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Songyang Academy: where Confucianism taught on this mountain
From Buddhist temple to Taoist abbey to Confucian academy — a biography of one courtyard.
Founded in 484 CE as Songyang Temple (Buddhist), converted to Songyang Abbey (Taoist) in the Sui, and renamed an academy in 1035 during the Northern Song — the site's biography mirrors the shifting fortunes of China's three teachings. Its golden age came when the Cheng brothers, founders of Neo-Confucianism, lectured here; a stone still marks the spot where the Chengs are said to have planted cypresses.