One hundred years of Xiamen University: Facing the sea to build the "Southern Power"
China News Weekly reporter / Du Wei and Peng Danni
Published in the 990th issue of China News Weekly on April 5, 2021
Under the Wulao Peak, at the southern end of Xiamen Island, stands Xiamen University, the "most beautiful university in China".
Entering from the west gate of Siming campus, on the left is the group of xian buildings built 100 years ago, one master and four slaves, lined up, facing the sea.
The roof of the building group is a common glazed tile "swallowtail ridge" in southern Fujian. The building has Western-style pillars. The architectural style of "wearing a hat and wearing a suit" was set by the founder Tan Kah Kee himself, so it is also called "Jiageng style".
To the southeast of Qunxian Tower is the Jiannan Building Group built in the 1950s. It also faces the sea and is also in the Jiageng style.
At that time, Tan Kah Kee's ambition was to allow foreign ships to see the newly built Xiamen University and the new atmosphere of the new China as soon as foreign ships entered Xiamen Port.
The magnificent main building, Jiannan Assembly Hall, is still the venue for important events such as school opening and graduation ceremonies for masters and students in Xiamen.
To the north of Jiannan Towers, beside Furong Lake, is a modern reinforced concrete building built at the beginning of the 21st century-the Jiageng Towers with Songen Tower as the main building, still with one master and four slaves.
Song En Building is the tallest building in the school. On the top of the building are two stainless steel flying ridges that are raised up high and resemble "swallowtail ridges".
In the past 100 years, the buildings on the campus of Xiamen University have been built higher and higher, and the facilities have become more and more advanced, but they have always maintained a consistent style, just like the epitome of the 100-year history of Xiamen University.
No matter how history changes, Xiamen University has always been an important town that cannot be ignored on the territory of China's higher education.
"If you look at all the universities in China's first phalanx, almost all of them are located in the political and cultural centers, at least in the provincial capitals, but Xiamen University is on an island, which was an unknown place at the time. But that's it. A university can keep up in every historical period. What does it depend on? It is self-reliance." Zhu Shuiyong, professor of the Chinese Department of Xiamen University and author of "The Past of Xiamen University," told China News Weekly.
Selling Buildings and Office of Xiamen University
At the beginning of the 20th century, in order to "educate to save the country", a group of scholars of literati devoted themselves to the cause of higher education in China.
In 1919, in Tianjin in the north, Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling formally founded Nankai University; this year, Chen Kah Kee, an overseas Chinese businessman who had been doing rubber business in Nanyang, also returned to China and set about building a university.
Compared with neighboring Guangdong and Zhejiang, Fujian has long been a depression for higher education.
Tan Kah Kee, who was born in Tong'an County, Fujian Province, has always been concerned about the education of the children in southern Fujian and overseas Chinese. Before that, he had founded Jimei Girls’ Primary School, Jimei Middle School and many other schools.
In May 1919, when Tan Kah Kee returned to China again, he was catching up with the "May Fourth Movement" period. "Democracy and science" became the latest trend of social thought. The founding of Xiamen University "had to be urgently planned and urgent".
Tan Kah Kee's experience as an industrialist in managing and operating a huge industry gave him a comprehensive and long-term vision when establishing education.
100 years ago, the Siming campus of Xiamen University was still a wasteland called Yanwu Field.
However, Tan Kah Kee believed that "the education undertaking was endless...the future development is boundless", so he asked the government for more than 2,000 acres of land-even though there were only more than 100 masters and students at that time.
Today, the Martial Arts Field has become one of the most expensive and tourist areas in Xiamen.
And Xiamen University, which is home to this treasure of geomantic omen, already has three campuses and one overseas branch campus, covering an area of more than 9,700 acres.
The development of Xiamen University really confirmed and far exceeded the blueprint originally envisaged by Tan Kah Kee.
"Lujiang is deep and long, full of my love and boundlessness. Call it! The strength of the South!" On April 6, 1921, at the opening ceremony of Xiamen University, students sang a song composed by linguist and musician Zhao Yuanren The school song composed by chemist Zheng Yuanzhen.
The lyrics express Tan Kah Kee's expectations of the school: "The Power of the South".
This day was later designated as the anniversary of Xiamen University.
The ambition of Xiamen University is more specifically reflected in the school-running policy of the then president Lin Wenqing, “to ensure that the education received by students must be comparable to that of universities in the world” and “hope that all faculty and students can conduct deep research”, so that Xiamen University In the future, it will "become the center of science in southern my country."
For this reason, Xiamen University pays attention to recruiting top international talents. Among the 14 science professors from 1924 to 1925, 6 of them were foreign scholars or returned from studying in Europe and the United States.
There have also been results in science.
Tan Kah Kee realized early on that China's territorial waters and marine resources are not inferior to any country, but the marine talents are very scarce, and coastal provinces should "catch up."
Therefore, shortly after the establishment of Xiamen University, it began to conduct research on marine biology and marine chemistry, and it soon showed its promise.
In 1923, a foreign professor at Xiamen University discovered the Amphioxus, which was considered extinct. The article was published in the journal Science. At the same time, the master students of Xiamen also discovered and named the Jiageng jellyfish and Lin Wenqing starfish.
