Jinjiang Academy

　　   According to a mimeographed document compiled in 1984, Jinjiang Academy “was first built in the year 1874 AD.” Yet, according to the 1994 edition of the Liuyang County Annals and other records, the academy was actually established in the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty, which corresponds to the year 1872 AD. Moreover, when the old auditorium was demolished, an almanac from 1872 was found in the beams, which suggests that the academy was indeed built in 1872. As for its founding, the account is brief: “It was funded and constructed primarily by four local gentry families — Tang, Chen, Qiu, and Lou — from western Liuyang.” At the time, the academy employed lecturers who gave lessons on the 3rd and 8th days of each ten-day period. The content covered included classical studies (the meaning of the Four Books and Five Classics) and eight-legged essay writing techniques. Attendees included both resident students and local boys from the western part of Liuyang. However, the academy did not operate for long. By 1898, with the abolition of the imperial examination system during the Hundred Days' Reform, it was converted into the “Jinjiang Two-Level Primary School,” offering both higher and lower primary education. Among the many talents who emerged from Jinjiang, Chen Chang (1894–1930, courtesy name Zhangfu) stands out. In the final years of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign, Chen Chang studied at Jinjiang, and his descendants still preserve his graduation diploma from that era. The diploma also lists the subjects offered at the time, including natural science, geography, history, Chinese literature, and arithmetic, indicating that students were already being exposed to modern scientific knowledge.

　　   Despite numerous changes in its name, the site has remained a place of learning and scholarship for over a century, except for brief interruptions.