Located in the south of Jiankang road in Nanjing City, it mainly refers tothe Confucius Temple, Xuegong and Gongyuan, but the streets around these threebuildings are traditionally called Confucius Temple. In the area of about 0.5square kilometers from pingjiangfu road in the east to Zhanyuan road in thewest, there are more than 300 shopping malls and shops, 2 cinemas and manyhotels and amusement parks, etc., and there is an underground commercial streetof about 10000 square meters underground. It can be said that Confucius Templeis a multi-functional service center integrating tourism, culture, commerce,catering and entertainment. More than 150000 people attended the festival,especially during the Jinling Lantern Festival. In 337, the Prime Minister WangDao built a school Palace on the North Bank of the Qinhuai River, which is theearliest building of Confucius Temple.
In 1032, Emperor Renzong built Confucius Temple and Confucius Temple infront of the Academy. Later, it was destroyed several times and rebuilt severaltimes due to war. The present building was rebuilt in 1984. It reproduces thestyle and landscape of Jiangnan market in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. ConfuciusTemple is a place for offering sacrifices to Confucius, covering an area of26300 square meters. Zhaobi is located on the South Bank of Qinhuai River. It is10 meters high and 110 meters long. The top of the wall is covered with smallcylinder green tiles and the four corners are slightly tilted. Its length is thelongest in China.
There is a crescent shaped panchi on the north bank and a row of carvedstone railings built in the Ming Dynasty on the bank. On the east side of thestone fence is kuiken pavilion with three floors and six flying angles; on thenorth side is Wenshu square with four pillars and three gates, with four goldcharacters "Tianxia Wenshu" engraved in the middle; on the west side is Juxingpavilion with double eaves and carved ridge flying angles, and in front ofDacheng gate is Lingxing gate with six pillars and three gates. The buildingshere all have the word "Star", which means that the stars of the world aregathered here. Dachengmen is an ancient building with a beam and a bucket. Ithas a Dragon Ridge and three doors standing side by side. Each door has 45 studsand a faucet ring. On the left and right sides of the gate stand four stonetablets of the Southern Qi, yuan and Song Dynasties, and on both sides of theinner courtyard are corridors connecting the Dacheng hall. Dacheng hall is themain building of Confucius Temple. It is 16.2 meters high, 27.3 meters wide and20.9 meters deep. It has seven Ying double eaves, four slopes and five ridges.The standing carving of dragon and pearl on the main ridge is the first inChina. With 56 huge stones in the hall, it is majestic and spectacular. In frontof the hall, the bronze statue of Confucius in Danlong, 4.18 meters high, is thehighest in China. Outside the walls on both sides of the East and West are theEast and West markets carefully planned and designed according to the style ofthe Ming and Qing Dynasties, mainly dealing in antique jade, four treasures ofthe study, famous calligraphy and paintings and tourist souvenirs. Located atthe back of Dacheng hall, the academy is composed of Mingde hall, ZunjingPavilion, Chongsheng temple, Qingyun tower and other buildings. It is thehighest Academy in ancient state capital. Mingde hall is the main hall of theAcademy, which is now a playground.
From Wenshufang to the East, you can see a square three story woodenstructure building with a bucket arch and cornice Mingyuan building. It is thecentral building of the former Jiangnan Gongyuan. It is the place to monitorexaminees and issue orders during examinations. On both sides of the courtyardbehind the building are the imperial examination houses of the Ming and QingDynasties. The house is about 1.5 meters long and wide. There are only twoboards on the top and the bottom, with tables on the top and benches on thebottom. The examinees eat, drink and sleep in this narrow space for a few days.All the food they bring in should be checked, and even the steamed bread shouldbe cut to prevent cheating. In its heyday, Jiangnan Gongyuan covered an area ofmore than 70000 square meters, with 20644 houses, the largest scale of Gongyuanin China. Mingyuanlou is now known as "Jiangnan Gongyuan site", which is aprovincial cultural relic protection unit. The Confucius Temple in history usedto be an abnormal bustling city, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, whenit opened in autumn, tens of thousands of candidates (up to 20000 people)gathered here, so bookstores, teahouses and inns came into being, andrestaurants and brothels also proliferated. At that time, some streets andalleys on the South Bank of the Qinhuai River were the "gentle townships" and"gold selling caves" for the children of rich families. There were also manyfamous prostitutes, such as Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan, known as "Qinhuaieight beauties". Today, Meixiang building is rebuilt at 38 chaoku street, whichis open to visitors as Li Xiangjun's former residence.
Wu Jingzi, a famous writer in Qing Dynasty, once lived on the Bank ofQinhuai River. After 19 years, he wrote a famous book "scholars' history" whichcriticized the imperial examination system. On the site of his former residence,Qinhuai Water Pavilion, a building of the style of river hall and river house inMing and Qing Dynasties has been built, which is called "Qinhuai family" hotel.There are folk activities such as antique wedding and so on. At present, morethan 100 kinds of traditional snacks have been discovered. With foreign fastfood such as KFC and McDonald's, visitors can enjoy them. Jinling LanternFestival is even more famous. It's called the Lantern Festival on the 12th andthe Lantern Festival on the 18th of the first month of the lunar calendar. Infact, since the beginning of the new year, people have been buying, selling andwatching lanterns. There are dozens of colorful lanterns, which make peopledazzled and confused.