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Dengyun Academy was the only one of the four former academies in Chiayi located in Chiayi County; the other three were all within Chiayi City. Apart from Dengyun Academy, which was rebuilt as Wenchang Elementary School, and Yufeng Academy, which became the Zhen’an Temple dedicated to worshipping Baosheng Dadi, the remaining two have been almost completely destroyed. Dengyun Academy was first founded in the second year of the Daoguang era of the Qing dynasty (1832 CE), originally named Dengyun Pavilion. It was not until the fifteenth year of Daoguang (1835 CE) that it was reorganized into the more formal Dengyun Academy. The name “Dengyun” (“ascending the clouds”) commemorates General Wang Delu, who contributed greatly and joined local gentry in raising funds to establish the academy; it conveys the wish for scholars to “rise straight to the blue sky.” Seventy years later, however, Dengyun Academy was leveled by two major earthquakes. More than fifty years after that, in 1963 (the 52nd year of the Republic), Wenchang Elementary School was established on the site. Dengyun Academy fostered a flourishing literary culture in Xingang, laying a solid educational foundation and nurturing countless talents; its educational ethos continues to this day. Many even regard the academy as a key factor in rallying Xingang’s community spirit and driving local revitalization. Sadly, the only remnant of Dengyun Academy is the “Stele of Donors for the New Construction of Dengyun Academy,” erected in the fifteenth year of Daoguang. Unearthed from beneath what is now the swimming pool of Wenchang Elementary School, the stele stands in the garden on the right just inside the school gate, protected by a stainless-steel and acrylic frame. Wenchang Elementary School carries on the academy’s educational mission; beyond its historical link to Dengyun Academy, the second floor of a Chinese-style building on campus serves as the county’s Confucian temple, where the annual ceremony honoring Confucius is held.