Yuelu Academy was among the four ancient Chinese academies, along with Bailudong Academy on Lushan Mountain of Jiangxi Province, Yingtianfu Academy in Shangqiu of Henan Province and Songyang Academy in Kaifeng of Henan Province. Yuelu Academy was built by Zhu Dong, the governor of Tanzhou (presently named Changsha), in the 9th year (976) of the Kaibao Period of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Since the millennium, Yuelu Academy has produced a large number of talented people.
Yuelu Academy became Hunan University in 1926, and it was listed among the key cultural relics under China’s state protection in 1988 owing to its perfect combination of natural scenery and man-made landscapes.
With an area of 21,000 square metres, Yuelu Academy nestles at the foot of Yuelu Mountain in an elegant style, where the architectural buildings are distributed along the central axis. The main buildings include a lecture hall, imperial library and the temple of literature, which embody the three functions of the academy’s lecture, collection and sacrifice.
The academy taught the essence of Chinese culture, including Confucian classics, social etiquette, and calligraphic skills. While the desks, chairs and decor in the classroom retain (保持) the style of ancient The strong affection between teachers and students is one of the cores of the academy’s spirit.
Yuelu Academy, which focuses on teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, implements the tutorial system from undergraduate to doctoral students, combining the people centred education of traditional academies with the curriculum-centred education of modern universities.
While nourishing their own spiritual life with traditional culture, the teachers and students at the academy are striving to spread excellent traditional culture to the whole of society and make contributions to the revival of national culture.