Songyang Academy

Songyang academy, one of the national cultural relics of historical buildings in the world, is located at the foot of Junji peak, 3km north of Dengfeng City, Henan Province. Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Sima Guang and Fan Zhongyan, the Neo Confucianists of the Luo school in the Song Dynasty, all gave lectures here. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi often argued with Sima Guang and Fan Zhongyan.

The area of Songyang academy is not very large. You can walk along the central axis after entering the gate. The architectural layout of the Academy maintains the style of the Qing Dynasty. After entering the scenic area, you can first see the ancestral hall, which is dedicated to all the sages related to the Academy, then the lecture hall, the Taoist temple, and finally the library. On both sides of the axis are the original "Cheng Zhu ancestral hall", book house, learning room, etc. In the west side of the Academy, you can also see some buildings of the teaching and examination room of Songyang Academy in the Qing Dynasty. In the library of the Academy, you must not miss the "Empress Wu Jin Jian". It is said that after Wu Zetian became emperor, she followed the example of the emperors of previous dynasties and came to Songshan mountain to offer sacrifices to heaven. She left a handwritten gold note begging the God of Songshan Mountain in the middle of the mountain to exonerate Wu Zetian from all charges and make the great Zhoujiang mountain last forever. Today, what is preserved in Songyang academy is a replica.

Songyang Academy

Songyang academy is a famous institution of higher learning in ancient China, one of the four academies in ancient China, an integral part of historical buildings in the world cultural heritage, and a national key cultural relics protection unit. It is located in the south foot of Songshan Mountain in Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. Songyang academy has a simple and elegant system, with five main buildings on the central axis and complete corridors. Songyang academy is known as the "specimen" of ancient Chinese Academy architecture, education system and Confucian culture because of its unique nature of Confucian education architecture.

Academy is a unique educational organization in Chinese feudal society, which occupies an important and unique position in the history of ancient Chinese education and has a decisive influence. Songyang academy is one of the four major academies in ancient China. It plays an important role in spreading the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and cultivating talents.

In history, Songyang academy is famous for its Neo Confucianism, culture and unique cultural relics. Songshan area has been an important area for Confucian school activities since ancient times. There are Songyang academy, yinggu academy, Shaoshi academy, Nancheng academy and Cungu academy, among which the most prominent is Songyang Academy. "Academy song, the most clear scenery, stone still remember the name of the Palace Museum. Mountains, streams and sounds stay in the rain, and Ju Xiang and Zhu Yun like new sunshine. When I first came here, I had no words to say goodbye

On August 1, 2010, located in the hinterland of Songshan Mountain and the surrounding heaven and earth, the historical buildings (Shaolin Temple (Changzhi, chuzu'an, talin), the three que (Taishi que, Shaoshi que, Qimu que), Zhongyue temple, Songyue temple tower, Huishan temple, Songyang academy, and star watching platform) of the Eastern Han Dynasty were listed as world cultural heritage sites.

Historical evolution

Songyang academy used to be a place of Buddhism and Taoism in history, but it was the longest and most famous place for Confucianism. Songyang Academy was first built in the eighth year of Taihe (484 AD) of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is called Songyang temple. It is a place for Buddhist activities, with hundreds of monks.

During the Daye period of Sui Dynasty (605-618), it was renamed Songyang temple as a place for Taoist activities.

In the first year of Hongdao in Tang Dynasty (683 AD), when Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi visited Songshan Mountain, he closed it as a palace called "Fengtian Palace".

In the Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960), it was changed into Taiyi Academy.

In the second year of song Jingyou (1035 AD), it was named Songyang Academy. Since then, it has been an educational place for celebrities to teach classics.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the country was peaceful and the style of writing rose everywhere. After five dynasties of chaos, all the Confucians liked to gather in a quiet place in the mountains to give lectures. Dengfeng was the place where Yao, Shun, Yu and Duke Zhou once lived. According to records, there are 24 people who have lectured in Songyang academy, such as Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Yang Shi, Zhu Xi, Li Gang and fan Chunren. Volumes 9 to 21 of Sima Guang's great work Zizhi Tongjian were completed in Songyang academy and Chongfu palace. Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, known as "Er Cheng", have been lecturing in Songyang Academy for more than 10 years. Jing Dong, a famous Confucian, once studied in Songyang Academy. After he became a scholar in the middle school, he served as a censor for nine times. From then on, Songyang academy became one of the most influential academies in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Songyang academy is one of the birthplaces of Neo Confucianism in Song Dynasty. At the end of Ming Dynasty, the Academy was destroyed by the war and went through the reconstruction of yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. At its heyday, the Academy had more than 1750 mu of school land, hundreds of students and more than 2000 books, such as the complete book of Zhu Zi, the essence of human nature and the nine classics of the four Japanese books. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system was abolished and schools were set up. After more than a thousand years of academy education, the imperial examination process was completed. However, as a bright pearl in the history of ancient Chinese education, academies will always go down in history. In the year of Xinmao in Kangxi, the whole province selected less than one person from each county in Kaifeng, but Dengfeng won five. Emperor Gaozong Hongli of the Qing Dynasty wrote a poem in praise when he visited Songyang Academy on October 1, 1750.

