Hanlin Academy

The Hanlin Academy (翰林院; Pinyin : Hànlín Yuàn, lit. "Brush Forest Academy") was founded in Chang'an in China in the 8th century .

It was an institution that carried out writing and literary tasks for the imperial court . Only the most distinguished scholars were allowed to become members of the academy . One of their main tasks was to make decisions about the interpretation of the Confucian classics. These formed the basis for the examinations that regulated access to the higher ranks of officials.

The academy existed until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.

Well-known graduates

• Li Bai (701-762) - poet
• Bai Juyi (772-846) - poet
• Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) - statesman, historian, essayist, and poet
• Shen Kuo (1031-1095) - civil servant, scientist, general, diplomat and inventor of the compass for navigation
• Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) - painter
• Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) - painter, calligrapher and president of the Hanlin Academy
• Zhang Tingyu (1672–1755) - politician and historian
• Zeng Guofan (1811–1872) - civil servant and military leader
• Cai Yuanpei (1868–1940) - educator, ethnologist, and rector of Peking University

literature

• Friedrich A. Bischoff: La forêt des pinceaux. Étude sur l'académie du Han-lin sous la dynastie des T'ang et traduction du Han Lin Tche . Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1963.
• Adam Yuen-chung Lui: The Hanlin Academy. Training ground for the ambitious, 1644-1850 . Archon Books, Hamden, Conn. 1981, ISBN 0-208-01833-6 .