Temple sights in Qūfù
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Confucius Temple
China's largest imperial building complex after the Forbidden City, the temple actually started out as a simple memorial hall 2500 years ago, gradually mushrooming into today's compound, which is one-fifth the size of the Qūfù town centre. Like shrines to Confucius everywhere, it has an almost museumlike quality, with none of the worshippers or incense-burning rituals that animate religious temples. There is also little in the way of imagery, and the principal disciples and thinkers of Confucian thought are only paid tribute to with simple tablets, in the wings of the main courtyards. It also seems strange that emperors seem to get more mention here than the actual sage h…
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Yán Temple
A recent makeover is responsible for the five-fold (!) admission increase. The tranquil and little-visited Yán Temple northeast of the Confucius Mansions opens to a large grassy courtyard with some vast stele pavilions sheltering dirty stelae and antediluvian bìxì. The main hall, Fùshèng Hall (复圣殿; Fùshèng Diàn), is 17.5m high, with a hip and gable roof, and a magnificent ceiling decorated with the motif of a dragon head. Outside the hall are four magnificently carved pillars with coiling dragon designs and a further set of 18 octagonal pillars engraved with gorgeous dragon and floral patterns. The architecture is strikingly similar to that of the Confucius Temple.…
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