PREFACE

In the history of modern Chinese higher education, Zhejiang University not only played a model role but had clear historical and cultural contexts. Since the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, it has experienced vicissitudes in Chinese society for more than a century from the arduous pioneering of Qiushi Academy to the founding of National Zhejiang University, from assiduous and successful academics' “Long March”to prestigious “Oriental Cambridge” in Zunyi and Meitan in Guizhou Province, from the restoration in Hangzhou after the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to welcoming the birth of New China, from contributions to school and department adjustment to remarkable achievements after reform and opening up, from new Zhejiang University out of the merging of four universities to the accelerated construction of a world-class university with a new mission in the new century. Marching with the times, Zhejiang University has shared the same fate with the Chinese nation, developing in science and creating miracles and glories. Its history is a concise version of modern Chinese higher education.

As one of the earliest new-style academies solely founded by Chinese people in 1897, Qiushi Academy, the predecessor of Zhejiang University, was born in the Constitutional Reform and Modernization in the late Qing Dynasty. With the tenets of “Cultivating talents is the first priority to govern the nation; stressing practical learning is the first priority to cultivate talents”, the students and teachers tried to “have correct ideas without hankering after personal interests, to seek truth without thinking merits”, until a cultural atmosphere characterized by “diligence and honesty” was formed. Qiushi Academy initiated the cultural origin by pioneering the way of saving the nation with education and rejuvenating the nation with talents. In 1927, National Third Sun Yat-sen University was founded on the former site of Qiushi Academy. It was officially named National Zhejiang University in 1928 and progressed with the introduction of modern education system and accumulation of education experience under the leadership of Jiang Menglin and Shao Peizi, two famous educators as its presidents.

Chu Kochen, a prominent scientist and educator, became the president of Zhejiang University in April 1936. Under his advanced school-running concepts and charisma, Zhejiang University started its glorious journey in difficulty and misery; in particular, during the nine years from the outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to successful demobilization back to Hangzhou after the War, President Chu led the westward migration of the students and teachers across seven southern provinces for over 2,500 kilometers and finally founded an interim school in Zunyi and Meitan in Guizhou Province. During the process, the motto of “Seeking Truth”was finalized, a school anthem composed as the beacon for the students and teachers to score achievements in personnel cultivation, scientific research and social service in hard times. There were over 50 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering; Tsung-Dao Lee won Nobel Prize in Physics and Ye Duzheng, Gu Chaohao and Cheng Kaijia obtained the Top National Science and Technology Awards.In addition, several achievements were standing at the forefront of domestic and international academia, e.g. “Time and Place of the Origins of Twenty-eight Constellations” by Chu Kochen, the research on differential geometry by Su Buqing, the research on special relativity theory and quantum mechanics by Shu Xingbei,Proposals for Detecting Neutrinos by Wang Ganchang,the research on genetics by Tan Jiazhen and An Outline History of China by Zhang Yinlin.Besides, during his two visits to Zhejiang University in Zunyi and later in Meitan, Joseph Needham, a fellow of Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, impressed by the strong academic atmosphere and high scientific research in arduous conditions, eulogized Zhejiang University as “Oriental Cambridge”. When students and teachers returned to Hangzhou in autumn 1946, Zhejiang University was a comprehensive one with a complete range of disciplines and strength, having 7 schools, i.e., arts, sciences, engineering, agriculture, medicine, law, and teaching, 30 departments, 4 research institutes and 5 faculties.

After the founding of the PRC, great adjustments were made in the system of departments, schools and disciplines to cater to developing higher education. In 1952 when a national restructuring was made, some departments and colleges were transferred into relevant universities and Chinese Academy of Sciences, contributing to the re-layout and development of national institutions of higher learning and scientific research. The main part in Hangzhou was dismantled into four respective universities and colleges, which grew fruitfully into former Zhejiang University, Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University and Zhejiang Medical University. In the National Science Conference in 1978, over 60 science and research awards went to the four universities. At the end of the 20thcentury, they passed either national “211 Project” pre-assessment or the authorization of key construction projects.

Approved by the State Council in September 1998, the four universities of the same root were merged to new Zhejiang University, setting off the journey to a world-class university covering philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, arts, sciences, engineering, agriculture, medicine and management, now on Campuses of Zijingang, Yuquan, Xixi, Huajiachi, Zhijiang, Zhoushan and Haining, as well as City College of Zhejiang University and Ningbo Institute of Technology in cooperation with Hangzhou and Ningbo Governments respectively. Apart from that, there are 7 prestigious hospitals, i.e. the First Affiliated Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Women's Hospital, the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang Stomatology Hospital and the Fourth Affiliated Hospital.

To dock with national and regional strategic needs, Zhejiang University is striving for a high-level source of innovation, brain bank and think tank. Adhering to the education philosophy of “people orientation, integrated cultivation, truth seeking and innovation, and pursuit of excellence”, ZJU is aimed at cultivating high-quality innovative personnel and future leaders with global vision. “There stands a national university by River Qiantang.” Upholding the quintessence of seeking truth, with the mission of “cultivating excellent talents, promoting sci-tech progress, serving social development and popularizing advanced culture”, it is implementing the strategy of “building university with strengths in six areas”: cultivating modern top talents, scaling discipline summits, forging research plateau, attracting famous teachers and experts, accumulating culture richness and exploring brilliant reform strategies to build itself into a world-class research-oriented comprehensive university with innovation and make contributions to national prosperity, social development and human progress.

Reading A Pictorial History of Zhejiang University, we explore its past and present to understand the evolution and leaps of Chinese higher education, to sense the exploration and thinking of ZJUers and to feel the unremitting soul and quintessence of “Seeking Truth” for over a hundred years.