Yuying Academy

Yuying Academy

Yuying Academy is a cultural heritage site protected by Ninghai County.

Yuying Academy is located in Longgong Village, Shenzhen. The academy sits to the west of Longgong Village, backed by mountains and fronted by the Longgong Stream, with the village to the east and farmland to the west.

Chen Zhongliang (1091–1153) relocated from Xinchang Pinghu to Longxi during the late Northern Song Dynasty. His descendants initially built an ancestral hall during the Ming Dynasty, and in the early Qing Dynasty, due to the growing clan population, a new hall was constructed to the west of the village, named “Chongde Hall.” The people of Longgong placed great importance on education, establishing a free school at the “Wenchang Pavilion” atop the Yuelong Bridge as early as the Qing Dynasty. After several cycles of rise and decline, the old school buildings could no longer accommodate the growing number of students by the late Republican era, so the school was moved to “Chongde Hall.” After minor renovations, the environment became quite pleasant, and it was renamed “Yuying Academy.” To the east of the academy, two additional school buildings were also constructed—one in the 1950s and another more recently—preserving three school buildings from different periods, providing valuable evidence for the study of the development of education in our county.

Overall Layout: The academy faces south with a front courtyard enclosed by walls. There is one gate facing east, and the front hall originally had a mountain gate. The central and eastern sections have only the western gate remaining. Along the central axis from south to north are, in sequence: the Five Phoenix Tower, a courtyard, and the main hall. The total area covers 539 square meters.

The main hall faces south with a single-eave, flush-gable roof covered with yin-yang tiles. It has a total width of 14.19 meters and a depth of 10.11 meters. The structure combines raised-beam and through-tenon construction, with the central bay featuring a seven-rafter beam and double-step beams at the front and back using five columns. The eave columns use cap blocks, with bracket arms featuring false angling brackets that project out, using modified arches. The spandrels are large and carved with cloud patterns.

There are three rooms on each side of the east and west wings, with a two-story structure covered in yin-yang tiles. Each wing has a total width of 11 meters and a depth of 9.65 meters. The railings on both floors are of the curved-tortoise style, adorned with carved patterns. The second floor of the front hall has five small screens, decorated with the “wan” (卍) character pattern.

The front hall has a two-story structure covered in yin-yang tiles, with five bays across, a total width of 22.81 meters, and a depth of 5.66 meters. It features one coffered ceiling.

From private schools to academies and then to formal schools—this reflects the trajectory of educational development in China. Very few academies in our county have been preserved in such complete form, and even fewer remain as intact as this one. It provides tangible evidence for studying the development of education in Ninghai. As the academy was converted from an ancestral hall, it retains the appearance and decorative artistry of the hall, especially the lattice railings on the second floors of the side wings and the rear building, which are characteristic of Ninghai’s architectural style at the time and hold certain artistic and craftsmanship value. In February 2003, it was designated as a county-level cultural heritage site by the Ninghai County People’s Government.