Every year on September 28, the Confucius Temple in Taipei holds a birthday celebration for Confucius, the ancient Chinese sage and revered "greatest Teacher".

In this year's celebration on 09/28/01 for Confucius' 2551 birthday, the ceremony at the temple included groups of young students dressed in colorful traditional garments. The mayor of Taipei helped conduct the ceremony and the 77th direct descendant of Confucius gave a speech. Traditional music was played. At the end of the ceremony, wisdom cake and a gold key chain were passed out personally by the mayor to each visitor.

Throughout the day, Confucius scholars also presented papers at a nearby auditorium. At night, there were Chinese traditional music performances.

Even though the Confucius Temple is called a temple, it is not considered a religious church by the Chinese people. It's more of a shrine which contains a plaque in memory of Confucius in the main hall, as well as numerous plaques in other halls in memory of Confucius' students and disciples throughout China's history.

The location of the Confucius temple is somewhere near the northern center of Taipei. It's easy to get a taxi to go there.