Wen Miao (Confucius Temple)

Description:

• Although there has been a Confucius temple in Shanghai as early as 1267, today's temple was built at its current site in 1855, and was most recently restored in 1999 to celebrate the 2,550th birthday of China's Great Sage. In between, it has variously been a temple, school (where Confucian scholars came to study), public garden, and Children's Palace. Offering quiet refuge from the crowded streets of the old Chinese city, the temple, like all Chinese Confucian temples, features a lingxin men (gate) leading to the main hall, Dacheng Dian. Inside are statues of Confucius flanked by his two disciples, Mengzi (Mencius) and Yanhui, and his two favorite musical instruments, a drum and set of bells. To the northeast, the Zunjing Ge, formerly the library, now houses a display of unusually shaped rocks. Southeast of Dacheng Dian, Minglun Tang was a former lecture hall, the Ruxue Shu (Confucian Study Hall) is now a small teapot museum, and back near the entrance, Kuixing Ge is a three-story 20m-high (66-ft.) pagoda dedicated to the god of liberal arts, and the only original structure left on these tranquil grounds. A lively book market is held here Sunday mornings.

• © Frommer's 2012