Discover Pingyao
Pingyao Confucian Temple
平遥文庙
A temple-school complex whose Dacheng Hall dates to 1163, making it one of the oldest surviving Confucian temple halls in China. It also houses a collection on the imperial examination system.
The story
What makes this place special
Pingyao's Confucian temple is one of the oldest surviving in China, and its Dacheng Hall - rebuilt in the Jin dynasty, between 1115 and 1234 - is among the very few Jin-dynasty structures left standing in any Confucian temple in the country. That single hall is the reason the site matters architecturally. The compound also houses displays on the imperial examination system, including examination papers and the ranking boards, since the temple doubled as the county's educational institution.
What you’ll discover
A large walled compound with ponds, bridges and gates on a long axis leading to the Dacheng Hall, which is a broad single-eave timber building with the Jin roof structure visible from inside. Behind and around it are halls converted into an exhibition on the examination system - the content on how candidates were examined, graded and ranked is more interesting than most visitors expect, and includes original examination scripts.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Stand inside the Dacheng Hall and look up at the roof frame. That timber structure is Jin-dynasty and is the oldest thing you will see in Pingyao; nothing on the signage emphasises it.
- The imperial examination exhibition in the side halls is the best-curated display in the old town and is routinely skipped by visitors who assume a Confucian temple is just halls.
- It is the largest and quietest of the walled-town sites, with actual space and trees. It is the right place to stop and sit when the streets have worn you out.
- It is in the southeast of the old town, away from the main tourist streets, which is why it is empty when Rishengchang is packed. Go when the centre is at its worst.
- Allow 45 minutes to an hour, more than you would give any other site on the pass except the yamen.
When to come
Midday, counterintuitively - it is the one site big enough to absorb the crowd, so it is the right thing to do while the small courtyard museums are jammed. Spring and autumn.
Getting around
The best of the Pingyao interiors for mobility. The compound is large and mostly flat with wide paved paths and benches, so a wheelchair can cover the grounds and see the exterior of the Dacheng Hall unaided. The halls themselves sit on raised platforms reached by steps with no ramp, and the bridges over the ponds have steps. A bad knee is comfortable here - the surfaces are even and there are places to rest.
Worth knowing before you go
The examination-hall display includes surviving answer scripts and cheating aids - tiny silk sheets of miniature text smuggled into the cells. Easily the most memorable thing in the temple.
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