Confucius Temple in Nanjing

The Confucius Temple has stood on the northern bank of the Qinhuai river since 1034 and for centuries served as the main centre of learning in Nanjing. Beside it worked the Jiangnan Examination Hall, where candidates for official posts sat the imperial examinations. The complex burned and was destroyed more than once, the last time during the Japanese occupation, and the present pavilions with their curved eaves were restored in 1984. The southern side of the river is closed by a screen wall about a hundred and ten metres long carrying a relief of two dragons playing with a pearl. In the evening the buildings and the wall are lit, and pleasure boats shaped like old barges move along the water.

On the map