In 1045, builders moved the Xiangyang Confucian Academy from outside the city walls to its current site on Jicang Street. War destroyed the campus in the late Ming Dynasty, leaving only ashes. In 1822, workers raised the current Dacheng Hall, which now stands as the tallest and largest ancient wooden structure in Xiangyang.

To enter, you cross the Pan Pond, a semi-circular pool excavated in 1822. Your boots tread the stone arch of the Zhuangyuan Bridge, where generations of hopeful scholars walked. Ahead, the hall rests on a one-meter-high stone platform. On the steps lies a Ming Dynasty relic: a stone slab, 2.2 meters long and 1.4 meters high, carved with two dragons playing with a pearl. You can feel the deep, chiseled grooves of the dragon scales, surviving from the older temple.

Flanking the base are two tall, weathered stone tablets. One, carved in 1686, bears a praise to Confucius. The other, dedicated to his disciple Yan hui, has lost its date to centuries of wind and rain. The stone feels rough and cold under your fingers.

The hall itself is five bays wide—measuring 17.8 meters—and 11 meters deep. Its red walls support a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof. Under the eaves, painted carvings catch the light. Inside, the structural framework combines two distinct engineering traditions: a five-rafter post-and-lintel system in the center and a column-and-tie system on the side walls.

In 1991, craftsmen undertook a major restoration, replacing decayed beams and tiles to save the hall from collapse. Today, the building serves as the School History Museum for the Xiangyang No. 5 Middle School, which was founded on these grounds in 1902. The ancient hall remains a quiet sanctuary of learning, bridging the Tang Dynasty school described by the writer Pi Rixiu with the modern students who study in its shadow.