Songyang academy has been built and repaired for many times from generation to generation. The architectural layout of the Academy maintains the style before the Qing Dynasty. There are more than 500 halls and corridors, which are composed of Wujin courtyard. There are Xianxian temple, Xianshi hall, Sanxian temple, Lize hall, library, daotong temple, boyue Zhai, Jingwen Zhai, Sanyi Zhai and other buildings in the Academy. The first is the ancestral temple, which is dedicated to the sages related to the Academy, followed by the lecture hall, the Taoist temple after the lecture hall, and finally the library. The rooms on both sides were originally "Cheng Zhu ancestral hall", book house, study room, etc. There are inscriptions on the walls of the corridors in the courtyard, which have their own calligraphy characteristics. Xipianyuan has part of the teaching and examination hall of Songyang Academy in Qing Dynasty.

In September 1936, Chiang Kai Shek went to Luoyang for his 50th birthday. Before his 50th birthday, he visited Songshan Mountain and accompanied Shang Zhen, Zhang Jingyu, Qian Dajun and others. When you visited Songyang academy, you saw that the surrounding mountains and the environment were quiet, but the nearby mountains and fields were short of water. So you ordered Zhang Jingyu, director of Henan Construction Department, to dig a 100 meter deep well in Songyang academy, named Jianggong well. This is the first deep well in the history of Songshan. It is still in good condition.

In 1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

On December 5, 2006, Songshan ancient buildings, including Songyang academy, as the only independent project in Henan Province, were listed in the preparatory list of world cultural heritage by the State Administration of cultural heritage.

In 2009, Songyang Academy of Zhengzhou University was established to make new contributions to the inheritance of the excellent Chinese culture.

On August 1, 2010, located in the hinterland of Songshan Mountain and the surrounding heaven and earth, the historical buildings (Shaolin Temple (Changzhi, chuzu'an, talin), the three que (Taishi que, Shaoshi que, Qimu que), Zhongyue temple, Songyue temple tower, Huishan temple, Songyang academy, and star watching platform) of the Eastern Han Dynasty were listed as world cultural heritage sites.

Main attractions

Tang Dynasty stele

The full name of the stele is "Songyang Temple Ji Sheng De Sheng Ying Yi song stele". It was carved in 744 ad. the stele is 9.02 meters high, 2.04 meters wide and 1.05 meters thick. The stele is magnificent and exquisitely carved. The whole stele has 1078 words. The content mainly describes the story of sun Taichong, a Taoist of Songyang temple, who made nine turns of alchemy for Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. Li Linfu, Pei Jiong, Xu Hao's eight part official script. It is a representative work of the official script of Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty stele weighs more than 80 tons, and the stele cap alone weighs more than 10 tons. Among the people, "Zhili Tang stele", a legend full of wisdom, has attracted thousands of people and become one of the important contents of appreciating Tang stele.

Three generals

There were three ancient cypresses in Songyang Academy. In the sixth year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty (110 BC), Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty saw that the cypresses were tall and luxuriant when he visited Songyue, so he was named "general", "two generals" and "three generals".

The cypress is 12 meters high and 5.4 meters thick. The tree is reclining and the crown is thick and broad. It is like a big umbrella covering the clear sky. The second general cypress is 18.2 meters high and 12.54 meters thick. Although its bark is mottled and old, it is full of vitality and its twigs are tall and straight. In the lower part of the tree trunk, there is a hole connecting the north and the south, which looks like a doorway. The hole can accommodate five or six people. Two big branches, bent like wings, stretch out from left to right. They are shaped like eagles spreading their wings, and the golden rooster is about to fly. Whenever the mountain wind blows, branches and leaves shake, such as ring Pei, still hear the sound of bamboo. The three generals were destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty.

The age of general cypress has always been a mysterious topic. The tree has a history of more than 2000 years since it was granted. Mr. Zhao Puchu left a hymn of "Zhou Bai in Songyang, 3000 years old". According to the identification of forestry experts, juniper is a primitive cypress with an age of 4500 years. It is the oldest and largest cypress in China.

Stone Carving

The stone inscription "Dengfeng County Map" of Songyang Academy in Ming Dynasty was carved in 1593 A.D. it shows the distribution of scenic spots and historic sites and the names of mountains, rivers, roads, villages and towns. It is the distribution map of Dengfeng cultural relics and the map of Dengfeng County. Although there are records in the local records of Dengfeng County's cultural relics and places of interest, only this stone carving map of Dengfeng County is directly described in the form of a map. The outline of this stone map is clear and the location is accurate. If you look at this map, you can see the whole picture of Dengfeng County and the distribution of cultural relics at a glance. The stone carving of Dengfeng County in Ming Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Song Yang Shu Yuan