As early as the 1930s, Xiamen University established the Department of Biological Materials to supply biological specimens to domestic and foreign universities and scientific research institutions at a price less than one-tenth of the western foreign products.
In 1933, the report of the annual meeting of the Pacific Science Association commented that: Xiamen University's Institute of Offshore Biology and various research laboratories and libraries made the university comparable to the excellent oceanographic research institutes in Europe and the United States.
In 1933, the graduation thesis "Analysis of Xiamen Sea Water" by She Wenqiang, the only graduate of the Department of Chemistry of Xiamen University, was the earliest record of seawater analysis in China.
The following year, a graduation thesis titled "Chemical Research of Wenchang Fish" was published in the Department of Chemistry. The author was Lu Jiaxi, who was later selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and served as the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 1946, Xiamen University formally established China's first oceanography department, with three fields of marine biology, marine chemistry, and marine physics.
At the same time, after 1920, Chinese studies began to be re-emphasized in the academic circle. At the end of 1922, Peking University divided Chinese studies into one of the four university disciplines.
Although Lin Wenqing was born in medicine and studied in the West for many years, but he attached great importance to Chinese and traditional culture. So, at the end of 1925, Xiamen University began preparations for the establishment of the Institute of Chinese Studies.
While the teaching and scientific research of Xiamen University was flourishing, the wealthy overseas Chinese were not as generous as Tan Kah Kee originally thought.
After several failed fundraising efforts, Tan Kah Kee's huge expenditures were left on him.
Compared with Nankai University’s multiple sources of funding such as social donations, student payment, Beiyang government grants, and real estate rent when it was founded, in the first ten years of Xiamen University, 91% of its funding income came from Tan Kah Kee.
At that time, Tan Kah Kee was almost running a school with all his money.
After the establishment of Xiamen University, his annual business and industrial profits, except for bonuses and part of the added capital, are all sent back to the motherland to cover education expenses.
Fortunately, Tan Kah Kee's business was booming. The monthly salary of professors at Xiamen University could reach 400 yuan, and the monthly salary of lecturers and assistants was 200 yuan and 150 yuan respectively.
In contrast, the highest monthly salary of Fudan University's president and full-time professor at that time was only 200 yuan, and Peking University was facing the torment of not being able to pay.
In 1926, due to the turmoil of the Beijing situation and the school's long-term salary arrears, a group of Peking University professors went south.
Compared with Beijing, Xiamen has a relatively loose political environment, and Xiamen University has provided quite generous salaries. A group of well-known scholars such as Lin Yutang, Lu Xun, Gu Jiegang, Chen Wanli and others have come to the Institute of Chinese Studies at Xiamen University, making the world feel this battle. There is a tendency for Peking University to move to the south."
In 1928, the National Government Graduate School came to Xiamen University to investigate, and the conclusion was that the funds were sufficient, the results were very good, all kinds of equipment were also extremely complete, and there were no less than other places.
As a result, Xiamen University received the government's case earlier than private universities such as Fudan, Nankai, and Yanjing.
During the private period, Xiamen University formed a school-running characteristic of facing overseas Chinese, facing the ocean, focusing on practicality and focusing on research. It has five colleges of liberal arts, sciences, law, business, and education, becoming the "highest institution in southern Fujian".
But the good times did not last long. Soon after the world economic crisis broke out, Tan Kah Kee's business suffered a great setback. In 1929, he suffered a total loss of 3.2 million yuan and was insolvent.
At that time, HSBC and a consortium were willing to support Chen, but asked him to close the two schools, Xiamen University and Jimei, because of the heavy financial burden of running the school.
But Tan Kah Kee refused, and said: "Enterprises can be closed, and schools must not be closed."
During this process, Tan Kah Kee tried every means to find a source of funds. One of the widely circulated stories was that he sold three villas originally bought in Singapore for his two sons, and was hailed as "selling the building and maintaining Xiamen University."
But even so, in 1936, Xiamen University reduced from 21 departments to 9 departments. Tan Kah Kee felt that he was unable to support Xiamen University, so he donated the school to the government free of charge.
"The first university east of Kolkata"
In 1937, Xiamen University was transformed from a private institution to a national institution.
The day before the "July 7 Incident", 35-year-old Sabentong became the youngest president of a national university in the country.
Sa Bendong was born in one of the eight famous schools in Fuzhou. His uncle and grandfather, Sa Zhenbing, served as the top commander of the Chinese Beiyang Navy. His brother Sa Bentie was a chemist, and his cousin Sa Benyan was the dean of the Law School of National Taiwan University.
Sa Bendong graduated from Tsinghua University. He went to study in the United States in 1922 and returned to China in 1928. Before coming to Xiamen University, he had been a professor in the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University.
During the Anti-Japanese War, when Sa Bendong’s teacher at Tsinghua University, Mei Yiqi, was struggling to preside over the Southwest Associated University in the mainland, Sa Bendong also led Xiamen University to support tenaciously in the southeast corner.
