Yushan Academy is located in Yushan Culture and Sports Park, Guodian Sub-district, Licheng District, Jinan. Legend has it that Yushan is the place where Emperor Shun taught his people how to farm. It is the cradle of farming culture and the start of modern civilization.

　　The main building of Yushan Academy is a large traditional compound quadrangle courtyard featuring red walls, gray tiles, carved beams, painted pillars, screen walls carved with the characters Fu (fortune) and Shou (longevity), mythical creatures on the ridge and artificial landscapes. The grand, dynamic and magnificent building carries the fineness and exquisiteness of traditional buildings in every detail. The courtyard houses a lecture hall, the Yushan Red Memorial, a book collection museum, a newspaper collection museum, a rare stone museum, a Ming-style furniture museum as well as an art gallery exhibiting the works of cultural celebrities including Shanghai masters and Jinan’s contemporary personage Tian Ao.

　　As an intangible cultural heritage experience base and an off-campus practice base for traditional culture in Jinan, Yushan Academy is designed for the city’s universities, primary and secondary schools to have study tours and cultural experience tours. Intangible cultural heritages of Yushan Academy, such as handmade pottery, dough sculpture, incense studies, traditional archery, Guqin and traditional inscription, are combined with traditional cultural courses, such as calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, Chinese dance and recitation of classics. This allows students to experience the joy of traditional culture and learn traditional techniques while planting the seed of traditional culture inside them and developing key forces to inherit traditional culture.

　　On traditional festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Day, Yushan Academy will organize folk activities for residents, including paper-cutting, writing the Chinese character Fu, solving lantern riddles and making zongzi and mooncakes. Lectures are conducted regularly in the Six Arts Museum, including public benefit lectures on traditional culture that cover calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, seal engraving, Chinese dance and recitation of classics, and lectures on intangible cultural heritages that cover pottery, dough sculpture, incense studies, archery and Guqin. In addition, Yushan Academy hosts a series of events on a periodic basis, including the online event “Read The Analects”, the “First Writing Ceremony” commemorating the birth of Confucius, recitation of classic patriotic poems as well as poetry and book reading activities. These cultural exchange activities have a solid foundation and great influence among the general public. Yushan Academy has become a cultural icon of Licheng District of Jinan.

Yushan Academy in Licheng District of Jinan

Interior of the academy

Xiumu Hall of Yushan Academy

Zheng Xiaoqiao, an ICH inheritor of incense culture, is making incense

Readers are reading in Yushan Academy

Cultural exhibitions in the Six Arts Museum