When it comes to colleges and universities in Jiangxi, the sense of existence is even weaker. It is said that it is located in East China, compared with neighboring Jiangsu Province, the gap is not a little bit; It is said that it is located in central China. Compared with neighboring Hubei, the gap is not a little bit. Looking at the whole of Jiangxi Province, there is only Nanchang University, a double-class college, 2 1 1. This report card is a bit unreasonable. Therefore, at the two sessions of the National People's Congress, some representatives suggested supporting the proposal of building a world-class university in the old revolutionary base areas of Jiangxi.
In fact, the ancestors of Jiangxi people used to be rich: there is such a university with first-class reputation and strength in the country, and the number of applicants is the fourth in the country, which has propped up the cause of higher education in Jiangxi. It's National Chung Cheng University.
1, the origin of Chung Cheng University
After Japanese imperialism launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, Jiujiang fell in 1938, and Nanchang also fell in 1939. The Jiangxi provincial government decided to move government agencies to Ji 'an first, and then to Taihe. At that time, Taihe was just a small county, but it was already the center of the province, and the center stayed for six years.
There is a person to be mentioned here: Xiong Shihui, the author of The Cornerstone of Chung Cheng University. This man is from Jiangxi. He studied in Jiangxi Army Primary School, Middle School and Qinghe Army Officer Preparatory School. 1924 graduated from Japanese army university and is an important figure in the political science department of the national government. 1926 Participated in the Northern Expedition with President Jiang, and served as deputy division commander and division commander of the first division. In 1930, he served as the commander-in-chief of "fighting bandits" in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.
Just as his career was booming, Xiong Shihui chose to return to his hometown to take charge. According to the idea at that time, "my hometown Jiangxi is very backward in all aspects, so I want to go back to my hometown Jiangxi to do something practical for the people in my hometown and make the people in Jiangxi richer." From 193 1, Xiong Shihui began to rule Jiangxi for ten years.
1932, bought a very luxurious villa in Lushan, and invited President Jiang to spend the summer in Lushan. The style of this villa makes Song Meiling, the president's wife, jealous. In addition to praising the atmosphere of Bear Mountain Villa, the headmaster also mentioned that it would be nice to have a university in such a good environment. At this moment, Xiong Shihui hurriedly delivered a message: I suggest that the President set up a national university in Jiangxi, and I will do it myself to cultivate "one of my own" for the President.
1936, at the high-level executive meeting, President Jiang once again stressed the need to develop and attach importance to education. Xiong Shihui took this opportunity to make another statement, suggesting to establish a national university in Jiangxi. In order to carry out the principal's philosophy of running a school, the name of the school was decided, which is called "Chung Cheng University".
"This university is named after the leader of our country", hence the name of Chung Cheng University. I have to admire Xiong Shihui's "hometown complex". At that time, many provinces in China had their own national universities, which were named after the country, which meant that the sources of funds were sufficient, while the national universities in Jiangxi Province remained vacant. In this way, a university held in Jiangxi took the name of a "national leader". According to the records in the following documents, it can be understood that no matter how to choose the name of the school, the school should be set up first, and the funds from the central government should be pulled over first.
In this way, from 65438 to 0940, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China allocated one million French francs to the Jiangxi provincial government and established the National Chung Cheng University in Taihe. In this way, a small county town was linked with a national university, which opened a legendary history.
2. The glory of Chung Cheng University
The first president of Chung Cheng University, named Hu Xianyu, was also from Jiangxi. He studied in the United States in his early years and graduated from Harvard University with a doctorate. He is an academic through and through. President Hu's idea of running a school is unique, that is, "a famous school for celebrities". By introducing academic leaders, the teaching quality and scientific research level of colleges and universities can be improved. This man is decisive, knows how to make good use of people, and he doesn't doubt it. Through his academic influence, he recruited talents, especially a group of Jiangxi academic masters who defected to him, and was willing to contribute to the education in his hometown.
Famous civil engineer, mechanics expert, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences Cai (Jiangxi), historian, China master of bibliography Yao Mingda (Jiangxi), famous soil scientist Huang (Jiangxi), professor of Rogers University in the United States, famous basic engineering expert Yu Diaomei, former vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Lei Jieqiong, etc.
According to incomplete statistics, during the five years from its establishment to 1945, Chung Cheng University had as many as 78 full professors and 45 associate professors, ranking 13 among universities in China. Let's make a bold guess. If all the universities in China at that time are added up, including private top universities such as Yanjing, Fu Jen, Qilu and Aurora, Chung Cheng University should be ranked around 33 -35, a proper 985.
