Donglin Academy 东林书院

About Donglin Academy

Associated with the Song scholar Yang Shi and revived in the late Ming, it became a setting for scholarship and public moral discussion. Lize Hall and Yiyong Hall form part of the teaching and assembly landscape, while Daonan Shrine recalls Yang Shi. Read the buildings as a scholarly institution with a political legacy, rather than simply as classrooms for examination preparation.

Also known as Guishan Academy (龟山书院), Donglin Academy was originally built in 1111, during the Northern Song dynasty. Its name derives from the Donglin Temple at the foot of Mount Lu in Jiujiang, which Yang Shi (楊時) visited and admired before traveling to Wuxi, where he found a site with a similar layout and taught for eighteen years. The academy later fell into disuse. In 1604, during the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty, the Grand Secretary Gu Xiancheng, together with several other scholars, restored it with financial backing from local gentry and officials, and it gave its name to the resulting Donglin movement.

The academy was destroyed in 1626, leaving only part of a stone memorial arch standing. Its present buildings are a Qing-dynasty reconstruction carried out under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. In the Ming dynasty, teachers and students at the academy were known for discussing current affairs and were called the Donglin Party (东林党), which had a major influence on politics.

What to look for

• Lize Hall and Yiyong Hall preserve the academy’s hall-and-courtyard arrangement.
• Daonan Shrine commemorates the scholar Yang Shi.

The surrounding area

Use the city for Taihu outings and a distinct local food stop within a southern Jiangsu route.

Location & getting there

Getting to Donglin Academy

Approach Donglin Academy at 867 Jiefang East Road in Liangxi, Wuxi.