Dayong Tianmen Academy

Dayong Tianmen Academy

Tianmen Academy is located at the foot of Tianmen Mountain in Shuiyang Village, Sancha Mountain Township, Dayong (now Zhangjiajie City), Hunan. In the Jiaqing-era *Cili County Annals* compiled by Huangfu Rusen, a Bajin scholar from Cili during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, it is written: “The name 'academy' originated in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song, and became increasingly widespread in the Yuan and Ming… The old county had six academies: Tianmen, Juikui, and Huanchi were all built in the Yuan Dynasty; Qingxi, Yuechuan, and Yangshan were established in the Ming Dynasty.” During the Yuan Dynasty, Yongding was under the jurisdiction of Cili, and Tianmen Academy ranked first among the six academies of Cili Prefecture. Most academies were privately run, enshrining the God of Literature (Wenchang Dijun) rather than Confucius; official schools known as xue or wenmiao (Confucian temples), were government-run and honored Confucius but not the God of Literature.

Tianmen Academy was founded in the seventh year of the Yuandade era (1303) by the hermit Tian Xilü. Prior to that, an official named Wang Shen, who came from Sichuan and “refused to serve the Yuan out of righteousness,” obtained permission from the elder monks to open a school at Tianmen Mountain, teaching Confucian teachings. Tian Xilü, “descended from people of Shu and relocated to live beneath Tianmen Mountain,” upon learning that Wang Shen had started a school on the mountain, persuaded his father and several uncles—as fellow townsmen—to go up the mountain “to receive instruction, delighting in his teachings and wishing to build a house to host him. In the seventh year of Yuandade (1303), when Cili was changed to a prefectural school,” he “petitioned the authorities to establish a school palace, erect a ceremonial hall and lecture rooms, prepare ritual vessels, and allocate two hundred mu of school fields. The education intendant reported to the court, and it was named Tianmen Academy.” It included a ceremonial hall, lecture rooms, gates and corridors, kitchens and storehouses, and received an imperial plaque. A scholar was hired as the headmaster (shanzhang) to give lectures. He “expounded on the classics and historical texts, clarified doubts, and spoke with conviction, as if in the manner of Zou or Lu,” making significant contributions to enlightening the local mountain folk. The academy was initially built within Tianmen Mountain, “adjacent to the Yao tribes’ territory, where teaching officials rarely visited.” Due to years of neglect, it fell into disrepair and “decay.” Later, Tian Huaide “contributed financial resources” and “selected a site south of the Lishui River, at the foot of Tianmen” to rebuild it. The Yongding Guard “scholars and commoners, cherishing the Way, came with their books in hand.” During the Zhizheng era, Zhou Jian, the Cili supervisor, along with Asannanhaiya, renovated the academy. Eighteen years after its establishment, Yang from the mountainside passed the imperial examination and was promoted to Attendant Drafter of the Hanlin Academy. Forty-seven years after its founding, Zhang Dui from the county also passed the imperial exam and was appointed as an editor of the Hanlin National History Bureau, receiving an imperial audience. At the time, one county producing two Hanlin scholars attracted widespread attention. In the twelfth year of the Yuan Zhizheng era (1352), the academy was destroyed in warfare. It has been recently rebuilt on the original site of Tianmen Academy.