The philosophy of general education he received at Tsinghua University, and Mei Yiqi's view that “a university student does not mean that he has a building, but he who has a master says it.” All have subtly influenced his leadership of Xiamen University.
The 101-year-old Pan Maoyuan has served as the vice president of Xiamen University and the founder of China's higher education disciplines.
In 1941, Pan Maoyuan set off from Jieyang, Guangdong, and walked for 7 days. On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he came to Xiamen University in Changting, western Fujian to register.
He recalled to China News Weekly that at that time, northern and eastern universities were relocating to the rear of Southwest University, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University, and Zhejiang University. “There is only one Xiamen University, which is the closest to my hometown.”
Due to the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, domestic colleges and universities are planning to withdraw to safe areas, and Xiamen University is no exception.
Therefore, as soon as Sabendong arrives, he will face the problem of relocating the school.
He decided to stay in Changting, a mountain city on the border of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi instead of going southwest.
Sabendong believes that “we must stay in Fujian Province, which is the most remote in the southeast, lest young people in the southeast come to the corner; we must set up in a place with relatively accessible transportation to facilitate the burden of students from Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong; the environment of the new school site should be compared. Excellent, so that students and students can be at ease in teaching and studying."
Shi Huixia is the curator of the Archives of Xiamen University and the author of the book "Biography of Sa Bendong".
In an interview with China News Weekly, she pointed out that the Ministry of Education did not provide sufficient funds to support Xiamen University’s migration to the southwest.
More importantly, Sa Bendong is very clear about Tan Kah Kee's original intention of founding Xiamen University, which is to hope that Xiamen University can provide more education opportunities for the Southeastern provinces and the children of overseas Chinese.
Especially considering the inconvenience of war and transportation, if all the universities were moved to the southwest, students in the occupied areas of the southeast provinces would not be able to go to school.
After the transition to the state, Xiamen University’s funding did not improve quickly, but became more and more stretched.
In 1940, the Ministry of Education gave Xiamen University an annual funding of 258,000 yuan, which was the second-to-last among national universities at the time, and only 70% was actually in place. In contrast, the Central University, Southwest Associated University, and National Sun Yat-sen University The figures are 1.38 million yuan, 1.43 million yuan, and 1.46 million yuan respectively.
In this case, if you want to recruit masters to the front lines of the Southeastern battlefield, Xiamen University can no longer rely on high salaries, but Sa Bendong's personal connections in the United States, Tsinghua mentors and other contacts.
At that time, although it was incomparable with the gathering of masters at Southwest Associated University, from 1937 to 1944 when Sa Bendong was in charge, the school added many famous professors such as Fu Ying, Xie Yuming, Lin Geng, Wang Deyao, and Zou Wenhai. , 47 of the 51 professors are from Tsinghua University, and more than half of them have studied in Europe and the United States.
During Pan Maoyuan's undergraduate studies in the Department of Education of Xiamen University, he had to take basic courses in his freshman year. His English was taught by Lin Yulin, an older brother of Lin Yutang, and Shi Zhecun, the professor of Chinese language.
"The Biography of Sa Bendong" writes that Sa Bendong pays great attention to the quality of teaching. The professors and associate professors of the school do their best to prepare and teach, and there is no rigid paper or scientific research task.
In 2009, Pan Maoyuan pointed out that after the popularization of higher education, the imbalance between the increase in the number of students and the development of education quality has caused an imbalance in the development of education.
However, when Sabendong managed Xiamen University, he clearly pointed out: Because of the reality of insufficient funding, under the situation that quantity and quality cannot be taken into account, Xiamen University pays special attention to the improvement of quality and the increase in quantity. Moreover, the standard of a school will not After lowering, it takes a lot of strength to recover.
For the training of students, Sa Bendong has a set of measures that attach importance to "quality" including the credit system, examination system and other strict entry and strict exit.
Sabendong believes that qualified talents should first be generalists.
In 1938, on the first anniversary of Xiamen University’s transition to a national establishment, Sa Bendong drew up 20 creeds for the students. One of them was: To be disciplined in thought, it is best to study theories. To know the loveliness of the motherland, you should Study history and geography; people who are not fluent in Chinese will not have a place in academia; people who don’t do experiments don’t want to control nature for the benefit of the country and the people.
In the case of serious shortage of funds, Sa Bendong still tried to enrich the engineering department of Xiamen University.
He established the Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Department of Aviation in three years. At the same time, he divided the Department of Business into two departments: Business Administration and Accounting and Banking.
This is based on one of his core ideas: that is to believe that China will surely win the war, and after victory, the country needs a large number of engineering talents to build society.
In addition, Shi Huixia said, another consideration is that Sa Bendong himself was born in the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and he can make the most of his resources and what he has learned to establish this discipline.
Zhu Shuiyong described this process as "hard work."
Because of the lack of faculty, in these newly established departments in the early days, a professor often took many courses.
Zhu Shuiyong made a special calculation and found that some teachers spend more than 90 hours in class a week.
Sa Bendong himself has taken more courses, ranging from "general physics" and "calculus" to "electrical principles", "AC motors" and even English. He is called an "O-type" substitute.
