The Dacheng Hall of Taizhou Prefecture Confucius Temple

The Dacheng Hall of Taizhou Prefecture Confucius Temple

The Dacheng Hall of Taizhou Prefecture Confucius Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

The Dacheng Hall, located at the western end of Huipu Road in Gucheng Subdistrict, Linhai City, is the main hall of the Taizhou Prefecture Confucius Temple and also the tallest ritual building in the entire complex.

The Confucius Temple is a shrine dedicated to Confucius, who (551–479 BC) was named Qiu and had the courtesy name Zhongni. He was a native of Zouyi in the State of Lu (present-day southeastern Qufu, Shandong Province) and was a great thinker, educator, and founder of Confucianism in the late Spring and Autumn period.

The Confucius Temple, also known as the Wenmiao or the Temple of the First Sage, has an uncertain founding date and original location. In the second year of the Jingyou era (1035) during the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Yue, the prefect of Taizhou, relocated it to the west side of Linhai’s eastern city. In the second year of the Baoyuan era (1039), Li Fang, another prefect, moved it to its current site and built the prefectural school adjacent to the temple, thus integrating the temple and school functions. The present Dacheng Hall was constructed in the fifty-first year of the Kangxi era (1712) during the Qing Dynasty by Zhang Lianyuan, the prefect of Taizhou, and took six years to complete. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the private Hui Pu Middle School was established within the temple grounds, and the ritual functions of the Confucius Temple gradually diminished. After 1949, apart from the Dacheng Hall and the western wing rooms, all other structures of the Confucius Temple were demolished and rebuilt as staff dormitories for the Taizhou Administrative Office. In 2001, the Linhai Municipal People’s Government began emergency repairs on the Dacheng Hall and carried out comprehensive restoration work on the Confucius Temple, including the construction of new auxiliary buildings.

The Dacheng Hall covers an area of 458.8 square meters, has a square floor plan, five bays, and a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof. Its total width and depth are both 21.3 meters, and its total height is 18.48 meters. The central bay is 6.7 meters wide, the side bays are 4.5 meters wide, and the corner bays are 2.3 meters wide. The interior beam structure follows the post-and-lintel style, with six columns per bay, totaling thirty-six columns. The diameter of the golden columns is 51 centimeters, slightly thicker than standard columns, with column bases 60 centimeters high and 81 centimeters in diameter. The roof slope is steeper than that of ordinary buildings, and the wooden carvings are finely crafted, with some areas of the interior featuring painted decorations. The Taizhou Prefecture Confucius Temple integrates both northern and southern architectural styles and is the most well-preserved and tallest ancient structure in Linhai and Taizhou. Inside stands the “Record of the Renovation of Taizhou Prefecture School” stele from the seventeenth year of the Kangxi era (1678) in the Qing Dynasty.

On April 15, 1983, the Linhai County People’s Government designated it as a “Linhai County Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit.” On January 13, 2017, the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government listed it as part of the seventh batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units