Former Site of Mingxin Academy

Former Site of Mingxin Academy

The former site of Mingxin Academy is a cultural heritage conservation unit of Guangzhou City.

Mingxin Academy, located within Taoli Primary School at No. 5 Mingxin Road, Liwan District. It was first built in 1912, but its origins can be traced back to 1889. That year, Fung Sai, an American-Chinese doctor at Guangzhou Boji Hospital, took in four blind young girls from the hospital and enrolled them in the girls' school affiliated with the hospital. Three years later, as the number of blind girls continued to grow, Fung Sai rented a house on Renji Street to establish a girls’ school for the blind, admitting visually impaired girls from society. At that time, the school hired Ms. Lai Ma from the Basel Mission Blind Infants’ Home to serve as a teacher, instructing the blind girls in Braille, music, weaving, and more. Historical records indicate that the school building once suffered a fire, and due to the urgent need to expand, in 1912, Fung Sai acquired land in Fangcun’s Mingxinli area (now around present-day Mingxin Road) to construct school buildings, renaming the girls’ school Mingxin Academy—thus establishing Guangzhou’s first school for the blind.

The main surviving structure is a three-story main teaching building with a mixed brick-and-wood structure, featuring an overall Western Gothic architectural style. Due to its long history and multiple changes in usage over the years, it is now difficult to find traces of its past as a school for the blind. This precious cultural relic remained hidden from public knowledge for a long time, and at the end of 2001, it nearly faced “complete demolition” as a Grade D dangerous building. However, thanks to active efforts by cultural departments and various sectors of society, emergency repairs were completed, and the building was restored to its original appearance.

In July 2002, it was designated as part of the sixth batch of Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Heritage Conservation Units by the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Heritage Conservation Units