Nanxi Academy

Nanxi Academy

At the foot of Gongshan mountain in the south of Youxi County, it used to be Zheng yizhai Museum. In 1123, the fifth year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhu song, the father of Zhu Xi, was appointed as the county captain of Youxi. After he left the office, he lived here. In 1130, Zhu Xi was born here. After Zhu Xi's death, county magistrate Li Xiu donated money to build Wengong temple, weizhai temple, Banmu fangtang and Zundao hall in the first year of Jiaxi (1237) to worship Zhu's father and son. Treasure? In the first year (1253), Emperor LiZong of Song Dynasty granted "Nanxi academy". From the Yuan Dynasty to the Zhengyuan year (1341), two ancestral halls were built. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were repaired and expanded.

Introduction to scenic spots

Nanxi academy is simple and solemn, with a building area of 1000 square meters, including weizhai temple, guanshudi, yuxiufang, yuxiuting and other buildings. The main hall is a plaster statue of Zhongli Zhu Xi. On both sides are four pieces of calligraphy couplets: "the foundation of starting a family by studying, the foundation of governing the family by being diligent and thrifty, and the foundation of protecting the family by following the principles". Hanging on the four walls, it traces back to the portraits of the ancestors of the eight dynasties.

Fangtang in the academy is the reading place for Zhu Xi's childhood. Zhu Xi's poem "a sense of reading" said: "half an acre of fangtang is opened, and the sky is full of light, clouds and shadows; when you ask about the canal, it is clear, because there is a source of fresh water.". The "half acre square pond" refers to here. In 1498, under the leadership of the magistrate Fang Pu, a half acre square pond was expanded and dredged. A pavilion was built on the pond and connected with a stone bridge. It was named "Living Water Pavilion". Today, it has been restored.

Overview of Nanxi Academy

Zhu Xi, whose character is obscure, is the most famous philosopher, thinker, educator, outstanding poet and writer in ancient China. He collected the great achievements of Confucius and Mencius and created a broad and profound system of Neo Confucianism, which had a great impact on China and East Asian society more than 700 years after the Southern Song Dynasty. After Confucius, he is another Oriental cultural sage who has made great contributions to the history of human thought.

At noon on the 15th of the ninth lunar month in the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty (1130 AD), Zhu Xi was born in the West Chamber of the villa (Zheng an Dao (yizhai) Pavilion) under Yuxiu peak in the south of Youxi City, making it a famous birthplace of Zhu Xi at home and abroad. He spent a beautiful childhood here and left many legendary stories. After seven years old, he moved to Jianzhou (Jian'ou) with his father Zhu song. At the age of 14, his father died of illness at the age of 47. On his deathbed, he entrusted Zhu Xi to Hu Xian (Jixi), Liu Pingshan (Zizhen) and Liu Mianzhi (Baishui) in Chong'an for cultivation. The three gentlemen took good care of Zhu Xi's mother and son. Mr. Wuyishan three are well-educated, famous university, Zhu Xi was fortunate to get the three careful education, he studied hard, eclectic, laid a solid foundation of knowledge, but also imperceptibly influenced by the three noble sentiment. People can see the spirit charm of Mr. San from his life's principle of no vanity and no power. In the autumn when he was 18 years old, Zhu Xi took part in the Jianzhou rural examination (Qiuwei) and was admitted as a Gongsheng; in the spring of the next year, Zhu Xi went to Beijing for the imperial examination (Chunwei) and was admitted as a Jinshi of Wang Zuobang. He successively held the posts of chief bookkeeper of Tong'an County, nankangjun of Jiangxi Province, Tanzhou of Hunan Province, tea and salt official of Changping on liangzhedong Road, zhizhangzhou, and waizhijiang in huanzhangge. During his nine years as an official, he spent only 40 days in the imperial court, and the rest of his 40 years in idle work (half salary: song system, only half cheap money). He successively promoted the Hongqing palace in Nanjing and the Chongyou temple in Wuyishan. During this period, he devoted himself to writing books and teaching disciples. According to statistics, he wrote 126 works and more than 700 volumes in his life, becoming "the first person to write in ancient and modern times". He personally founded 27 academies and cultivated 362 famous scholars, such as Zhen Dexiu (Prime Minister), Cai Yuanding (Minister of the Ministry of official affairs), Huang Gan (son-in-law), etc., which laid a solid foundation for making "Min school" an official school. In the fifth year of Baoyou (1253 AD) of the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor LiZong wrote the plaque of "Nanxi academy" for Zhu Xi's birthplace. Since then, Nanxi academy has become famous all over the world.

In his life, Zhu Xi had a deep love for Youxi, who gave birth to him. According to the records, he went back here many times to visit relatives and friends, give lectures and apprentices, and left a large number of ink inscriptions, handwritten couplets and poems. These profound cultural deposits have cultivated the people of Youxi generation after generation, cultivated a large number of students and become the pillars of the country, and also attracted a number of literati and poets to seek their roots and get close to Zhu Xi. As Mr. Liu Haisu praised, "Youxi wind and moon has no present and ancient times, learning sea sail has descendants" ah!

