I can’t say I had particularly high expectations about the Confucius Temple when I visited it. Indeed, I only went there because it happened to be very close to the nearby Lama Temple (Yonghegong), and I thought I might as well take a look because I was in the area.

But after stepping through its entrance, I found myself entranced by the quiet and dignified beauty of the place, with its attractive courtyards and pavilions, the groves of fine old cypress trees, the long lines of stone tablets listing the names of the candidates who had successfully passed the advanced Jinshi examination during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and the stone stele pavilions commemorating various imperial triumphs.

It wasn’t as if any of these items were particularly impressive on their own, but together they formed a wonderfully harmonious whole that neatly encapsulated many of the key elements of Chinese culture and tradition: the rich aesthetics of its architecture, the reverence for education, and the respect for family as the pillar of social stability embodied in the ancient sage’s teachings.