Songyang Academy is an ancient institution of higher learning and one of the four major academies in China. The Songyang Academy system is simple and elegant, with five main buildings on the central axis and complete cloisters. Songyang Academy, because of its unique nature of Confucian educational architecture, is known as a "specimen" for studying ancient Chinese academy architecture, education system and Confucian culture.
The academy is a unique educational institution in China’s feudal society. It 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 China. It is in a leading position academically and plays an important educational role in spreading Chinese traditional culture and cultivating talents.
Historically, Songyang Academy was famous for its Neo-Confucianism, rich cultural heritage, and unique cultural relics. The Songshan area has been an important area for Confucian activities since ancient times. There are Songyang Academy, Yinggu Academy, Shaoshi Academy, Chengnan Academy, and Cunugu Academy, among which Songyang Academy is the most prominent. "Beijing is the clearest in the academy, and the stone still remembers the name of the Forbidden City. The sound of the mountain stream is like rain, and the fragrance of chrysanthemums and bamboos is like the new sun. When I first came here, I couldn't say goodbye. Chinese people sometimes live in the shadow of Bai Han Successfully say goodbye"
Ethnicity
Songyang Academy was historically a gathering place for Buddhism and Taoism, but it is the place where Confucianism has the longest history and is the most prestigious. . Songyang Academy was founded in the eighth year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It's called Songyang Temple and is a place for Buddhist activities. The monks waited for hundreds of people.
In the Sui Dynasty, it was renamed Songyang Temple and became a place for Taoist activities.
In the first year of Hongdao in the Tang Dynasty, when Li Zhiyou visited Songshan Mountain, he named the palace "Fengtian Palace".
The second week of the Five Dynasties was changed to Taiyi Academy.
Song Jingyou named it Songyang Academy in 1035 AD, and it has been two years since then. It is a place where celebrities teach classics.
In the early Song Dynasty, the world was peaceful and literary style prevailed. After the Rebellion of the Five Dynasties, Confucian scholars liked to find a secluded place in the mountains to give lectures. Dengfeng is the place where Yao, Shun and Yu once lived. According to records, 24 people including Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu, Li Gang and Fan Chunren gave lectures at Songyang Academy. Volumes 9 to 21 of Sima Guang's masterpiece "Zizhi Tongjian" were completed in Songyang Academy and Chongfu Palace. Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, known as the "Second Journey", have been lecturing at Songyang Academy for more than ten years. The famous Confucian scholar JD.COM once studied at Songyang Academy. After passing the imperial examination, he served as an examiner nine times. Since then, Songyang Academy has become one of the most influential academies in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Songyang Academy is one of the birthplaces of Song Dynasty scholarship. Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Sima Guang, Fan Zhongyan, the founders of Song Dynasty Dynasty School, etc. all gave lectures at Songyang Academy. Part of Sima Guang's masterpiece "Zidi Tong" was written in Songyang Academy. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the academy was destroyed by soldiers' gunfire. It has experienced reconstruction and construction in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. In its heyday, the academy covered an area of ??more than 1,750 acres, had hundreds of students, and had a collection of more than 2,000 books, such as "Zhu Ziquanshu", "Li Xingjingyi", "The Four Books of Japan", etc. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system was abolished and schools were established. After more than 1,000 years of university education, the imperial examination was finally completed. However, as a shining pearl in the history of ancient Chinese education, the academy will forever be remembered in history. In the Xinmao year of Kangxi, the whole province elected candidates in Kaifeng. Each county could not choose one, and Dengfeng only chose five. On October 1, the fifteenth year of Qianlong, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty wrote a hymn when he inspected Songyang Academy.
Songyang Academy has gone through several generations of expansion and renovation. The architectural layout of the academy maintains the style before the Qing Dynasty. There are more than 500 halls and corridors, composed of five courtyards. There are buildings such as the Pantheon, Pantheon, Sanxian Hall, Lize Hall, Library, Taoist Temple, Boyue Tower, Wenjing Tower, and Sanyi Zhai. The first is the Pantheon, dedicated to the ancestors and sages associated with the college, followed by the lecture hall, the Pantheon behind the lecture hall, and finally the library. The houses on both sides were originally "Zhu Cheng Temple", study room, study room, etc. The walls of the corridors in the courtyard are inlaid with inscriptions by scholars from past dynasties, each with its own unique content and calligraphy. On the west side of the courtyard, there are some buildings that were used as teaching and examination rooms of Songyang Academy in the Qing Dynasty.
In September 1936, before his 50th birthday, Chiang Kai-shek visited Songshan Mountain accompanied by Shang Zhen, Zhang Jingyu and Qian Dajun.
When visiting Songyang Academy, I saw the surrounding mountains and quiet environment, but the nearby mountains and fields had insufficient water supply. Zhang Jingyu, director of the Henan Provincial Department of Construction, immediately ordered the drilling of a 100-meter-deep well named Jianggong Well in Songyang Academy. This is the first complete deep well in Songshan.
In 1961, the State Council of the People's Republic of China listed it as a national key cultural relic protection unit.
On December 5, 2006, the Songshan Ancient Building Complex, including Songyang Academy, was included in China's World Cultural Heritage Protection List by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, becoming the only independent project in Henan Province.
In 2009, the old Songyang Academy was renovated and Zhengzhou University Songyang Academy was established, making new contributions to the inheritance of excellent Chinese culture.
