Traditional Chinese buildings often have ceramic figures of legendary creatures placed along the eaves. These figures originally functioned to protect the nailheads under the roof tiles. Later, they were used as decorations and to signify the rank of the occupant.

During the Qing Dynasty, rules were established linking the number and type of figures to the function of the building. Only the Hall of Supreme Harmony, in which the emperor carried out sacrificial rituals, had all ten types of creatures, as well as figures of immortals. All other buildings were required to have less than this number.

Ceramic roof figures

5. Confucius temples

The Confucius Temple in Qufu offers an apparent exception to the Confucian building code.

Anyone who is familiar with traditional Chinese culture will recognize these carved dragon columns as symbols of the emperor. However, these ten dragon columns are located in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, not in one of the emperor's palaces. Is this not a violation of the Confucian code? Actually, no, since in this case these dragon columns were erected to pay homage to Confucius and Confucian ideology.

Dragon columns at Confucius Temple (Qufu, Shandong Province)

Confucian ideology and its code of conduct proved to be an extremely effective means of maintaining order and stability in feudal Chinese society. As a state-sanctioned system that combined politics, philosophy, and ethics, Confucianism gradually attained the status of a religion, and its founder, Confucius, came to be worshipped as a deity.

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