In 1723, the imperial magistrate Yang Bin and the scholar Wan Xianyan established Xueshan Academy at No. 32 Chongren Lane, Qiyi Street, Gucheng District. This act followed the Qing dynasty's Gaitu Guiliu reform, which replaced hereditary Mu chieftains with imperial officials. For the first time, Naxi commoners gained the right to read and write, breaking a long-standing prohibition. Over the next 180 years, this earth-and-timber sanctuary produced two Hanlin scholars, seven Jinshi, and sixty-one Juren.

The physical structure reflects this cultural shift. Built in the traditional Naxi "Three Rooms and a Screen Wall" layout, the academy covers 845 square meters. Visitors walk past white plaster screen walls that catch the high-altitude sun, beneath cyan-tiled roofs that shield the rooms from mountain rains. In 1893, the scholar He Gengji and the academy master Li Fubao enlarged the gatehouse and widened the classrooms, leaving a spacious courtyard that still accommodates over two hundred people.

Inside, the scent of aged paper and local pine fills the air. The second-floor library preserves thirty thousand volumes, alongside stone rubbings and local gazetteers. This space has witnessed profound transitions. When the imperial examinations ended in 1905, the academy adapted. In 1907, the building echoed with the metallic clatter of Yunnan's first lead-type movable printing press, which published the Lijiang Vernacular News. Later, the rooms served as elementary classrooms and a military garrison, before falling into disrepair.

The academy rose again. Restored in 2012 under master He Guoxiang, the courtyard now hosts the weekly Lijiang Forum every Saturday afternoon. Today, the space bridges the past and the present. In the quiet rooms, elderly Naxi residents and young students sit side by side, tracing the pictographs of the Dongba script.