Very high-intensity teaching and administrative tasks, as well as arduous material conditions, have caused great damage to Sabentong's body.
Sabentong was originally the main player of the Tsinghua tennis team. While studying at Stanford University, he and his brother Sabentie also won the doubles championship of the American college "Baldwin Cup" tennis tournament.
When he came to Xiamen University, Sa Bendong was in his prime.
But when Pan Maoyuan met Sa Bendong at Xiamen University in 1941, Sa Bendong, who was only in his 40s, was already suffering from rheumatism. He was bent over and had to rely on crutches to travel.
In 1944, the sick-ridden Sabentong left Xiamen University to travel to the United States to give lectures. In early 1949, he died of gastric cancer at the age of 47.
But Sabentong has helped Xiamen University through a difficult period.
"Xiamen University was a period of growth, not a decline." Zhu Shuiyong said.
When Xiamen University officially resumed classes in Changting in January 1938, the school had only 195 students and 132 teachers in 9 departments. By 1944, the number of students had increased to 926, the number of departments had increased to 15, and the number of teachers had also increased. More than 100 people.
Later, chemistry became the dominant discipline of Xiamen University, which was the foundation laid by leaders like Fu Ying at that time.
If today’s higher education can draw any nutrition from Xiamen University at that time, Shi Huixia believes that there are two points: one is that the school must strictly control the quality of professional knowledge transfer; the other is to focus on cultivating students’ broad pattern and broad vision, professors It can be liberated from scientific research indicators such as papers and topics, and guide students to see higher and farther things.
In 1940 and 1941, the Ministry of Education of the National Government held two consecutive "National College Students Academic Competitions", Xiamen University continued to rank first, and the Ministry of Education of the National Government issued a national commendation.
The name of Xiamen University "The Power of the South" began to scream.
Zhu Shuiyong said that the establishment of Xiamen University in the entire history of Chinese education was before the 1940s.
In March 1944, Ge Deshi, an American geographer, visited Xiamen University in Changting. After visiting Xiamen University, Ge was full of admiration. He called Xiamen University "the first university east of Kolkata". The east of Kolkata refers to the east of World War II. battlefield.
Understand the value of people
Just like when the school was founded, there were principals such as Lin Wenqing and Sa Bendong who infused the soul of Xiamen University. In the nearly 20 years after 1949, Xiamen University ushered in another principal, Wang Yanan, who had a profound influence on him.
In his long reportage "Goldbach Conjecture", Xu Chi called Wang Yanan "an economist who understands the value of people."
Although he participated in the National Revolution and the "Fujian Incident" against Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Yanan's life background is still a scholar and educator, and one of the first translators of Capital in China.
Pan Maoyuan recalled that at Xiamen University, Wang Yanan got up at around 4 a.m. every morning, wrote for two hours first, and went to the school to greet students at around 7 a.m.
He will use his own manuscript fees to buy shoes for students with poor financial conditions, and he especially emphasizes that students should have the ability to digest and absorb knowledge by themselves.
Wang Yanan's most important contribution as president is to strengthen discipline construction and scientific research, which laid the foundation for Xiamen University to become a research university.
In 1955, when speaking to freshmen, he said: "Today our school is a comprehensive university. The comprehensive university mainly trains researchers and scientific research personnel. You will train to become scientists in the future." In 1952, Xiamen University Among domestic colleges and universities, the publication of university journals was resumed first, and various special editions such as finance, literature and history, and marine biology were launched.
From 1956 to 1966, the school held 6 scientific seminars to promote academic free debate and expand the spread and impact of the idea that "research is important" to the entire school.
At that time, Xiamen University’s scientific research activities were most prominent in the Department of Mathematics, which opened seminars on geometric function theory and differential equation theory, once a week, for several consecutive years.
The Department of Mathematics often accounts for half of the papers published in the Natural Science Edition of the Xiamen University News.
It is in this atmosphere that Xiamen University has cultivated a superstar in Chinese mathematics—Chen Jingrun.
Chen Jingrun is a native of Fuzhou. After graduating from the Department of Mathematics of Xiamen University in 1953, he was assigned to teach in Beijing No. 4 Middle School.
However, Chen Jingrun was dismissed from the school because of his stupid nature and poor expression. He soon returned to Fuzhou and set up a stall on the side of the street.
In 1954, Wang Yanan met Chen Jingrun on the street in Fuzhou. He knew that the graduates of the Mathematics and Physics Department of Xiamen University would never live on the streets, so he arranged to work in the school's mathematics department's reference room.
In 1956, 23-year-old Chen Jingrun published a paper on "The Problem of Other Benefits", which attracted the attention of academic circles.
After that, the Chinese Academy of Sciences transferred Chen Jingrun to the Institute of Mathematics after obtaining the consent of Wang Yanan.
In 1966, Chen Jingrun announced that he had proved the result of the latest step of Goldbach’s conjecture.
In 1973, "Science in China" officially published Chen Jingrun's paper, which shocked the world mathematics community.
Therefore, Chen Jingrun's rapid emergence is directly related to Wang Yanan's cherishment and respect for talents.
