Jiangpu Confucius Temple

Jiangpu Confucius Temple

Jiangpu Confucius Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Nanjing City.

Jiangpu Confucius Temple is located on Dongmen Street in Zhujiang Town, Jiangpu County, nestled at the foot of Phoenix Mountain in the northeast corner of the county town. The Confucius Temple is a sacred site dedicated to the worship and commemoration of Confucius, revered as the "Great Sage and Foremost Teacher" whose virtues matched heaven and earth and whose teachings spanned ancient and modern times. He was posthumously honored with the title of "Duke of Literary Prosperity," hence the name of the temple. It complements the Martial Temple, which honors Guan Yu, the embodiment of loyalty and righteousness. According to the county annals: "In the 24th year of the Hongwu reign [1391], Magistrate Qiu Cunren relocated the temple from Puzikou Fort to the east side of the county seat on Kuankou Mountain. The central structure is the Dacheng Hall, flanked by East and West Side Halls, with ritual vessel storage and study rooms on the left and right. In front of the Dacheng Hall is the Ji Gate, with the Township Worthies Shrine on the right. Further ahead are the Lingxing Gate and the Screen Gate, with fences on both sides, a Pan Pond in the center, a Screen Wall to the south of the pond, and the Tiankai Tower to the south of the wall. To the east of the Dacheng Hall is the Gate Screen, with the Civilization Tower on the right, behind which lies the Minglun Hall. To the east of the hall is the Rixin Study, and to the west is the Shixi Study. At the very rear is the Chongsheng Shrine." The annals also list a set of county school buildings to the east of this architectural complex, showing that by the 24th year of Hongwu, the Jiangpu Confucius Temple complex had already been fully developed. This layout was later continued during the Qing Dynasty. The typical Qing-era Confucius Temple layout consists, from south to north, of a Screen Wall, Pan Pond, Lingxing Gate, Dacheng Gate, Dacheng Hall, and Chongsheng Hall. From the 24th year of the Ming Hongwu reign (1391) when it was relocated to Kuankou Mountain until the outbreak of the Xianfeng era in the Qing Dynasty, many structures of Jiangpu Confucius Temple underwent repeated repairs and reconstructions. In the 5th year of the Xuande reign, Magistrate Yan Di and others renovated the temple and erected a stele listing successful examination candidates. During the Tian Shun era, Magistrate Peng Lie rebuilt the Ji Gate. In the 12th year of the Chenghua reign, the Dacheng Hall was renovated. In the 21st year, Magistrate Xiao Yu reconstructed the Lingxing Gate. In the 12th year of another cycle, Magistrate Hu ??? carried out major repairs on the Confucius Temple. In the 10th year of the Kangxi reign, Magistrate Xu Longguang renovated the Dacheng Hall, and in the 24th year (1685), Magistrate Gan Guoshe and others rebuilt the Dacheng Hall. In the 4th year of the Yongzheng reign, Magistrate Xiang Weizheng and others renovated the Dacheng Hall and rebuilt the East and West Side Halls and the Ji Gate. In the 26th, 39th years of the Qianlong reign, the 15th year of the Jiaqing reign, and the 18th year of the Daoguang reign, further renovations were made to the Confucius Temple. By the time of the Xianfeng era, most of these structures were destroyed in warfare. After Xianfeng, the Qing court reconstructed Jiangpu Confucius Temple again. "In the 5th year of the Tongzhi reign, Governor Zeng Guofan ordered the county to retain 8,000 taels of silver intended for cattle tax to fund reconstruction. However, Magistrate Ji Chang misappropriated the funds and failed to repay them. In the 4th year of the Guangxu reign, Magistrate Li Chunzao initiated a donation campaign and proposed relocating the construction to the former site of the county office based on local petitions. In the 6th year (1880), the Jinling Reconstruction Bureau assigned Acting Magistrate Zhu Zhigan to oversee the construction of the Dacheng Hall and five-bay Ji Gate, enclosed by walls. In the 14th year (1888), Magistrate Cheng Xin completed the East and West Side Halls." This reconstructed Confucius Temple no longer had a complete layout, consisting only of the Dacheng Hall, Side Halls, Ji Gate, and enclosing walls. These structures remained largely intact for over sixty years until the liberation period. Later, due to neglect, the Ji Gate and Side Halls gradually deteriorated. By the mid-1950s, only the Dacheng Hall remained. This surviving hall was successively used as a grain warehouse, a rehearsal space for a theater troupe, a battlefield during the Cultural Revolution, then as a paint-baking workshop for a wireless factory, and later converted into a warehouse by a transformer plant. In May 1998, the County Culture Bureau submitted a proposal to the county government for the restoration and management of the Confucius Temple. This proposal quickly gained support from the county party committee, county government, and municipal cultural relics bureau. The municipal cultural relics bureau allocated 200,000 yuan, and the county government contributed an additional 600,000 yuan, restoring the temple to its original grandeur and splendor.