On Yuelu Mountain, between Qingxi Maolin, there is an elegant Millennium courtyard, shaded by green, with a couplet hanging in front of it, saying, "Only Chu Youcai can prosper in Sri Lanka." This is the Yuelu Academy officially founded by Zhu Dong, governor of Tanzhou, on the basis of running a school by monks in the ninth year of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Outsiders may feel too complacent about this golden cultural signboard that has made Hunan people proud for hundreds of years, but if you look at the historical materials, you will silently admit that this quiet courtyard really has such capital. Since the Qing Dynasty alone, the academy has trained17,000 students, including Tao Shu, Wei Yuan, Zeng Guofan, Zuo, Guo Songtao, Tang, Shen Zhou, Yang Changji and Cheng Qian. Who is not a first-class outstanding person?
2. Bailudong Academy
During the Zhenyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bo, a native of Luoyang, and his brother Li Shao studied in seclusion here and raised a white deer for their own entertainment. This deer knows human nature and always follows around. It can travel dozens of miles to Xing Zi County to buy back all books, paper, pens, ink and so on. That's what his master wanted, so Rip was called Mr. Bailudong and lived in Bailudong. After Li Bo was appointed as the secretariat of Jiangzhou, he founded a terrace in the former site of Yuetai. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, he was promoted to Yuan Zhong, where he established a school called "Lushan Guo Xue", which was the predecessor of Bailudong Academy.
At the peak of Bailudong Academy, there were more than 360 buildings, which were repeatedly upgraded and abandoned. Today, there are still Li Temple, Imperial Book Pavilion and Temple. In the academy, large and small courtyards cross in order; Pavilions, simple and elegant; Beautiful flowers and famous trees have different postures; Poems and couplets on the tablet abound. This fully embodies the characteristics of ancient academies, such as studying classics and history, asking questions, writing poems as couplets, dancing and writing ink, etc.
3. Songyang Academy
Songyang Academy, formerly known as Songyang Temple, is located at the southern foot of Songshan Mountain, 2.5 kilometers north of Dengfeng City, Henan Province, with Ji Junfeng as its back and Shuangxi River as its face. It is named because it is located in the sun of Songshan Mountain. Songyang Academy is a famous institution of higher learning in ancient China, which is famous for Neo-Confucianism in history. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, masters of Luopai Neo-Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty, all gathered here to give lectures, which made the Academy famous. Sima Guang, Fan Zhongyan, Li Gang, Zhu and Lu Hui, famous Neo-Confucians in the Northern Song Dynasty, also gave lectures here. Songyang Academy has always been an important holy place for spreading Confucianism.
In ancient times, Songyang Academy did not simply refer to a courtyard, but consisted of a main courtyard and several single buildings around it, with a wide geographical distribution. Generally speaking, in addition to the buildings of Songyang Academy that we see today, there are other famous buildings belonging to the Academy, such as Tianguang Yunying Pavilion, Guanlan Pavilion, Chuanshang Pavilion and Songyang Academy Villa-Scholar's Pavilion located at the west foot of Hutou Peak in Taishi Mountain. Renzhi Pavilion and other buildings are located in the south of Sangong, south of Qixingling, and under the Jade Everest in the northwest of the Academy.
4. Yingtian Academy
Yingtian Academy was formerly a private school run by Yang Yun in the late Jin Dynasty, and the Northern Song regime began to recruit scholars. Yingtian Academy is full of talented people, and 100 students got as many as 50 or 60 in the imperial examination. 1009, Song Zhenzong officially awarded the title of Yingtianfu Academy. In Song Renzong, Yingtian Academy was changed to Nanjing imperial academy in 1043, becoming one of the highest institutions of learning in the Northern Song Dynasty. Later, with the support of Ying Tianzhi, the famous writer Yan Shu and others, the academy was greatly expanded. Fan Zhongyan, a famous politician and writer, and many other famous teachers have taught here and achieved great success.