| Mr.
Zou Lu and the Shipai Campus of the National Guangdong University
In January 1924, the 1st National Congress of the National Party was held
in Guangzhou, which made the cooperation between the National party and
the Communist party a reality. In order to strengthen his political power,
Mr. Yat-sen Sun issued an order to found the Ground Force Military Academy
of Huangpu, with an aim to train more personnel for the revolution. On
4th February 1924, He also issued two orders: one was ¡°to combine the
National Normal University, the Law College of Guangdong Province and
the Agricultural College of Guangdong Province into the National Guangdong
University¡±, another was ¡°to appoint Mr. Zou Lu as the preparatory director
of the National Guangdong University¡±. In June 1924, Mr. Sun Yat-sen
issued another order to ¡°appoint Zou Lu as the president of the National
Guangdong University¡±.
In
order to strengthen the administration of the National Guangdong University,
the Preparatory Committee of the university formulated the regulations
of the National Guangdong University. According to the regulations, the
Guangdong Normal University was restructured as the Division of Arts and
the Division of Sciences the Law College of Guangdong Province was restructured
as the Division of Law, the Public Agricultural College of Guangdong Province
was restructured as the Division of Agriculture. In addition, the university
also had the Division of Preparatory School, the Affiliated Secondary
School and the Affiliated Primary School. In July 1925, the Public Medical
College of Guangdong Province was incorporated into the National Guangdong
University as the Division of Medicine.
All
the Divisions were located in different places within Guangzhou, such
as the Wenming Road and the Fazheng Road. After the National Guangdong
University was founded, Mr. Sun Yat-sen suggested to move all the divisions
to Shipai, the eastern suburb of Guangzhou, where it was quieter for the
students and also better for university administration. Because of frequently-erupted
wars and financial difficulties, there was no development plan for the
new campus. However, the Second Farm of the Division of Agriculture was
developed there.
On
12th March 1925, Mr. Sun Yat-sen died in Beijing. In memory of this great
politician, on 17th August 1925, the National Government issued an order
to rename the National Guangdong University as the National Sun Yat-sen
University. In 1928, the government decided to develop the new campus
at Shipai. By 1936, the campus area of the university was extended to
more than 12,100 mu (excluding forest farms).
In
February 1932, Mr. Zou was appointed as the President of the National
Sun Yat-sen University for the second time. He started to work out a plan
for constructing the new campus at Shipai. He aimed at building a campus
¡°not only advanced in China, but also in every parts of the world.¡±
Based on this target, Mr. Zou drafted a three-phase construction plan
for the new campus, lasting for six years.
Most
of the funding for the construction of Shipai Campus of the National Sun
Yat-sen University came from the fund-raising activities both at home
and abroad. In regards to the hardships of fundraising, Mr. Zou noted
in his memoirs, ¡°Words can¡¯t tell the plight at that time. I told my
students that I would do anything to raise funds for the new campus except
kowtowing. This is no joking remark. This is just what happened¡±.
The
new Shipai Campus of the National Sun Yat-sen University was well laid
out with each division located at its specific area. This left ample space
for future development. The Chinese style of the magnificent, palace-like
buildings was highly praised all around the world. Nowadays, these buildings
are listed as one of the Cultural Relics of Guangzhou.
Mr.
Zou Lu¡¯s University Administration
From
February 1932 to March 1940, Mr. Zou Lu had been the president of the
National Sun Yat-sen University. On the one hand, he was busy overseeing
the construction of the new Shipai campus; on the other, he paid great
attention to employing more personnel and developing start-of-art disciplines.
On
1st February 1932, Mr. Zou was officially appointed as the president of
the National Sun Yat-sen University. Soon, he started the work of employing
specialists in various disciplines as professors of the university. As
the then deputy president Mr. Congqing Xu was dismissed, quite a number
of professors left the National Sun Yat-sen University. There was a serious
shortage of faculty in the university. The National Sun Yat-sen University
Daily reported that Mr. Zou, immediately after his appointment, employed
many new professors, while persuading old professors to stay in the university.
These include Gangbo Shen, Gucheng Zhou, Xianzhen Zhu, Dong Yang, Kutong
Huang, Yanzhong Luo and Zuoren Zhang.
Because
of Mr. Zou¡¯s strenuous efforts, a lot of distinguished specialists were
employed by the university. Some of them had been elected as academic
committee members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences such as Huanyong
Chen, Boqiang Liang, Ying Ding, Zongluo Luo, Xian Zhu, Xingjian Si, Yunzou
Sun and Zunyi Yang. Mr. Gucheng Zhou had been the Vice Chairman of National
People¡¯s Congress.
In
March 1935, the Ministry of Education authorized Tsinghua University,
Peking University and the National Sun Yat-sen University to establish
research institutes. This had made the National Sun Yat-sen University
one of the three research universities in China at that time. This was
not only due to the efforts of Mr. Zou¡¯s predecessors, but also due to
Mr. Zou¡¯s hard work, especially in developing state-of-art disciplines
for the university.
The
research institute was structured into many divisions such as the Division
of Literature and History, the Division of Education and the Division
of Agriculture. The predecessors of various divisions of the institute
are well-known both at home and abroad. For example, the Institute of
Historical Linguistics, predecessor of the Division of Literature and
History, was established by famous historians Sinian Fu and Jiegang Gu
in January 1928. Its publications the Institute of Historical Linguistics
Weekly and Folk Customs had far-reaching implications in the academic
community. In October 1930, the institute was closed due to financial
difficulties of the university during the administration of Principal
Jiahua Zhu. When Mr. Zou Lu was appointed as the principal of the National
Sun Yat-sen University, he started to reestablish the institute as the
Institute of Literature and History, i.e., a division within the research
institute of the university. In November 1932, Professor Xizu Zhu was
appointed as director of the division. He reestablished the Society of
Folk Customs and continued to publish the weekly magazine Folk Customs.
The division also offered postgraduate courses in the field of literature
and history.
The
Institute of Education, predecessor of the Division of Education, was
founded in February 1928. It is one of the earliest educational institutes
in the country. It was established by Professor Zexuan Zhuang, a famous
educationalist. The institute published a monthly journal Educational
Research and also many book series in the field of education. The institute
made great efforts in academic exchange and cooperation with other famous
educational institutions. It also exchanged publications with more than
150 academic institutions from 20 countries.
The
Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, predecessor of the Division of
Agriculture, was founded by Professor Huanyong Chen, a famous botanist.
Prof. Chen was one of the first botanists to attend international conferences
in this field. He was a Chinese member of the International Special Committee
of Plant Nomenclature.
The
Institute of Soil Sciences was incorporated into the National Sun Yat-sen
University in 1932. Mr. Zou appointed Professor Zhiyi Deng as the director
of the institute. Professor Deng led many researchers to investigate the
soil condition in Guangdong province, in order to provide sound basis
for the reasonable use and improvement of soil resource in the province.
Professor Deng himself also made a lot of scientific investigations not
only in Guangdong province, but also in other parts of the country. He
made great achievements in the discipline. When the research institute
of the National Sun Yat-sen University was established, Mr. Zou restructured
the Institute of Soil Sciences as part of the Division of Agriculture.
It is one of the earliest academic institutions in soil sciences.
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