| Guangdong Guangya Middle School 广东广雅中学 |
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|---|---|
| Address | |
| 1 Xiwan Lu, Liwan District Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China |
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| Information | |
| Motto | 務本求實 (Pursue the Fundamentals and the Truth) |
| Opened | July 16, 1888 |
| Founder | Zhang Zhidong |
| Website | www.gyzx.edu.cn |
Guangdong Guangya Middle School (Chinese: 广东广雅中学) is a reputed middle school in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Founded by Zhang Zhidong, Viceroy of Liangguang on July 16, 1888,[note 1] its earliest predecessor Guangya Academy was one of the Four Academies of China in the last years of Qing Dynasty.[1] The name "Guangya" was chosen by Zhang Zhidong, meaning learnedness and righteousness.[2]
Guangya Middle School follows the standard Chinese secondary education system. It offers three-year junior and senior programs. Students are recruited via municipal middle schools admission exams. In addition to the main campus in Guangzhou, it also operates a privately-funded campus in Yangdong County of Yangjiang, Guangdong that offers both primary and secondary education.[3][4]
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In a memorial to the imperial court, Zhang Zhidong stated his motivations for establishing Guangya Academy.[5] He wrote on the necessity of favoring scholarship to create an educated social atmosphere in Liangguang. He also cited inadequate capacities of several existing academies for taking in students. He was granted permission to purchase 124 mu (8.27 hectares / 20.4 acres) of land in northwest Guangzhou (known as Shengcheng, or the Provincial Capital, at the time) for the academy. Construction started on June 11, 1887[note 2] and completed a year later at a cost of 138,866 taels of silver. The academy opened on July 16, 1888 with an annual budget of 17,150 taels of silver. The inaugural head of the academy was Liang Dingfen, a scholar whom Zhang Zhidong frequently consulted with education issues.[6]
In the over 120 years of its history, Guangya Middle School evolved with the development of the modern history of China. Until the collapse of Qing Dynasty, Guangya Academy and its successors remained a traditional Chinese academy where Zhang Zhidong's doctrine of "Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application" (Chinese: 中學為體，西學為用) was practiced. In 1912, under the rule of the newly-founded Republic of China, the academy, which had stopped admitting students from Guangxi and was known as Guangdong Advanced Academy, was reorganized as Guangdong Provincial No. 1 Middle School and became the first middle school ever established in Guangdong. The school adopted the western system of three-year junior and senior secondary education in 1922 and created a senior department in 1924 when the first batch of junior students graduated under the new system. In 1928, educator Liang Shuming was appointed as the headmaster and proposed the motto "Pursue the Fundamentals and the Truth" (Chinese: 務本求實). The name "Guangya" was restored as the school was renamed Guangdong Provincial Guangya Middle School in 1935, then dropped in 1939 as the school moved out of Guangzhou when the city fell to the Japanese forces, and restored again in 1941.[6]
The current name "Guangdong Guangya Middle School" was first used in 1949 under the rule of the People's Republic of China. During the Cultural Revolution, the school was renamed Guangdong Red Flag School and later Guangdong Red Flag Middle School, an evident reflection of the political zealotry of the era. It was redesignated as Guangzhou No. 54 Middle School in 1969. The last renaming occurred in 1978. The current name was restored and has been used since.[7]