Pan Maoyuan lives in a community just over 10 kilometers away from the Siming campus of Xiamen University.
Every Saturday night at around 7:30, Pan Maoyuan’s graduate students will come to his home and hold an academic salon in the living room for more than three hours.
The students moved the high, middle, and low benches to sit in and out three times, discussing academic issues in free air.
Since the 1980s, Pan Maoyuan’s family salon has been held for more than 30 years. It was not until the last year or two that he was in poor health and the frequency of salons decreased.
Pan Maoyuan's academic salon was inspired by the old principal.
In the 1950s, Wang Yanan pioneered the cultivation of graduate students in economics in the country. On Saturday night, he often chatted with graduate students.
Pan Maoyuan said, "From here you can see that I learned from him. And Wang Yanan is very kind to the students and loves them very much."
In the reorganization of the departments in the 1950s, the Department of Aviation of Xiamen University was ordered to merge with the Department of Aviation of 8 universities, including Tsinghua University and Northwest Institute of Technology, which became the predecessor of today's Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In September 1952, Xiamen University's ace school-the maritime department of the Department of Marine Science merged with the previously established Jimei Water College to form the National Fujian Maritime College, which was merged into Dalian Maritime College, and later renamed Dalian Maritime University.
The teaching and research staff of the Marine Physics Group of the Department of Oceanography were adjusted to Shandong University, together with equipment, books and materials, and formed the Department of Oceanography with the original disciplines of Shandong University, which later developed into Shandong Ocean University, until today's Ocean University of China.
After the adjustment, Xiamen University has a total of 13 majors.
This adjustment laid the foundation for Xiamen University to become a comprehensive university of liberal arts and sciences, and became the basic mode of running Xiamen University for decades.
Shi Huixia told China News Weekly that the visionary Wang Yanan left the school with a number of young teachers in related disciplines during the adjustment of the faculty. These teachers will grow up to become leaders in the discipline nationwide. They continue It also laid the foundation for the development of Xiamen University's comprehensive research university.
In 1954, the Department of Education of Xiamen University was ordered to adjust to Fujian Normal University. Pan Maoyuan, who was in charge of educational affairs in the Department of Education at the time, was left at Xiamen University by Wang Yanan.
Wang Yanan asked him, why not use higher education as a research object?
Since then, Pan Maoyuan pioneered the study of higher education in China.
Facing overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, facing the ocean
Xiamen faces the sea in all directions, and Fujian is the hometown of overseas Chinese. Before the founding of New China, Xiamen University gradually formed the characteristics of absorbing overseas Chinese and studying the ocean.
In the 1950s, with the approval of the State Council, Xiamen University formally established the development direction of "facing overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and facing the ocean".
Around this direction, in October 1956, Xiamen University formally established the Nanyang Institute to study political, economic, cultural and educational issues related to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, as well as the history and geography of the country where the overseas Chinese reside.
In the same year, Xiamen University also established China's first overseas Chinese correspondence education department, which mainly used correspondence education to train overseas Chinese teachers.
In the early 1960s, the number of overseas correspondence students at Xiamen University more than tripled compared with 1958, covering more than a dozen countries on five continents.
Beginning in 1956, Xiamen University’s enrollment numbers of overseas Chinese began to expand, in order to gradually realize the plan that overseas Chinese students accounted for one third of the school’s teachers and students.
In 1963, Xiamen University was designated by the central government as one of the 13 key universities in the country.
In 1970, the Department of Oceanography at Xiamen University, which was revoked due to the adjustment of the departments, was restored.
More than 20 years after the adjustment of the department to the reform and opening up, Xiamen University's marine disciplines have still made great developments. Professors such as Jin Dexiang and Zheng Zhong have studied plankton, and the founder of the Chinese marine chemistry discipline Li Faxi's research on estuary silicates to represent.
In 1982 and 1983, Xiamen University established doctoral programs in marine biology and marine chemistry respectively.
This is also the earliest doctoral program in these two majors in China.
The 76-year-old Hong Huasheng, honorary director of the State Key Laboratory of Offshore Marine Environmental Science of Xiamen University, was born in the Philippines, a country of a thousand islands, and spent his middle school years in Xiamen No. 2 Middle School on Gulangyu Island.
In 1962, she was admitted to Xiamen University's chemistry major. After the reform and opening up, when applying for graduate studies, she "swimmed" to the Department of Oceanography, and her tutor was Li Faxi.
Thanks to the recommendation of his mentor, in the summer of 1980, 36-year-old Hong Huasheng, who had two children, went to the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography to study for a Ph.D.
She completed 5 years of studies in 4 years, and the compulsory course scores were the highest among the 31 students in the class.
More importantly, she learned that at that time, the United States and other Western countries were already studying the absorption of carbon by the ocean, which involved the physical process of gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, the absorption of carbon by organisms, and the absorption of carbon by nutrients. The chemical mechanism of impact is also related to the major proposition of global warming.
This international frontier research direction is still blank in China. Hong Huasheng is determined to return to China to build a new discipline in marine biogeochemistry, which also makes her the first female doctor of oceanography to return to China.
