[2025 Jia County Attraction] Travel Guide for Jia County Confucian Temple (Updated Mar)

The last stop in Jia County was the Confucian Temple, which was first built in the first year of Xiande in the Later Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties. It was originally a family temple for the descendants of Confucius. It was destroyed by war at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Confucian Temple was rebuilt on the original site in the sixth year of Jin Taihe, and the family temple was changed to an official temple. It was later repaired in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Most of the existing buildings are from the Qing Dynasty. The Confucian Temple is now a national key cultural relic protection unit. The most exciting part of the Confucian Temple is the Dacheng Hall, which was rebuilt in the 54th year of Qianlong. The four wooden pillars on the front eaves are carved with dragons and tigers playing together. The details are amazing, and it is called "the only one in Henan." The Confucian Temple is free to visit and is located in the center of Jia County. The wood carvings in Dacheng Hall are quite exquisite. The tour takes about 1 hour. (Museum + Confucian Temple + Shanxi Guild Hall can be visited for a long half day)

The Jiaxian Confucian Temple is located in the small streets of the old county town and is a key national cultural relic protection unit. Although the Jiaxian Confucian Temple is not the most prominent in the country, for the county town of Jiaxian, it serves as both the official Confucian temple and the academic temple, as well as the family temple where the Kong family worships Confucius. Therefore, it holds a high status locally, which has led to its being repaired multiple times throughout history, always to a high standard and quality. According to experts, the Jiaxian Confucian Temple incorporates architectural styles from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and its design and materials are quite exquisite. The wood carvings, color paintings, and stone carvings are particularly outstanding. In addition to wood and stone carvings, the Jiaxian Confucian Temple also boasts exceptional color paintings. Some of the original color paintings are still preserved on the dougong brackets and lintels of the Dacheng Hall's exterior. Although the colors have severely peeled off, experts have verified that the color paintings of the Jiaxian Confucian Temple have unique Central Plains characteristics in terms of hue, painting technique, style, and content. The color paintings here are different from the palace-style paintings found in regions like Beijing and Chengde, and also distinct from the Suzhou-style paintings popular in areas like Suzhou and Hangzhou. Precisely because color paintings are difficult to preserve, the original color paintings of the Jiaxian Confucian Temple are especially precious. Upon leaving, I noticed that the Confucian Temple has no southern gate. Could it be true that there is a saying 'All Confucian temples under heaven have no southern gate'? Jiaxian Confucian Temple

Jia County, under the jurisdiction of Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. Located in the central-western part of Henan Province and the northern part of Pingdingshan City, it covers a total area of 737 square kilometers. Jia County is the hometown of Zhang Liang. It can be mainly summarized as 'one county, two heritages, four places, four treasures, six towns, and six unique features.' 'One county' refers to the ancient county with a thousand years of history. 'Two heritages' are the two national-level intangible cultural heritage projects: Jia County's large bronze ware and Yaozhuang's gold-inlaid jade. 'Four places' include the birthplace of national youth culture, China's poetry creation base, China's Tang Jun porcelain base, and the 'Shan'erxi' tobacco base. 'Four treasures' consist of four national key cultural relics protection units: the resting place of the great literary figures of the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Xun, Su Shi, and Su Zhe - the Three Su Garden (Three Su Temple and Tombs), the best-preserved county-level Confucian temple - Jia County Confucian Temple, an important node of the thousand-mile tea route - Jia County Shan-Shaan Guild Hall, and the first red stone ancient fortress in the Central Plains - Linfen Fortress. 'Six towns' refer to China's longevity town, calligraphy town, poetry town, Jia County red bull town, cast iron pot town, and gourmet food town. 'Six unique features' are six kinds of unique delicacies: roasted chicken, beef, Hele noodles, tea soup, three stews, and tofu dishes. In 1955, Chairman Mao Zedong wrote a glorious directive for Jia County: 'The countryside is a vast world, where great achievements can be made.'