哈尔滨文庙英文导游词

My dear friends,

Welcome to the Confucius Temple.Confucius had a famous remark: “What a delight to have friends from afar.”Today I am very glad to have an opportunity of making new friends and to be your tour guide. I wish to thank you for your cooperation and also ready to take your suggestions and advice regarding my service.

What we are going to visit now is the Confucius Temple. This temple is where sacrifices are offered to Confucius. Work on these structures began during the second year after Confucius’s death. The Confucius Temple imitates the imperial palace’s construction. It is divided into 3 courtyards. It is magnificent and resplendent and irrespective of the angle from which you enjoy viewing the temple. It is commensurate with influence and fame of Confucius. As such, it is very rare world historical treasure.

（文庙的历史）

Harbin Confucius Temple was built from 1926 and finished in 1929. The sponsors were governors of the East Province. Although the history of the temple is only 70 years, it has experienced lots of turmoil. Harbin Confucius Temple is the largest one of its kind in Northeast China. It originally covered an area of 60,000 square meters. But till now, only a space of 23,000 square meters with a floor space of 5,674 square meters remains under its control.

（文庙的格局）

The temple has 3 courtyards. All main buildings are located on the axis and other buildings on its sides. They are also symmetrical. The main buildings are covered with glazed yellow tiles（瓦片）which were exclusively used by the royal buildings. As Confucius was worshiped by all emperors, the Confucius Temple was given the privilege of using this color. Building on the sides use green tiles.

礼门、义路

People in ancient times walked into the temple through this gate in the west, which says “DE with heaven and earth”, and walked out of it through that gate in the east, which says “The crown ancient and modern”。The two phrases show people’s respect to Confucious.

祈愿树

This is The Blessing Tree .It’s a traditional custom in many places in China to write your wishes on red ribbons, and put it on The Blessing Tree .And it’s said that your wishes will come true. You may write one, if you have red ribbons.

泮池泮桥

Now, we can see a pond, which is in the form of a semi-circle, and a bridge over it. They are called Pan-chi and Pan Bridge.Pan- chi, as a unique structure and name for

the pond in Confucius temple, signifies special cultural morals。Pan - chi and Pan Bridge represent the etiquettes and expectations for the students to overcome obstacle and pursue higher learning.The establishment of Pan - chi also adds vitality to Confucius temple and beautifies the overall environment.In ancient times, only the Number One Scholar can walk through it, others forbbiden to do that.

独占鳌头

Now we can see the head of a huge legendary turtle.There is a famous idiom in chinese”du zhan ao tou”,which is to say to emerge first in the civil service examination in ancient times. At that time,the step in front of the palace was carved the picture of it and only the Number One Scholar can walk through it to see the emperor and receive the rewards.

（影壁）

The Screen Wall, usually located in the opposite of the mansion gate which serves as a division of the inner court and the outside and meanwhile, it makes people feel wide and clean when stepping outside. It was called Yingbi（影壁screen wall）in the civilian or royal buildings, and Wanrengongqiang(万仞宫墙，10，000 meters high Royal wall) in Confucius temples. Most of the screen walls are shaped like the Chinese character “一”, thus called Yizi Screen walls（一字影壁）. The upper part of them is covered with semi-circle tiles, built as brick eaves（屋檐）, the middle part is built with bricks and the lower part is the base. Meticulously（精心）constructed with finely-joined polished bricks, some of the large-sized screen walls are covered with floral patterns and matched with a base built of bluestone, looking impressive and tasteful.

（哈尔滨文庙影壁之最）

The screen wall in the front of the Harbin Confucius Temple meager（粗略的）measures 44.85 meters long and 5.9 meters high, it was said that the longest screen wall in Beijing is 34 meters in length and 5.5 meter in height（指北京阜成门内历代帝王庙前影壁）. So, this screen wall may be the longest one in China.

棂星门

Now we come to the Ling Star Gate. The legend has it that there are 28 constellations in the galaxy. The star in charge of culture is called “Ling Star”or “Wenqu Star”. People believe Confucius is the Ling Star. So they show respect to Confucius is as important as to show respect to Heaven.

孔子行教像

This a statue of confucius, who is teaching. It’s donated by Tang Sijia, the president of the Confucius Institute in Honkong.The height of the statue is about 3.5 meters, and the base is about 2.5 meters.