Lanzhou University, referred to as "Lanzhou University", is a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education of People's Republic of China (PRC). Directly under the central government, it is established by the State Bureau of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Ministry of Education. The first batch of "double-first-class" world-class universities in China were built as Class A universities, and "21Project" and "985 Project" were key universities.

Lanzhou University was founded in 1909, and its predecessor was Gansu Law and Politics School established during the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. 1928, expanded to Lanzhou Sun Yat-sen University; 1945 was named National Lanzhou University. 1952 was identified as one of the four comprehensive universities in China. The spirit of "self-improvement" has become the yearning, pursuit and yearning of young students in northwest China during the Anti-Japanese War, and it has also become the warmest collective memory and common language in the hearts of Lanzhou University students from generation to generation.