Shanxi University (, SXU) is a public university located in the city of
Taiyuan
Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province ...
,
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
province,
China. The university was selected into the
Double First Class University Plan
The World First Class University and First Class Academic Discipline Construction (), together known as Double First Class (), is a tertiary education development initiative designed by the People's Republic of China central government in 2015 ...
in February 2022.
History

Early 1900
The Shansi Imperial University (山西大学堂) was the predecessor of the Shanxi University, which was alternatively
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing writ ...
as the Shansi University. The Shansi Imperial University was prepared in 1901 by
Cen Chunxuan
Cen Chunxuan (1861 – 27 April 1933), courtesy name Yunjie, was a Zhuang Chinese politician who lived in the late Qing dynasty and Republic of China.
Early career
Cen was born in 1861 during the late Qing dynasty in Xilin, Guangxi. His f ...
, then-governor of Shanxi, and on May 8, 1902, the Shansi Imperial University officially added the College of Western Studies, which was headed by the Welsh Baptist missionary
Timothy Richard
Timothy Richard (Chinese: 李提摩太 ''Li Timotai'', 10 October 1845 – 17 April 1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic.
Biography
Richard was born o ...
, focusing on teaching western technologies. 1902 was recognized as the official founding year of Shanxi University. Other than the Chinese government funding, one of the early funding sources of Shanxi University was the returned money from the British government with the Boxer Indemnity of
Taiyuan massacre after
Boxer Protocol
The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901, between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the Unit ...
, which was used to support the College of Western Studies.
Along with two other contemporary pioneer universities that started teaching western technologies in China: the Metropolitan Grand School (the predecessor of
Peking University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...
) and the Northern Grand School (the Predecessor of
Tianjin University
Tianjin University (TJU, ), formerly Peiyang University (), is a national public research university in Tianjin, China. The university was established in 1895 by Guangxu Emperor's royal charter to be the first university of China. It is now fu ...
), the three universities together inaugurated a new era of modern Chinese higher education.
In 1912, following the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty, the Manchu people, Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of Chi ...
,Shansi Imperial University (山西大学堂) was renamed "Shanxi University". Its name was changed to "National Shanxi University" (simplified Chinese: 国立山西大学 traditional Chinese: 國立山西大學; pinyin: GuoLi ShanXi DaXue) in 1918, and changed back to "Shanxi University" in 1931. In 1937, because of the War of Resistance Against Japan, which is part of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Shanxi University was moved away from
Taiyuan
Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province ...
. The school of law was moved to Pingyao, the college of liberal arts was moved to Yuncheng, the department of engineering and physics and the office of president was moved to Linfen. Later, Japanese army occupied not only Taiyuan, but Pingyao, Yuncheng and Linfen as well. Shanxi University thus stopped teaching until 1938 it was rebuilt in Sanyuan, Shaan'xi (陕西) in 1938, and later it was moved again to Yichuan. In 1943, because of the typhus epidemic in Yichuan, Shanxi University was moved back to Shanxi(山西) province, at Jixian Nancun, which was the wartime temporary capital of Shanxi province, and the location was renamed as KeNanPo, literally meaning that "overcoming the suffering". Shanxi University finally moved back Taiyuan in 1946, after the Chinese victory over Japan of the second world war.
Late 20th century
In 1952, by order of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, the Department of Liberal Arts and the Department of Science were combined to form Shanxi Normal College, the School of Law was integrated into Renmin University of China in Beijing. The Department of Engineering was dismantled, and fragments absorbed into University of Science and Technology Beijing, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Taiyuan University of Technology. In 1959, Shanxi University was rebuilt on Taiyuan's Wucheng Street. By 1998, Shanxi University was considered a key university in Shanxi province.
Early 21st century - present

In May 2005, Shanxi University became a university co-developed by the state Ministry of Education and the People's government of Shanxi province.
References
External links
Study in Shanxi, China. Welcome to Shanxi University Shanxi University official website
{{authority control
Universities and colleges in Shanxi