Temple of Confucius and Guozijian Museum
Temple of Confucius and Guozijian Museum
4
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Originally built in 1302 and used as a place for sacrifices to Confucius during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, this former temple lost its religious function during the “bourgeois revolution” in 1912 and currently houses the Capital Museum.
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Top ways to experience Temple of Confucius and Guozijian Museum
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How to get there
- Yonghegong Lama Temple • 6 min walk
- Beixinqiao • 8 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.0
643 reviews
Excellent
254
Very good
282
Average
98
Poor
10
Terrible
1
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Andrea C
Rio de Janeiro, RJ387 contributions
Jan 2025 • Family
The Confucian Temple is located next to the Imperial College and the ticket sales are unified.
Excellent combined visit for those who appreciate Chinese history.
It was built in the Yuan Dynasty and respected by successive emperors.
There are many stone boards with engraved inscriptions of scholars in courtyards and several pavilions distributed in the area of the Confucian Temple, with exhibitions and museum.
The environment is quiet, without many tourists.
The total time to visit the two places is about 3-4 hours.
Close to Lama Temple and Yonghegong Metro Station.
Excellent combined visit for those who appreciate Chinese history.
It was built in the Yuan Dynasty and respected by successive emperors.
There are many stone boards with engraved inscriptions of scholars in courtyards and several pavilions distributed in the area of the Confucian Temple, with exhibitions and museum.
The environment is quiet, without many tourists.
The total time to visit the two places is about 3-4 hours.
Close to Lama Temple and Yonghegong Metro Station.
Automatically translated
Written January 15, 2025
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jack H
3 contributions
May 2024 • Family
I first visited exhibition room full of stone tables. They have Chinese classics and history inscribed on the stone tablets. Luckily, I can read a classic called Great Learning. I am proud of Chinese culture.
Do you know why Chinese ancestors inscribe words on stones? To keep history. Stones are not easily destroyed and moved. But you can rip a paper accidentally. Chinese people have great wisdom.
Welcome to China. It is worth a visit. 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Do you know why Chinese ancestors inscribe words on stones? To keep history. Stones are not easily destroyed and moved. But you can rip a paper accidentally. Chinese people have great wisdom.
Welcome to China. It is worth a visit. 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Written May 4, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tania291
Melbourne, Australia177 contributions
Jun 2019 • Couples
We decided to visit Confucius Temple before visiting Lama Temple, located almost directly opposite each other. We used Subway Line 2 and got off at Yonghengong Station, Exit F.
The entrance fee to Confucius Temple was RMB 30.00 per person, which allowed us access to all open areas of the temple. There were many local tourists in tour groups visiting on the day of our visit.
Much of the sightseeing was done by just walking around the outside of buildings. There were a couple of structures that allowed us to go inside and as we do not understand Confucianism, what we saw in these structures made no sense to us at all.
There were fairly clean toilet facilities at the entrance of the temple that also had western style of toilet.
The entrance fee to Confucius Temple was RMB 30.00 per person, which allowed us access to all open areas of the temple. There were many local tourists in tour groups visiting on the day of our visit.
Much of the sightseeing was done by just walking around the outside of buildings. There were a couple of structures that allowed us to go inside and as we do not understand Confucianism, what we saw in these structures made no sense to us at all.
There were fairly clean toilet facilities at the entrance of the temple that also had western style of toilet.
Written July 13, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ajin0m0T0
London10 contributions
May 2012 • Family
Our tour guide brought us to the temple and just as we tried to enter (after buying tickets and having the ticket stub checked) the "owner" (so we were told) snatched the tickets off our guide and became abusive at her because apparently we were not allowed to enter with a tour guide through those gates.
Our guide was a private guide but it seems that due to privatisation of the temple, it was established that tour groups would have to enter through a separate side gate and ticket prices were charged double. Tour agents were supposedly given a ticket which they can claim their "kickbacks" at the end of the year. We were not aware of the process as obviously my guide did not operate through a tour agent, she would not benefit from this. Also it was ridiculous to be the only attraction we visited in China that had a discrepancy in how a tourist was treated and charged.
Needless to say we walked away from this place not even wanting to enter the place without our guide - why should we even part with our money to this dishonest man? Many others who were at the gates figuring out how to enter also walked away from the temple after the shameful act from the owner. This is a pity that Confucius himself and his teachings are lost in this rude and arrogant man.
Our guide was a private guide but it seems that due to privatisation of the temple, it was established that tour groups would have to enter through a separate side gate and ticket prices were charged double. Tour agents were supposedly given a ticket which they can claim their "kickbacks" at the end of the year. We were not aware of the process as obviously my guide did not operate through a tour agent, she would not benefit from this. Also it was ridiculous to be the only attraction we visited in China that had a discrepancy in how a tourist was treated and charged.
Needless to say we walked away from this place not even wanting to enter the place without our guide - why should we even part with our money to this dishonest man? Many others who were at the gates figuring out how to enter also walked away from the temple after the shameful act from the owner. This is a pity that Confucius himself and his teachings are lost in this rude and arrogant man.
Written June 12, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
AntW
Springdale, AR28 contributions
Jun 2019 • Family
Visited the Confucius Temple after our trip to the Lama Temple. Entrance is inside one of the Hutong area and not visivle from the main Street, but there's enough signage to mark it.
Interesting place to learn about Confucianism and they have a free show every hour starting @10AM.
Much less crowded than Lama Temple and a good place to spend an hour or 2.
Interesting place to learn about Confucianism and they have a free show every hour starting @10AM.
Much less crowded than Lama Temple and a good place to spend an hour or 2.
Written June 4, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Eversleepingbabybear
Stockholm, Sweden164 contributions
Mar 2019
Its a nice place to see not only as a historical attraction. really liked the calm and peaceful atmosthere there.
