Day 11’s itinerary was to visit the Temple of Confucius at Guo Zijian street in Dongcheng District. The Confucius Temple in Beijing is ranked second in size (22,000 square meters) behind the Temple of Confucius in Qufu in Shandong Province of all the temple of Confucius in China. It is built in 1302 in the Yuan dynasty and expanded during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The admission fee to the Temple of Confucius is RMB30 (CAD5) per person. This includes the neighbouring Guo Ji Jian (Beijing Imperial College) which was the institute of highest education in China.

A statue of Confucius stood at the entrance of Dacheng Gate (Gate of Great Accomplishment).

There are 198 stone tablets placed on either side of the front courtyard of the Dacheng Hall. The stone tablets contain 51,624 names of Jinshi (the advanced scholars) of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

A closer look at the tablet. It is carved with the name of the scholar and the region he’s from.

There are a number of old trees here. The above is an old cypress tree in the courtyard. This tree is called Bai Shang Sang. It is a cypress tree with a mulberry tree growing out of its hollow trunk.

The above Xianshi Men (Gate of the First Teacher) was glazed with yellow tiles, which is the colour used by emperors.

Dacheng Hall (Hall of Great Accomplishment) is where memorial ceremony was held.

A view inside the Dacheng Hall.

The red cards hanging at the base of the statue are wishing cards that can be purchased from one of the hall.

The temple also houses 189 stone steles containing the Thirteen Confucian Classics, presented by the city of Jintan in Jiangsu Province. The script of more than 626,000 Chinese characters in the Thirteen Confucian Classics took Jiang Hang (a scholar) 12 years to complete.

There is set of carved stone drums from the period of the Qianlong Dynasty being displayed within the Gate of Great Accomplishment.

There is also a display ancient weapons.

Musical instruments for sacrificial ceremony.