Three Ruralities Academy

Three Ruralities Academy

Three Ruralities Academy is a cultural heritage site protected by Lu’an City.

Now, at the corner of Shuyuan Alley on Beijie near the ancient Drum Tower in Lu’an, there stands an old building with grey tiles and blue bricks. Upon closer inspection, the structure is made of brick and wood, featuring three main rooms and one corridor room (passageway), covering a construction area of 79.24 square meters. On the east wall of the main room, several stone tablets are embedded, and upon careful examination, one can see carvings that read “Gengyang Academy” and “The 33rd Year of Qianlong’s Reign, the Year of Wu Zi, the 10th Month of Winter,” among other inscriptions. The west wall of the corridor room is engraved with the words “Former Site of Anhui Provincial Third Agricultural School” (commonly abbreviated as “Three Ruralities”; also colloquially known as “Three Ruralities Academy”). In December 2005, this building was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage site by the Lu’an Municipal People’s Government. In early 2006, government funding was allocated to renovate the structure. Recently, another round of maintenance work on the building has been nearly completed. Currently, surrounding old urban buildings have mostly been renovated, and the newly built standalone blue-brick courtyard of “Three Ruralities” appears somewhat spacious. Standing before this century-old house, I couldn’t help but feel inspired to recount the past and present of the “Three Ruralities Academy.”

The predecessor of Lu’an’s “Three Ruralities” was Gengyang Academy. According to the “Lu’an Prefecture Annals” (from the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty), Gengyang Academy was first built in the 8th year of Qianlong’s reign (1743). It was originally located inside the north gate of the prefecture. During the Qianlong era, the academy developed rapidly. It is recorded that: “There were five rooms in the rear hall, in the center of which was enshrined the spirit tablet of Gao Yao; on both sides were study cubicles, and in the front were five rooms for the teaching master, one side room on the right, three cubicles on the west, and three rooms for the kitchen. In front of the study rooms was a lecture hall, with four cubicles on either side. The front hall had three rooms, one cubicle on the right, three wing cubicles on the left, six cubicles across two floors on the right wing, three rooms in the front gate screen house, and three side rooms on the right. Outside, there was a screen wall, with a gated fence on the east. In the 10th year, Song Xiao, the Tongzhi official from Chizhou, took over the administration of the prefecture, managed assets, purchased books, and hired teachers and gathered students. In the 12th year, Jin Hongxun, the prefect, increased the interest income from student stipends and expanded ten cubicles to the northwest. Governor Pan Siyu inscribed the hall with the phrase ‘Illuminating Classics and Rectifying Conduct.’”

During the Xianfeng era (1851–1861), the academy was destroyed by war and fire. In the first year of the Tongzhi reign (1862), due to public discussion among locals that “the original site had become barren land,” it was proposed to use “confiscated old houses” and build anew “on adjacent sites.” Thus, donations were collected to rebuild the structure on Beijie in the northern part of the city (this location was hence named Shuyuan Alley). According to the “Lu’an Regional Annals” (first edition, October 1997): in the first year of the Guangxu reign (1875), Tu Zongying, the governor of Guangxi and a native of Chengguan in Lu’an, wrote to the Anhui Governor’s Office suggesting reconstruction. The following year, the Anhui Governor’s Office approved the proposal and instructed Lu’an Prefecture to formally record the project. After reconstruction, the old regulations were referenced, and eight rules were established, submitted for approval by the magistrate of the Direct-Controlled Prefecture, and the inscription “Academy Reconstruction Authorized by Imperial Decree” was erected. The existing building is believed to date from this period. At this point, the academy was officially converted into a publicly run state school, directly managed by the prefecture, and assumed advisory responsibilities such as formulating regulations and reviewing examination papers for other academies. It was ordered to shut down in the 27th year of Guangxu (1901). In the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), Gengyang Academy was transformed into the Lu’an Prefecture Central Higher Primary School.