In 1985, less than a year after Hong Huasheng returned to her alma mater to teach, her tutor, Li Faxi, the only doctoral supervisor in marine chemistry, died.
In this environment, Hong Huasheng can only start from scratch.
She noticed that the Taiwan Strait in front of her home is not only an important waterway for international shipping and fish migration, but also an important channel for the exchange of sea water and material between the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
In the domestic research on the ocean at that time, the Taiwan Strait was still blank.
In the 1980s, cross-strait relations slowed down, and studying the Taiwan Strait was the general trend.
In 1987, with the funding support of the Ministry of Education and Fujian Province, Hong Huasheng began to study the subject of "South Fujian-Taiwan Shoal Fishing Ground Upwelling Ecosystem".
From 1987 to 1990, the Hong Huasheng team investigated the structure and characteristics of the Minnan-Taiwan shoal upwelling ecosystem through comprehensive investigations and laboratory analysis on 9 voyages within 3 years. The project results obtained the third class of National Science and Technology Progress in 1992. prize.
The management department also uses this to guide fishery production and obtain considerable economic benefits.
Many years of research on the Taiwan Strait made Hong Huasheng realize that strengthening marine environmental monitoring and forecasting capabilities, disaster prevention and mitigation is also the subject of marine science applications.
In May 2001, under the vigorous promotion of the then governor of Fujian Province, Xi Jinping, a major special project of the National Tenth "863 Program"-the demonstration area of the real-time three-dimensional monitoring system for marine dynamic environment in the Taiwan Strait and adjacent waters was launched in Fujian and was appointed by Hong Huasheng. Chief scientist of the project.
Since 2007, the storm surge subsystem has been put into use, which can realize early warning of flooding of 37 million mu seawalls along the Fujian coast, and tracking and pre-warning of 32 typhoons such as "Morak" and "Catfish".
Another sub-system, the emergency auxiliary decision-making system for marine emergencies, has been in operation so far. It has provided 138 maritime accidents related to maritime departments with the prediction of the drift trajectory of overboard personnel, and participated in multi-sectoral rescues for 831 people.
Hong Huasheng told China News Weekly that for decades after returning to China, he had always insisted on taking the ocean as the characteristic in discipline construction. “If you feel that the direction is right, you must seize it. If you don’t have the conditions, you must also create conditions to go. Do it and try to do it well. This is to stop at the best."
Xiamen University has a century-old marine history, and several generations of mariners continue to inherit and innovate, making marine disciplines in every period keep up with the times and become first-class disciplines.
In 1998, Hung Huasheng’s master and doctorate graduate student Dai Minhan, who was studying in France, was persuaded to return to China. He took over the baton from the teacher and began to study the ocean carbon cycle. Today, he has become the director of the Department of Earth Science and Technology at Xiamen University and a national key in offshore marine environmental science. He is the director of the laboratory and was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017.
Dai Minhan told China News Weekly that the Faculty of Earth Science and Technology at Xiamen University currently has three first-level disciplines, namely marine science, environmental science and engineering, and ecology, all of which feature oceans.
In December 2020, Xiamen University's "Taiwan Strait Marine Ecosystem Field Scientific Observation and Research Station" was selected into the national field scientific observation and research station selection list, achieving a "zero" breakthrough in Xiamen University and Fujian Province's national field stations.
In addition to marine subjects, Xiamen University has also achieved fruitful results in the field of biomedicine since the new century.
Xia Ningshao, Dean of the School of Public Health of Xiamen University and Director of the National Center for Infectious Disease Diagnostics and Vaccine Engineering Technology Research, and his team have successively developed the third-generation HIV diagnostic kit, the world's first hepatitis E vaccine, and the first domestically-made bivalent cervical cancer vaccine .
In August 2020, the nasal spray influenza carrier new crown vaccine developed by Xia Ningshao's team has completed the second phase of clinical trials.
Open Xiamen University
The study of Taiwan is an example of Xiamen University's making a fuss about its geographical advantages.
On January 1, 1979, the mainland's "Letter to Compatriots in Taiwan" was published, marking the beginning of a new historical period in the development of cross-strait relations.
But as of 1980, there was no academic institution specializing in Taiwan studies in the entire mainland.
In July 1980, with the approval of the state, the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University was formally established, and in 2004, it was restructured into the Taiwan Research Institute, which was the first publicly established Taiwanese research academic institution at home and abroad.
Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of Xiamen University's Taiwan Research Institute, told China News Weekly that the country chose Xiamen University to establish the Taiwan Research Institute, firstly because of Xiamen's location close to Taiwan; secondly, Xiamen University's long-held tradition of studying Taiwan.
As early as the 1920s and 1930s, Lin Huixiang, a graduate of Xiamen University, made two visits to the residences of ethnic minorities in Taiwan.
After 1945, many graduates of Xiamen University went to Taiwan to help economic construction.
Xiamen itself is located in southern Fujian. Nearly 70% of Taiwan’s population are from southern Fujian. Therefore, Xiamen University also has a cultural advantage in studying Taiwan.
