【Introduction】
Daodong Academy was founded in 1857, where Zhu Xi, a Confucian scholar of the Song dynasty, has been enshrined. Consequently, it is locally known as the “Literate Shrine.” The name Dao-dong (way, east) is derived from the phrase wangdao reaches the east, where wangdao means "benevolent kingly way." In 1925 (the 14th year of Emperor Taisho), a Chinese research society was established in Daodong. On the left and right side of the main hall stands a wooden stele, on which the development of the society is chronicled. In 1936, the Kaishan Society, an important poetry society in the Hemei area, was founded in the academy.
The Academy has a 3-bay wide facade, a typical structure for a private school that features two-row house compounds with courtyards and two angled wings. The front gate, located to the left side of the building, is the main entrance. A furnace pagoda for burning used papers sits in front of the gable wall of the right wing. The main hall in the first row is three bays wide with a flush gable roof eaves and a corridor. In front of the hall is a semi-circular pond. A horizontal plaque inscribed with the Chinese characters of the Daodong Academy, inscribed by a painter-calligrapher Wang Xipin of Lukang in 1925, is placed over the lintel of the central room. The lecture hall and the entrance hall in the second row are three bays wide with flush gable roof eaves and a corridor as well. The exterior eave is shielded with a wooden structure. Plaques with inscriptions chronicling the development of the Academy are inlaid within the interior gable walls; the left side contains a preface, while the right side hosts the main text. The lecture hall enshrines Zhu Xi, thus the Zhuxi Shrine. The left wing houses longevity tablets for Ruan Pengcheng, the school's first president, and its six founders and contributors. The right wing enshrines Fudezhengshen (the "God of Blessing and Virtue," also known as Tudigong , the "Lord of the Soil and the Ground"). A circular gate is positioned between the lecture hall and the two wings, creating a framed landscape which adds a sense of wonder to the overall space.