Kaoting Academy

Kaoting Academy

Ruins of Kaoting Academy: Located three kilometers southwest of Jianyang City. The academy backs onto green mountains and is surrounded by water on three sides, offering a serene landscape. In the third year of the Shaoshing era of the Song Dynasty (1192 AD), Zhu Xi, following his father’s aspirations, built the “Bamboo Grove Studio,” which was later renamed the “Cangzhou Studio” (Kaoting Academy). During the Song Dynasty, scholars from all over traveled great distances to study and seek wisdom at Kaoting, where many eminent figures gathered, forming the historically significant “Kaoting School.” Zhu Xi taught and lectured at Kaoting Academy for eight years and passed away in the sixth year of the Qingyuan era (1200 AD). During the reign of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism gained prominence. In the fourth year of the Chunyou era (1244 AD), the site was officially designated as Kaoting Academy, and Emperor Lizong bestowed an inscribed plaque in honor of it.

Over time, due to the passage of centuries and erosion by wind and rain, Kaoting Academy fell into ruin. Today, only a stone memorial archway built in the tenth year of the Jiajing era (1531 AD) by imperial censor Jiang Zhao remains. In 1998, the Jianyang Municipal Government constructed the Zhu Zi Wen Gong Ancestral Hall atop Yuzhen Mountain in Kaoting. Nowadays, Kaoting Academy has become a spiritual “hometown of Confucius” for descendants of Zhu Xi and pilgrims from around the world.

Source: People’s Government of Jianyang District