Academies have a common feature: there are many legends about their names. Like the Bailuzhou Academy, which is more than 300 kilometers to the south, the official version thinks that it is taken from the poem "Three mountains and a half fall out of the sky, like this Bailuzhou divides the river" in Li Bai's "On Nanjing Mounting the Phoenix Terrace"; People prefer another version: named after countless egrets that live on sandbanks. Bailudong Academy is different. For thousands of years, there is only one saying: During the Zhenyuan period in Tang Dezong (785-805), Luoyang scholar Li Bo came here to study in seclusion and raise white deer for his own amusement. This deer is very human, gentle and lovely, and even buys paper, ink and daily necessities from Xing Zi County alone, hence its name.
Historically, Jiangxi was the center of academy culture. Among many academies in Jiangxi, Bailudong is undoubtedly the most dazzling one. However, influenced by Jiangxi people's reticence and poor management for a long time, the former "four major academies in the world" are no longer brilliant. Compared with the nearby Yuelu Academy, it is a drop in the bucket. Nevertheless, I still yearn for it. Last summer vacation, I went to Lushan Mountain, and I heard my companions talk about the plan to detour to Bailudong. I was extremely sensitive and rushed up at once. Without considering the usual elegance, I rudely stepped in and tried to make it happen. So, unprepared, but without hesitation, I set off with only a little money. The beauty of Lushan Mountain lingers around, and the sea of clouds in the valley is still breathing evenly, but I can't take another look. The bumps on the mountain road didn't make me tired at all, and the noise on the bus couldn't disturb my thoughts. My heart has already flown to that familiar and strange place.
There are fewer and fewer people and the mountain road is getting quieter and quieter. The car suddenly turned sharply, and the road sign of "enjoying the cool" hiding in the leaves loomed out-1km. However, this 1 km is really a long way for me, until the car stopped in an open space and through the window, the five characters "Bailudong Academy" came into view, and it was completely released with uncontrollable excitement. Staring at this gate that has received countless academic masters, the noise around it seems to be absorbed by the pine forest, and the anxiety of waiting seems to be resolved by running water. There is only one person left in the world, recalling the sound of old books.
The academy under the shadow of ancient and famous trees used to be crowded. As a non-governmental educational institution different from official schools, its folk nature and openness of gathering people to give lectures and preach are sometimes even more attractive than official schools. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Chaoting established Lushan Guoxue (also known as "Bailuyuan Guoxue"), which is as famous as imperial academy of Qinhuai River in Jinling. It is the only Sinology established by the central government outside the capital in the history of China, and scholars rushed to it, which laid the foundation for its later prosperity. It can be seen that the cultural foundation laid by the Southern Tang Dynasty is far more than the iconic Li Yu. However, the good times did not last long. Due to the disaster of military power, the academy gradually collapsed and lay waste for a long time. Until the sixth year of Southern Song Dynasty, Bailudong Academy welcomed its biggest aristocrat-Zhu, who became the Kang Jun of Zhinan (now the county). With his unique sensitivity and understanding of culture, he made a special trip to inspect the former site of Bailudong Academy, and said with emotion: "Looking around at its landscape, there is no noise of the market, but there is a victory of the spring stone. It' s really a group of lectures and books. " As a result, abandoned and overgrown academies were restored and rebuilt, and fields were set up, books were collected and students were enrolled. Zhu not only gave lectures in person, raised questions and questions to students, but also invited people from all walks of life to give lectures, formulated the rules of Bailudong Academy, and invited books to be presented and imperial books, which made him famous for a while. In eight years, Zhu abandoned his views and invited Lu Jiuyuan, the leader of another school, to give lectures, which attracted many students to listen. This historic "Bailudong Guild Hall" has become a landmark achievement of Zhu's painstaking efforts in Nankang for two years, and it is also the best witness of the heyday of Bailudong Academy in history.