1.National Sun Yat-sen University moved to Luoding and Yunan

On October 21, 1938, following the fall of Guangzhou to the Japanese, the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) decided to move to Luoding, a county-level city in in the northwestern part of Guangdong province. The main office  of the University operated in the Guanyue Temple (the location of Youming Primary School); the Colleges of  Agriculture, Law, and Medicine moved to Luoding; the College of Science and Engineering moved to the Dawan Town of Yunan County, which neighbored Luoding; the College of Arts, Teacher College, and the Research Institute moved to the Luojing Town of Luoding; and the Affiliated Middle School moved to the Ta’xi Village of Yunan County.

Photo 1: Document of NSYSU on the relocation procedure (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

Photo 2: Confucian Temple in Luoding, the former site of NSYSU (taken in Luoding in 2021, by the Investigation Group on University History, the Department of History)

2.The Battlefield Service Group marched north

The Battlefield Service Group (BSG) of NSYSU was founded at the end of 1937. Zou Lu, President of the University,  served as the Honorary Head of the Group, and his wife, Liang Dinghui, as the Head. Many progressive-minded students and communists joined the BSG to raise funds, carry out charity sales and charity performances, bring greetings and gifts to soldiers, and offer medical care . The Group also received large quantities of supplies, medicines, and money donated by overseas Chinese in Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia. In March 1938, the First War Zone Team of the BSG marched north to Wuhan, and was warmly welcomed by the local people after arriving. In March 1939, the BSG of NSYSU formed the East River Team to carry out relief work on the front line of the East River.

Photo 1: The lineup of the BSG upon the first departure (The First Year Serving in  the Battlefield Service Group of National Sun Yat-sen University)

Photo 2: Liang Dinghui, on behalf of the First War Zone Team of the BSG , wrote the “Farewell Letter to Compatriots in South China” (Marching Forward).

Photo 3: The life of BSG of NSYSU in Hankou, Wuhan (National Salvation Daily, 1938-3-14(2))

Photo 4: A photo of the East River Team, with Liang Dinghui, Head of the BSG, in the middle (Chung Hwa (Shanghai), 1939(84): 23)

Photo 5: Cover of One Month in East River by the East River Team (published on July 7, 1939)

3.Mao Dun delivered a speech in NSYSU

On March 30, 1938, Shen Yanbing (also known as Mao Dun), the famous writer, was invited to give a speech in the lecture hall of the Affiliated Middle School of NSYSU. The title of the speech was “Literary and Artistic United Front”.

Photo 1: Report on Mao Dun delivering a speech in NSYSU (National Sun Yat-sen  University Daily, 1938-3-31(2))

Photo 2:http://www.handanwenhua.net/chuangzuozhongxin/2020-04-01/2253.html） Photo 2: Mao Dun (source: http://www.handanwenhua.net/chuangzuozhongxin/2020-04-01/2253.html)

4.Ye Jianying delivered a speech in NSYSU

On May 2, 1938, Ye Jianying, Chief Staff Officer of the Eighth Route Army, was invited to give a speech in the lecture hall of the Affiliated Middle School of NSYSU. The title of his speech was “The Current Major Issues Concerning the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression”.

Photo: Report on Ye Jianying delivering a speech in NSYSU (National Sun Yat-sen University Daily, 1938-5-4(2))

5.The campus of NSYSU was bombed, and communities from the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia Border Region sent their condolences

At about 12:00 on June 5, 1938, the Japanese invaders bombed the old campus of NSYSU on Wenming Road, where the Colleges of Arts, Law, and Science and the Affiliated Middle School were located. Communities from the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia Border Region, including Lin Boqu, Chairman of the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia Border Region Government; Lin Biao and Luo Ruiqing, President and Vice President of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University; the People’s Counter-Japanese Association; the Cultural Salvation Association; Cheng Fangwu, President of the Public School in Northern Shaanxi; and He Sijing, Professor of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University, sent messages of condolence after learning of the bombing. President Zou Lu expressed thanks to them by telegram.

Photo 1: Zou Lu’s telegram to the nation on the bombing of the three Colleges of Arts, Law, and Science and the Affiliated Middle School of NSYSU (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

Photo 2: Message of condolence from Lin Boqu, Chairman of the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia Border Region Government (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

Photos 3 to 5: Messages of Condolence from Lin Biao and Luo Ruiqing, President and Vice President of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

Photo 6: Postal telegram of condolence from the People’s Counter-Japanese Association in the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia Border Region (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

6.Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote, Governor of Hong Kong, visited NSYSU

At 6:00 p.m. on July 22, 1938, Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote, Governor of Hong Kong, went to the Shipai campus to visit Zou Lu, President of NSYSU, and then took a campus tour. Li Fen, Secretary of the government of Guangzhou, accompanied him.

Photo 1: Report on the visit of Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote, Governor of Hong Kong (Shanghai Journal (Hong Kong), 1938-7-24(3))

Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote Photo 2: Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote, Governor of Hong Kong

7.The establishment of the Teachers College of NSYSU

In August 1938, by order of the Ministry of Education, NSYSU merged its Department of Education and Institute of Education into the Teachers College, becoming one of only five national universities (the National Southwestern Associated University, the National Central University, the National Chekiang University, the National Sichuan University, and NSYSU) that established a teachers college. The Teachers College of NSYSU had eight departments: Education, Civic Moral Education, Chinese Language and Literature, History and Geography, Mathematics, English, Physics and Chemistry, and Natural Science. Cui Zaiyang was appointed as the Dean of the College, Zou Qian as the Director of Teaching Affairs, Kang Baiqing as the Head of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Xu Zhenyang as the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Ren Guorong as the Head of the Department of Natural Science, Wu Zongci as the Head of the Department of History and Geography, Lin Ben as the Head of the Department of Education, Liu Keping as the Head of the Department of Physical and Chemistry, Mo Panqin as the Head of the Department of English, and Lei Peihong as the Head of the Department of Civic Moral Education.

Photo 1: Instruction of the Ministry of Education on inspecting the regulations of the Teachers College of NSYSU and the measures for establishing Teachers Colleges in the National Central University and other universities (from Sun Yat-sen University Archives)

Photo 2: Report on the establishment of the Teachers College of NSYSU (National Sun Yat-sen University Daily, 1938-9-5(21))

Photo 3: The Teachers College of NSYSU in Shipai, 1938

8.Soong Ching-ling visited affiliated hospitals and the Shipai campus of NSYSU

On August 21, 1938, Soong Ching-ling and others went to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital and the affiliated hospital of NSYSU, expressing her sympathy to soldiers and compatriots injured in the Japanese air raids. On August 23, she visited the Shipai campus of NSYSU  and admired the bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Photo: Report on Soong Ching-ling’s visit to the Shipai campus, NSYSU (Zhongshan Daily, 1938-8-24(4))

9.The College of Engineering, SoengKen University of Canton was incorporated into NSYSU

In August 1938, the College of Engineering, SoengKen University of Canton (SKUC) was incorporated into NSYSU. SKUC closed down its College of Engineering and transfer the students therein to the College of Engineering of NSYSU. Given the circumstances, NSYSU requested to establish the Department of Architecture, which would be funded by the Government of Guangdong Province until the graduation of all the students from SKUC. However, the Ministry of Education ordered that the request of establishing the Department of Architecture should be postponed.

Photo 1: Official Letter from the Department of Education of Guangdong Province on transferring students of the College of Engineering from SKUC to NSYSU (from Sun Yat-sen University  Archives)

Photo 2: SoengKen University of Canton (source: https://news.scnu.edu.cn/11676)