Wenwei Academy, its former site is located at the "County People's Armed Forces Department" on Academy Street in today's Wei County. It was donated by Zhizhou Jin Rongfan in the 40th year of Qianlong (1775) on the basis of the original Dongxiang Volunteer School, so it is also known as Wenwei Academy. Named Ronghan Academy.
During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, a disciple of Mr. Jian Shen of Yu County "joined a good family to provide money and grain to support the scholars and established an academy," which was named Weiluo Academy. However, because the rulers at that time adopted a policy of suppressing the academies, they had expressly stipulated that "no other academies were allowed to be founded", and local and state schools continued to exclude them. Under these circumstances, the academy had to be changed to Dongxiang Free School in the early years of Qianlong's reign. Until the 39th year of Qianlong's reign, after Jin Rongfan took over as the magistrate of Yu County, in view of the fact that all parts of the country were "cultivating talents," besides self-study officials, many provincial capitals and prefectures had "academies", so with official support, he raised his own With the funds, in the middle of the following year, it took only half a year to complete the renovation of Dongxiang Free School, appoint famous teachers to teach, and change its name to Wenwei Academy. At that time, the head of the academy was Gu Dongyan.
It is said that the entire academy is large in scale, covering an area of ??about fifteen acres. Its main buildings can be divided into two parts, the inner and outer parts. The layout and design of the scenery outside the courtyard is unique. Li Yuanyou, a native of Yuzhou, said in an inscription: This scenery is far superior to the Qianzhou Eight Views Terrace and Liuyi Weng mentioned by Su Dongpo. Written by Drunkard Pavilion. According to historical records, there is a stone bridge built inside the courtyard gate, with rectangular pools dug on the left and right sides. There is a seepage well in each pool, and the breeze blows and the clear waves ripple. The poolside is shaded by ancient willows, full of vitality, and is surrounded by wooden railings. In the dusk of midsummer, there is an endless stream of people strolling here to enjoy the cool air. There are also the Kuixing Tower and the Burning Paper Tower, which are in the same shape and add color to the panoramic view, making it beautiful and elegant, just like what Jin Rongfan said in "Eight Scenes of the Academy Inscribed on Wenwei":
There are The guest showed me the academy garden, and the beautiful scenery was all facing the study house.
The management of Yijiang is bleak,
The natural position is Qingyu.
Two ponds are leather-colored and one bridge is full of moon.
The pond railing is wide at the end of the bridge railing.
The ancient willows beside the pond have grown over the years, and the famous flowers on the pond are blooming at dawn.
Try taking a ride on the Qiu Xiaozhi high-rise building,
Looking at the Hualiu Pond Bridge and the end of it.
Looking at the distant mountains and beautiful palms,
Looking down at the three-path tourists coming to visit.
The academy has nine "siheyuan" style courtyards and more than 100 rooms. The buildings are well-proportioned, mixed but not cluttered. Among them, there are "six studios" dedicated to Niu Yu's moral cultivation, homework review and accommodation, namely, Shu Xing Zhai, Xiu Dao Zhai, Chengxin Zhai, Zhengyi Zhai, Chongzhi Zhai and Factory. There is one courtyard for the mountain chief and teaching offices; the other two courtyards are generally divided into warehouses, libraries, kitchens, etc.
The academy mainly focused on examinations. It was a preparation place for the imperial examinations in the county at that time, and had the characteristics of an official school. In addition to giving lectures, the dean of the college is also in charge of the affairs of the college. Tuition usually comes from private schools, but students must pass the exam before they can be hired. Most of the children were transferred from various private schools. Initially, there were about ten students and more than 150 children were born.
The academic system of the academy is not fixed, and there is no strict limit on the age for children to enter. There is also one month of autumn holiday and one month of winter holiday each year. The teaching content mainly includes the Four Books, the Five Classics, Xingli, calligraphy, etc. The daily classes are divided into three categories: poetry, ritual practice and reading. The specific teaching is mainly based on individual reading and study of students, supplemented by lectures. There is a small test every month, called the "monthly test"; the big test at the end of the year, called the "yearly test", is set by the mountain chief. Those with excellent results will receive rewards (called "tuition fees"). As for the whereabouts of the students after they left the academy, it is recorded in the old records that "all the students who have failed to study will go to the various states for examination, and the state will examine them again and choose the best." The purpose of going to the state examination is to be a scholar.
Most of the fees required by the academy and the salaries of mountain directors, teachers, etc. (called "repair money") are allocated monthly by the state (county) department according to regulations, and the rest comes from renting academic fields from outside. , libraries, etc., collect their interest and make up for it.
In addition, there is also a liberal arts academy in the academy. It was named "Li's Free School" because it was donated by Yi Sun-shin (the city's candidate chief). It is a compulsory education institution specially set up for the education of those from poor families.
In August of the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu reign (1901), the Qing government adopted Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi’s suggestion of “abolition of the imperial examination and establishment of schools” and issued an edict to unify all local academies across the country. Changed to a school. The restructuring of Wenwei Academy was inevitable, so it was reorganized into "Wenwei Academy" in the following year.
Wenwei Academy was founded in the middle and late Qing Dynasty and ended at the end of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for 126 years. Li Yuanyou's inscription also says: "It lasts for a long time, and famous talents emerge in large numbers." It is indeed "a list of outstanding people from the land". During this period, many knowledgeable talents were cultivated, making it more famous in the modern education history of Yu County. Influence.