岳麓书院英文导游篇

英文导游篇

Introudction

As one of the four most prestigious academies over the last 1000 years in China, Yuelu Academy has been a famous institution of higher learning as well as a centre of academic activities and cultures since it was formally set up in the ninth year of the Kai Bao Reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (976). Yuelu Academy, surviving the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, was converted into Hunan Institute of Higher Learning in 1903, and Hunan Normal College, and was finally named Hunan University in 1926. The Academy has witnessed a history of more than one thousand years without a break, so it is called a “one-thousand-year-old academy”. The historical transformation from Yuelu Academy to Hunan University is an epitome of the development of C hina’s higher education, which mirrors the vicissitudes of China’s education system.

The Main Gate（大门）

The gate was formerly built at the time of the Song Dynasty, and was then called “ Central Gate” because in southern China there were lots of stone torii. The present structure was renovated in the 7th year of Tongzhi Reign of Qing Dynasty (1868), adopting the structure of a General Gate of southern China. Before the gate are 12 steps which lead up to the gate and the five rooms around it. There are flush gable roof on the top and a stepped gable wall in the yard. In the front of the gate stand a couple of quadrate columns with white walls, black tiles and eave tiles, and drawings

of dragons flying around the Taiji together with cloud patterns drawn on the beams. The whole Gate is impressive. The words “Yuelu Academy” on the horizontal board were inscriptions of Zhenzong, an Emperor of the Song Dynasty. It was said in the 8th year of Xiangfu Reign, Northern Song Dynasty (1015), Zhenzong learnt the education reputation of Yuelu Academy and the virtue of the master, Zhou Shi, so he summoned Zhou Shi to the capital to an interview and gave him the title Master of the Imperial College in the hope that he would stay in the capital to give lectures. However, Zhou Shi longed for his Yuelu Academy and insisted on going back to the Academy. So, the emperor awarded his Majesty’s own handwriting “Yuelu Academy” to hang on the top of the Main Gate and meanwhile presented him with some other classics to take back to the Academy. From then on, Yuelu Academy became well known all around the country and students came to study in an endless stream. Yuelu Academy became one of the four famous Academies in the Northern Song Dynasty. Now on the door posts of the gate are couplets which read “ The Kingdom of Chu, unique home of talents, The Academy of Yuelu, where they are more abundant than any where else.” The first line of the couplet is from “the 26th year of Xianggong, Zuo Zhuan”, and the second line is from “Taibo of the Confucian Analects”. This couplet originates from Chinese classics and it is very appropriate given the fact that talents have been brought up continuously by the Academy since its establishment.

The Second Gate（二门）

The Second Gate of the Academy is constructed just behind the Main Gate. The site used to be the Li Temple in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the 1st year of

Jiajing Reign, Ming Dynasty (1527), the Confucian Temple was built to the left side of the Academy. Thus the Second Gate of the Academy was built at the current site. The Second Gate consists of 5 rooms with single eaves and overhanging gable roofs. The three rooms in the middle have three doors with granite doorframes. Two passages are constructed on the two sides connecting the rooms in the south and north. It was blown down by the Japanese in the Anti-Japanese War and was rebuilt in 1984.

Over the gate, there once hung a plaque inscribed with “Lecture Hall in the Famous Mountain.” The original p laque was made in the 7th year of Tongzhi Reign, Qing Dynasty (1868), but was ruined during the Anti-Japanese War. The current plaque is a replica of the original made in 1984 by collecting words from the calligraphy works of He Shaoji, a famous Hunan calligrapher. The couplet on the two sides of the gate “Taking soul at the foot of the great Yuelu Hill; Storing prime in this famous mountain of Yuelu”. The first line is an excerpt from the Book of Documents (Shangshu) while the second line was derived from History of the Former Han Dynasty (Hanshu), meaning that the Academy is situated at the foot of Yuelu Hill deep in the thick forests. The author is, Cheng Songwan, the warden of the Academy (at that time, the Academy was renamed Hunan Higher-Learning School) in the late Qing Dynasty. In the halls on the wings of the second gate, there is the couplet written by Luo Dian, Master of the Academy in the late Qing Dynasty. The couplet reads “Adjacent to the Heng Mountain and Xiang River, the Academy possesses the spirits of the nature; Taking the ancient Confucian studies as its model in academic work, the Academy obtains the essentials of the Chinese classics.”

