China Stamps: 2009-27

China Stamps
Name: Ancient Academies (2nd Series) 古代书院 (二)
Number: 2009-27
Date of Issue: 15 November 2009
Value: 4 stamps/set

Denominations:
1.20元 (4-1): Shigu Academy & Han Yu (石鼓书院 & 韩愈)
Shigu Academy was named after its location on the Shigu Mountain north to Hengyang City, Hunan Province. It was originally the place where Li Kuanzhong, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, Built a studio, and later it became, in the Song Dynasty, an academy, attracting many famous scholars and followers. Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty bestowed the land and the tablet bearing Shigu Academy on it, making the Academy highly reputed throughout the country.

1.20元 (4-2): Anding Academy & Hu Yuan (安定书院 & 胡瑗)
Anding Academy lies in the Taizhou Middle School in Jiangsu Province. Hu Yuan, a renowned educator in the Northern Song Dynasty, once taught here, and developed the educational thought of combining both theory and practice, and implementing the education by subjects. The Academy was built by Chen Gai, the then governor of Taizhou in the Southern Song Dynasty, on the former site where Hu Yuan gave lectures. As one of the earliest academies of classical learning in Jiangsu Province, it had cultivated a large number of outstanding talents.

1.20元 (4-3): Ehu Academy & Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan (鹅湖书院 & 朱熹, 陆九渊)
Located north of the Ehu Mountain in Qianshan County, Jiangxi Province, Ehu Academy was built by Cai Kang, a judicial official in the Song Dynasty, to mark the Ehu Meeting of such philosophers as Zhu Xi, Lv Zuqian, Lu Jiuyuan and Lu Jiuling. Now, the major architectures of the Academy have been well preserved with an integral layout after several times of destruction, rebuilding and renovation during the ups and downs over the past 800 years.

1.20元 (4-4): Dongpo Academy & Su Dongpo (东坡书院 & 苏东坡)
Dongpo Academy, situated in Danzhou, Hainan Province, was first built in the Song Dynasty with the original name of Zaijiutang. It gradually evolved from a venue where Su Dongpo, a great scholar in the song Dynasty, assembled with local scholars during his exile in Danzhou to an academy with sacrificial and educational functions. Dongpo Academy, the supreme academy in Danzhou for all the following dynasties, is an important cultural site in Hainan Province.