Jixia Academy

The Jixia Academy or Academy of the Gate of Chi was a scholarly academy during the Warring States period. It was located in Linzi, the capital of Qi (present-day Shandong). The academy took its name from its position outside the city's western gate, named for the harvest god Ji.

Establishment

Based on passages in the Records of the Grand Historian, the academy is generally credited to King Xuan and given a foundation date around 318 BC. However, Xu Gan credited the academy to King Xuan's grandfather, Duke Huan, and Sima Qian's passages are consistent with King Xuan having restored – rather than established – the institution. Although the academy has been summarized as "the first time on record a state began to act as a patron of scholarship out of the apparent conviction that this was a proper function of the state", others argue that the Huanglao political theories and the prestige produced by the project were undertaken merely to bolster the Tian clan's legitimacy following Duke Tai's overthrow of Qi's previous Jiang dynasty and Duke Huan's execution of his brother, nephew, and mother.