Xibei Academy

Xibei Academy

Xibei academy, located in Wenchang City, Hainan Province, covers an area of more than 20 mu. It was founded in 1893.

Xibei academy is one of the famous academies in the late Qing Dynasty in Hainan Province. It is one of the most complete large-scale Qing Dynasty buildings in Hainan Province

It is now used in Wenbei middle school. Facing south, the academy is composed of five parts: gate, lecture hall, Jingzheng building, Jingtang and zhaishe, all of which are brick and tile structures, connected by East and West corridors and surrounded by walls. Nankai Mountain Gate, three Bay wide, is covered with glazed tiles on the top of the rolling shed. On the plaque is the four characters "Xibei academy" inscribed by Yang Shoujing, a calligrapher in the late Qing Dynasty.

On October 16, 2019, Xibei Academy was selected as the eighth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Xibei Academy was founded by Pan Cun, a former calligrapher of Pu in the late Qing Dynasty, with the support of Lei qiongbing, Bei Dao, Zhu CAI and Zhang Zhidong, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. According to the pedigree of pan, pan Cun was born in Gangtou village in front of Wenchang PU. He was called "child prodigy" when he was young. Later, he became an official and went to Beijing for several years. In his later years, he was homesick and returned to his hometown. With the support of Zhang Zhidong and Zhu Cai, he built Xibei Academy

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Xibei Academy was founded in 1893

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During the three years from the completion of the academy to Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1909-1911), many scholars were employed to give lectures and cultivate a large number of talents. After the revolution of 1911, Xibei academy has always been a school.

Architectural pattern

structure

Xibei academy covers a total area of more than 20 mu. It is located in the north and south, with a mountain gate in the south. It is commonly known as Toumen, with a three Bay width. There are brick side rooms on both sides, which are covered with glazed tiles. After the entrance is the courtyard, and after the courtyard is a group of quadrangle buildings. The front hall of the academy is on the top of the hill. It is five bay wide and three Bay wide. There is no eaves wall in the front eaves, and then there is a board door. The side room is built between two meters, which is hall style. Inside the hall is the place where Xibei academy teaches students. The main hall is called "Jingzheng building", which was originally the main building of the Academy. In 1921, it was rebuilt into a two-story building with Chinese and Western walls, with depth of 11 meters and width of 17 meters. Wooden columns are still used in the building, and the corridor and roof have been changed into reinforced concrete structure. Between the front hall and the main hall, as well as the East and West corridors are connected with each other. On both sides of the central axis and on the two wings of the main hall are symmetrically distributed the front and back halls and houses.

Xibei academy is surrounded by quadrangles and connected by corridors on the left and right sides. The lecture hall is the largest single building with the highest shape in the Academy. As a traditional wooden structure, the roof truss of the lecture hall is a beam lifting wooden frame with five bay width and 19 purlin depth. The eaves columns on both sides of Xibei academy are square, which is a common form of "one column and two materials" in Hainan area. The lower part is the stone column base and column body, and the upper end of the column is about 30-50 cm connected with the timber column and the timber beam frame. The East and West corridors at the back of the lecture hall connect the lecture hall with the Jingzheng building, with a seven room wide surface and six rolling shed roofs. The beams are solid, simple and clear without too much carving decoration.

characteristic

Xibei academy is mainly composed of timber beams, which are carved and decorated with openwork. In the house, it is replaced by the triangular flower basket style block surface openwork. The head, eaves, hump and claw pillars are also replaced by Lotus pedestal, dragon and Phoenix, flower and bird, unicorn, auspicious animal and other sculptures. The architectural style is influenced by the Confucian temple in Wenchang.

Main buildings

pond

The pond in front of Xibei academy is in the shape of a half moon. As the beginning of the central axis, it is the "Introduction" of the whole academy spatial sequence.

The pond represents the needs of the semantic structure of architecture. As a place of preaching and self-cultivation, the academy has a relatively sacred status. The calm pond increases the sense of solemnity of the Academy, and there may be a hint of "washing the mind" in it, suggesting that students concentrate on learning. As a creation of subjective feelings, ponds are not necessary in the structure of academies. Therefore, due to the limitation of venues, not every Academy in Hainan has many reasons. However, Xibei academy proved that as a "guide", the pond really played a role in creating a quiet and solemn atmosphere of the Academy.

Head gate

The first entrance of Xibei academy is the main entrance of academy, which is also called "Toumen".

As a prelude to the space sequence of the Academy, Toumen only plays the role of entrance and transition. Its architectural scale is small and its shape is relatively simple. Entering the interior of Xibei academy, the first courtyard forms the garden area of the Academy. As a mature academy system, its educational environment is also particular - a good garden environment can provide scholars with a place for recreation, which is also the embodiment of Confucianism's advocating of "comparing morality with nature". In Xibei academy, two lush loquat trees and stone sundials mark the age of the Academy. Plants and plants are in contrast, which also adds green and vitality to the Academy.

