The Confucius Temple offers a quiet sanctuary from the chaos of Beijing’s busy streets. The Imperial Academy stands to the west of the Confucius Temple. Here, emperors used to give an annual lecture on Confucian classics to an audience of thousands. Some of Beijing’s last remaining decorative archways have managed to survive in Guozijian Jie, the hutong just outside of the College. Built by the grandson of Kublai Khan in 1306, the former college was the premier academy during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The site contains a marvelous glazed, three-gated, archway. In 1966, the legendary Beijing writer Lao She was dragged here and forced to his knees in front of a bonfire of Beijing opera costumes to confess his anti-revolutionary crimes. Tragically, the following day he drowned himself in Taiping Lake.