The largest Confucian temple in Hunan

Hunan Province Yongzhou City Ningyuan County Ningyuan Confucian Temple Ningyuan Confucian Temple is ranked as a national level four site. In the category of ancient architecture, it holds the third place in Hunan (tied with others), and it is often referred to as the largest Confucian temple in Hunan, with special emphasis on the praise of its stone-carved dragon pillars. The existing temple has three sections, starting from the shadow wall (where small shops have been built on the street-facing side) and ending at the Dacheng Gate, containing a Pan Pool (without a bridge), Lingxing Gate, and on each side, a clay sculpture archway-style gate, namely 'Virtue Matches Heaven and Earth' and 'The Way Crowns the Ages'. There are also many stone components piled up. The proportion of buildings in this section is not large, but the scale is significant, with many trees planted, lush and jungle-like. The archways are of good quality, with a light blue color, very attractive. The three buildings on the central axis, the Dacheng Gate, Dacheng Hall, and Chongsheng Shrine, all use stone-carved dragon pillars, but they feel less lively, and the shapes are just average, not considered fine works. Personally, I find the wood-carved dragon pillars of the Yongzhou Confucian Temple more exciting. The Dacheng Hall, in particular, only uses a rolled shed roof instead of dougong brackets, offering fewer points of interest. A distinctive feature of Hunan Confucian temples is that the Dacheng Hall and the two side halls are relatively close together, and then a small corridor (some even build a pavilion) is connected to the side halls at a forward position on the mountain side. This temple follows the same pattern. Overall, Ningyuan Confucian Temple did not live up to my high expectations. Behind the temple is a street called West Zheng Street, which is very narrow and contains a blue stone archway dedicated to chaste and filial women. The archway's plaque lists the names of 350 virtuous women, a sad testament to the lives of more than three hundred women in feudal society confined within such an archway. But on the other hand, the level of craftsmanship of this archway is higher than that of the Lingxing Gate in the temple. The carvings are delicate, with vivid depictions of people and architectural features, and it also has a gate tower.