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Confucian Temple (1302, rebuilt 1411)

Imperial China was too large for the Emperor to rule alone. Large numbers of trained civil servants were required to run the country. As in Korea, Confucian academies prepared scholars for high office through a rigorous study of the Confucian classics. At this shrine, the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties kept a list of the candidates who successfully passed the Confucian examinations to become civil servants. The names are inscribed on 198 stone tablets that pepper the courtyard like gravestones. The 51,624 names provide information on the home district and rank of the civil servant.

The Hall of Great Achievements, the main building, was first built in 1302 during the Yuan dynasty. It was destroyed and rebuilt in 1411, soon after the Ming reconquest. Here the Emperor paid homage to the Confucian magnates of the past.