After the founding of New China, although the two sides of the strait have been isolated, some scholars at Xiamen University have begun to study Taiwan's historical issues.
In 1962, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Zheng Chenggong's recapture of Taiwan, Xiamen University and relevant parties organized the first academic seminar on Zheng Chenggong's research in mainland China, which had a national influence.
Xiamen University has a unique advantage in terms of resources for research in Taiwan.
In the early 1990s, Zhang Wensheng was a graduate student at China University of Political Science and Law. At that time, the school library only subscribed to "China Times" and "United Daily News."
But at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, I subscribed to more than 10 Taiwanese newspapers at that time. They were open not only to teachers, but also to students, and they could see information two or three days ago.
Since the late 1980s, the research focus of the Taiwan Institute of Xiamen University has gradually shifted from Taiwan’s history to Taiwan’s contemporary politics and economy.
Thanks to their long-term and in-depth attention and research on Taiwanese society, before the 2008 Taiwan leader election, the Cross-Strait Public Opinion Survey Center of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University conducted two household surveys of Taiwanese public opinion by telephone, and then predicted the election results based on scientific evaluations. There is only 0.16% discrepancy from the actual result.
In the 2012 Taiwan leader election, the Institute once again "precisely predicted" that Ma Ying-jeou is expected to win Tsai Ing-wen about 800,000 votes, and the actual result is 798,000 votes.
The Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University and the Taiwan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, established in Beijing in 1984, are regarded as the "two major cities in the north and south" of the mainland's research on Taiwan.
Zhang Wensheng said that Xiamen University's Taiwan Research Institute is positioned as a non-governmental academic institution, paying more attention to the academic nature and objectivity of research, and does not restrict researchers too much.
On this basis, it also provides reference opinions for high-level decision-making.
After years of development, the Taiwan Research Institute has formed a research style of "understanding Taiwan historically, comprehensively, and seeking truth from facts".
Xiamen, as a special economic zone, also gives Xiamen University a unique advantage in attracting international talents and international exchanges.
In 1988, American Pan Weilian learned about Xiamen, the city opposite Taiwan, from two unfamiliar phone calls.
His wife was born and raised in Taiwan, and he also lived in Taiwan for a few years. He thinks this is a coincidence and is very destined.
This year, he sold the American company and came to Xiamen via Hong Kong.
The reason for choosing Xiamen University, Pan Weilian said, stems from the openness and tolerance of Xiamen University, which are also the characteristics of Xiamen and Minnan people.
At that time, Xiamen University was the only school in China where he could bring his family with him.
At that time, Xiamen University was about to open an MBA program, and Pan Weilian hoped to teach Chinese students about management and international trade.
Now, 32 years later, he is already a professor at the School of Management of Xiamen University, and the first foreign permanent resident and honorary citizen of Fujian Province.
In 2018, Pan Weilian selected 47 of the thousands of letters he wrote to his family in the past three decades and published it in a collection. The title of the book is "I Don't See Outside-Old Pan's Letters from China".
In the letter, he described to his family the changes in China in his eyes.
Pan Weilian said that this year, he expects to publish 5 books, including "Old Pan's 18 Letters to Teenagers", about China's "Fifth Great Invention" and revisiting China.
In the future, I will continue to introduce China to the world.
Recreating the Power of the South
The scientific research ship with the words "TAN KAH KEE" (Note: Tan Kah Kee’s Hokkien Pinyin) is docked at the pier near Gaoqi, Xiamen. The huge weather radar on board is very conspicuous. The ship is 77.7 meters long, 16.2 meters wide, and has a design draft of 5.2 meters. About 3,500 tons, two refueling can almost go around the equator, and can travel freely in all ice-free ocean areas.
This is the world's top scientific research ship in China that adopts foreign scheme design and domestic transformation detailed design, and Xiamen University has complete intellectual property rights. It is also the first scientific research ship in the national comprehensive university-the "Jiageng".
Sitting in the chief scientist’s room, Wang Haili, director of the Xiamen University Scientific Research Ship Operation and Management Center, the "master steward" of the "Jiageng", and deputy dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Xiamen University, talked about the ship’s past and present life.
He was admitted to Xiamen University majoring in marine chemistry in 1988, and then followed Hung Huasheng's master's and doctoral studies. After graduation, he engaged in ocean remote sensing and bio-optics research at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in the United States. He has a wealth of experience on boarding the American scientific research ship to sea.
Wang Haili told China News Weekly that the reason for the construction of the "Jiageng" was that Xiamen University’s research ship going to sea was severely restricted.
In the 1990s, Xiamen University had only one "Ocean One", a wooden ship that could carry 20 or 30 people, but teachers and students were unable to conduct experiments on the ship after sampling. Due to its small tonnage, this ship could not even reach the Taiwan Strait.
During the same period, the "Dongfanghong 2" scientific research vessel of Ocean University of China had a tonnage of about 3,500 tons and could reach the deep ocean.
However, compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, there was still a clear generational gap between the level of Chinese scientific research ships.
In 2010, after Wang Haili returned to China, Xiamen University already had the "Ocean 2", but also because of its small tonnage, it could only go offshore.
