Confucius Temple (Fuzimiao)

The Confucius Temple (夫子庙, Fuzimiao) is the cultural and entertainment heart of the old city. The main temple structure — rebuilt several times over the centuries, most recently in the 1980s — honours Confucius with the expected formality, but the experience here is mostly about the riverfront district that surrounds it. The Qinhuai River forms the southern boundary, and a long row of traditional-style buildings lines the bank, housing restaurants, tea houses, snack stalls, souvenir shops, and the ever-present tourist trap.

The best time to visit is at night, when lanterns light the riverside and the old buildings are illuminated. Evening boat rides on the Qinhuai are available from the quays near the temple. The surrounding neighbourhood has the feel of a living old city — busy, commercial, a little tawdry in places, but with genuine local life mixed among the tourism. The annual Lantern Festival here in February draws enormous crowds.

things to do sight historic site temple neighbourhood
A story
The Qinhuai River running along the back of the temple precinct was the entertainment district of imperial Nanjing — the boats moored here at night were floating brothels, drinking houses, and performance spaces. The Tang poet Du Mu wrote the most famous poem about the river's hedonism and transience, and generations of pleasure-seekers and poets came after him. Today the lantern-lit boats are tourist vessels, but the atmosphere of a city at leisure on a warm night survives.

Other places in Things to Do