Donglin Academy
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The Donglin Academy (東林書院 Dōnglín Shūyuàn -- literally meaning "Eastern Grove Academy"), also known as the Guishan Academy (龜山書院 Guīshān Shūyuàn), was originally built in A.D. 1111 during the Northern Song (北宋) dynasty at present-day Wuxi in China. It was originally a school where the neo-Confucian scholar Yang Shi taught, but later fell into disuse. In 1604, during the Wanli era, Gu Xiancheng (顧憲成 Gù Xiànchéng, (1550-1612)), a Ming Grand Secretary, along with Gao Panlong (高攀龍 Gāo Pānlóng, 1562-1626), a scholar, restored the Donglin Academy on the same site with the financial backing of local gentry and officials.
[edit] The Donglin Movement
The motivation for founding the Academy was concern about the state of the bureaucracy and its inability to bring about improvement. The Academy represented a resort to moral Confucian traditions as a means of arriving at fresh moral evaluations. Thereafter it became a centre of dissent for public affairs in the late Ming and early Qing periods. Many supporters of Donglin were found in the bureaucracy and it become deeply involved in factional politics.
During the reign of the Emperor Tianqi, Donglin opposition to the eunuch Wei Zhongxian resulted in the closure of the Academy in 1622 and the torture and execution of its head, Yang Lian, and five other members in 1624. The accession of the Chongzhen Emperor restored the fortunes of the Donglin faction. Later during Chongzhen's reign, Donglin partisans found themselves opposed to the Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, eventually arranging his dismissal in 1637.
The Donglin Academy can be found at 867, Jiefang Donglu, Wuxi City.
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