Yuelu Academy 岳麓书院

About Yuelu Academy

Founded in the tenth century, it developed through many periods before becoming part of the institutional history of Hunan University. The surviving complex includes later repairs and rebuilding rather than one untouched Song building. Read the hall sequence and the Museum of Chinese Academies together to connect the architecture with the wider educational tradition, then continue towards the wooded slopes outside.

Yuelu Academy was founded in the ninth year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song dynasty (976), and it was destroyed and rebuilt seven times by warfare over its history, so most of the surviving buildings date from the Qing dynasty. It became Hunan Higher School in 1903, a step in its transformation into Hunan University by 1926.

The academy covers 21,000 square metres on a symmetrical central axis of successive courtyards, with the main gate, second gate, lecture hall, Imperial Book Tower (御书楼) and the Confucius Temple (文庙) arranged along it, and dormitories and memorial shrines to the sides. Its garden buildings include Aiwan Pavilion (爱晚亭), counted among China's four most celebrated pavilions. The present main gate, rebuilt in 1868, carries inscriptions recreated in 1984 from old photographs after the originals were destroyed by Japanese bombing.

Two gilded plaques in the lecture hall were written by Qing emperors: “Learning that reaches human nature and heaven” (学达性天) by the Kangxi Emperor in 1687, and “The true lineage transmitted south” (道南正脉) by the Qianlong Emperor in 1743. The academy was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 1988.

What to look for

• The lecture-hall and courtyard sequence with its inscriptions.
• The Museum of Chinese Academies and the academy’s connection to Hunan University.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yuelu Academy

Approach from the Hunan University campus on Lushan South Road at the eastern foot of Yuelu Mountain. Check the academy’s own ticket and opening arrangements; mountain entry does not automatically cover the academy complex.