Shanghai Confucian Temple (Wen Miao)

The Shanghai Confucian Temple is one of the commemorative temples established nationwide for Confucius (551-497 BC) who is widely considered as an important philosopher and politician that has profoundly influenced the evolution of human civilization. 

The temple construction was originally completed over a plot on Xuegong street 学宫街 (a road nearby its current location) in 1291, Yuan dynasty. After suffered severe destruction by rebellion conflicts in 1853, a rebuilding construction over its current location was started in 1855, which turned out a graceful worship destination as it looks today, the new temple covers a ground area of 1.13 hectares.

Shanghai Confucian Temple had gradually become the cultural center dominating the old city over a hundred years ahead of the city's colonial age. It was the spot where emerged the earliest education activities as well as being the highest educational institution in the city's old history.

In modern history, structures inside the Confucian Temple had suffered a serious of destructions due to the warfare and conflicts that chiefly taking place between the 1930s and 1940s. After the establishment of the new China, the municipal administration launched several renovation programs to restore the temple's landscape, however, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution started in 1966 brought in devastating destruction to the temple, which had ruined innumerable landscape structure and cultural heritage. In April 1997, the municipal administration set a new round of renovation aiming to bring back the temple's original features. After two years of reconstruction and renovation, the project was completed in September 1999, and then it was officially approved to open to the public.

In nowadays, the Confucian Temple is not only a religious destination where people come for showing reverence to the sage Confucius but also a popular stop in the tour circuit to experience the Chinese traditional culture. The second-hand book trading fair that sprung up in the 1990s was once a popular literary event held on Sundays till the closure in 2020.