[2025 Changting Attraction] Travel Guide for Tingzhou Confucian Temple (Updated Apr)

1. 📍Location: • Address: No. 20 Zhaozheng Road, Tingzhou Town, Changting County, Longyan City, Fujian Province. 2. 🚇Transportation: • Public Transportation: Take a bus from Longyan city to Changting, or transfer from Longyan Railway Station by bus. • Self-driving: Navigate to "Changting Confucian Temple" and drive along G319. 3. 🕗Opening Hours: • Open all day. 4. 🎫Ticket Information: • Free admission. 5. 📸Photo Spots: • 🏛️Lingxing Gate: The iconic building of the Confucian Temple, simple and magnificent. • 🌳Pan Pool: The pool is crystal clear and surrounded by lush trees. • 📜Dacheng Hall: The core building of the Confucian Temple, majestic and grand. 6. 🎨Cultural Experience: • 📜Tingzhou Examination Institute: Learn about the ancient imperial examination culture. • 🎨Da Fu Di: Admire the exquisite wood carvings, stone carvings, and brick carvings. 7. 🍽️Recommended Local Food: • 🍖Hetian Chicken: Tender meat, Changting's signature dish. • 🍖Taro Dumplings: Soft and glutinous skin with a savory filling. • 🍖Bo Ji Ban: The rice skin is as thin as cicada's wings, with a rich taste. 8. 💡Tips: • 🕒Best time to visit: Spring and autumn, when the weather is mild and the natural scenery is the most charming. • 📸Photo time: The light is soft in the morning, which is suitable for taking pictures. • 🚫Environmental awareness: Protect the environment, do not trample flowers and plants, and travel in a civilized manner. Hope this guide will make your trip to Changting Confucian Temple even more perfect! 🌟

Tingzhou Confucian Temple, also known as Confucius Temple and Tingzhou Prefecture School, consists of buildings such as Lingxing Gate, Pan Pond, Arch Bridge, Ceremonial Gate, Gate Verandas and Rooms, Wenhui Hall, Dacheng Hall, and Chongxian Temple. Although it has gone through thousands of years of vicissitudes, it still retains its former charm. Tingzhou Confucian Temple was first built in the third year of Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty. It is said that the Confucian Temple in history was a huge complex of buildings, which included the government compound next door and the Lingxing Gate facing the street. Lingxing Gate refers to the archway-style wooden or stone building on the central axis of the Confucian Temple. Lingxing means the literary star in the sky. The name means that Confucius is a star from heaven who has descended to the earth. When traveling in Changting, the taxi driver told us that Changting has a profound cultural heritage, its students have repeatedly achieved excellent results in the college entrance examination, and its undergraduate admission rate ranks among the best in Longyan City. Tingzhou Confucian Temple is located at No. 20, Zhaozheng Road, Changting County, Fujian Province. Opposite it is the famous historical and cultural street - Diantou Street, which can be visited together.

In the center of the ancient city of Tingzhou stands a magnificent and elegant ancient building - the Tingzhou Confucian Temple. The Tingzhou Confucian Temple was originally built in the year 999 AD and was relocated to its current site in 1133. The main gate of the Tingzhou Confucian Temple is a tall and wide stone structure carved with intricate designs - the Lingxing Gate. Lingxing represents the star of literature in the sky, and setting up a Lingxing Gate in temples dedicated to Confucius is to regard Confucius as a celestial body, possessing divine powers just like the stars in the sky. Outside the Lingxing Gate to the west stands a stone stele inscribed with 'The Dismounting Spot of Officials Through the Ages'. The Confucian Temple is a place of high standards and solemnity, where civil officials passing by outside the gate must alight from their sedan chairs, and military officers must dismount from their horses. Inside the Lingxing Gate is a semi-circular pool called the Pan Pool. In the past, scholars entering school were said to be 'entering the Pan'. Over the Pan Pool is a stone arch bridge - the Biyun Bridge. In front of the Pan Pool are the three-doored Ji Gate and the Zhongzhai. Ji is an ancient weapon with three spearheads, hence the reference to the three large doors. In the past, the three doors were not opened at the same time; only the central door was opened for major ceremonies. Above the Ji Gate hangs a square plaque with the calligraphy 'Confucian Temple'. In front of the Dacheng Hall is a two-tiered stone balustrade terrace, and in the center of the terrace is a stone relief - the Dan Chi, which is usually found only in the imperial palace. Since Confucius was conferred by emperors throughout the ages, not only is there a Dan Chi, but there are also two thick coiled dragon stone columns in front of the Dacheng Hall. Hanging on top of the hall is a plaque inscribed with 'Dacheng Hall' by Mr. Tong Yuwen, a famous calligrapher from Fujian Province and consultant to the Changting County Calligraphy Association. On the north side of the Dacheng Hall, in the shrine, stands the camphor wood statue of the elderly Confucius, and above the statue hangs a huge plaque inscribed with 'Model Teacher for Ten Thousand Generations' by Emperor Kangxi, demonstrating the luxury, grandeur, and taste of the Confucian Temple that sets it apart from other temples. The Tingzhou Confucian Temple