imperial examination system.

Especially from the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the temple school is not divided, the rules of the former temple after the school, the left temple right school, the left study right temple, there are about the temple school, the temple weekly school, etc.

The temple school, the temple school, the temple school.

The system of temple studies so that successive generations of Confucian scholars and literati here to accept the cultivation of Confucianism, respect for scripture reading that has become an important part of school education, for each period of time to cultivate different levels of scholars.

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Confucianism has developed greatly, and gradually developed into the backbone of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and Confucius Temple is an important carrier of this culture.

Confucian temple rituals are manipulated by the state, the purpose is to educate, that is, "the temple in order to reverence the saints, learning to brighten people's lives" [8].

The Confucian rituals show that the fundamental connotation of the state's indoctrination is the way of Confucius, and the pursuit of the idealized ritual order of "ruler, minister, father, son, son".

"Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and music" is the way of Confucianism, and politics draws on Confucianism in order to establish an orderly society and realize authoritarian rule.

"Confucius set up a teaching with the Way, and the world sacrificed to it, not to its people, but to its teaching, and to its Way" [9].

Therefore, to sacrifice to Confucius is to revere the ideas and doctrines he founded.

2. To promote the integration and unity of the Chinese nation.

The establishment of Confucius temples around the world has been instrumental in promoting the integration and unification of the Chinese nation.

Under the requirements of the feudal state decrees, there were Confucian temples both in the interior of the Central Plains and in the border areas.

"Since the Tang Dynasty, no state or county has had a school, and then no school has had a temple of the late sage" [10].

In the Liao Dynasty, the Shangjing (now south of Bahrain Zuoqi in Inner Mongolia), Zhongjing (now Daming City, west of Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia), and Xijing (now Datong, Shanxi Province), all had a State Scholar's Palace, next to which was built the Temple of Confucius, which was dedicated to the first saint at regular intervals [11].

Its states, county schools also have Confucius Temple.

The Jin Dynasty inherited the previous dynasty, in addition to the Confucius Temple in the State Prison in Beijing, the state and county also built temple school.

Zhangzong Taihe four years (1204), "the edict of the assassins, the state and county without Xuan Sheng Temple scholars and increase the repair" [12].

After the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in Yunnan province, in the first 15 years of Yuan Shizu to Yuan (1278) in Kunming to build the temple of Confucius.

After that, Dali, Jianshui, Tonghai, and Shiping also built and institutionalized Confucian temples.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yunnan province, in addition to some extremely remote places, almost all counties have Confucian temples.

Known as the "first temple in Hainan," the Confucian Temple in Wenchang was built in the Northern Song Dynasty during the Qingli period, and in the eighth year of the Ming Hongwu (1375), it was relocated to the town of Wenzhou.

Taiwan Confucian Temple was first built in Tainan City, built in the Qing Dynasty Kangxi five years (1666).

Earlier Confucian temples in Taiwan were built in Changhua County (Yongzheng year), Fengshan (now Kaohsiung City) County (Kangxi year), and Taipei Prefectural School (Guangxu year).

The establishment of Confucian temples in remote areas greatly improved the backwardness of local education.

Confucianism is a spiritual treasure of the Chinese nation, not just a monopoly of the Han Chinese.

This can be easily seen from the ethnicity of the temple builders: Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who was of Xianbei ethnicity during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, pursued a policy of Sinicization, and was the earliest emperor to build a "Temple of the Sage" in a town other than Qufu to worship Confucius; the female Genghis Khan entered the Central Plains and established the Jin Dynasty, where emperors from generation to generation venerated and worshiped Confucius and built temples to him, such as the Pingyao Temple of Culture, which still stands today in Pingyao, Shanxi. Pingyao Temple of Literature still retains the pattern of Jin Dynasty buildings; the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongols not only built the Temple of Confucius in Metropolitan City (present-day Beijing), laying down the specifications of the Temple of Confucius in Beijing, but also named Confucius as "King of Dacheng to Sheng Wenxuan," which was the highest posthumous title bestowed upon Confucius by successive emperors; the Manchus practiced the Confucius Ceremony before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and before they became the masters of the Central Plains, and they held a Confucius Ceremony in the Northeast China. The Manchu, on the other hand, had already practiced Confucius ceremonies before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and before the occupation of the Central Plains, and had established Confucius temples in the northeast.

The fifty-six ethnic groups in China*** worshiped Confucius as the "Sage Master", which eased ethnic conflicts and promoted the unification of all ethnic groups over the course of more than two thousand years of history.

