Donglin Academy? [Photo by Sun Min from wuxinews.com.cn]

The Donglin Academy enjoys a good reputation among ancient academies. It was a former Chinese educational institution in Wuxi, China. It was originally built in 1111 during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); the neo-Confucian scholar Yang Shi taught there, but the academy later fell into disuse and disrepair.

The name "Donglin" was inspired by the Donglin Temple at the base of Mount Lu, Jiangxi. Yang Shi visited the Donglin Temple and felt that it was a good place for teaching. When he finished his scholarship, he travelled to Wuxi and saw that the layout of the academy was similar to the Donglin Temple, so he taught at that site for 18 years. The academy was thus called "Donglin Academy".

There are a variety of architectures, featuring layout of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The couplets written by Gu Xiancheng showed ambition of the author and have been widely spread. The couplets mentioned above are hung on the wall of the Yiyong Hall.

Tips

● Location: Inside Sujia Lane, No. 876 East Jiefang Road, Chong'an district

● Ticket: Free

● Opening times: 9 am to 5:00 pm every day

● Transportation: Bus No. 3, 15, 57, 55 and 712 to the Donglin Academy Station

Travel guides

●The academy will open for free during the Xu Xiake?Travel Day.

●It takes 15 minutes to walk from the academy to Wuxi Railway Station. It may take about one hour to visit it.

●On weekends, reading classes are available for students between the ages of three to ten.