Another big background is that after 2010, China's marine sciences ushered in a golden period of development, and the national level has a strategic plan to move toward the deep ocean. As the birthplace of China's marine science higher education, Xiamen University cannot miss the opportunity.
The "Jiageng" was designed in 2012 and officially put into use in 2017, at a cost of about 415 million yuan.
The biggest difficulty in the construction of "Jiageng" lies in funding.
She grew up with "eating a hundred families", and the funds came from school funding and government support, as well as a small number of alumni and corporate donations.
In Wang Haili's view, the birth of the "Jiageng" is much like the process of Tan Kah Kee's founding of Xiamen University a hundred years ago, and it embodies the Kah Kee spirit of "continuous self-improvement".
Since it was put into use in May 2017, the "Jiageng" has completed about 30 voyages and sailed for more than 900 days, almost reaching the level of the busiest scientific research vessel abroad.
Its role does not stop there.
In 2018, relying on the "Jiageng" number, Xiamen University opened the "Haisi Academy" talent training program for undergraduates. "This is a unique offshore internship training program in China." Wang Haili said.
The first "Haisi Academy" is for students from the School of Ocean and Earth and the School of Environment and Ecology to carry out internships in the northern part of the South China Sea; in 2019, the second "Haisi Academy" route is "Xiamen-Sanya-Malaysia-Xiamen", which is maritime silk On the Nanhai section of the road, the "Haisi Academy" connects the headquarters of Xiamen University with the Malaysian branch.
In January 2013, the Malaysian government officially invited Xiamen University to set up a branch campus in Malaysia. In 2016, Xiamen University Malaysia opened a branch campus, which was the first branch campus established by a Chinese university overseas.
The "Jiageng" is nicknamed "Sea Xiamen University" by Xiamen masters and students. It is the "fifth campus" of Xiamen University in addition to three campuses and one overseas branch campus.
In addition to entering the sea, there is also the sky. On December 22, 2020, Xiamen University launched the first offshore and coastal zone remote sensing satellite "Haisi-1" for domestic universities, which means that Xiamen University's ocean observation capabilities extend from underwater and sea to space. , Can construct a three-dimensional ocean observation system integrating sky and sea.
On April 23, 2019, the recyclable "Jiagen 1" rocket lifted off in an uninhabited area in the desert of northwestern China. This was a team led by You Yancheng, Executive Deputy Dean of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Xiamen University Developed.
In 2008, Xiamen University resumed the Department of Aeronautics, and in 2015, the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics was formally established. This is another departure after the adjustment of the departments and departments more than 50 years ago.
You Yancheng said that the establishment of the "Jiageng No. 1" project is inseparable from the open academic environment of Xiamen University.
Although the amount of funds received by the college for scientific research seems to be large, most of them have to complete designated tasks.
However, "Jiageng No. 1" is funded by the school. In recent years, the school has selected some key teams that may have a significant impact on the future of Xiamen University, and provided stable support of 10 million yuan per year from the "Double First Class" construction funds.
The purpose is also more flexible, just report.
"Give an excellent team a sum of money without restricting its use. It does provide an important soil for innovation."
Under the background of "double first-class" construction, universities in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have taken advantage of their strong local economic strength to exert their strength, and the upward momentum is rapid. Xiamen University is also facing new challenges.
Taking marine sciences as an example, in August 2020, China’s largest marine comprehensive scientific research practice ship "Sun Yat-Sen University" was launched in Shanghai.
In recent years, Sun Yat-sen University has established 7 ocean-related colleges, attracting more and more high-level marine talents at home and abroad to join the ocean disciplines, including 7 academicians.
Fudan University also established the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in 2018, and Zhejiang University established the School of Oceanography on the Zhoushan campus...
In Dai Minhan's view, under the strategic guidance of accelerating the construction of a maritime power, the marine disciplines of various universities across the country have flourished.
Generally speaking, although Xiamen University's marine disciplines are medium in size, they have a high density of high-level talents.
In recent years, Xiamen University has proposed that “ocean is not only a discipline, but also a major innovation field”, and strives to “pull the ocean” with more disciplines, cross-border integration of marine disciplines, achieve breakthrough innovations, and enhance the core strength of marine science and technology.
Xiamen University President Zhang Rong said in an exclusive interview with China News Weekly that in the face of competition, when both quantity and quality cannot be balanced, Xiamen University must develop connotation, pay more attention to quality, and at the same time require characteristic development, innovative development, and integration. development of.
"Each subject is broad enough and the space for innovation is large enough. In the end, different schools will form its own characteristics in different fields. As long as these are done well and our characteristics are formed, there will be our stage."
(This article refers to "School History of Xiamen University 1949-1991", "The Biography of Tan Kah Kee", "The Past of Xiamen University", "The Biography of Sa Bendong", "The Sailing to Ask the Sea", "The Life of Blue Sea", and "The History of Xiamen University Taiwan Research Institute", And thanks to Academician Sun Shigang and Professor Shi Dalin of Xiamen University for their help)
China News Weekly, Issue 12, 2021
Statement: The publication of the "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing