Suzhou Confucian Temple (Suzhou Stone Inscription Museum)

Suzhou Confucian Temple (Suzhou Stone Inscription Museum)

Suzhou Confucian Temple (Suzhou Stone Inscription Museum) is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Suzhou Confucian Temple is located at the southern end of Renmin Road in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

Suzhou Confucian Temple was established in 1034 during the Northern Song Dynasty by Fan Zhongyan when he served as the prefect of Suzhou. Over the dynasties, it has been expanded and renovated, covering a vast area with many buildings. According to the *Wuxian County Annals*, there were already 213 rooms during the Chunxi era of the Southern Song Dynasty. Most of the existing structures, except for the Dacheng Hall, were rebuilt in 1864 during the Qing Dynasty's Tongzhi reign. The Dacheng Hall is seven bays wide and four bays deep, featuring a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof. It has a spacious front terrace and is grand and imposing. The Suzhou Confucian Temple now functions as a stone inscription museum, housing four major Song Dynasty stone steles: the Geographic Map Stele, the Astronomical Chart Stele, the Imperial Succession Chart Stele, and the Pingjiang Map Stele, all of which hold significant historical and scientific value.

The "Geographic Map Stele" is similar in size to the Astronomical Chart Stele. At the center of the stele is an inscribed title in raised relief clerical script reading "Geographic Map." The stele depicts a topographic map of China during the Song Dynasty, divided into an upper map and a lower text section, measuring 1.24 meters and 0.49 meters respectively. The upper part uses a traditional Chinese cartographic method combining lines and symbolic imagery to clearly depict the mountains, rivers, forests, the Great Wall, and the locations of various circuits, prefectures, states, and military districts across the mainland. The 36 lines and 645 characters of explanatory text at the bottom briefly describe the territorial changes from the time of Yu the Great to the Song Dynasty. When compared to modern Chinese topographic maps, aside from some discrepancies in the coastline and unclear sources of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, the rest aligns fairly well. Along with the *Huayi Map* and *Yuji Map* from Xi'an, this is one of the three oldest surviving national maps in China.

The "Astronomical Chart Stele" stands 1.90 meters tall and 1.08 meters wide, and was carved in 1247 during the Southern Song Dynasty’s Chunyou seventh year. At its center is an inscribed title in raised relief clerical script reading "Astronomical Chart." The stele is divided into upper and lower sections, 90 cm and 70 cm tall respectively. The upper part is a circular star chart depicting the entire night sky, while the lower part contains explanatory text. Centered on the celestial North Pole, the star map uses three concentric circles (the circumpolar stars of the north, the celestial equator, and the never-visible circle of the south) along with the varying-degree boundaries of the 28 lunar mansions to illustrate a total of 280 constellations and 1,343 stars. According to the *History of Yuan*, the Song Dynasty conducted four astronomical observations during the Jingyou, Huangyou, Yuanfeng, and Chongning eras, and this star chart is based on the observations from the Yuanfeng era (1078–1085). The lower part contains 41 lines and 2,140 characters of explanatory text, briefly describing celestial bodies, Earth, the poles, the equator, the sun, moon, and stars, as well as the causes of solar and lunar eclipses and the astronomical knowledge known at the time—reflecting the level of ancient Chinese astronomy. The global astronomy community holds this chart in high regard; it is recognized as one of the world’s oldest astronomical charts and holds an important place in the history of ancient world astronomy.

The "Imperial Succession Chart Stele" is 1.83 meters tall and 1 meter wide, slightly smaller than the first two steles. At its center is the title "Imperial Succession Chart" in raised relief clerical script, matching the format of the Astronomical Chart and Geographic Map Steles exactly—indicating they may have come from the same hand. The stele illustrates the genealogy of ancient Chinese emperors, divided into upper and lower sections. The upper part displays the imperial lineage in a chart divided into left, middle, and right columns: the central column begins with the Five Emperors—Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Emperor Ku, Yao, and Shun—and lists dynasties including Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, up through Sui, Tang, and the Song Dynasty’s Emperor Lizong, totaling 13 dynasties and 247 imperial titles—considered the “orthodox” lineage. The left column shows the Six States of Qin and the usurpers of the Five Dynasties; the right column includes the Twelve States of the Spring and Autumn period and the “barbarian-invaded Central Plains” of the Eastern Jin (Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms). These symmetrically arranged sections complement the “orthodox” central column, exhaustively detailing over 4,000 years of Chinese civilization, dynasties, and emperors. The lower part contains 36 lines and 550 characters of explanatory text divided into three sections: the first offers a brief commentary on the “moral order and chaos of dynasties, and the rise and fall of imperial rule” over 195 rulers spanning 3,500 years; the second reflects on the arduous founding of the Song Dynasty by Emperor Taizu; the third expresses a historical lament that “throughout history, good governance rarely lasts, while chaos often dominates.” This stele holds considerable documentary value for the study of ancient Chinese history.

The Astronomical Chart Stele, Geographic Map Stele, and Imperial Succession Chart Stele were drawn by Huang Shang in 1190 during the Southern Song Dynasty’s Shaowu first year, and engraved by Wang Zhiyuan—who then served as the criminal investigation intendant of Zhejiang West Circuit—in 1247 during the Chunyou seventh year.

The "Pingjiang Map Stele" stands 2.76 meters tall and 1.45 meters wide, larger than the previous three steles. Its top features an ancient double-dragon-and-pearl decorative motif, with the title "Pingjiang Map" inscribed in clerical script and recessed in the center. The entire stele is carved from a single bluestone slab, with the title and map seamlessly integrated, and was created in 1229 during the Southern Song Dynasty’s Shaoding second year. The top of the stele displays a complete map of Pingjiang Prefecture (ancient Suzhou), illustrating the city’s layout, appearance, major buildings such as government offices, temples, shrines, gardens, guildhalls, academies, warehouses, residences, as well as mountains, rivers, lakes, and bridges in precise detail. The map features hundreds of crisscrossing waterways totaling about 82 kilometers, and 359 bridges, vividly reflecting the city’s characteristic “small bridges, flowing water, and households” as a water town. Over 50 temples and shrines, 12 ancient pagodas, and 65 street-crossing towers and memorial archways are also recorded. It is the oldest and most complete surviving urban plan map in China, providing invaluable physical material for studying Suzhou during the Song Dynasty.

In 2001, the Suzhou Confucian Temple, as an ancient Ming Dynasty structure, was included by the State Council in the fifth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units, combined with the Song Dynasty stone carvings within the temple under the title “Suzhou Confucian Temple and Stone Inscriptions.”

Location

No. 635, Renmin Road, Canglang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Further Reading:

· First and Second Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· China National Second-Class Museum

· First Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units