Southern Confucius Family Temple 孔氏南宗家庙

About Southern Confucius Family Temple

Southern Confucius Family Temple (孔氏南宗家庙) is the ancestral temple of the southern branch of Confucius's descendants, on Xinqiao Street (新桥街) in the city of Quzhou (衢州), Kecheng District (柯城区), Zhejiang. Tide News calls it one of only two surviving Kong family temples in China, the other being in Qufu (曲阜).

The southern branch began with the fall of the Northern Song capital in 1127. Kong Duanyou (孔端友), Confucius's 48th-generation descendant and holder of the title Duke Yansheng (衍圣公), followed Emperor Gaozong south and took part in his 1128 sacrifice at Yangzhou carrying carved wooden figures of Confucius and his wife. Gaozong gave the family a home in Quzhou, and in 1136 ordered the prefectural school to serve for now as their temple. After Kong Duanyou went south, the Jin made his younger brother duke in the north, which split the lineage into southern and northern branches.

A purpose-built temple went up in 1253–54 on the Furong dike of Ling Lake (菱湖), was destroyed in the fighting of 1276, and was moved south of the city. In 1282 Kublai Khan ordered Kong Zhu (孔洙) back to Qufu; he answered that his ancestors' graves and temple were in Quzhou and gave the ducal title to a cousin in Qufu, and the southern branch stayed. The temple moved to its present site in 1520, and a repair of 1821–1823 gave it its current size. Zhejiang listed it as a protected site in 1981, and it became a national key cultural relic protection unit in 1996.

Some 13,900 m² of temple, family mansion and rear garden face south, with the garden at the back and the buildings in front laid out on three axes. The central axis runs from the gate through Dacheng Gate and a paved path with a platform for ritual dance, flanked by side halls, to Dacheng Hall (大成殿), five bays wide under a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, with old cypresses in the courtyard. The east axis holds the family school and the Shengze Tower (圣泽楼); the west holds ancestral shrines for the family's branches and titled dukes, with the Kong mansion beyond.

The Southern Confucius memorial ceremony (南孔祭典) held here lapsed after 1949 and was revived in 2004 at the proposal of Kong Xiangkai (孔祥楷), the branch's senior heir; it joined the national intangible heritage list in 2011. At the September 2022 ceremony people in modern dress offered flower baskets, and students recited passages of the Analects.

What to look for

• Dacheng Hall (大成殿), the main hall, with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof and a plaque reading 'wanshi shibiao' (万世师表, 'teacher for all ages') in the Kangxi Emperor's hand
• The main gate, whose plaque was written by the calligrapher Sha Menghai (沙孟海)
• The east and west side halls, honouring Kong Renyu (孔仁玉), Kong Chuan (孔传) and the southern founder Kong Duanyou
• The Kong mansion (孔府) on the west side, rebuilt with the west axis by the city in 1998–2000
• The stone-paved walkway, over 100 m long, with the temple on its north side and a large bronze statue of Confucius on its south side
• The Southern Confucius memorial ceremony, held here; the 2022 ceremony took place on 28 September

Location & getting there

Getting to Southern Confucius Family Temple

• Search for 孔氏南宗家庙 with 衢州市 and 柯城区.