Academies in the Qing dynasty were an institution of education at the grass-root level and were places for students to prepare for civil service examinations.

Because China was ruled by an alien race in the Qing dynasty, the government suppressed private academies and advocated building state-run public academies for fear that lectures in the former would create obstacles to the rule by encouraging consciousness of national identity among Han Chinese.

In the Qing dynasty, the Yong Zheng government encouraged the establishment of academies in provinces and put all of them, public or private, under the supervision of the goverment so that, unlike the Song and Yuan dynasties, the freedom of lecture was limited.

There were three kinds of academy in the Qing dynasty. First, there were academies where Neo-Confucianism was taught. Scholars in these academies learned Neo-Confucianism which had developed since the Song dynasty. The second ones were devoted to scholarly study.

They were places where ancient classics of history and literature were taught. The third were where future government officials were educated, just like present-day cram schools.