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The 1040th Anniversary Celebrations of Yuelu Academy

In 976 Zhu Dong 朱洞, prefect of Tanzhou, established the Yuelu Academyof Classical Learning 嶽麓書院. Thus did this school with a continuous historyof over a thousand years get its start. In 1901 the academy was reorganized
as the Hunan College of Higher Learning 湖南高等學堂, and after several
changes, in 1926 it was renamed Hunan University 湖南大学. In the late1970s and early 1980s the academy began restoring its traditional architecture
and reviving its traditional curriculum and academic scholarship. Today Yuelu
Academy is responsible for teaching and research in the ﬁelds of history andphilosophy at Hunan University and has established a complete system fortraining professionals in these ﬁelds that includes undergraduate, master’s,doctoral, and postdoctoral programs. In addition to programs appropriate forall diﬀerent age groups, the academy also has specialized research groups
with outstanding scholarly achievements and several research centers andplatforms. It is truly a vibrant thousand-year-old seat of learning.
In 2016 the academy celebrated the 1040th anniversary of its foundingby carrying out several programs connected with the academy’s training
professionals, conducting research, preserving culture, serving society, andtransmitting culture. In particular, we carried out several activities celebrating
scholarly culture, established two academic bases, organized seven scholarly
conferences, held forty-four lectures, and organized such large-scale activities
as a celebration of Chinese culture and a memorial ceremony for Confucius.
Through these activities, we attracted people in the ﬁelds of academia,culture, and education from China and abroad to visit the academy and celebrate the ﬂourishing of Chinese culture for over one thousand years.
On March 26, 2016, Hunan University established the Center for
Organizing and Researching Rare Books 古籍整理研究所, and on June 5 itestablished the Center for Research on the Four Branches of Literature 中国
四库学研究中心, both under the direction of Professor Deng Hongbo 邓洪波.
In the more than thirty years since the establishment in 1984 of the Cultural
Research Institute 文化研究所 at Yuelu Academy, the academy has treated theorganization and study of premodern literature as a central part of its research

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mission, and it has achieved a number of important results. These results haveserved as an excellent foundation for the establishment of these two centers.
This year also happens to be the thirtieth anniversary of the academy’srevival of teaching and acceptance of its ﬁrst class of history students. FromApril 15 to 17, 2016, we held a conference titled “The Academy’s Educationand Heritage” and carried out anniversary celebrations. Attending theseactivities were past and present faculty and staﬀ, together with past andpresent students, a total of over three hundred people. The faculty andstudents fully discussed the academy’s heritage and education, and the celebrations were plentiful and varied. Especially signiﬁcant was our collecting
oral history about the academy and our organization of materials about thehistory of the academy. In May 2016 the academy, together with the Schoolof Confucianism 国学院 at Renmin University of China and the School ofChinese Classics 国学院 at Wuhan University, held a “National College
Students Forum on Chinese Classics.” In June the academy held an“Advanced Forum on the Study of the Four Branches of Literature” and,along with the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of SocialSciences, held a “Forum on the Culture of Decorum” and a “Conference
Honoring the 100th Birthday of Mr. Shen Wenzhuo 沈文倬.” Toward the endof October, it held the advanced forum “The Evolution and Transmission ofthe History of Confucianism.” In November the academy, together withCenter for the Study of Modern Chinese Thought of the Chinese Academy ofSocial Sciences, held the “Sixth International Conference on Modern ChineseIntellectual History.” And in December it held the advanced forum “Letting
Our Cultural Heritage Blend in with Contemporary Daily Life” and thetwenty-sixth project conference on protecting major historical and culturalsites at the national level.
In recent years Yuelu Academy has gradually revived traditional temple
rites, conducting both spring and autumn temple rites in 2016. In the spring
we executed rites for the poet Qu Yuan 屈原 (ca.340 278 BCE) and Zhang
Shi 張栻 (1133 1180), an early director of Yuelu Academy. The rites involved
reciting poetry, singing songs, and cherishing the memory of these illustriousmen. In the autumn we executed a rite for Confucius (ca.551 ca.479 BCE).
In the temple to Confucius, we carried out in solemn fashion a traditional
Zhou-period rite, performed ancient music, and read Confucian classics
aloud.
Our most inﬂuential activity in 2016 was the Second Global Traditional
Chinese Culture Awards Ceremony 第二届全球华人国学大典, held jointly byYuelu Academy, Phoenix New Media 凤凰网, Phoenix Television 凤凰卫视,and Dunhe Foundation 敦和基金会, and lasting from May to October, a totalof six months. The theme of the ceremony was “Paying respect to Chinese

