Confucian Temple in Beijing

Starting from 25 June, I began a preliminary fieldwork about Confucianism in China. My plan is to visit scholars who are working/ researching about this topic, and most importantly, to see if I can find a group that I can do fieldwork with. So far, I had found one group that is very interesting. I am intruded by their organization because of their consistency. Furthermore, this is a voluntary group that is funded by private donation, which make this group more 'civilian' than the others I can find so far.

On the 3rd day I arrived Beijing (28 June), I visited the Confucian Temple. Before that, I went to the Lama Temple. It is an very interesting contrast because the Lama Temple is considered as 'religious place' by the government with the 'regulations on the size of incnese in religious location' at the entrance. I was so impressed by the amount of people who worship inside the temple and concluded that it is a house of worship. Contrast to the Confucian Temple, where there were no people who burn incense whatsoever. The number of visitors there in Confucian Temple were drastically lesser than the Lama Temple as well.


Having said that, I observed that there are few interesting things inside the Confucian Temple:
1) the exhibition hall that reconstructed Confucianism by emphasizing its impact AROUND the WORLD (in a way, making it as universal)
2) although there were no incense burning, a newly introduced way of worship to Confucius was introduced -- by putting a charms on the fenses set up outside the temple and also around the main hall in Imperial College
3) there was a Shishu inside the Confucian TempleTo me, new function(s) of Confucian Temple are being reconstructed.