Ganzhou Houde Road Primary School

In the center of a school playground in Ganzhou's Zhanggong District stands a thousand-year-old monument of the Song Dynasty: the Ciyun Pagoda. Founded in 1941 as the Gan County Chengdong Town Central National Primary School inside a Confucius Temple, the institution survived decades of shifts. Teachers like Wu Mingse, who began his forty-year teaching career here in 1985, dedicated their lives to guiding generations of children through changing classrooms, adapting to new subjects from mathematics to science.

In 1992, the school relocated to its current site, wrapping its architecture directly around the ancient brick pagoda. The campus mimics a Jiangnan classical garden. Green tiles and red pillars support the roofs, while white walls and flying eaves frame winding covered corridors. This layout integrates the state-protected monument with dense groves of bamboo, cedar trees, and fragrant ancient magnolias.

Today, the school functions as a living cultural sanctuary. As a group, it now educates over three thousand students across three campuses. They learn the physical rhythms of Gannan Caicha Opera, grind ingredients for Hakka Lei Tea, paint traditional paper umbrellas, and pluck the strings of the Guqin. The school has expanded to the Jingjiulu and other new campuses, carrying these traditions to new neighborhoods.

The laughter of children playing tag around the ancient stone base of the Ciyun Pagoda bridges the gap between the Song Dynasty and the present day, proving that history is best preserved when it is lived.