Yuelu Academy, which is called “Millenary Academy”, is situated at the foot of the scenic Yuelu Mountain as the greatest of the four academies from China’s Sung Dynasty (960—1127 AD ). In Yuelu Academy, breathing is poetic. The culture’s spirit is hidden under its stairs. Whenever you move one step, you can hear the voice of its palpitating heart.

Yuelu Academy began to run between the end of Tang Dynasty (618—907 AD) and the Five Dynasties (907—960 AD). It was operated by monks in the earlier period. In 976 AD, Zhu Dong, a prefect of Tanzhou, took back the administrative power and handed it over to the Confucian scholars. Henceforth, for thousands of years, Yuelu Academy has been a divine spot for Confucianism education and the center of the culture and science. It has cultivated countless talented people who have administered affairs and aided the people from generation to generation.  

Yuelu Academy mainly comprises a lecture hall, Wenchang Pavilion, Six Gentleman Hall, Ten-sacrificial-vessels Hall, Half Classroom, Grand Sunlight Platform, and Gate to the Mount etc. On the front gate of the academy hangs a board on which is written “Yuelu Academy” in the traditional style and the striking couplets on the doorposts: “Chu’S Scholars Are Gifted; This Academy Is Prosperous”.

The lecture hall, also called a “Hall Of Loyalty, Filial Piety, Integrity And Chastity”, is a core building of the Academy. Visitors will always be filled with deep esteem for the characters: “Loyalty, Filial Piety, Integrity And Chastity”, a great scholar Zhu Xu’s calligraphy on the carved stone on both sides of the main hall, and the large characters: “Orderliness And Solemnity”, written on the carved stone of the facade of two corridors by Ouyang Zhenghuan, an imperial censor in Qianlong Epoch of Qing Dynasty  (1644-1911 AD). Wenchang Pavilion is on the right of the lecture hall. In the feudal society, all students from the academy who passed the imperial examinations had their names carved in the pavilion as the honor of the academy. In the front of the pavilion is a piece of extant folding screen embedded with a carved stone on which is written “Yuelu Academy”, the original script of Zhenzong Emperor of Song Dynasty, according to the legend.

Source: www.csinvest.gov.cn, www.chinaculture.org