Luxi Confucian Temple

At the southern foot of Zhongxiu Mountain, the Luxi Confucian Temple rises in a series of four terraced courtyards. Established in 1481, this complex began when He Xun, the first imperial official appointed to the region, replaced a local chieftain's office with a school of Confucian thought. Over the next two centuries, the temple migrated across the landscape. It fled floods in 1596, moved to higher ground in 1613, and finally returned to its original mountain perch in 1661. The structures standing today date largely to 1887, when a military general named Wu Yongan and a wealthy merchant named Wang Chi pooled over ten thousand silver taels to rebuild the complex on a grand scale.

Visitors entering the first courtyard encounter the cool, crescent-shaped waters of the Panchi pond. Nearby, two stone columns feature deeply carved dragons wrapping around their shafts. Above, the great screen wall bears the four characters "Ta He Yuan Qi," signaling cosmic harmony. Passing through the Lingxing Gate and the five-bay Dacheng Gate, the ground rises toward the third courtyard. Here, the massive Dacheng Hall stands twenty-five meters wide and sixteen and a half meters deep. Its heavy timber brackets support a double-eaved hip roof covered in yellow glazed tiles, which gleam against the red-painted walls and the green mountain backdrop.

On the stone steps of the Tianzi Platform, chisel marks trace the ancient stories of fish leaping through the dragon gate and five dragons emerging from the water. For centuries, this space served as a ritual center. In 1935, its purpose shifted when the temple became a county primary school. For fifty years, the laughter of schoolchildren filled the galleries that once held plaques for the seventy-two disciples of Confucius.

Today, the temple is recognized as a provincial-level cultural heritage site. It remains a physical record of imperial integration, architectural endurance, and community memory in Southwest China.