Confucius, was the most celebrated thinker, statesman and educator of the Spring and Autumn Period in the ancient China. For more than two thousand years, he, the founder of the Confucianism, has exerted profound influence on Chinese society with his ideas enshrined by feudalistic society in China and was worshiped by ancient emperors in China as the ‘Saint Guru’and ‘Lord of Learning’ etc.
The primitive Temple of Confucius where Confucius lived had three houses. And the temple was spread across the nation by the order of Tang TaiZhong, one of emperors of Tang Dynasty in the 4th year of ZhenGuan’s reign. With the influence of the Confucianism and the special piety for Confucius in the society, Temples of Confucius have been constructed and remained at home and abroad. The grand temple of Confucius in Deyang, national historic preservation unit, is the best in quality and the largest in scale in the southwest China.
The previous Temple, located in the west of the city, was constructed in the second year of KaiXi’s reign of southern Song Dynasty and was reconstructed in the HongWu’s reign of Ming Dynasty at the south street, the center of Deyang city at present, which neighbors the Wenmiao Square decorated with green plants. Built in the 28th year of DaoGuan’s reign of Qing Dynasty (1848) with red walls and yellow tiles covering roof of the well-designed buildings in the style of royal palace, the present one extents in total 29,000 square meters with Confucius Park in front of it from the north to the south among which the buildings in the field covering 20,700 square meters .In the Temple, which consists of morn than 30 ancient buildings, visitors pass through a number of gates and halls, including Qishengdian, Dachengdian in which statues of Confucius, Sipei, twelve philosophers and 72 disciples of Confucius and the instruments for ceremonies as well as the personal profile of Confucius have been exhibited in the hall and rooms on both sides of the hall respectively, Beiting, Liheting, Jimen, Crescent Pool, Lingxingmen, Wanren Palace Wall etc. On both sides of the Confucius Park in front of the Temple and gate of the Park, there are steles, on which there is the content of 'Lun Yu', the most famous work of Confucius, written by renowned calligraphists, as well as various of wooden and stone sculptures greatly valuable in art and history study.
Nowadays, it, the center of Confucius study in the southwest China, the headquarters of Confucius Research Institute in Sichuan Province, has been built up as the museum of remembering Confucius exclusively and appraised highly by the experts in the domestic and abroad who attended the international symposium of studying Confucianism in the modern fashion in Deyang City in June, 1992. Futhermore, a lot of performances for tourists with sharp feature of Confucianism and traditional characteristics have been holding frequently by the Temple, which include the orthodox assemblies and art festivals in the name of Confucius as well as the music shows in the ancient fashion held on 27th, August in the lunar calendar for the sake of spreading Chinese tradition and reproducing the historical ceremony of worshiping Confucius in the field.