Guangdong Experimental High School - History

History

The history of the school has always been a controversial topic as it has involved many schools in the city after a series of mergers, splits and renames. Strictly speaking, the current SS established in 1960, however, the earliest origin of the school can be tracked back to 'Guǎngdōng Gézhì Xuétáng'(Chinese: 广东格致学堂) in 1888. Due to many reforms took place while the school developed, there were different stories regarding this topic. Some also argued that the establishing date of SS should be in 1924. It was backed up by the story that the school selected the year as to commemorate Sun Yat-sen.

In 1888, Dr. Andrew Patton Happer established the Christian College in Shaji, Guangzhou, also known as '广东格致学堂' in Chinese. It was then reformed into National Higher Normal College, also known as '两广优级师范学堂' in Chinese, in 1910 to train teachers within Guangdong and Guangxi Province.

In 1924, the college merged into National Kwangtung University, who later became the Sun Yat-sen University in 1926, as its affiliated high school and primary school.

Due to the Disciplinary Adjustment of Chinese Higher Education, four high schools merged into the Affiliated School of South China Normal University in 1952:

• the Affiliated School of Sun Yat-Sen University
• the Affiliated High School of Lingnan University
• the Affiliated High School of South China Associated University
• the Affiliated High School of Guangdong College of Arts & Science.

In 1960, the school was split into high school and primary school. The high school later became the current Affiliated High School of South China Normal University, whereas the primary school had then reformed into the current SS.

SS was renamed to the No.60 Middle School of Guangzhou for a decade during Cultural Revolution. After that, It formalised its name as Guangdong Experimental High School in 1987.

In 2008, The current senior management team of the school decided to use 1888 as the official establishing date of the school and celebrated the school's 120th anniversary. This flawed decision, however, has now been widely accepted by the public.