Forum

The lecture hall of Xibei academy is an open building. In the middle of the lecture hall, there are three open rooms in the Ming Dynasty, with no walls around. There are rooms on both sides of the main hall for scholars to rest and prepare for teaching. In addition, the lecture hall is also a place for other important assembly activities (such as sacrifice), and the open space is also conducive to the activities. As a teaching unit, the living area of teachers and students is also an integral part of the Academy, but it is in a weak position. The living area is called zhaishe, which is usually located on both sides of the middle of the Academy, in the form of side rooms and wing rooms. There are two corridors in the East and West behind the lecture hall of Xibei academy, which are connected with the rear buildings of the Academy. On the outside of the corridor, there are a three way courtyard, which is said to be the living quarters of the college related personnel. This is unique to Xibei academy, but not universal to Hainan Academy.

Library

The "Jingzheng building" of Xibei academy is a special library. Its important function is to collect and edit books. Compared with the external teaching area, they are usually located at the back of the Academy, which is more private and quiet. As the end of the whole academy building sequence, they are used for the interior of the Academy. The original site of the "Jingzheng building" of Xibei academy is a traditional wooden frame building, which was rebuilt in 1921 because it collapsed in a typhoon. It is a two-story building with Nanyang style. It used to be the library of the Academy, standing at the end of the central axis of the Academy.

Cultural relics

Plaque

On the plaque of Xibei academy, "Xibei academy" is inscribed by Yang Shoujing, a calligrapher in the late Qing Dynasty. In addition, there is a wooden plaque of "lecture hall" in the "Jingzheng building".

Wood carving

The wood carving of Xibei academy is the most important part of decoration. Wood carving decoration generally appears in doors, windows, partitions and other positions. The elements of wood carving can be roughly divided into two types: one is relatively simple, such as Guangqu and Caowei, and the other is traditional auspicious patterns.

Guangqu is more common in traditional Chinese dwellings. The pattern is similar to "Hui" and "Swastika", which means happiness, longevity and auspiciousness. Caowei is rare in Chinese inland dwellings, but it is one of the most commonly used decorative elements in Hainan dwellings. It takes flowers and plants as the basic pattern, presents the belt winding, forms many kinds of curve modeling, the meaning is the same as the plate length, takes the meaning forever. Hainan has a humble nature. It always takes a humble attitude towards the world, which is the most intuitive embodiment of local culture in architecture.

In the wood carving decoration of the Academy, there are some figures such as dragon head, beast, pine tree, lotus, flower basket, etc., which are combined with the basic figures such as grass tail and Guangqu to form a variety of combined figures, expressing beautiful wishes by the traditional meaning or homophony of auspicious patterns. It is worth mentioning that the design of "dragon", which represents the imperial power, is usually not allowed to appear in the residential buildings due to the constraints of etiquette. Although the local academy buildings are folk buildings, the image of "dragon" appears. On the one hand, it shows that the construction age of the place is relatively recent; on the other hand, it also reflects the social attention and tolerance to education.

History and culture

historical figure

Pan Cun

Pan Cun, the word Zhongmo, another word Cunzhi, the name Ruchu. Puqian town Gangtou Village (later moved to Baishayuan Village). Born in 1818, Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty, he studied at the age of 7. He can read a few lines at a glance, and his teachers are very different. He is a child prodigy. At the age of 34, he won the first prize repeatedly, but he won the first prize only at the age of 34 because of his filial piety twice. Soon, he worked in the Fujian Department of the Ministry of household. His poems, ancient words, calligraphy is also wonderful, can be hanging elbow for fly head fine Kai. Japanese scholars and celebrities especially cherish pan Cun's calligraphy and are willing to buy it at a high price. He once wrote a book, tracing the origin of calligraphy, which reflects the deep of the six books and defines the fallacies of a hundred schools. In his later years, he devoted himself to education. He once taught in Fenghu Academy in Huizhou, Guangdong, Weiwen Academy in Wenchang, Hainan, and Suquan Academy in Qiongshan. After the same observation, Zhu Liangsheng founded Xibei Academy in Wenchang county. His posthumous works include Keji Ji, ten essays on learning, tracing to the origin of regular script, and the poem appreciating flowers. Later generations compiled the posthumous works of Mr. Pan Ruchu.

Zhang Zhidong

Zhang Zhidong, known as Zhang Xiangshuai, is a native of Nanpi. He is the founder of Sanjiang normal school, the predecessor of Southeast University, the founder of China's higher normal school, and the founder of China's kindergartens. Zhang Zhidong changed the Academy, promoted the school, and advocated study tours, including Hankou

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