When the Academy was first built, it was named Dongshan Jingshe. 1900 was renamed Dongshan Academy, 1905 was built as a public Dongshan senior primary school in Xiangxiang County, and 1940 was changed into a middle school. Until the national liberation, it was called private Dongshan junior high school in Hunan Province. 195 1, private Dongshan junior high school and a women's vocational school in Xiangxiang merged into a junior high school in Xiangxiang. 1952, the Ministry of Education of the Central South Military and Political Commission decided to restore Dongshan School in the former site of the Academy and named it "Hunan Provincial Dongshan Primary School". On September 28th, Mao Zedong wrote a letter to teachers and students, and inscribed the name of the school, called Dongshan School. Now Dongshan College has become a complete middle school.

1880 (16th year of Guangxu) was founded by more than ten gentry including Xu Shisui, Huang Guangda, Chen, Wang, Cai Zhongluan, Pan, Xu Xiangyun, Yang Rongxi and Peng with the support of Yan Qiming, the magistrate of a county. In the 17th year of Guangxu reign, Liu Jintang, the governor of Xinjiang, returned to his hometown due to illness, and donated 2,200 yuan to build an academy, which was publicized as advocating repair.

1895, before the academy construction started, the Qing government was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War and signed the treaty of shimonoseki, which humiliated the country. Faced with the unprecedented national crisis, Xu and others deeply felt that the establishment of old-style academies and the training of old-style talents who respected Confucianism and learned classics could no longer meet the needs of the country. They must cultivate the genuine materials of "rejuvenating the country, Qiang Bing, enriching the people and enriching the country". To cultivate such talents, we must run a new school with the nature of saving the country and learn the knowledge of natural science and social science in the West. So, on the sixth day of December of that year, they wrote directly to Chen Baozhen, the governor of Hunan and an active supporter of the reformists, demanding "imitation of Hubei self-improvement." "Set up in time" Dongshan Jingshe. Chen Baozhen was very appreciative of their essays and "Dongshan Jingshe Charter", so he wrote back the same day: "Put Yangxiangxiang County under Dongshan Jingshe Shendong and hold it as soon as possible to promote learning and cultivate talents."