Buildings of Classical Learning Academies

The Academy of Classical Learning was an independent educational organization in Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. It was a palace set up by the government or private for people to learn and study. The Academy of Classical Learning, a college then, became a place for the celebrities and scholars to teach and discuss, a place that the intellects desired for. It had its important and unique position in the history of ancient education of China and it has its great influence in China as well.

From the day on when the Academy of Classical Learning started it was closely related to the life to maintain their own integrity of the scholars. One of the purposes to found it was for the isolated spiritual pursuit and it embodies the unconventional quality of the Confucianists. So the builder of the Academies always chose scenic spots that are remote and beautiful. The buildings of the academies are dif-ferent from either of the imperial learning palace in the city which symbolizes authorities or the folk houses. They set off the nature and form an independent integrity and become an important component of the local scenery.

The buildings of the Academies are mostly a group of serious and tidy ones. They are mainly built at the foot of the hills because the builders stressed on the application of the terrain. The front is deep and the back is shallow. The houses are built inward one after another in a tidy way to the hill. They have the effect of the " harmony of sights and the spirits and air setting off each other" with the afforestation of the gardens, the covering of the trees, the ornaments of the pavilions, the wave of the mountainous walls and the unturned eaves and flying corners as well, which constitute a vivid scene and have the reasonable combination with the nature. The buildings of the academies are closed but the environment is spacious. Confucianists lived there and regarded it as a life ambition to be in the quiet nature and express their easy and quiet feelings, and the calm and beautiful mountains and waters show the unconventional idea of the Confucian, too.

The group of the serious buildings of academies is an expression of group sense and the thought of "make-up of properties and happiness". In general, every academy contains a school, a student hostel, a book house and an ancestral hall. The position of each palace of hall, the decoration and general setup are built according to the order of the three cardinal guides and the Confucian, which makes the teachers and students stay in the concept and order of thick politics and seniority of human relationships. All of these show another respect of the worldliness of the Confucian.

The academy takes the school as the center and has its symmetry of the central axle and a structure of palaces and courtyard. So it takes a complete order. The central axle has three or four rows of houses, including the gate, school, sacrificial hall and book house or a union of sacrificial hall and book house built in order. Some have five or six rows with twoincluding gates and Wenchang palace etc. The structure and the buildings of the academy embody the three key courses—education, books and sacrifice. The student hostel is arranged in symmetry on the Iwo sides of the central axle in the front or at the back and stand as the independent yards to meet the need of the students to live in. There are several, tens or e-ven a hundred of rooms. The other buildings such as kitchen, warehouse, and pavilions are built according to regions of the academies with certain order.

The group of the buildings of Academies try to have the structure of symmetry of the central axle because the center is the highest in position. And the difference of seniors and juniors, up and down, primary and secondary, out and in are clearly expressed according to the order along the central axle and to achieve the purpose to differ the status with the order. The purpose of being close with harmony is attained with the spacious combination of the courtyards. In this way, the group of the buildings form a whole which harmony exists in order and order in harmony and they are a reasonable union.