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culture; becoming familiar with Chinese culture.” Serving as general consultant for the ceremony was Xu Jialu 许嘉璐, a famous scholar and a vicechairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth and Tenth National
People’s Congress. Oﬀering technical support were the China Association for
Yan Huang Culture 中华炎黄文化研究会, Society for the History of Chinese
Philosophy 中国哲学史学会, China Association for Exegetical Research 中国
训诂学研究会, China Association for Qin and Han History 中国秦汉史研究会,
China Society for Tang Literature 中国唐代文学学会, Chinese Confucian
Academy 中华孔子学会, and China Confucius Foundation 中国孔子基金会. OnMay 17 the opening ceremony was held at the Beijing Palace Museum 北京故宫博物院. And from October 27 to 29, there were six major events: twohigh-standard speaker discussions, two advanced forums on Chinese culture,a performance of Chinese music on Hexi Platform, and a Chinese-culture
award ceremony. The academy thus made the Second Global Traditional
Chinese Culture Ceremony the most successful possible. This happened
because academic institutions, the media, and public welfare organizations
joined together to make this event a veritable feast of Chinese culture that
attracted a wide range of participants. After receiving over two hundred
nominations from scholars worldwide and many Internet users, the Global
Traditional Chinese Culture Ceremony, on the evening of October 29,
announced its selections for thirty-seven awards for “accomplishments in theﬁeld of China studies,” “the spread of China studies,” and “life-time achievements in the ﬁeld of China studies.” The ceremony created a sensational
reaction in scholarly circles, educational circles, and cultural circles. Owing
to its fairness and authority, it has gradually become the world’s most important celebration of Chinese culture, and it has greatly elevated the fame andreputation of Yuelu Academy.
Throughout the year, the academy held twenty-nine successful Minglun
Tang Lectures. Invited lecturers included Xia Changpu 夏長樸 (Taiwan), LiHongqi 李弘祺 (Taiwan), Li Xiaodong 李曉東 (Japan), Satō Masayuki 佐藤將之 (Taiwan), Wu Genyou 吴根友, Zhang Xiping 张西平, Dong Ping 董平, LouJin 楼劲, and Gu Hongyi 顾宏义. We also celebrated the 200th Minglun TangLecture. Moreover, the academy held ﬁfteen Yuelu Academy Lectures. Invitedto lecture were Luo Jintang 羅錦堂 (United States), Xia Changpu, Zhang
Qizhi 张岂之, Sun Ji 孙机, and the brothers Tang Yiming 唐翼明 and Tang
Haoming 唐浩明. Phoenix Net webcast these lectures over the Internet. A totalof 5,000 people attended these lectures, and on line there were a total of 3
million views.
In addition, in the area of construction, the Yuelu Academy Classroomand History Exhibition Hall reopened. The major structures on whichconstruction has been completed are the Hexi Platform, head gate, main gate,

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Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 8 2017gate no. 2, and lecture hall, which were renovated for the ﬁrst time in thirty
years in connection with the 2016 anniversary celebrations.
DENG Hongbo & XIE Feng

Ceremony in memory of Confucius (2015)

Conference on the Study of Siku Quanshu (June 5, 2016)(Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature)

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Ceremony for Study of Ancient Chinese Civilization
by Chinese People around the World (October 29, 2016)

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