Written July 3, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John S
Sunnyvale, CA20 contributions
Apr 2016 • Friends
My visit to the Temple of Confucias was one of the highlights on my recent trip to Beijing in April of 2016. It is was not large or crowded like the Forbidden City. The architecture of the buildings was very beautiful. There where many artifacts to look at in their museum. They also have a very nice free play that is about 15mins long that starts at the top of each hour at the back of the compound. I recommend seeing the play if you have time.
Written April 27, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reuven Lerner
Modiin, Israel81 contributions
Jun 2014 • Solo
I expected the Confucius Temple to be another temple, with the same sorts of architecture, and not much more. But I had heard that it was worth visiting, and thus went to see it. I'm very glad that I did.
First of all, I was very happy to learn about Confucius -- who he really was, what he did, where his sayings are from, and how he influenced Chinese society. (My impression is that the Communists didn't always have such a positive attitude toward Confucius, but perspective was obviously not a part of the official tour.)
It was easy to find the temple, and the grounds were remarkably large and nicely laid out What was most striking to me was the number of steles (i.e., large stone tablets) on which the names of many of China's best-educated officials had been written. Seeing the same Chinese characters as are used today was a testament to the longevity of this culture, and reminded me in some ways of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Israel. However, it was sad to see how many of these steles no longer had visible names on them; it wasn't obvious whether the names had been removed by time, by enemies of the emperor, by ignorance, or by the Cultural Revolution. No matter what, it was a shame to see so many seemingly empty steles -- but the ones on which you could see the writing were really breathtaking.
There were a few steles with both Chinese and Arabic (maybe Persian?) writing on them, but I'm not at all sure what that was about. No explanation was given.
The Guozijian Museum, part of the same complex, was also fascinating, and the central lecture hall (for lack of a better term) was rather stunning.
I was there in June, and saw at least one Chinese student wearing her graduating robes, getting photographed next to the statue of Confucius.
The gift shop, in addition to having many kitchy things, had some nice ones, as well. I got some wall hangings with Confucius sayings on them that my children went wild over. The gift shop also sells playing cards with various themes of pictures -- including the Cultural Revolution! Not surprisingly, the shopkeeper there said that she, as a government employee, couldn't tell me how and why they were selling toys with pictures from the Cultural Revolution, one of the saddest events in recent Chinese history.
Interesting, beautiful, and not packed with tourists -- this was definitely a nice highlight of my latest trip to Beijing!
First of all, I was very happy to learn about Confucius -- who he really was, what he did, where his sayings are from, and how he influenced Chinese society. (My impression is that the Communists didn't always have such a positive attitude toward Confucius, but perspective was obviously not a part of the official tour.)
It was easy to find the temple, and the grounds were remarkably large and nicely laid out What was most striking to me was the number of steles (i.e., large stone tablets) on which the names of many of China's best-educated officials had been written. Seeing the same Chinese characters as are used today was a testament to the longevity of this culture, and reminded me in some ways of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Israel. However, it was sad to see how many of these steles no longer had visible names on them; it wasn't obvious whether the names had been removed by time, by enemies of the emperor, by ignorance, or by the Cultural Revolution. No matter what, it was a shame to see so many seemingly empty steles -- but the ones on which you could see the writing were really breathtaking.
There were a few steles with both Chinese and Arabic (maybe Persian?) writing on them, but I'm not at all sure what that was about. No explanation was given.
The Guozijian Museum, part of the same complex, was also fascinating, and the central lecture hall (for lack of a better term) was rather stunning.
I was there in June, and saw at least one Chinese student wearing her graduating robes, getting photographed next to the statue of Confucius.
The gift shop, in addition to having many kitchy things, had some nice ones, as well. I got some wall hangings with Confucius sayings on them that my children went wild over. The gift shop also sells playing cards with various themes of pictures -- including the Cultural Revolution! Not surprisingly, the shopkeeper there said that she, as a government employee, couldn't tell me how and why they were selling toys with pictures from the Cultural Revolution, one of the saddest events in recent Chinese history.
Interesting, beautiful, and not packed with tourists -- this was definitely a nice highlight of my latest trip to Beijing!
Written June 20, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alienandbear
Daly City, California, United States153 contributions
Apr 2013 • Solo
There is a 20 minute show near the north end of the Confucius temple.
While, it's not spectacular it's still worth seeing if you come to this place.
When you walk in you immediately see a great photo opportunity with the Confucius statue.
Walking further in the scenery is quite beautiful and you could spend all day here just sitting here peacefully. (Too bad there will probably be a million other tourist ruining your serenity)
Summary-
Combine this with the Lama temple go to the Lama temple first then here. The two shows are at 330 and 430.(If times haven't changed)
60 rmb to get in.
While, it's not spectacular it's still worth seeing if you come to this place.
When you walk in you immediately see a great photo opportunity with the Confucius statue.
Walking further in the scenery is quite beautiful and you could spend all day here just sitting here peacefully. (Too bad there will probably be a million other tourist ruining your serenity)
Summary-
Combine this with the Lama temple go to the Lama temple first then here. The two shows are at 330 and 430.(If times haven't changed)
60 rmb to get in.
Written September 10, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
World Prof
Buffalo Grove, IL187 contributions
Oct 2019
Close to the Lama Temple, this is a much quieter temple complex with no crowds. Though not as impressive as the Lama Temple, it has dozens of steles which are the stone tablets used to inscribe history - of great interest to history buffs, but otherwise rather boring. Like the Lama Temple, a pretty long walk fro the subway station.
Written October 14, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi
Is the temple of Confucius open on Mondays? Read one review that said it was closed but the opening times say otherwise
Written April 8, 2018
Sorry to say I do not know the answer to this. Keep looking on google.
Written April 12, 2018
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