The Confucius Temple in Lichuan

The Confucius Temple in Lichuan

The Confucius Temple in Lichuan (also known as the Temple of Literature), located in the center of the old town area of Lichuan County, Fuzhou City, next to Lichuan No. 2 Primary School, covers an area of over 2,600 square meters. It was first built in the first year of the Tianxi era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1017), and is one of the iconic ancient buildings in Lichuan.

The Lichuan Confucius Temple is composed of the Dacheng Gate, the Hall of Eminent Officials, the Hall of Local Sages, the east and west side halls, the performance platform, and the Dacheng Hall. The entire architectural complex adopts a parallel axis layout. Between the Dacheng Gate and the Dacheng Hall, the east and west side halls, along with the Hall of Eminent Officials and the Hall of Local Sages, connect the roofs seamlessly, forming a garden-style courtyard.

The front of the Lichuan Confucius Temple is enclosed by a red wall. Inside the wall, the Dacheng Gate is approached by dozens of stone steps, with a large, single-piece carved stone relief of dragons amid clouds in the middle of the staircase.

The Dacheng Gate, together with the Hall of Eminent Officials and the Hall of Local Sages, forms a unified structure with a mixed-frame construction, a gable-and-hip roof with double slopes, measuring 38.83 meters in width and 12.56 meters in depth.

The east and west side halls feature a post-and-lintel frame construction, a flush-gable roof with double slopes, measuring 14.7 meters in width and 5.2 meters in depth.

The Dacheng Hall is the highlight of the entire Confucius Temple complex. It is built atop a performance platform that is 1.5 meters high, covering an area of 503.64 square meters, with seven bays in width and six bays in depth. The performance platform directly in front measures 136.4 square meters. The Dacheng Hall uses a raised-beam frame construction and features a double-eave gable-and-hip roof. All 54 beams and pillars are made of bluestone, including 26 square-shaped outer pillars and 28 round-shaped inner pillars, with diameters ranging from 41 to 45 centimeters.

In the left courtyard of the Dacheng Hall, an ancient well and a stone stele inscribed with the calligraphy-style characters “Clever Spring,” replicating Wang Anshi’s running script (the original stele featured Wang Anshi’s personally inscribed regular script and was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution), are preserved in their original locations. Not far from the well, there is also a stele erected in the tenth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1582) recording temple property, and another from the thirty-sixth year of the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty (1697) commemorating the restoration of the Confucius Temple.

On the west side behind the Dacheng Hall, there is an old brick wall that is part of the original examination hall gate of the Confucius Temple. Above the now-sealed stone gate, a large horizontal stone plaque inscribed with “Lichuan Examination Hall” remains.

The Lichuan Confucius Temple is an invaluable and irreplaceable historical and cultural heritage site. It holds significant practical and historical importance for inheriting Confucian thought and practicing socialist core values.

On March 7, 2018, the Lichuan Confucius Temple was designated and announced by the People's Government of Jiangxi Province as a part of the sixth batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units