The temple was built in 1306, during the Yuan dynasty, and the Guozijian, the Imperial College next door, trained the officials who ran the empire. For centuries this quiet street was the intellectual centre of China, and the atmosphere is still closer to a university quadrangle than to a tourist site.
The temple
The main hall is dedicated to Confucius and shelters a shrine and ritual vessels used in the spring and autumn ceremonies. The courtyards are planted with ancient cypress trees, several of them more than seven hundred years old, and the stone paving and low buildings give the whole compound a restrained, formal calm.
The steles
The most remarkable feature is the forest of inscribed stone tablets along the covered galleries. These record the names, ranks and home provinces of candidates who passed the imperial examinations across the Ming and Qing dynasties. Reading them by dynastic period is the clearest window you will get into how China selected its civil servants.
The Guozijian
Next door, the Imperial College centers on the Biyong Hall, a square building with a double-eaved circular roof standing in a pool and reached by four bridges. It is an unusual piece of architecture and one of the few surviving examples of this ceremonial form.
Visiting notes
The complex is on Guozijian Street, a pleasant tree-lined lane where many residents still live in courtyard houses. It is a short walk from the Yonghegong Lama Temple and the Drum Tower, so it fits naturally into a hutong morning. Allow about an hour. The site is quiet on weekday mornings and the light in the galleries is best before noon.
