The pain of Jiangxi people: the split of National Chung Cheng University. For more than half a century, there is no top university anymore.

Jiangxi, as an inland province in central my country, is too mediocre in terms of reputation and strength. This is a bit like a middle-class student in a class, neither above nor below, sitting in the middle and ranking in the middle. Both those with good academic performance and those with poor academic performance are easily remembered by the teacher, but those with consistent academic performance are the easiest to be forgotten. Except for the presence around the "August 1st" festival, when red tourism is famous, the presence does not seem to be strong at other times.

When it comes to universities in Jiangxi, their presence is so weak that they are “quietly silent”. It is said that it is located in East China, compared with its neighbor Jiangsu Province, the gap is not even a little bit; said that it is located in central China, compared with its neighbor Hubei, the gap is not even a little bit different. Looking at the entire Jiangxi Province, there is only Nanchang University, a double-first-class and 211 institution. This report card is a bit unjustifiable. Therefore, at the National People's Congress meeting, a representative proposed to support the proposal of building a world-class university in the old revolutionary areas of Jiangxi.

In fact, the ancestors of Jiangxi people have also been rich: there is such a university, which is ranked first in the country in terms of reputation and strength. It ranks fourth in the country in terms of the number of applicants, supporting the The entire Jiangxi higher education industry is the National Chung Cheng University.

1. The origin of National Chung Cheng University

After the Japanese imperialists 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 institutions first Moved to Ji'an, then moved to Taihe. At that time, Taihe was just a small county town, but it was already the center of the province. It served as the center for 6 years.

One person needs to be mentioned here: Xiong Shihui, the author of the foundation stone of National Chung Cheng University. This person is from Jiangxi. He once studied at Jiangxi Army Primary School, Middle School, and Qinghe Army Officers Preparatory School. He graduated from the Japanese Army University in 1924 and was an important figure in the Political Science Department of the National Government. In 1926, he followed President Jiang to participate in the Northern Expedition and served as deputy army commander and commander of the First Division. Due to his strong performance, in 1930 he served as the commander-in-chief of the "bandit suppression" in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces.

Just when his career was going smoothly, Xiong Shihui chose to return to his hometown to take charge. According to the idea at the time, "My hometown in Jiangxi is very backward in all aspects, so I want to go back to my hometown in Jiangxi to do some practical things for the people in my hometown and make the people of Jiangxi richer." Beginning in 1931, Xiong Shihui started the ten years of Gan people's governance in Jiangxi.

In 1932, Xiong Shihui bought a quite luxurious villa in Lushan and invited Principal Jiang to come to Lushan for summer vacation. The grandeur of this villa made even the principal's wife Soong Meiling jealous. In addition to praising the atmosphere of Xiong's villa, the principal also mentioned that it would be great to have a university in a place with such a good environment. At this time, Xiong Shihui quickly sent a message: He suggested that the principal establish a national university in Jiangxi, and he would personally act as the agent to train "his own people" for the principal.

In 1936, President Chiang once again emphasized the need to develop education and focus on education at a high-level administrative meeting. Xiong Shihui took the opportunity to express his position again and suggested setting up a national university in Jiangxi. In order to implement the president's educational philosophy, he had already thought of a name for the school and called it "National Chung Cheng University".

"This university is named after the leader of our nation." This is where the name of Chung Cheng University comes from. I have to admire Xiong Shihui's "hometown complex". At that time, many provinces across the country had their own national universities. Naming them after national universities meant that there were sufficient funding sources. However, the national universities in Jiangxi Province had always been vacant. In this way, a university established in Jiangxi was named after a "national leader". According to the following documents, it can be understood here: regardless of how the school is named, we must first run the school and then put the central government first. We'll talk about getting the funding over.

In this way, in 1940, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China allocated one million legal currency to the Jiangxi Provincial Government to establish National Chung Cheng University in Taihe. In this way, a small county town and a national university were connected, starting a legendary history.

2. The Glory of National Chung Cheng University

The first president of Chung Cheng University, named Hu Xiansu, was also a native of Jiangxi. He studied in the United States in his early years and graduated with a doctorate from Harvard. academic school. President Hu’s school-running philosophy is very unique, that is, “famous school”, which aims to improve the teaching quality and scientific research level of the university by bringing in academic leaders. This person acted decisively, knew people well, and employed them without hesitation. He used his academic influence to recruit talented people. In particular, a group of academic masters from Jiangxi came to him and were willing to contribute their efforts to the education of his hometown.

Cai Fangmeng (from Jiangxi), a famous civil scientist, mechanics expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yao Mingda (from Jiangxi), a historian and a master of Chinese bibliography, Huang Yeluo (from Jiangxi), a famous soil scientist, Yu Tiaomei, a professor at Rogers University in the United States and a famous basic engineering expert, Lei Jieqiong, a former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and so on.

