Minzhong Academy

Minzhong Academy

Minzhong Academy is located in Hanwang Town in the northwest of Yishui (now part of Yiyuan County). To the northeast of Hanwang lies a mountain called Minzhong Mountain, where Minzhong Academy is situated. Legend has it that Confucius’ disciples Min Ziqian and Zhong Zilu once studied here. The academy houses Zilu’s sword-sharpening stone and Minzi’s book-drying platform. Academies were established here during the Ming and Qing dynasties but ceased operation after the Republican era. There is a poem that testifies to this:

Academy of Duke Min

Yang Guangpu

The scholars have long gone, the walls lie in ruins, Yet their virtue still echoes that of Yan Hui. Weeds creep over the steps where book straps once lay, No one now brushes the snow from the pages’ ash. Ancient seal script remains with birds’ faint traces, Idle clouds still veil the mountain’s hidden nook. Back then they sought to escape the powerful’s call, And deliberately came up from the Wen River.

Minzi’s Academy

Zhu Zhi Ling

For thousands of years, these ancient sites by Mount Fulai, Now enshrined in ceremonies, belong to the great sage. The stone chamber vaguely echoes the spread of holy teachings, Pine shade seems to continue the sages’ thread-binding. Shepherds sing idly amid crumbling walls, Elders sometimes visit the broken fences. All are deeply reverent in the spring breeze, As the noble family’s learning passes on.

Minzi’s Academy

Zhu Zhiling

For millennia these relics of old Fulai stand, The name of Mount Fulai is ancient in this land. Beside the sword-sharpening stone the case remains, By the book-drying platform, reading goes on as before. Min and Zhi, the sages, pursued the righteous path, Where Lu and Ju held their spring-and-autumn alliances. Even our humble Yi region caught their refined spirit, Though the old fortresses of the sages now belong to Zibo.

The stone chamber faintly echoes the grand sacred teachings; the pine shade seems to continue the thread of ancient wisdom.

A shepherd boy idly sings within the crumbling walls, while an old villager often comes to the broken fence.

Together they pay deep reverence in the spring breeze; the noble family’s learning is passed on like firewood.

Min Gong Academy

By Dang Baoxiu

Juxi was once a floating mound, the ancient name of Floating-Over Mountain still lingers here,

The sword-sharpening stone remains by its case, the book-drying platform often sees study.

The sages Min and Zhong paved the way, where Lu and Ju once held spring and autumn alliances.

Even our humble Yi region feels their legacy, the old fortresses of the sages now belong to Zibo.