Jiāngshān

Jiangshan's county school combined a Confucian temple with teaching rooms and spaces for ritual. Its buildings required repeated renewal. In 1472 magistrate Dai Zhang rebuilt parts of the complex, and in 1542 Huang Lun repaired it and added study quarters and examination rooms. Officials, teachers and local students all participated in maintaining the institution.

In 1831 magistrate Li Zengfu and the educational officers again organised extensive repairs, including alterations to the Minglun Hall. Contributions came from local degree-holders and other donors; one donor provided land so that the school entrance could be moved east. The work took nine months and cost more than five thousand taels of silver. The county school's history consequently rested on repeated collaboration over buildings, land and money. It gave local learning a physical home while making the upkeep of education and ritual a continuing concern of county government and the scholarly community.