Yingshan Academy

If Wenyuan Lion City in Jiangjia Town is the cultural memory of Chun'an people, then Yingshan Academy (瀛山书院) in Guocun Village (郭村) is undoubtedly the cultural landmark of Chun'an people.

Yingshan Academy is located at the foot of Yingshan Mountain (瀛山) in the lower Guocun Village, Jiangjia Town. It was built in the Northern Song Dynasty and has been around for thousands of years. At that time, Zhan An (詹安), a local, built an academy on Yinshan Mountain (银山) and dug a square pond at the foot of the mountain, where he taught the children of the Zhan clan.

His grandson, Zhan Yizhi (詹仪之), was a Jinshi* in the 21st year of Shaoxing of the Southern Song Dynasty ( AD 1151) . According to the “Records of Yingshan Academy”, Zhan Yizhi was a good friend of Zhu Xi, a famous rationalistic Confucianist in the Song dynasty. Zhu Xi often gave lectures in the academy and the academy gained its fame.

* Jinshi refers to a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations.

Since then, Xin’an Neo-Confucianism has gradually become popular and spread here. In the second year of Chunxi (AD 1175), the great-great-great-great-grandson of Zhan An, Zhan Kui (詹骙) won the first place in the final imperial examination presided over by the emperor and changed the name of Yinshan Mountain (银山) to "Yingshan Mountain (瀛山)" and the academy was renamed as well. He also built facilities such as Dengying Bridge, Daguan Pavilion, Kuixing Hall, etc, making the academy widely known.

The ancient buildings of Yingshan Academy were damaged in the 1960s and 1970s. Except for the Deyuan Pavilion (得源亭), which were rebuilt in the twelfth year of the Republic of China era (1933), Daguan Pavilion (大观亭) and the old site of the square pond from the Song Dynasty, there aren’t much left with the remaining buildings, only building base. Later, the villagers covered the old site of the academy with soil and planted crops in it, which completely covered the remaining building base.

In 2017, "the Reconstruction of Yingshan Academy" was listed as one of the top ten livelihood projects in Chun'an County. In the same year, the archaeological clean-up of the site was completed under the guidance of experts from the Hangzhou Archaeological Institute. With the efforts of all parties, the reconstruction and arrangement of the Yingshan Academy were completed and it officially opened to the public on June 30, 2020.

The Yingshan Academy is completely reconstructed according to the original appearance of the original site. The academy has four layers and three rooms with the first layer being the main hall of the academy, the second the Gezhi Hall (格致堂), the third the Shuanggui Hall (双桂堂), and the fourth Wengong Ancestral Hall (文公祠). Its construction style inherits the architectural characteristics of the Huizhou-style ancestral hall-family gardens of the Ming Dynasty. With stacked beams, white walls and black tiles, multiple space-time architectural elements since Song and Ming interacted and integrated in the academy, making it simple, magnificent, ancient and charming.

At the same time, the two pavilions of Daguan and Deyuan were renovated, the Yangzhi pavilion was rebuilt, and the square pond was dredged. Zhu Xi, Zhan Yizhi, Zhang Shi and other great Confucian figures reappeared in the academy. The precious handwritings of the sages and the long-hidden couplets were reappeared. The broken Ming and Qing monuments were restored and protected.

The revival of Yingshan Academy is like a new cultural pearl on the ground of Chun'an. It is dazzling and shining. As a new starting point, it will paint a more beautiful picture and continue to write a more beautiful chapter in today's harmonious prosperous age of "respecting learning, being pragmatic and trustworthy, cultivating morality with culture, and emulating those better than oneself ".

Opening Hours: All year around

Address: Guo Village, 50 meters west of Baoshen Line, Chun'an County

Admission Fee: Free