Anfu Confucius Temple

Anfu Confucius Temple is the largest and most complete Confucius Temple in Jiangxi Province. It is located in the south of Anfu county, one of the 18 ancient civilization counties in Jiangxi Province

Anfu Confucius Temple

Anfu Confucius Temple, located in Anfu county, Jiangxi Province, has a history of nearly 900 years. It is the only Confucius Temple with relatively complete preservation in Jiangxi Province. Anfu Confucius Temple is a key cultural relic protection unit in Jiangxi Province. The local people call it Confucius Temple as well as "Xuegong", because it is not only a place for offering sacrifices to Confucius and famous Confucian sages, but also the location of official schools in the county.

Historical evolution

Anfu Confucius Temple was built in the fourth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1010 AD). After more than 100 years, the new county magistrate thought that the temple was too small and the pattern was not standardized, so it was demolished and rebuilt in the 13th year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty. When the yuan army invaded Anfu, the temple was destroyed. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor decided the unified architectural form of Confucius Temple under the heaven. In 1521, Yu Kui, the county magistrate, rebuilt it according to the unified architectural form of the imperial court. Although several major repairs were carried out during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the main buildings still kept the regulations of the Ming Dynasty. In 2012, Anfu Confucius Temple was listed on the list of the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units released by the State Council. Anfu Confucius Temple was promoted from a provincial protection unit to a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Architectural features

Anfu Confucius temple covers an area of more than 10 mu. The main buildings are arranged along a north-south axis. It uses the changes of the gate, bridge and courtyard to highlight the theme of respecting Confucius. Dachengmen and dachengdian are the main buildings of Confucius Temple, covering an area of more than 3000 square meters. Xieshan double eaves, Liuwa fly, wings to fly. Dacheng hall is 14 meters high and 25 meters wide. It adopts a platform beam frame structure, with arched columns on the platform foundation, square beams, eight big columns of Phoebe, standing upright to support the roof truss, wood carvings, colorful paintings of Liang Fang, red columns, gold plaques and couplets of past dynasties. There are 54 octagonal red stone pillars in the corridor outside the hall, just like 54 powerful guards. Among them, two pairs of red stone pillars in the middle of Dacheng gate and Dacheng hall, with a diameter of 60 cm, are carved out in relief, wrapped with clouds and rolling dragons and claws. They are lifelike, with their spirit and momentum, making the hall more solemn. In the prosperous times, the ancient buildings are full of vitality. In the mid-1990s, with the support of relevant departments, Anfu people at home and abroad donated money to repair the Confucius Temple. After more than five years of hard work, an Anfu Confucius Temple, which still retains the style of Ming Dynasty, reappears its former style. By using the repaired sites of the two ancestral halls of Fenxian and Minghuan and the two verandas, the Anfu county museum was established to systematically introduce the history and culture of Anfu ancient county for more than 2000 years.

Anfu Confucius Temple was built according to the style of Tianxia Confucius Temple prescribed by the Ming and Qing emperors, and combined with the characteristics of southern garden construction. The existing main buildings include lingxingmen site, Xiama tablet, panchi, Yuanqiao, dachengmen, Minghuan temple, Xiangxian temple, Dongwei, Xiwei, terrace, Dacheng hall, stone sculpture exhibition hall, etc. The main building is divided into three parts and runs through a north-south central axis. The changes of space are enriched by the use of the gate, bridge and courtyard; the deep solemnity of the hall is reflected by the folding of the colonnade; the solemnity of the hall is set off by the double-layer roof and the overhanging eaves of the dragon head. The terrace made of bluestone, the cool and dazzling tube tiles, the uniform lattice and lattice fans With the sound of morning bell and evening drum, incense and fog, it's like walking into the ancient civilization.

From the center of the two stone drums of lingxingmen site to the cobblestone crossing, a forbidden stele directly faces the visitors: "the civil and military officials live here and get off their horses.". The stone road leads to the round bridge, which is a three arch stone bridge connecting the north and south entrance of panchi. Panchi is a unique building of Confucius Temple. It is said that it was set up for Confucius to wash ink. In the examination of children in ancient times, the scholar was called "Rupan".

You can enter dachengmen by crossing the round bridge and passing a straight pebble road. Mencius once commented on Confucius, saying that "Confucius is jidacheng", which is the name of dachengmen. Dachengmen is magnificent. Ten large stone pillars stand high, and the brackets on the pillars hold up the thick beams. In the middle, there are two flying phoenix and dragon pillars with holes, one phoenix and one dragon stand in the sea of clouds, and the waves rise up in the air, lifelike. It is praised as "national treasure" by relevant experts. There is a hall in the front and back of dachengmen. On both sides of the hall are the ancestral halls of the local sages and the famous officials. In ancient times, it was used to commemorate the officials who loved the people and the outstanding local people.

legend

Jiangxi, known as "Yuzhang" in ancient times, is famous for its abundant Cinnamomum camphora trees. Zhang Shouyi of Tang Dynasty said: "Zhang is the present camphor.". Fuxian County, Jiangxi Province, is the main producing area of camphor trees in Jiangxi Province, known as "camphor township". In the eyes of Anfu, camphor tree has become the goddess of rebirth and the "wind dragon tree" to protect local people and animals. Even if there is no firewood in the stove to cook, old watches will not go to the ancient camphor tree to chop branches. A Cinnamomum camphora tree in Wangjiatang, Yantian Town, Anfu county, has a history of 2000 years. Its trunk is 21.5 meters in chest circumference and 29 meters in height. The site is more than 3 mu. At 1.38 meters above the ground, it is divided into 8 branches. Although there are rotten holes at the root, it is still luxuriant. According to the field survey of tree experts in Lushan Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is considered that it is the known king of ancient camphor in China. Anfu Dongshan Wenta is located in the east corner of the county. "Jiangxi Yearbook" said: "the Three Kingdoms Lu Su Jian, in the east gate of the city, Xue Luo four cities, standing Lingxiao.". This pagoda was built on the basis of the decadent Dongshan Pagoda in the Xuanhe period of Song Dynasty (1119-1127). In the history of Anfu, culture and education were highly valued, and there were many celebrities, so it was named Wenta. Dongshanwen pagoda has 8 sides and 9 levels. It is a pavilion style brick Pagoda with a cast iron top. It is 40 meters high and 36 meters in circumference. The main gate opens to the north. There are stone steles and inscriptions at the entrance; along the inner wall of the stairs, there are two entrances and exits on each floor, four bright and four dark windows with eight holes, and the square pool and shrine are arched with tiles. It has been recorded in the dictionary of Chinese places of interest.

Address: South of Anfu county, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province

Longitude: 114.60347

Latitude: 27.442478

Chinese PinYin : An Fu Kong Miao