Teaching Building

Lecture Hall（讲堂）

Located at the heart of the Academy, the lecture hall is the most important place for teaching and momentous ceremony as well as the core of the all construction of the Academy. The hall had 5 lecture rooms when it was first built in the 9th year of Kaibao Reign, Northern Song Dynasty (976), when the whole of Yuelu Academy was under construction. All the subsequent restorations didn’t make significant changes. In the 6th year of Qiandao Reign, Southern Song Dynasty (1168), the famous idealist Zhangshi and Zhuxi made a joint lecture here, which was the first joint lecture in the Confucianacademies of China.

Under the foreside brim of the hall is a horizontally-inscribed board “Seeking Truths from the Facts” written by Bing Bucheng, the principal of Hunan Industrial School in the early period of the Republic of China. “Seeking Truths From the Facts” originated from the book “Biography of Liu De, the King of Hejian, Han Shu”. The principal of the industrial school treated it as a school motto in order to encourage the students of the Academy to be realistic in doing everything throughout their lives so as to judge wisely.

In the center of the Hall are two gilding inscribed wooden boards. One reads “Learn before you can probe the infiniteness of Tian, the universe”. Emperor Kang Xi of Qing Dynasty inscribed it to encourage the idealists to advocate their philosophy and improve their self-cultivation. The original board was destroyed and the current

one was re-inscribed according to the calligraphy of the Emperor. The second board was inscribed by Emperor Qian Long and it reads “T he doctrines taught here in the South are genuine Confucian doctrines”. This is the highest praise the Academy could receive from the perspective of the advocates of idealism, indicating the essential status of the Academy in the history of the idealism. This gilding board is the original one.

There are also many valuable culture relics of steles in the lecture hall. On the inner walls of the hall are engraved four big Chinese Characters- loyalty, piety, honesty and integrity. They were written by the great scholar Zhu Xi, who once lectured here. Others such as “Uniform and stand as a mark of respect” written and set by one master of the Qing Dynasty, Ouyang Zhenghuan; the stele “School Regulations” written by Master Wang Wenqing of Qing Dynasty are all the important historical materials for the study of the education in China’s Confucian academies. They still have their own enlightening meaning to us nowadays.

On the front screen of the hall is engraved “Yuelu Academy Regulations” written by Zhang Shi, the famous idealist, master of the Academy of the Qiangdao 1st or 2nd year, Southern Song Dynasty (1165 or 1166). It characterizes the basic principles of education in Yuelu Academy and has had an essential influence on the education here. The masterpiece was calligraphed by Zhou Zhaoyi, the alumnus of Hunan University and the Chairman of Hunan Calligraphers’ Association in 1983. On the back of the screen is engraved the Yuelu Hill Map copied from “ Nanyue Mountain Records”.

Library

Yushu Library（御书楼）

Yushu Library was used for holding lectures, and memorial ceremonies as well as a central book repository, as in all ancient academies of China. When the Academy was initially founded, a library was built behind the Lecture Hall. It was renamed “ Classics Treasuring House” in the Song Dynasty after Emperor Zhen Zong had granted books to the library. This name was also used in theYuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed “ Classics Venerating House” and its site changed. In the 26th year of Kangxi Reign, Qing Dynasty (1687), Ding Sikong, the Governor of Hunan prayed and was granted “the Thirteen Confucian Classics” and “the Twenty One Historical Records” from the imperial court and rebuilt the library at the current site. By the mid Qing Dynasty, the Yushu Library had grown into a large-scale

non-governmental library with 20,000 books in its collection.

As a classics library with over 50,000 books, the Yushu Library is still in use for students and the faculty of the Academy. Reference books of large-scale such as Si Ku Quan Shu, Si Bu Cong Kan, Si Bu Notes and Collections of Ancient and Modern Books are there. Deng Liqun, former secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, contributed over 10,000 books which are kept now in the “ Liqun Books Room” i n the library.

Confucian Temple(文庙)

The tradition of holding a memorial ceremony for Confucius started from the time the Academy was first founded. During the Song Dynasty the sacrificial service was

held in Dacheng Palace in front of the Lecture Hall. In the Dacheng Palace, there are statues of the ten philosophers and the portraits of 72 wise men. In the 1st year of Qiandao Reign of Southern Dynasty (1165), the Palace was renamed “ Xuan Sheng Palace” and the statue of Confucius was set up surrounded by th e portraits of the 72 wise men. In the 18th year of Hongzhi Reign, Ming Dynasty (1505), the palace was given the new name “ Dacheng Palace”. In the 2nd year of Zhengde Reign, Ming Dynasty (1507), it was moved to the present site. In the 4th year of Tianqi Reign, Ming Dynasty (16240, it underwent rebuilding, renamed as “Confucius Temple” and has had the name hereafter. The scale is the same as those in each county.

