White Deer Grotto Academy, Ancient Confucian academy in Jiujiang, China.

White Deer Grotto Academy stands at the foot of Wulou Peak in Mount Lu, Jiujiang, on a site of about 3,000 mu with 3,800 square metres of buildings. Five courtyards sit side by side: the Hall of Confucius, the Hall of Former Worthies, the academy proper, the Ziyang compound and a guest house. The brick-and-timber gate has a two-tier roof with upturned corners, red lanterns and a black plaque inscribed "白鹿洞書院" in the calligraphy of Ming writer Li Mengyang.

The Southern Tang court founded a school here in 940, named Lushan Guoxue, with Li Shandao in charge; it was destroyed in 976. Zhu Xi, prefect of Nankang, rebuilt it in 1179–1180 on the layout of the Confucius temple at Qufu and wrote its rules. Lu Jiuyuan lectured here in 1180, and Wang Yangming taught in 1521.

The academy displays stone tablets carved with inscriptions spanning different eras, showing how learning and philosophy were central to this place. Walking through the courtyards, you can see these engraved texts and understand how education shaped the thinking of scholars who studied here.

The complex lies at the foot of Wulou Peak in Mount Lu, on the border between Haihui Town and Bailu Township, with a built area of about 3,800 square metres across five parallel courtyards. The main axis runs from the Lingxing Gate through the Pan Pond and the Zhuangyuan Bridge to the Lisheng Gate and Lisheng Hall. The gate plaque was written by Ming writer Li Mengyang.

The name says "grotto", but for centuries there was no cave: the stone grotto and stone deer behind the Zhu Xi shrine were cut in 1534, when prefect Wang Zhen raised a terrace and prefect He Yan carved the deer. The Ming-dynasty plaque over the gate was written by the scholar Li Mengyang.