In the past, the Confucius Temple was a place for worshiping Confucius, learning cultural knowledge, holding opening ceremonies and other major cultural activities. Confucius temples were built in major counties and prefectures.
Where is the largest Confucius Temple in Lingnan? It is not in the first-tier city of Guangzhou, but in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where it is now a free tourist attraction.
The Nanning Confucius Temple was only completed in 2011. It is not a historical building, but it does not feel new because the main building materials were removed from the old Confucius Temple.
Nanning Confucius Temple is located at the foot of Qingxiu Mountain, the green lung of the city. In front of it is Qinghuan Road and the beautiful Yongjiang River. The building faces south, which is the best orientation in Chinese Feng Shui.
The Nanning Confucius Temple is also a legend. From its first construction to the present, it has been relocated four times in one year.
What is relocation? It is different from demolishing and rebuilding in place, or rebuilding or expanding, but moving the entire temple from one place to another. In other words, the current location of the Nanning Confucius Temple is not its historical location.
The earliest Confucius Temple in Nanning was built in the Huangyou period of the Northern Song Dynasty, nearly 1,000 years ago. The original site was near the foot of the water tower on Xinhua Street today. In the third year of Baoqing in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was moved to the area of ??today's Nanning Hotel, that is, Minsheng Road, about 12 kilometers away from the current site.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, most of the buildings of the old Confucius Temple located on today's Minsheng Road collapsed, leaving only the Dacheng Hall telling history in the wind and rain. In 1982, the Nanning Hotel expanded its scale, and the old Confucius Temple, which showed a "failing old age" appearance, was finally demolished. However, the local government cherished cultural relics and did not dispose of the dismantled materials. Instead, they were preserved in the Guangxi Exhibition Hall.
The newly built Confucius Temple covers an area of ??about 46 acres and is similar in scale to other Confucius temples. The buildings are symmetrically distributed along the central axis, with the Lingxing Gate at the front, followed by the Zhuangyuan Gate, Panchi, etc. Panchi is not only a feng shui pool, an ornamental pool, but also a storage pool. In case of emergency, the water inside can be used for fire fighting and other purposes. Across Panchi are the main buildings of the Confucius Temple, including Dacheng Hall and Chongsheng Temple. All important activities are held in front of the main hall.
Today’s Nanning Confucius Temple is a place where major local cultural activities are held, especially those related to Chinese culture. It is also a good place to take portrait photos, wearing Qin and Han Dynasty costumes, Tang Dynasty costumes, and early Republic of China costumes. The photos taken here are very artistic.
When large-scale events are held, Nanning Confucius Temple is crowded with people, but most of the time there are few tourists, mainly because it is far away from the city center. At present, it is not as famous in Nanning as Qingxiu Mountain and Sanshan Temple. There are two large streets and alleys, but from the perspective of cultural tourism, it is still worth a special trip here.