JINAN - China's first Confucius classroom in a prison opened in East China's Shandong province on Saturday.

The classroom opened in Luzhong Prison in central Shandong as part of a charity program funded by the China Confucius Foundation.

Lin Guojun, deputy head of the provincial prison management bureau, said that Luzhong Prison will pilot a series of changes, including classroom and library design, training prison instructors in Confucian teachings and family activities in order to improve the prison's cultural atmosphere.

He said that the classroom will encourage the traditional teaching methods of handwriting, reading classics and moral education.

Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius schools and classrooms are generally run as non-profit public institutions to help foreigners understand China through language and culture classes at overseas universities. The first such institute was established in 2004.