The Dacheng Hall of the Confucius Temple in the Old Town

　　The Dacheng Hall is situated in Laicheng Town, the former county seat of Chengmai County, now part of the Laicheng market area. Constructed during the Song Dynasty, it is a county-level cultural relic protection unit. The Dacheng Hall is the main hall of the Confucius Temple (also known as the Academy), which was built to worship “the Great Achieved and Supreme Sage, Confucius.” Originally established in the third year of the Baixi era of the Song Dynasty (1255), when Ji Yingyan, the acting county magistrate, founded the academy, it underwent renovation in the first year of the Xianchun era (1265). It was repaired during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, with a major restoration in the seventh year of the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty (1827), and has not been maintained since. The temple faces south and features a three-courtyard, quadrangle-style layout, measuring 34 meters in width and 150 meters in depth, covering an area of 5,100 square meters.

　　The Dacheng Hall has a double-eaved, hip-and-gable roof, utilizing a mixed post-and-lintel and Dougong beam structure, and is designed as a covered corridor building. The surrounding corridors are 1.84 meters wide, with the main hall spanning five bays (20.52 meters) in width and three bays (10.82 meters) in depth, and covering a floor area of 355 square meters. Its beams, brackets, eaves boards, doors, and partitions all feature carvings and painted decorations. Inside the hall, shrines for Confucius and the Seventy-Two Disciples are enshrined. The front terrace is 14.10 meters wide, 7.07 meters deep, and 1.04 meters high, with three sides built from dry-laid stone carvings and stone steps on all sides. The central stone steps at the front are adorned with a bas-relief of two dragons playing with a pearl, flanked by carved stone lions, while the sides are inscribed with bas-reliefs such as the Eight Immortals. On either side of the main hall are two side corridors, covering 169 square meters each, with five bays each, enshrining the spirit tablets of the Three Thousand Disciples. The middle courtyard spans 717.52 square meters. In front of the courtyard is the Ji Gate (later renamed the Dacheng Gate, covering 176 square meters). In front of the Dacheng Gate lies the front courtyard, measuring 756 square meters, with a central heavenly pool where the Number One Scholar’s Bridge once stood (now filled in and turned into the playground of Laicheng Primary School). The area is enclosed by high walls, with three gates at the front: the left-side Ritual Gate and the right-side Righteousness Gate, along with the central Number One Scholar’s Gate (currently sealed and to be opened only if someone from Chengmai becomes a Number One Scholar). In front of the gate stands a stone inscription reading “All civil and military officials must dismount here,” which has been relocated and is now unaccounted for. The Dacheng Hall, the terrace, and the Dacheng Gate retain their original appearance, while the rest are in ruins.

　　Information source: Party History Research Office of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee