Xuehai Academy

Xuehai Academy was originally named Wenhai Academy and has now become the Gao Family Ancestral Hall. An ancestral hall is a traditional gathering and discussion place for Chinese families. Chinese family values remain extremely strong to this day, and ancestral halls play a very important role. The front hall was formerly the lecture hall, the rear hall is the sacrificial hall, and the left and right wing rooms served as dormitories. Academy education was an important part of traditional Chinese education and the precursor to today's school education, serving functions of teaching, sacrifice, and residence. Both students and teachers lived within the academy. The curriculum emphasized the cultivation of character rather than merely the imparting of specialized knowledge, which is a stark contrast to modern education's detailed subject divisions. Xuehai Academy came to be because, during the Japanese era, the Japanese government claimed unowned and unclaimed lands as its own and then auctioned them off. At that time, members of the Gao family saw that the location had excellent *feng shui* and felt it would be a pity for it to be sold off carelessly or demolished, so they purchased it to serve as an ancestral hall. In front of the ancestral hall stands a pair of flagpoles. On each flagpole is a *dou* (a measuring scoop-like ornament). Only successful imperial examination candidates (舉人, *juren*) could have a flagpole with one *dou*, while a *zhuangyuan* (狀元, top scholar) would have two *dou*. The ridge of the ancestral hall's roof is curved in a swallowtail shape. In the past, only *juren* were permitted to construct swallowtail-shaped roof ridges, as swallows flying south symbolize good fortune. This type of roof ridge is Southern style; Northern style roof ridges are flat and uncurved, like those of the Forbidden City. The decorations on the roof ridge are made from colorful bowl shards, cut into pieces with painted rose patterns and then assembled into various beautiful human figures. Its roof is covered with bronze tiles, which are semi-cylindrical. In the past, only official residences or temples were permitted to use such bronze tiles. Traditionally, there was a concept that "heaven is round, earth is square," so the door thresholds are square, the tops of the doors are round, the pillars in the main hall are round, and the pillars in other areas are square.