The Jixia Academic Palace, the Embodiment of Free Speech
In the fourth century B.C., a splendid academic institution was built in the western suburb of Linzi, the capital of the Qi（齊） State. The institution was called “Jixia Academic Palace”（稷下學宮）. Every day in the palace, hundreds of scholars and students freely discussed the problems related to their state and society and criticized their government. The government offered generous material benefits to famous scholars for their daily life, research, lectures and writing. They had high political status, but didn’t need to be involved in burdensome political affairs. Their responsibility was to put forward criticisms and suggestions for state policies and the monarch’s behaviors. The academic palace was open to any one and any speech from any school or any country. The establishment of the Jixia Academic Palace was the embodiment of free speech in the Qi State. It had a long historical origin.
The Qi State was an important feudal state of the Zhou（周） Dynasty. It was in modern-day Shandong（山東） Province, and existed from the 11th century B.C. to 221 B.C.. Jiang Shang (姜尚, also respectfully called “Jiang Taigong”[姜太公]), the first monarch of the Qi State, established a series of state policies for attaching importance to trade and respecting talented people. The Qi State gradually developed to a strong and rich country. In the Spring-Autumn（春秋） Period (from 770 B.C.-476 B.C.), Qi Huan-Gong（齊桓公）, who was reigning from 685 B.C.-643 B.C., let Guan Zhong（管仲）, a very wise person, be the prime minister of his state. Guan Zhong reformed the systems of administration, economy, and military establishment of the Qi State, and then the Qi State became the first hegemon of the league of feudal states. After Qi Huan-Gong, the following monarchs treated other states with unilateralism, and the Qi State almost became a militaristic country. Though the country suffered from wars and civil unrest, the steady systems of economy still supported this country to keep steady development. Qi Jing-Gong（齊景公）, who was reigning from 547 B.C. to 490 B.C., made great adjustments in foreign policy. Many feudal states rallied round the Qi State as in the times of Qi Huan-Gong. But the monarch who had outstanding achievements didn’t choose a suitable heir as the mistake of Qi Huan-Gong. After the death of the monarch, the Qi State was in serous civil unrest again. The influence of the Jiang（姜） family, who was the ruling family of the old state, was gradually replaced by the Tian（田） family. In 386 B.C., the Tian family was formally recognized as the ruling family of the Qi State by the king of the Zhou Dynasty, who was the supreme ruler of China. But there were still many people who were against the Tian family. In order to win wide support, the Tian family encouraged free speech and implemented more people-based policies. Tian Wu（田午）, who was reigning from 374 B.C.-357 B.C. and was also given a title “Huan-Gong”（桓公）, ordered to build the Jixia Academic Palace.
Qi Wei-King（齊威王）, who was reigning from 356 B.C. to 320 B.C., implemented a policy, “The one who criticizes me face to face will get the highest reward, the one who criticizes me by a letter will get the secondary reward, and the one who criticizes me in a public place and let me hear his opinion will get the third-class reward.” When the policy was just issued, large numbers of people rushed to the palace of the king and put forward their criticisms and suggestions. The king earnestly accepted the opinions of people and improved his policies and behaviors in time. Several months later, many people came to the palace of the king at intervals and put forward their criticisms and suggestions. A year later, the people who wanted to criticize the king couldn’t find any thing which should be criticized. When the monarchs of the Yan（燕） State, the Zhao（趙） State, the Han（韓） State and the Wei（魏） State heard the achievements of the Qi State, they visited the Qi State and studied from the country. The people of the time described the success of the Qi State as “defeat other states by the government”.
Many famous scholars from various schools had been to the Jixia Academic Palace.
