Opening Hours: Open all day

Ticket Price: 30 RMB per person

Location: Ziyun Mountain on the northern foot of the eastern mountain range of Pingdingshan

Best Visiting Season: Pingdingshan is situated on the climatic transition zone between the warm temperate zone and the subtropical zone, featuring distinct transitional climate characteristics. The city’s annual average temperature ranges from 15.16℃ to 15.2℃. It has a typical monsoon climate with four clear seasons, mild temperatures and abundant rainfall. Spring and autumn are the ideal time for a visit.

Complaint Hotline: 0375-4968235

Transportation Guide: Take Bus No.2 departing from the railway station in downtown Pingdingshan and get off at the Bakuang Intersection in the east. Remind the bus conductor in advance, and she will alert you to your stop. From there, you can hike over the hill and reach Ziyun Academy.

Alternatively, ride Bus No.2 all the way to its terminal. Then take a bus or tricycle bound for Xiang County to the mountain trailhead familiar to local drivers. Next, take the mountain shuttle bus straight to the main gate of Ziyun Academy.

Ziyun Academy nestles on Ziyun Mountain, the northern foot of Pingdingshan’s eastern mountain range. Surrounded by thousands of competing peaks, it is embraced by shifting foliage and birdsong all year round. Built along the natural terrain, the academy is enclosed by mountains on three sides and opens up on the fourth. Just a few metres opposite stands a vast expanse of green bamboo, with a narrow path cutting through the grove. Two ancient cypresses planted personally by Li Min rise towering inside the gatehouse. One stands straight and upright, while the other twists upward. After more than 500 years of vicissitudes, they still thrive with vitality. Several walnut trees with thick trunks grow on the platform before the gate. Why walnut trees were planted beside this scholarly academy remains an intriguing unsolved mystery.

Beside the academy gate lies a bamboo grove. Legend has it that these bamboos were planted by Li Min and his disciples. What began as a small cluster the size of a pavilion has now expanded into a bamboo garden covering nearly ten mu. Shen Zhou, a renowned painter and calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty, composed poems and painted landscapes during his tour of Ziyun Mountain. He wrote ten poems about Ziyun Academy, including Admiring the Elegance of the Bamboo Grove: "A pavilion once stood beside a few bamboo stalks; Peace has reigned here every single day. Green bamboos remind us of ancient verses; Slender trunks grace noble scholars’ letters. Wind sweeps through window lattices bringing crispness, Shadows fall on studies amid chilly heights. All the virtuous men here are pure as clear water; Peach and plum blossoms, though brilliant, can scarce compare."

Deep within the bamboo thicket stand four bluestone pillars, the ruins of the Bell and Drum Towers of old. The morning bell and evening drum bring to mind the diligent study atmosphere of generations of students in ancient times.

Follow the two-zhang-long narrow path through the bamboo grove. Near its end, you hear the gurgle of water, where a bridge spans the mountain stream. It is merely a few stone slabs, yet it bears an imposing name: Guanlan Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Two Cypresses, Three Stones and One Arch. The odd alternative name turns out to be a homophonic pun in Chinese. The brook winds endlessly around the bamboo garden all year long, its flowing current sounding like elegant zither music. Ascending dozens of stone steps, you arrive at Wangyue Pavilion (Moon-Watching Pavilion). The two-storey pavilion offers fine views. Facing the academy gate, you can clearly see the gatehouse and the two towering ancient cypresses. A stone trail leads toward the mountain summit on one side, while oak trees sway all over the slopes on the other two sides, making it a perfect viewing spot. Three ancient gnarled cypresses encircle the pavilion. At first I paid little attention, but after reading the introduction, I was filled with reverence. This was the very place where Li Min and his followers drank wine, admired the moon and chanted poems. I felt I had been too casual just now. Standing on the pavilion, I seemed to hear the resonant sound of reading drifting over, which then turned into heated debates. Gradually, voices faded away, leaving only warbling birds and murmuring springs.

Some branches of the three ancient cypresses beneath the pavilion have withered, yet new twigs burst forth with lush greenery. The ground beneath them is carpeted with fine moss, free of weeds. Their trunks pierce the clouds, as if reaching for auspicious mist. Nurtured by Confucian wisdom over centuries, these trees, just like the two cypresses at the academy gate, seem to have gained spiritual souls. Staring at them, I pictured weathered elders walking slowly out of history, calm and serene after witnessing countless cold moons and autumn winds. On the smooth trunk of one cypress, a line of characters is written in brush calligraphy: All classmates of the Grade 99, No.1 Senior High School of Xiangcheng County. Local students surely know the story of Li Min. Seeing countless names carved on the bamboo trunks in the grove, I suppose everyone hopes to absorb a little of the place’s scholarly spiritual energy