From the beginning of the school establishment to the renaming of 1949 school, a * * * has trained more than 2,000 graduates. Among these graduates and teachers, eight academicians of the two academies, including Cai, Zhang, Yang, Sheng, Deng Conghao, Huang Kezhi and Ceng Qingyuan, have been trained successively, including Hu Xiansu, the first president and academician of the Academia Sinica, which shows the great strength of Chung Cheng University.
President Hu Xianyu was also selected as one of the top eight presidents, which is also the greatest affirmation of Chung Cheng University.
3. The pain of the disintegration of Chung Cheng University
From 65438 to 0945, with the overall victory of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Taihe, a small county town, was definitely unable to continue to assume the role of the center of Jiangxi Province. As the provincial government, provincial organs and other departments moved back to Nanchang, Chung Cheng University also moved to Nanchang.
Until 1949, when New China was founded, the name of Chung Cheng University could no longer be named. Considering that the school has moved to Nanchang, it should be called National Nanchang University (later called Old Nanchang University).
1952, Nanchang University was inevitably split, which can be roughly summarized as follows:
Four departments of the normal department:
Sports-Central South Institute of Physical Education, now Wuhan Institute of Physical Education.
Historical geography group-South China Normal University, now South China Normal University.
Education-Hunan Normal University, now Hunan Normal University.
Biology class-Hunan Normal University, now Hunan Normal University.
Five departments of law school:
Department of Foreign Languages-preserved and given to Jiangxi Normal University, now Jiangxi Normal University.
Department of Education, Hunan Normal University, now Hunan Normal University.
Department of Economics, Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics, now Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.
Department of Literature and History, Russian Department, Wuhan University
Four departments of the School of Science:
Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry of Wuhan University
Department of Biology and Department of Mathematics, Sun Yat-sen University
Eight departments of the Polytechnic:
The Department of Hydraulic Engineering of Wuhan Institute of Hydraulic and Electric Power has been merged into Wuhan University.
Department of Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, now South China University of Technology.
Department of Civil Engineering, Zhongnan College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Hunan University.
Department of mechanical engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, now Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Department of chemical engineering-preserved and given to Jiangxi Normal University, now Jiangxi Normal University.
The Department of Mining and Metallurgy Engineering-Central South Metallurgy and Mining College is now merged into Central South University.
Agricultural Engineering-Huazhong Agricultural College, now Huazhong Agricultural University.
Three departments of the Agricultural College:
Department of Agriculture, Department of Forestry, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine-Jiangxi Agricultural College, now Jiangxi Agricultural University. Correct me if there is anything wrong. )
The seeds of National Chung Cheng University have been spread to more than a dozen universities such as Wuhan University, South China University of Technology and Huazhong Agricultural University. The remaining departments and some departments of history and biology have been preserved. Jiangxi Normal University was established on the former site of Nanchang University, and now it is renamed as Jiangxi Normal University. At the same time, Professor 12 and Associate Professor 16 from Old Nanchang University joined Jiangxi Normal University. It can be said that Jiangxi Normal University is the true inheritor of National Chung Cheng University.
Later, it was also said that Nanchang University was also one of the inheritance institutions of Chung Cheng University, which was also correct. Because 1962, the biology department of Jiangxi Normal University was assigned to Jiangxi University, which is now Nanchang University, which is also an indirect inheritance, and official website of Nanchang University also explained it. As for how to look at it, it depends on personal judgment.
4. Present situation of Jiangxi Normal University and Nanchang University.
At present, Nanchang University is the only one that can represent the level of colleges and universities in Jiangxi Province, and it is also the only one selected for 2 1 1 colleges and universities. In the fourth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, only one discipline "Food Science and Engineering" was rated as Class A, and there was a national "double-class" construction discipline: Material Science and Engineering (new material technology discipline group).
In the ranking of soft science universities, Nanchang University 202 1 only ranks 78th.
The situation of Jiangxi Normal University inherited from Chung Cheng University is not better than that of Nanchang University. At present, Jiangxi Normal University is a double-non-university, ranking 1 17 in the ranking of soft subjects.
In the fourth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, only one discipline was rated as Class A, and Marxist theory was unsatisfactory.
postscript
It is puzzling that Jiangxi province, as a central province, has neither outstanding geographical advantages nor convincing driving force for economic development, and there has been no breakthrough in the development of colleges and universities in recent years. The neighboring provinces are relying on several universities with all their strengths, promoting universities with economy and promoting science and technology industries with universities, and making steady progress.
National Chung Cheng University, with the backwardness of Jiangxi's economic development, the stamina of Jiangxi Normal University is weak and slowly disappears in the wheel of history, right?