Huangshi Confucius Temple

Huangshi Confucius Temple

Huangshi Confucius Temple is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Fujian Province.

Huangshi Confucius Temple is located within the central primary school in Huangshi Village, Huangshi Town, Licheng District. During the Tang Dynasty, it was known as Hongquan Palace, dedicated to Pei Ciyuan, a Tang Dynasty Fujian Observation Commissioner who pioneered hydraulic engineering in Nanyang. In the Song Dynasty, the renowned Neo-Confucian scholar and educator Lin Guangzhao lectured here, and it was called Hongquan Academy, later known as the "Hongquan School of Thought." During the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed Shuinan Academy but was later destroyed during the Wokou (Japanese pirate) raids. It was rebuilt during the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty. The temple faces south and was constructed according to the layout of Confucius temples, featuring a grand scale. It consists of a main gate, dormitories, a Pan Pond Bridge, side halls, and the Dacheng Hall. The Dacheng Hall is five bays wide and four bays deep, covering a construction area of 264 square meters. It has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, a post-and-lintel wooden frame structure, and bracket sets (dougong) using two clusters for single-tiered brackets, along with intercalated brackets. The bottoms of the brackets use false dish plates. A pair of early Qing Dynasty stone pillars with carved coiling dragons is preserved under the front eaves. In front of the hall lies a stone-paved ceremonial ramp (danchi), covering an area of 68 square meters. In front of the ramp is the Pan Pond, bridged by a two-pillar, three-arch stone bridge covering 108 square meters, which remains well-preserved. Originally, there was also a screen wall and the Zhengxue Gate in front of the pond, but these no longer exist. Inside the temple grounds, there are two stone horse-dismounting steles, each 1.7 meters high and 0.3 meters wide, along with an inscribed stone tablet bearing the text “All civil and military officials, soldiers, and civilians must dismount here.” There is also a stone tablet from the 32nd year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1604), inscribed with the “Record of the Construction of the Wenchang Shrine in Shuinan” written by Lu Ting, the Langzhong (official) of the Qingli Division of the Ministry of Works. On the wall of the left side chamber of the main hall is embedded a stone engraving reading “Ancient Hongquan,” written by Zhu Jizuo of the Ming Dynasty. The carving is well-preserved. Huangshi Confucius Temple was designated as a Fujian Provincial Cultural Heritage Site in 2009.

Huangshi Village: Huangshi Village…… More details about Huangshi Village++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Fujian Provincial Cultural Heritage Sites