Development history

During the period from the end of Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, there were frequent wars and the decline of official schools. Many scholars avoided living in the mountains, so they imitated the Buddhist Buddhist sutra teaching system and founded academies, which formed a unique form of education organization in Chinese feudal society. Academies are institutions of higher education that combine book collection, teaching and research. Academy system sprouted in Tang Dynasty, perfected in Song Dynasty, and abolished in Qing Dynasty

The development of education and culture has had an important impact.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more and more academies focusing on lectures. With the development of Neo Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty, academies gradually became a place for school activities. There are four most famous academies in Song Dynasty: Bailudong Academy in Lushan, Jiangxi Province, Yuelu Academy in Changsha, Hunan Province, yingtianfu Academy in Shangqiu, Henan Province, and Songyang Academy in Dengfeng, Henan Province. Most of the academies raised funds to build their own buildings. Teaching takes the form of self-study, joint lectures and teacher guidance, mainly self-study. Its characteristic is to educate and cultivate people's knowledge and virtue, rather than to gain fame in the examination.

There were more than 1200 academies in Ming Dynasty, but some of them were official academies. Some private academies give lectures freely, attack current malpractices, and become places for ideological and political activities. The most famous one is Donglin Academy in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. In the Ming Dynasty, the ruling class destroyed and banned the academies four times. However, the academies had strong vitality and were destroyed many times. Under the severe political oppression, the teachers and students of the academies would rather die than surrender. The couplet of Donglin Academy reads: "the sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, the sound of hearing; family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, care about everything."

In the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 2000 academies, but the bureaucratization of academies also reached its climax. Most academies were similar to the official academies, such as Lianghu Academy established by Zhang Zhidong in Wuchang, Yuexiu Academy in Guangzhou and so on. In the 27th year of Guangxu (1901), the academies in all provinces were ordered to be changed into big schools, the academies in all prefectures, departments and Zhili Prefecture into middle schools, and the academies in all prefectures and counties into small schools. So far, the Academy withdrew from the stage of history.

Historical evolution

Academies of Tang Dynasty

The name of academies began in the Tang Dynasty, divided into official and private. Private Academy was originally a study for private students. Zhang jiuzong academy, which was established in Suining County in 635, was an earlier private Academy. At the beginning of the official academy, it was the official school to study books, school books or occasionally

A place for lecturing the emperor. In 718, Emperor Xuanzong changed the name of Qianyuan academy to lizhengxiu Academy. In the 13th year, it was changed into Jixian hall Academy. The academies with the nature of gathering students to give lectures basically formed in the Late Five Dynasties, which mainly trained students to take part in the imperial examination.

Academies of Song Dynasty

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, private lecture academies emerged in large numbers. There are many academies in succession, such as Bailudong, Yuelu, Suiyang (yingtianfu), Songyang, shigu, Maoshan and Xiangshan. Among them, Bailudong, Yuelu, Suiyang (yingtianfu) and Songyang academies are also known as the four great academies in ancient China. By the end of Renzong, all the influential academies in the early Northern Song Dynasty had disappeared. In 1071, the imperial court directly sent professors to the state schools to weaken the academies and county schools. In seven years, the State Academy with professors will be incorporated into the state school. In the early Southern Song Dynasty, scholars such as Zhang Xi, Zhu Xi, Lu Zuqian and Lu Jiuyuan began to repair the academies and became the activity base and lecture place of the school. After Li Zong (1224-1264) ascended the throne, he regarded Neo Confucianism as orthodox theory, and academy education became the heritage of Zhu Xi and other Neo Confucianism masters, which was inherited by the government. From the first year of JINGDING (1260), only officials who passed the imperial examination or graduated from the Imperial College could become the heads of academies in each state, and the imperial court took control of the academies.

Academies of Yuan Dynasty

In 1291, the emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty first ordered the establishment of academies. Some people volunteered money and food to support the establishment of academies. Later, he issued laws to protect academies and temple schools, and regarded academies as official schools. The head of academies was also appointed as an official, which was the beginning of the Official Learning of academies. In the Yuan Dynasty, academies and Neo Confucianism were extended to the northern region, shortening the cultural gap between the north and the south, and 296 academies were established. In addition, the old academies in the Tang and Song dynasties were restored, with a total of 408 academies. However, it is strictly controlled by the government, and has no lecture features of debate in academies.

Academies of Ming Dynasty

In the early Ming Dynasty, most of the academies in song and Yuan Dynasties were converted into local schools and social schools. After Chenghua and Hongzhi, the academies were gradually revived. In 1537, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty advocated evil learning in academies and ordered the destruction of private academies. In the seventeen years, he spent money and influence on the Academy

The official education once again banned and destroyed academies. At the end of Jiajing period, Xu Jie, the first assistant of the cabinet, advocated academy lectures, and the Academy was restored. In the seventh year of Wanli (1579), Zhang Juzheng came to power and ordered the destruction of academies in the name of unified thinking. After his death, academies became popular again. In 1625, Wei Zhongxian ordered to demolish Tianxia academy, resulting in "Donglin Academy incident". Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne

Chinese PinYin : Nan Xi Shu Yuan