According to incomplete statistics, in the five years from its founding to 1945, Chung Cheng University had as many as 78 full professors and 45 associate professors, ranking 13th among national universities.

To make a bold guess, if the national universities at that time were added up, including the top private schools Yanjing, Furen, Qilu, Aurora, etc., National Chung Cheng University should be ranked around 33-35, a proper 985 university. .

From the beginning to the name change of the school in 1949, more than 2,000 graduates were trained in one day. Among these graduates and teachers, 8 academicians of the two academies were trained: Cai Fangmeng, Zhang Zhaoqian, Yang Weiyi, Sheng Tongsheng, Deng Conghao, Huang Kezhi, Zeng Qingyuan, including the first president Hu Xiansu, academician of Academia Sinica, this is enough to illustrate the strong strength of National Chung Cheng University.

President Hu Xiansu was also selected as one of the eight university presidents, which is also the greatest recognition of National Chung Cheng University.

3. The Pain of Dismantling of National Chung Cheng University

In 1945, with the overall victory of the Anti-Japanese War, 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 agencies and other departments moved back to Nanchang one after another, National Chung Cheng University also moved to Nanchang.

Until 1949, when New China was founded, the name of National Chung Cheng University could no longer be called. Considering that the school had moved to Nanchang, it would be better to call it National Nanchang University (hereinafter referred to as Old Nanchang). University).

In 1952, Nanchang University was also inevitably split, roughly as follows:

The four departments of the Normal Department:

Physical Education- --Central South Institute of Physical Education, now Wuhan Institute of Physical Education

History and 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 the School of Liberal Arts:

Foreign Languages Department of Literature---retained 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, Department of Russian Language--Wuhan University

Four departments in the School of Science:

Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry---Wuhan University

Department of Biology, Department of Mathematics---Sun Yat-sen University

Eight departments of the School of Engineering:

Department of Hydraulic Engineering---Wuhan Institute of Hydraulic and Electric Power, now merged into Wuhan University

Department of Chemical Engineering---South China Institute of Technology, now South China University of Technology

Civil Engineering Department---Central South College of Civil Engineering, now Hunan University

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering---Huazhong Institute of Technology, now Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Department of Chemical Engineering- --Reserved and given to Jiangxi Normal University, now Jiangxi Normal University

Mining and Metallurgical Engineering ---Zhongnan Institute of Metallurgy and Mining, now merged into Central South University

Agricultural Engineering Science---Huazhong Agricultural College, now Huazhong Agricultural University

Three departments of the Agricultural College:

Department of Agronomy, Department of Forestry, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine---Jiangxi College of Agriculture, now Jiangxi Agricultural University. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

The seeds of National Chung Cheng University have spread to more than a dozen universities including Wuhan University, South China University of Technology, and Huazhong Agricultural University. The remaining departments and some departments of history, biology, etc. Departments were retained, and Jiangxi Normal College was established on the site of the old Nanchang University, now renamed Jiangxi Normal University. At the same time, 12 professors and 16 associate professors from the old Nanchang University joined Jiangxi Normal University. It can be said that Jiangxi Normal University is the true successor of National Chung Cheng University.

Later, some people said that the current Nanchang University is also one of the legacy institutions of Chung Cheng University, and this statement is also correct. Because in 1962, the Biology Department of Jiangxi Normal University was assigned to Jiangxi University, which is now Nanchang University. It can be regarded as an indirect inheritance. This is also explained on the official website of Nanchang University. As for what everyone thinks, it’s up to individuals to judge.

4. The current situation of Jiangxi Normal University and Nanchang University

Today, the only one that can represent the level of universities in Jiangxi Province and is the only one selected into the 211 institutions is Nanchang University. In the fourth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, only one discipline "Food Science and Engineering" was rated as Category A. There is one national "double first-class" construction discipline: Materials Science and Engineering (New Materials Technology Discipline Group)

In the ranking of Ruanke University, Nanchang University ranked only 78th in 2021.

The situation of Jiangxi Normal University, which is inherited from National Chung Cheng University, is no better than that of Nanchang University. The current Jiangxi Normal University is a dual-Africa institution, ranking 117th in the 2021 Ranking of the China University of Science and Technology.

In the fourth round of subject evaluation by the Ministry of Education, only one subject was rated Category A, Marxist theory, which was unsatisfactory.

Postscript

What is puzzling is that Jiangxi Province, as a central province, has neither outstanding geographical transportation advantages nor convincing economic development momentum. The development of universities has recently There has been no breakthrough in recent years. The surrounding provinces are moving forward steadily relying on several strong universities, using the economy to drive universities, and universities to drive the science and technology industry.

National Chung Cheng University, as Jiangxi’s economic development lags behind, Jiangxi Normal University loses its stamina and slowly disappears into the wheel of history, right?