Confucianism has regulated the moral norms and code of conduct of all classes of the Chinese nation, and has become a philosophy that promotes the unity of all ethnic groups in China.

3. Artistic value.

Confucius Temple is a concrete embodiment of the Oriental architectural style, fully demonstrating the high degree of wisdom and creative talent of the ancient working people of China, which occupies an important position in the history of ancient Chinese architecture, and the Confucius Temple in Qufu is one of the three major existing ancient architectural complexes in China.

The Confucius Temple's architecture complies with the principle of coherent axis, left and right symmetry in China's traditional architectural complexes, and the layout is rigorous.

Confucian Temple as a sacrificial building, its special performance in its iconic architecture: its main building, Dacheng Hall, most of the use of lifting beams and arches; Panchi has a long history, unique to Confucian Temple; latticework door in addition to individual high-profile sacrificial buildings, mainly used in Confucian Temple buildings; Confucian Temple in front of the number of plaques are other types of buildings can not be compared.

The carvings in the Temple are the finest of Chinese stone carving art, especially the Dacheng Hall of stone columns carved dragons, is a masterpiece of stone carving art.

Such as Shandong Juno County, the existing Ming Dynasty Temple Dacheng Hall, the Hall is surrounded by 24 large stone columns supporting the engine, 8 stone columns under the front gable, as well as the back of the gable end columns for the high-relief carving of the two dragons playing with the pearl, decorated with puffy clouds, under the waves, stylized and vivid carving exquisite; other stone columns for the shallow-relief carving of entwined flowers, the composition of the complex and elaborate, exquisite skills [13].

With the passage of time and the change of dynasties, Confucius Temple around the establishment, repair, worship process, leaving a lot of inscriptions and plaques, has a high artistic value.

According to statistics, the Confucius Temple in Qufu *** there are more than 1,000 blocks of stone tablets, including the Confucian monument, visit the Confucian monument, the construction of the Confucian temple monument, merit monument, etc. These tablets, in addition to a large number of engraved in Chinese, there are also a number of ethnic minority scripts, such as Manchu, Mongolian and so on.

Whether from the age span, the number of ancient Chinese history and culture, are of great value to the study of the treasure trove.

From the calligraphy of inscriptions and plaques, a variety of fonts, different styles, each with its own characteristics, is also a rare treasure.

There is no lack of fine local temple inscriptions, such as the famous Tang Dynasty calligrapher Yu Shinan wrote and written in block letters, "Confucius Temple Hall Tablet", there are two extant facsimiles: one in Xi'an Forest of Stelae, called the "Shaanben" or "West"; the other in the "Western Temple Hall Tablet"; and the other in the "Western Temple Hall Tablet". Temple Hall Tablet"; one in Shandong Chengwu, called "Chengwu Ben" or "East Temple Hall Tablet", now collected by the county cultural relics room, has always been a favorite for the book.

In the historical process of sacrificing Confucius, but also formed a unique music and dance art.

The content of the Confucian music and dance to celebrate the performance of Confucius' life is the main, is the music, song, dance, a trinity of integrated art.

The music originated from "Shao", which was highly respected by Confucius; the dance is from "Xia"; and the poem is from the creation of Niu Hong and Cai Hui in Sui Dynasty.

The music has all eight tones, simple and pure, elegant and melodious, and the sound of gold and jade.

The dancers use the flute as their dancing tools, and their dancing posture is strong and stretching, with the beauty of sculpture.

The musical instruments played by music students include guzheng, sheng, flute, xiao, chime, chime bells and so on.

The Confucius Ceremony is grand, simple and tranquil, and the solemn atmosphere of Confucius Ceremony and the splendid Dacheng Hall form a perfect artistic unity.

Confucian music and dance with its peaceful tunes, moderate rhythm, elegant lyrics, modest dance steps, highlighting the ancient Chinese elegant music profound ideological meaning, solemn and magnificent touching momentum, as well as the harmony of the artistic style, focusing on Confucius and Confucianism advocate of "benevolent", "Harmony" and "Comity" advocated by Confucius and Confucianism are centrally demonstrated.

In addition, the Confucian Temple has a high historical value.

The temple has witnessed the development of China's feudal society for more than 2,000 years.

In the history of the development of Confucius temples around the world, a wealth of remains and information are left behind. Through the study of the history of Confucius temples, we can understand the rise and fall of the Confucius temple architecture and the activities of Confucius rituals, and see through the political and economic development of China's feudal era, and conduct in-depth discussions on Confucianism and even the evolution of ancient Chinese thought and culture.