On March 9, 2010, the Songshan Historical Building Complex became the only world cultural heritage application project in China, and was confirmed by the State Council in 2010. On August 1, 2010, Songyang Academy was officially included in the World Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO as a sub-project of "Dengfeng Tiandi Historical Architecture".
Main Attractions
Datang Monument
This is the so-called "Tang Songyangguan Ji Shengde Songsheng Yingbei". Tang Tianbao carved it three years ago. The stele is 9.02 meters high, 2.04 meters wide and 1.05 meters thick. The stone tablet is majestic and beautifully carved. There are 1078 words written on the inscription. The main content tells the story of Sun Taichong, a Taoist priest from Yangguan of Song Dynasty, who went to Tang Xuanzong Li Longji nine times to make alchemy. Li wrote an article at eight o'clock
Three Generals
There used to be three cypress trees in Songyang Academy. In the sixth year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty visited Song Yue and saw towering cypress trees. He called them "General", "Second General" and "Third General".
Ordinary cypress trees are 12 meters high and 5.4 meters thick. The tree has a sloping body and a thick crown. Like a parasol. The second common cypress tree is 18.2 meters high and 12.54 meters thick. Although it has mottled bark and is very old, it is full of vitality and its branches are tall and straight. The lower part of the trunk is a hole connecting the north and south, like a door. The cave can accommodate five or six people. Two huge branches curved like wings stretch from side to side, shaped like an eagle spreading its wings, and a golden rooster trying to fly. Every time the mountain wind blows, the branches and leaves vibrate like bells, and the sound of silk and bamboo can also be heard. The three generals' cypress trees were destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty.
The age of General Cyprus has always been a mysterious topic. This tree has a history of more than 2,000 years since it was sealed. The old teacher Zhao Puchu left a hymn: "There are white boats in Songyang, and the world stretches for three thousand years." According to forestry experts, the common cypress trees are primitive cypress trees, which are 4,500 years old. This is the oldest and largest cypress tree in China.
Stone Carvings
The Ming Dynasty stone carvings of Songyang Academy, "Dengfeng County Map", were carved during the Qiuci period of Wanli. This map describes in detail the distribution of scenic spots and historic sites in the Songshan area, as well as the names of mountains, rivers, roads, villages and towns. This is a map of Dengfeng County and a map of Dengfeng cultural relics. Although there are records of places of interest in Dengfeng County, they are all directly described in the form of maps. This is just a stone map of Dengfeng County. This stone map has clear outlines and accurate locations. This map shows the overall picture of Dengfeng County and the distribution of cultural relics. The Ming Dynasty stone carving maps of Dengfeng County are precious artistic treasures and valuable information for studying the geography, cultural relics and history of Dengfeng.
College Architecture
Songyang Academy basically maintains the architectural layout of the Qing Dynasty. It is 128 meters long from north to south and 78 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of ??9984 square meters. The central axis building is divided into five courtyards. From south to north they are the gate, the first hall, the lecture hall, the Taoist temple, and the library. The two sides of the central axis are connected by matching houses. There are 108 ancient buildings here, most of which are cylindrical tile-roofed houses crushed by the hard mountain. They are simple, elegant but not vulgar. They are completely different from the many red walls, green tiles, carved beams and painted buildings in the Central Plains area, and have strong local architectural characteristics.
Door couplet:
4. But near the center, there is Taihua horizontally, which together with Sisaiguan is called Gongshen
Nine generations later, it was A city, Bao Yi is a canyon, and three storms are mountains.
Second-hand sober planting
This tree is 19.5 meters high and 4 meters wide.
While the tree has a rough trunk with a hollow outer body in the middle, the locust tree has a dense crown with shade and new branches. These trees are elegant in appearance, ancient and enduring, with historical origins not far away. During the harvest years, the famous Neo-Confucianists Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi planted many locust trees in Xining during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty to decorate the scenery of Songyang Academy.
Monument of Yuesongyang Temple
It was established in 535 by Tian Ping of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. There are 94 Buddha caves carved on one side, and a large Buddhist niche with one Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and three disciples carved on the other side. The relief sculpture of Fei'er on the top of the shrine and the side design of the tablet are very exquisite. They are the most exquisite stone sculptures in the Central Plains.
Xingtan
In the early Qing Dynasty, Geng Jie, a famous central scholar, founded Songyang Academy. He lectured according to the ancient sayings of Confucius and Xingtang, using the moving place as his altar. During the lecture, an ancient apricot tree on the altar was passed on to Geng Jie for planting. Today, the stone altar is protected by railings on the Zhouzha platform to restore its ancient appearance.
The "Dengfeng County Chronicle" Stele
Songyang Academy has more than 70 inscriptions from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
Wanli Dengfeng County Magistrate Chen presided over the engraving. The monument is 1.05 meters high, 0.86 meters wide, 0.2 meters thick, and has a flat top. This map vividly shows the distribution of cultural relics, historical sites, and scenic spots in the 80 districts of Songshan in the Ming Dynasty, and depicts the names of mountains, rivers, roads, townships, towns, and four boundaries in Dengfeng County. Although it has a history of more than 400 years, the writing and lines are clear. Someone described it as "Looking at this photo can include climbing, lying down, and traveling in the mountains."
"Dengfeng County Chronicle" is engraved with landscape paintings, flat lines, and bas-reliefs. According to scientific measurements by the surveying and mapping department, the ratio is 1:40,000. It is not only a distribution map of cultural relics in Dengfeng during the Ming Dynasty, but also a geographical location map.