Situated to the left of the Academy, the temple has its own yard. It is composed of Dacheng Palace, two hip roofs, Dacheng Gate, Stone Decorated Gateway and a screen wall. It had been destroyed and rebuilt several times, but its basic layout had not changed. The Dacheng Palace is the main building of the temple with gable and hip roofs, yellow glazed tiles, caisson ceiling of dragons and phoenix. In front of the Palace, there is a platform for ceremonies. In the front of the platform are engraved dragons of the Ming Dynasty.

In front of the stone steps, there stand a couple of stone lions also made in the Ming Dynasty. The carving is of fine workmanship and the lions are vivid. The male one is playing a ball while the female one is holding a baby lion in her arms. In such an environment of education and cultivation, the two stone lions appear to be lovely and conjugal without looking fierce.

The Decorated Gateway was built and rebuilt in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Made of granite and engraved with dragon patterns, the two gateways stand on the two sides of the Dacheng Gate, facing each other from south and north respectively. The inner inscribed board reads “Wise Men Gate” and “ Saint Territory”, while the outer inscribed board reads “His virtue matches the Heaven and the Earth”, “His learning surpasses that of the past and the future”, which are glorif ications for Confucius.

The screen wall, facing the Dacheng Gate acts as a shield. The current wall is of Ming and Qing Dynasty style. The bronze of Confucius was donated by Tang Enjia of Confucius College, Hong Kong in 1996

He Xi Platform（赫曦台）

In the 3rd year of Qiandao Reign, Southern Song Dynasty (1167), Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi watched the sunrise at the top of Yuelu Hill and then built He Xi Platform there. Zhu Xi inscribed the stele for the platform. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren wrote a poem, in whi ch a sentence reads “I dressed quickly in the early morn to head for He Xi Platform.” Later this platform became deserted with the passing time. In the 55th year of Qianlong Reign, Qing Dynasty (1790), Luo Dian, the master of the Academy, built another platform at the entrance of the Academy and renamed it Front Platform. In the 1st year of Daoguang Reign, Qing Dynasty (1821), the succeeding master, Ouyang Houjun renamed it “ He Xi Platform” in memory of Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi.

He Xi Platform was in a form of an opera stage of Hunan Province intending to provide the students and teachers of the Academy with a place for entertainment and relaxation of. It is the classical platform incorporating the Confucian Culture and local folk culture. Its plane is just in the shape of a C hinese character “凸”with the stone base and it is high and gives a broad view. Some local opera stories of “Zhangliang picked up the shoes”, “Laozi went out of the pass” and “ Be advanced in the rank and made a great fortune” are drawn on the eaves of the platform. The draw ings are of unique sculpture and as natural as though they were real figures in the daily life. On the inner walls of the platform are two huge Chinese characters “ Fu” and “Shou”. They were over 3 meters high. On the ceiling of the Platform are the patterns of the Eight Diagrams, bats and the Chinese character “Shou”.

Having been a cultural and scenic spot of Yuelu Academy, He Xi Platform has some influence on the intellectuals and celebrities of Hunan Province in the ancient and modern times. Zhu Xi, a great idealist philosopher of the Confucian school during the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Shi, a famous idealist of the Ming Dynesty, Wang Shouren , the founder of the philosohpy of the mind, and Mao Tsedong all wrote down poems for the He Xi Platform, which are now inscribed on the screens of the platform.

1、御书楼，常被用于办讲座和纪念性的典礼，同时它也是一个中央图书

库。

2、当学院初建时，图书馆被建在讲堂后面

3、在宋朝宋徽宗授书给图书馆后，它被重命名为“典藏屋”

4、这些名字沿用到了元朝，在明朝时期，它被重命名为“典贵屋”，并且

变动了地址

5、到了清中期，御书楼已经发展成一个大规模的非公办的图书馆，拥有

超过20000卷书

6、作为一个传统的图书馆拥有超过5万本藏书，御书楼现在依然供学院

师生使用。

7、大型的参考书例如四库全书和四部丛刊，以及古时现代的书籍全都收

藏于此