Donglin Academic School

In 1604, during the reign of Ming Dynasty, Gu Xiancheng who dismissed from official restored this school with many famous people at that time such as Gao Panlong, An Xifan and so on. They lived together to discuss and study on Confucianism and current affairs. Each year one largest formal meeting would be held and each month a common meeting would be carried. They talked about the government and politics. They had a large impact in society. In 1625, this academic school was destroyed by the evil eunuchs. And many scholars were penalized or killed by them. They largely released their attitude towards politics and society freely and criticized the injustice of government and the corruption of government controlled by a group of eunuchs.

After 1945, Tang Wenzhi, a famous academic master of Wuxi appealed to restore this famous cultural and historical site and he wrote the inscriptions personally. In it, the steles, pools, the classrooms, and variety of halls for study are well preserved here. Nowadays it is the educational base for local education and traditional education.