Amir&Jeff's Excellent China Adventure #5: Yueyang, Hunan Province: Song Dynasty (900AD-1,200AD) Confucius Temple. Five short videos with 15 photos.

2025-07-17

Table of Contents

Videos

#1

Transcript

What were Westerners doing 900AD-1,200AD? It was called the Dark Ages: economic decline, cultural stagnation, pestilence and limited written records. China NOT!

So, we are in the Confucist Temple in Yueyang. Obviously, these are not Song Dynasty relics, but these would be a bit more like it. These are obviously statues showing people here working with their ink, writing, etcetera, practicing for the imperial examination to become a Mandarin, a government employee.

Study, study, study

You can see there’s just row after row. This is where the students came to study, and, they have put in their place these old, looks like Mao era desks to be quite honest, and, but this is where they used to work, you know for the last thousand plus years.

Confucist temples are humble and bare-boned

And then outside, this is a pure Confucian temple, and it’s really like a school campus. The students would live here, study here. Here’s a statue of a student, who looks like they are going to class. And you can see here, this is the main the central main area, and it’s compared to a Buddhist temple or a Taoist temple. It’s very sparse. It’s very Spartan.

Confucius is honored and revered not only in China, but across East Asia. Did you know North Korea is the most Confucist country in the world?

I took a picture of this is the main temple hall where they would come and worship. The students would come and worship, Confucius, and there’s a statue of Confucius in there. And then on these two side buildings, this one and this one, they would also do rites, burning incense, making sacrifices. And, you can see how unadorned and plain and sparse it is compared to your typical Buddhist or Daoist temple.

Renovations have locked up the three halls, but I still got a shot of Confucius’ statue…

So this is, and then outside of here, it’s under major renovation. They’re completely redoing it, which is why this is closed, unfortunately. The rooms and all the halls are closed, but maybe I can catch it with the video. Yeah. You can see here, that’s a statue of Confucius in there, and this is where people would come in and pray, burn incense and honor Asia’s great scholar and moralist.

#2

Transcript

Most Chinese temples are syncretic.

And just like in Buddhist and Daoist temples, you know, of course 90% of the temples in China and Taiwan Province are syncretic. They’re a mixture of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. You usually find all three represented. But here, you have these chime cups and you write a votive, you know, a wish, a prayer, etcetera. These are made out of glass.

Bad time to visit, under major renovation

Everything, they’re just doing major construction. In the background there behind that ginkgo tree is a statue of Confucius. But, it’s not a good time to visit this temple They are in complete, a renovation. You can see all the heavy machinery.

Pure Confucist, Daoist and Buddhist temples are rare

But, it’s usually rare to find a uniquely Buddhist, uniquely Daoist, or uniquely Confucian temple, and, this is one of them that is, purely for Confucius and Confucius only.

It’s really a millennial school

This is where they used to do the imperial examination. You can see it right there on the sign right there. This is where the students would come to study. It was going on here since the Song Dynasty.

#3

No transcript

Freeze the first frame to read the introduction.

#4

Transcript

Modern, communist-socialist learning melds with the ancients

In this Song Dynasty, Confucian temple is modern Chinese learning. I’ve reported on this many, many times. These are the Twelve Communist-Socialist Virtues, that the people are expected to aspire to, and you can see there’s three groups. There’s one for country, and then the second line is for society, and then the third is for the people, the citizens. It’s really interesting.

Confucius is civilization and culture

This is not actually called Confucian temple. It’s called Wenmmiao, and Wenmiao means either cultural temple or civilizational temple. So, Confucius is not so much about religion. He is about civilization, culture and learning.

#5

Transcript

Comparing Confucius to Buddha, Mohammed and Christ

And here is the statue of the great man, Confucius. He’s known as Kongzi in Chinese. He has an equally as impactful influence on today’s, societies in Eastern Asia, as Buddha has through much of Asia, Mohammed in the Muslim world and Christ in the Christian world. He is considered a teacher. In fact, the characters written are talking about him being a teacher.

Confucius is an Asian rock star, especially in communist North Korea

He is universally revered in North Korea, which is the most Confucian culture in the world. They are almost 100% Confucian. They’ve got Confucian temples everywhere in North Korea, believe it or not.

As well as the rest of East Asia

Of course, South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, less so in Thailand, because the national religion there is Buddhism. It’s then on down into Malaysia, etcetera.