Confucius Says...

While in Nanjing I went to visit the temple dedicated to the smartest Chinese man ever. Confucius lifed a long time ago (550BC) and was a Philosipher who promoted Poetry, Music, Human interaction (laws and politics) and respect for elders (parents). Confucius's given name was Qiu (sounds like Cho) and was a Chinese father figure for many (Chinese word for Father is Fu).

Here are pictures of his temple.

this is the entrance of the temple from inside the courtyard. You can imagine Confucius standing up there talking to his pupils. In fact, Confucius never lived here. This building is old, but not 2500 years old. This was constructed years later in his memory. In fact, this is not the only temple to Confucius. The oldest is in his home town of Qufu and is nearly 2500 years old. The walk way up to the first building is flanked by status of a few of his disciples. Each of these disciples focused on one of his doctrines and where known as great philosiphers themselves.



Here is a painting of Confucius. This is inside the main temple building. He is surrounded by musical instruments such as drums, bells and stringed instruments. Confucius believed in music as being very important for education.

Here are the bells. Different than you would think.

This is the big bell that the followers would ring to call classes to order.

This drum weighs 1000 kg (2200 lbs or one ton) and is made of bronze.