岳麓书院英文导游词
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.Welcome to Yuelu Academy for sightseeing. A am very glad to be your tour guide.The location we are now at is called the Front Gate. Please look up, there is a horizontal board inscribed with Chinese characters " 千年学府" 。It means the "millennial_old Academy". Why it is called so ?Because it was founded by zhu dong , the governor of tanzhou prefecture in AD976, more than 1000 years from now. Hence the name "millennial-old academy". It was one of the four academies in ancient China. Now please follow me and let's go inside to experience the cultural atmosphere in Yuelu Academy together.
From the layout, we can see that this academy is axis symmetric. Lecture hall at the center of axis. It is also the center of the whole academy. There are 3 main functions of the academy: giving lectures, collecting books and offering sacrifies to God.
Here we are at Hexi platform. In ancient time , it was the place for offering sacrifices and acting. During zhuxi"giving lecture here, he often gets uo early and climb up the mountain see the sun rises in the east. Later years, Zhang Shi has a platform established named Hexi platform.
Now we are arriving at the first gate. Please look up.There is a horizontal board inscribed with the characters"Yuelu academy". It was granted by zhen zong in song dynasty. Please have a look at the couplet below. In Chinese , we say "惟楚有才，于斯为盛" 。 The fist half of the couplet was selected from zuo zhuan, and the second half was from Analects. The meaning of the couplet is that there are many talents and celebrities here in Hunan province, but it is especially thriving here in Yuelu Academy.
Now we are standing in front of the lecture hall. It is the place for giving lecture. Also, it can be called the hall of loyalty ,filial piety ,honesty and integrity. There are altogether 3horizontal board in the hall. In Chinese we call them "实事求是，学达性天，道南正脉"
The first board "实事求是" means come down to earth. During Chairman Mao"s staying here, this thought has imposed great influence on him. In later years, he developed this thought into a practical and realistic style of work, and also, this thought has become the essence of Chairman Mao"s thought.
Now ,please take a look at the second board inscribed with 4 Chinese characters "学达性天" 。It was granted by Emperor Kang Xi in Qing dynasty. It mens that we should study to reach our innate characteristics. The character 性 means human nature, and " 天" means natural law. Emperor Kang xi hopes that one should learn to reach an ideal state that men become an integral part of nature.
The third board is engraved with " 道南正派". It was granted by Emperor Qian Long to praise Yuelu Academy for the achievements it made in developing Neo-Confucianism. The meaing of the board is that the Neo-Confucianism here in Yue lu academy is authentic.
Then , what is Neo-Confucianism ?It is another way of saying Confucianism in Song Dynasty. The funder of Neo-Confucianism is called Zhou Dunyi in Hunan province. It is the brothers of Cheng Ying and Cheng Hao that developed Neo-Confucianism.
Please look down ; there is a platform about one meter high at the center of the lecture hall. This is the place where the teachers giving classes. The two chairs on the platform are set to commemorate the two masters Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi. The two had once given lecture together in the lecture hall.It was a grand occasion at that time. Thousand of people come here from all over the country. Among them, many became the celebrities in Chinese history, such as Zuo zongtang, Wangfuzhi, Wei Yuan and so on.
Now, we are at the front of the building called "Yu shu Library", "Yu Shu" means imperial books. It's the place to keep omperial books at that time.
Ok, our visiting is going to come to an end . I hope that after our visiting. You can have a better understanding of the culture and history of Yue lu Academy.