Sanxue Street

This guide to Sanxue Street in Xi'an opens beneath a screen wall lettered by Liu Hui, a Shaanxi calligrapher working at the end of the Qing dynasty, whose two gold-traced characters for Confucius Temple still mark a rank of honor once reserved for the highest officials. You'll hear the old story behind the phrase carved beside his lettering, about a disciple who compared most men's learning to a shoulder-height wall and Confucius's to one so tall you need a gate to see over it. The street's three schools in its name point to the academies and exam halls that once stood here, and to the Forest of Steles founded in 1087 just behind that gate.