Temples to Confucius are a concrete symbol of Chinese Confucian culture. As everyone knows, the Confucius Temple of Qu Fu, Shantung, is the largest and most ancient of China's Confucius temples. Located at the original site of Confucius residence, it has grown over the course for some 2,000 years to become of magnificent scale, and has also served as a blueprint for Confucius temples in every province of China.

By the Ming and Ching Dynasties, most counties and municipalities in China have built Confucius temples, which were called Confucian schools, to serve as centers for Confucian study and education in general.