Influenced by the cultural and educational policies of the ruling class and its internal contradictions, the development of academies in Ming Dynasty experienced a tortuous process of silence, prosperity and prohibition.

(1) Silence. In the early Ming Dynasty, the rulers attached importance to school education, but neither advocated nor restored academies. While actively developing the official school, the rulers strongly advocated the imperial examination and closely combined it with school education, stipulating that "the imperial examination must be run by the school". Therefore, on the one hand, scholars tended to the official school for fame and fortune, and the academy was left out in the cold; On the other hand, since the rulers have satisfied the demand for talents through official studies and imperial examinations, they have no intention of setting up academies again. In addition, the relatively free style of study in the academy is also contrary to the autocratic rule in the early Ming Dynasty. For these reasons, the academies in the early Ming Dynasty were in a state of silence for a long time. However, in the early Ming Dynasty, academies were silent, not because there were no academies, but because they were few in number and did not develop as they should.

② vigorous development. From the mid-Ming Dynasty, academies rose gradually and reached their peak in Jiajing period. There are three main reasons for its prosperity: first, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty declined, and internal contradictions intensified, especially the emergence of eunuchs who monopolized power, rejected dissidents and cracked down on the opposition. As a result, the scholar-officials in opposition set up academies one after another, satirizing state affairs and commenting on people after giving lectures. Second, the imperial examination was corrupt and official studies declined. The third is the advocacy of famous scholars such as Zhan Ruoshui and Wang Shouren.

(3) prohibition. After the middle of Ming Dynasty, the academy was banned by the authorities four times. Although the specific reasons for prohibiting the destruction of academies are different, they are all closely related to the contradictions and struggles within the ruling class at that time, and their essence is to strengthen feudal autocratic rule.

(2) "It is forbidden to destroy the academy"

After the prosperity of Jiajing Academy in Ming Dynasty, there were four bans on the academy. The first time was in the 16th year of Jiajing (1537); The second time was the seventeenth year of Jiajing (1538); The third time was the seventh year of Wanli (1579); The fourth time was the fifth year of the apocalypse (1625). The first two bans were mainly aimed at the spread of Wang and Zhan's learning. The fourth ban is aimed at Donglin Academy. Donglin Academy is located in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. During the Wanli period, Gu Xiancheng, a family doctor dismissed by the Ming government, gave lectures with his colleagues Gao Panlong and Qian Yiben. They often "satirize and judge those in power" and attack those in power, winning the "distant echo" of many literati in opposition and a group of on-the-job officials, forming a political force against the current dynasty. After fierce struggle, the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian finally banned Donglin Academy and arrested and slaughtered a number of Lindong party member.

There were two opposing situations of "official learning" and "forbidden destruction" in the Ming Dynasty, which just showed the two-handed strategy of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty to use the academy to serve them. If they can be included in the formal learning track, they will be protected, but if they can't be included, they will be banned. At the same time, they also show the autocratic centralization of power in the Ming Dynasty.