Chongming Xuegong is located in Chengqiao Town, Chongming Island. It is just opposite Yingzhou Park. It was a place dedicated to sacrificing to Confucius in ancient times and a local official institution. It is also one of the only three relatively complete Confucian temples in Shanghai (the other two are Shanghai Confucian Temple and Jiading Confucian Temple). Nowadays, in the Xuegong, you can see Ming and Qing architectural complexes such as memorial archways, official halls, main halls, and ancestral halls.
Several of its main buildings have now become exhibition halls of the Chongming Museum and are the main tourist contents in the Xuegong. There are two tall memorial archways on the left and right sides in front of the main entrance of Chongming Xuegong. Both were built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. On the two sides of the memorial archway on the east are engraved with ‘Dao Guan Gu Jin’ and ‘Xue Hai’ respectively. On the memorial archway on the west are engraved with ‘De Pei Tian Di’ and ‘Chao Zong’, full of Confucianism. Entering Lingxing Gate, the main entrance of the Xuegong, the environment inside is quiet and secluded. You can see statues of Confucius and four disciples, as well as architectural landscapes such as stone bridges, ponds, and corridors. Chongming Xuegong is not large and there are not many tourists. It is very good to walk around here and feel the historical and cultural atmosphere. Chongming Museum currently has two exhibition areas: ‘History of Chongming Island and Ancient Ships’ and ‘Chongming Folk Customs’, with rich exhibits. Dacheng Hall is the main building of the Xuegong. It was originally the main place for sacrificing to Confucius. The ancient buildings on the east and west sides of Dacheng Hall, Dongwu and Xiwu, were originally places dedicated to the tablets of Confucius’ disciples and Confucian scholars of all dynasties. Now they have become exhibition halls displaying ‘History of Chongming Island and Ancient Ships Exhibition’. You can see various models, sand tables, cultural relics and text descriptions, showing the construction, development and achievements of Chongming Island in various aspects. The two ancient ships of the Tang and Song Dynasties on display here are precious cultural relics in Shanghai and can be regarded as the treasures of the museum. Zunjing Pavilion in the Xuegong was once a place to collect Confucian classics. Chongsheng Ancestral Hall is a place to worship Confucius’ parents. Now these two buildings are exhibition halls of ‘Chongming Folk Customs’. Here you can see the layout of market towns and folk family living rooms, as well as various farming, textile tools, folk costumes and wax figures of people, reproducing the work and life scenes of the people of Chongming. In addition, there are also fixed exhibitions such as ‘Huang Pimo Art Museum’ in the museum, displaying 60 exquisite print works created by Mr. Huang Pimo (from Chongming).Opening hours: Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 to 16:30 all year round; closed all day on Monday all year round; open from 09:00 to 16:30 during the Spring Festival.
