Shanghai Foreign Language Senior High School was established in 1963, directly under the Ministry of Education. It is one of the first seven foreign language schools established after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the "Shanghai Key Middle School" evaluated by Shanghai Education Commission. In 2009, it won the title of "National Model School for Foreign Language Teaching and Research in Primary and Secondary Schools", and was repeatedly rated as an advanced school for moral education and a model school for students' code of conduct in Shanghai. The list of recommended schools in Tsinghua University's 20 13 "Leading Plan for the New Centennial" was published, and students were recommended to get the preferential treatment of exemption from written examination and reduction of 60 points.
Since its establishment, the school has shouldered the heavy responsibility of cultivating foreign language and diplomatic talents for the country. The secondary school affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University adheres to the tenet of "serving the development of the motherland and human progress", carries forward the motto of "striving for self-improvement and building a career with integrity", adheres to the school philosophy of "taking students as the foundation and paying equal attention to adults and talents", implements quality education, and strives to cultivate international preparatory talents who are good at foreign languages, combine arts and sciences, and are compound, high-level and high-quality.
In recent years, a large number of multilingual graduates have been admitted to the "International Civil Service Class" in Shanghai every year. At the same time, a large number of outstanding graduates left their alma mater and entered "2 1 1" key universities such as Tsinghua, Peking University, Fudan University, Tongji University, Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai International Studies University and Foreign Affairs College, or Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Toronto, Oxford, Paris Politics, Heidelberg, Moscow, Tokyo. Excellent education quality and profound campus culture have cultivated a group of outstanding students represented by Yang Jiechi (current State Councilor and former Foreign Minister), Wang Guangya (director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, former Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary) and Cui Tiankai (current Ambassador of China to the United States and former Ambassador of China to Japan).