Guangzhou Daily: 800 year old academy debuts on May Day

After five years of meticulous sealed-off renovation, the 800 year old Yuyan Academy will open on May 1.

According to a museum attendant,Yuyan Academy was founded in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and was named after the famous Song official Zhong Yuyan.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), to protect the Academy, descendants of the Zhong family employed Buddhist monks to run it and changed the name of Yuyan Academy to Luofeng Temple.

The Academy has been renovated several times in past dynasties and today retains features of Qing (1644-1911) architecture.

According to the head of the culture and brand department of the Administration for Culture and Radio and TV and News and Publishing in Huangpu district, 13 buildings including Yuqing Lou and Yuyan Tang were subject to the recent renovation; it was a massive project that took as long as five years to complete.

Under the guiding principle of maintain and protect the renovation works successfully restored the old look of the Academy. 

Yuyan Academy is famous for its cultural artifacts. It has a variety of precious plaques and stone inscriptions, including the Yuanfei Yuyue (the kites fly in the air and fish jump in the water) a plaque by Han Yu, the Zhongxiao Lianjie (loyalty, filial piety and incorruptibility) Plaque by Zhu Xi, Wen Tianxiang's Four Quatrain manuscript on carved wood, a poem of Hai Rui, Zheng Banqiao's paintings of four seasons on carved bamboo, and a Zhang Zhidong poem on a stone tablet.

After the renovation, all of the artifacts mentioned above will be exhibited as before.

During May Day holiday, Yuyan Academy, as well as the Aimei Veranda and Meixian Square in Luogang Xiangxue Park, will co-host special cultural events on the theme of literary inheritance.

Theevents include two hours of lectures about classics and culture in the morning and two hours in the afternoon every day at the academy.

Meanwhile, there will be a poetry reading of both ancient and modern works, and a traditional opera show in Aimei Verandain Xiangxue Park. Tourists will also be able to try on classical Chinese clothing and take pictures at Meixian Square.

Share - WeChat