Yuancun Yuanzhi Temple

Era: 1909

Address: West of Yangjiazhuang Village, two li east of Taigu County

The Mingxian School was founded in 1907 by Kong Xiangxi, one of China’s four great families. In 1951, the “Mingxian” school was taken over by the government and renamed Shanxi Agricultural College. …

Former Site of Shanxi Mingxian School

Former Site of Shanxi Mingxian School (Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units)

Era: 1909

Address: West of Yangjiazhuang Village, two li east of Taigu County

The Mingxian School was founded in 1907 by Kong Xiangxi, one of China’s four great families. In 1951, the “Mingxian” school was taken over by the government and renamed Shanxi Agricultural College. In 1979, it was renamed Shanxi Agricultural University.

The original site of the school was a villa belonging to the Meng family, a prominent local clan in Taigu County during the Qing Dynasty, also known as the Meng Family Garden. The Meng Family Garden was built in the mid-Qing period. After the Guangxu Gengzi Year (1900), due to indemnity payments following the “Church Incident,” Meng Ruzhen, a local gentry member from Taigu, gratuitously ceded the North Garden, which was then occupied by the Taigu Congregational Church as a cemetery for Chinese and foreign missionaries killed during the Boxer Rebellion. In the autumn of 1909, the Mingxian School expanded its operations and relocated from Taigu Mingdao Academy to the North Garden, where it settled and continued to grow and expand.

When first built, the Meng Family Garden measured approximately 200 meters from north to south and 100 meters from east to west, covering a total area of about 22,000 square meters. The garden occupied a rectangular plot. The existing structures cover an area approximately 80 meters from north to south and 100 meters from east to west, totaling around 8,000 square meters, divided into eastern, central, and western courtyards.

The eastern courtyard consists of a two-courtyard complex; the central courtyard (worship area) is a quadrangle; the western courtyard (dormitory and study area) is a three-courtyard complex. Additionally, the “Quchi-shaped Shuimu Arch” was originally located south of the flower hall but was moved to the west side of the flower hall due to the construction of a library at the Agricultural University. The “Siming Hall” was originally located south of the “Shangde Hall” but was also relocated to the west side of the “Waterside Pavilion” in its original form due to the library construction. The current school site remains largely intact.

In May 2013, the Former Site of Shanxi Mingxian School was listed as part of the Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units