Confucius Temple 孔庙

This tranquil temple to China's great sage has endured close to eight centuries of additions and restorations. The complex is now combined with the Imperial Academy next door, once the highest educational institution in the country. The Hall of Great Accomplishment in the temple houses Confucius's funeral tablet and shrine, flanked by copper-color statues depicting China's wisest Confucian scholars. As in Buddhist and Taoist temples, worshippers can offer sacrifices.

The above photo is a 1:1 statue of Confucius (551 - 479 B.C). It was said that he was a tall man in ancient times, measuring 6 feet tall.

One of the highlights is the 'cemetery' of stone tablets. These tablets, or stelae, stand like rows of creepy crypts in the front and main courtyards of the temple. On the front stelae, you can barely make out the names of thousands of scholars who passed imperial exams. Another batch of stelae, carved in the mid-1700s to record record the Thirteen Classics, philosophical works attributed to Confucius, line the west side of the grounds.

I have seen the Stone Tablets, each of them larger than a normal human being and weighs more than a tonne. On each of them were chinese characters, containing the Thirteen Classics. It took Jiang Heng, a scholar, 12 years to complete the writing and another 3 more years to finish the engraving on the tablets. This is one definite way of preserving history with those wise sayings being engraved in stone.

The Imperial Academy was established in 1306 as a rigorous training ground for high-level government officials. The academy was known to be notorious, especially during the early Ming Dynasty era, for the harsh discipline imposed on scholars perfecting their knowledge of the Confucian classics.

In Singapore, we have a rigid education system, whereby my fellow citizens would highlight about the difficulties on being a local student. However, when I read and listen about how tough the education system was in the olden days of China, I began to appreciate how fortunate we are.

I asked myself:
- When do I have to quote all the sayings of wise men?
- When do I have to travel thousands of miles to the capital for an exam?
- When do I have to pass that exam to be termed as successful?

Have today's man become more stupid or have we just assimilate to the vices around us?