JINAN -- China has started to renovate a 1,000-year-old high school in East China's Shandong province.

The school, known as a prefectural Confucian temple in Jinan, capital of Shandong, was built in the Xining period (1068-1077) of the Song Dynasty. It collapsed in the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) and was rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).

Confucian high schools where people study the Confucian classics are generally considered to have three levels, the prefectural temple being below the imperial college and higher than the Confucian temple.

After the founding of New China, lack of maintenance and management left the temple in a dilapidated state, and it was once used as a primary school.

The local government first renovated the temple in 2005 and it opened to the public in 2010.

Its function as a place of Confucian study was also restored, with cultural festivals and New Year blessing ceremonies held there.

This time the renovation will focus on maintenance of the wooden structure and tiles of the temple. It is not known when the work will be completed.