Places related to books

Category: Ningbo News
Published: Friday, 08 May 2020 12:53

Ningbo, a city of books, represented by the library building Tianyi Pavilion, also has a lot of places whose names are closely related to "books". Behind every name, there is a reading story of Ningbo people.

Large and Small Academy Lane

The former Moon Lake Academy is located here.

When it comes to names related to books, one cannot but mention the  Large Academy Lane and Small Academy Lane near Moon Lake. The specific location is behind the Shipu Restaurant on Yanyue Street.  

Young scholars from the Ningbo Institute of Culture and Arts informed that the reason why it is called "Academy Lane" was because Yuehu Academy was once located here. As early as the Qing Dynasty, there were records of these two alleys, but they were only called 'Academy Lane'. Later, somehow, they were called 'Large Academy Lane' and 'Small Academy Lane'. In 1935, Ningbo sorted the place names and determined the two names. Since then, these two names have never been changed.

There are many records about Yuehu Academy in history. The academy was founded in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, and ushered in two major developments during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. It expanded in scale and improved the quality of education. In the late Qing Dynasty, with the reform of education, the academy changed its name to Normal School, and finally disappeared in the long course of history. Today, taking the Chaoran Pavilion by Moon Lake as a coordinate, walking a hundred meters to the south, one can see a stone tablet with the words "Old Site of Moon Lake Academy" engraved on it and dozens of words in the text telling its history.

With the transformation of the city, the residents of the Large and Small Academy Lanes have moved. According to the staff at the site, the academy alleys will not be demolished, but will be protected at the original site. I hope that these two old alleys with a long history will meet the people soon.

Study Lane

Named in honor of Wang Yinglin

There is also a "Study Lane" in Ningbo City. Its specific location is in the Yunshi Community across the street from the back door of the First Hospital. Although the current lane is only more than 200 meters long,  there are many legends about this alley in history.  

The ancestral home of Wang Yinglin, the great Confucian scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty and editor of the "Three Character Classic", is in the Study Lane. As Wang Yinglin was once the Minister of Rituals, Ningbo people also called the place "Palace Lane", "Lane of Minister Wang" and "Lane in front of Palace".

Today's Study Lane has been integrated with the residential buildings in Yunshi Community. Entering the residential area and following the main road, one can see the residential building signs on both sides of the road are named "Study Lane". In order to commemorate Wang Yinglin, there are statues of Wang Yinglin’s teaching children on Zhenming Road; the Yinglin Reading Festival will be held in Yinzhou District every April. This year is the tenth year