History
The university dates back to the Ziqiang Institute (Simplified Chinese: 自强学堂; Traditional Chinese: 自強學堂; Pinyin: Zìqiáng Xuétáng ), which was founded in 1893 by Zhang Zhidong 张之洞, governor of Hubei and Hunan Provinces in the late Qing Dynasty. Later, it changed its name several times before it was named National Wuhan University in July 1928, and was among the first group of national universities in modern China. In Feb, 1929, the jurist Wang Shijie became the first president of Wuhan University. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wuhan University moved to Leshan, Sichuan Province and returned to Luojia Hill after the war.
By the end of 1946, the university had six Faculties: the Faculties of liberal arts, law, sciences, engineering, agriculture and medicine. Wuhan University enjoyed a very high academic status, with Wang Shijie, Wang Xinggong and Zhou Gengsheng as its successive presidents.
A number of scholars such as Gu Hongming, Zhu Kezhen, Wu Baoliang, Zha Qian, Gui Zhiting, Ye Yage, Li Siguang, Wen Yiduo, Huang Kan, Yu Dafu, Shen Congwen, Zhu Guangqian, Liu Ze, Liu Yongji, Ye Shengtao, Yang Duanliu and Li Jiannong taught here successively. According to the university, in 1948, the University of Oxford wrote an official letter to the Ministry of Education of the Chinese National Government, stating that bachelors of liberal arts and sciences that graduated from Wuhan University with average grades above 80 could enjoy "the senior status of Oxford."
In 1952, after a general reshuffle of the colleges and departments of the higher educational institutions throughout the country, Wuhan University became a university of liberal arts and sciences directly under the administration of the Ministry of Higher Education. Professor Li Da, Delegate to the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and a celebrated philosopher, economist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, held the post of president of the university for 14 years. The Wuhan University School of Medicine and Tongji University Medical School jointly formed Central-south Tongji Medical College (later Wuhan Medical College), then Tongji Medical University.
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