Skip to main content

Introducing Liuzhou - Part 4: 柳州文庙 Confucius Temple

If you spend any time along the riverside in Liuzhou, you can't help but notice the stunning temple which stands across the water from the city centre. In part 4 of this series, we take a closer look...
Apparently there has been a temple at this site since the Tang Dynasty (which ruled for around 300 hundred years from the 7th century AD) but what you see today is a far more modern structure, owing to the previous temple being destroyed by fire in the 1920s. It's a handsome building and, at night, appears to emit a kind of glow due to the beams and other structural elements being covered in copper. Accompanied by it's neighbouring wooden pagoda, it's a beautiful sight.
Flanked by a riverside park on one side and another of Liuzhou's many limestone karst peaks on the other, the temple and it's pagoda are a popular spot for locals, who come to worship and perform religious rites as well as take an obligatory selfie alongside the classically styled architecture. It's not unusual to find local women dressed in traditional clothes taking photos for their social media pages. 
If you're lucky enough to be in Liuzhou for one of the big festivals, you're in for a treat, as the temple provides the backdrop to traditional ceremonies and performances. It plays host to a small school where children are taught about Confucian theory and traditional Chinese culture alongside their regular lessons. Being so distinctive, and such a central part of the riverfront scene in the city, this is a place that will be familiar to anyone living in Liuzhou. If you're in the city, make sure you take the time to visit and see it up close.
If you're interested in living in the city that plays host to wonderful places such as this, get in touch via email or our Facebook page. We've got lots of jobs available now at competitive salaries and our local staff are ready and waiting to assist you when you arrive.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We're opening a school!

Changes are afoot! When we started Guangxi Education Recruitment we wanted to find and supply teachers for lots of English training centres in and around Liuzhou; we never considered entering the market ourselves. However, this is China, and opportunities abound so we are delighted to announce that our first English school is opening in this week... Looking at other providers in the city, we found that, despite schools generally offering a decent standard of education, most are not using their foreign teachers properly as a resource. Often brought in to provide additional classes, or simply an opportunity for students here to interact face to face with a real foreigner™ , the eponymous 外教 foreign English teacher is under used and underemployed. "Just speak to the students" is the inevitable reply when you ask the principal what they would like you to teach. Not so at 天才外教英语 Genius English Training Centre. We appreciate the value of having native speakers on board s

Introducing Liuzhou - Part 2: 马鞍山 Ma'an Mountain

We previously introduced Fei'e Road, Liuzhou's clothing retail hub. Nearby is one of the most famous parks in Liuzhou, Ma'an Mountain, which we'll tell you more about here in part 2... This is, hands down, one of the best parks in Liuzhou. Not necessarily the most beautiful, but somewhere which will, perhaps more than anywhere else in the city, show you an authentic slice of Chinese life and culture. Rising abruptly out of the ground just south of the river, it also plays host to the spot where you can see the most famous view of the city, shown below. Local Chinese, particularly elderly residents, come to the park everyday to sing, dance, play music, play chess, gamble, feed the fish, debate and chat. This park gives you an unsanitised view of real Chinese life, in complete contrast to the shiny malls and steal and glass towers in the city centre. It's a great way to spend an afternoon, watching the impromptu concerts and groups of old people dancing in uniso

Introducing Liuzhou - Part 3: 龙潭公园 Longtan Park

In part 3 of our series introducing Liuzhou, we visit another park; but not just any park: the most picturesque place in the city... Longtan Park is stunningly beautiful and the city's only 6A scenic area (or maybe 5A, the internet isn't entirely clear on this). Regardless, this is a must see place when you visit, and a natural choice for our cover photo when showing the world what Liuzhou has to offer. Situated around 3km south of the city centre, and easily accessible by public transport, Longtan Park is an unmissable spot, and somewhere you should go to regularly if you live here. As well as the wonderful scenery, the park also demonstrates Guangxi's rich culture, drawing from local minority communities and employing performers from the Zhuang, Dong, Miao and Yao ethnic groups among others. The park offers demonstrations of traditional dancing, singing and other performances, as well as playing host to a great restaurant showcasing local cuisine. As wit