The Chinese Classroom              

"Teach by inspiring gradually and steadily."

Confucius

    A palace hall in Beijing's Forbidden City inspired the design of the Chinese Classroom, which is dedicated to the memory of Confucius and his democratic ideal of classless education.

    Characters carved into the stone lintel above the red lacquered door proclaim that "Humility of mind goes with loftiness of character." Stone lions flank the entrance before carvings of the plum blossom, China's national flower. A slate portrait of K'ung-Fu-Tze (Confucius, 551-478 B.C.), China's great teacher, is patterned after one in the Confucian temple of Ch'u Fou, Shantung Province, birthplace of the sage. Around the lacquered teak "moon table," the professor and students sit at the same level. Carved on the professor's chair is the Confucian admonition, "Teach by inspiring gradually and steadily."

    In the ceiling coils a golden five-clawed imperial dragon surrounded by clouds, denoting nature's energy and freedom. Painted squares portray dragons guarding the pearl of wisdom and the phoenix with the motan flower, a symbol of cultural wealth.

   When open, the blackboard doors reveal painted renditions of the Pa-Pao, or eight treasures, used in Buddhist ornamentation. On the base below is carved version of the Pa-Kua, eight trigrams surrounding the circular Yin and Yang, symbol of the union of female and male as the source of existence. Frosted glass windows with stylized cames enhance the tranquility of this Eastern atmosphere.