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Committee attempts to lure prestigious university to city
By Xu Wenwen |
May 10, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FU Jen National University (formerly known as the Catholic University of Peking), which used to be one of the "Four Famous Universities in Beijing," will be hopefully reestablished in Hangzhou and expected to become a worldwide top university before 2050.
The university established in 1925 shared the same reputation as its peers Peking University, Tsinghua University and Yanching University - collectively known as the "Four Famous Universities in Beijing."
It was amalgamated with Beijing Normal University, Beijing University and People's University of China in 1952. Its former site is located at the campus of Beijing Normal University's Continuing Education and Teacher Training College.
In 1961, Fu Jen was reestablished in Taiwan and renamed Fu Jen Catholic University. It currently has nine colleges in Taiwai, with a student body of 26,000 students. It ranks at the top of Taiwan's private universities.
During its operation on the Chinese mainland, the university lured first-class faculties such as "master of Chinese culture" Ji Xianlin and notable Chinese chemist and educator Chien Shih-Liang, and groomed lots of talented students, including 11 academicians of the China Academy of Sciences.
Chen Xiaolong, vice director of the Organizing Committee of the Reestablishment of Fu Jen University, said the reestablishement was initiated in 2003 by Wang Guangmei, director of the Alumni Association of the Catholic University of Peking, a respected Chinese politician and the wife of late Chinese President Liu Shaoqi. She passed away in 2006.
The committee director Wang Desheng, a professor of Beijing Normal University who is a graduate of Fu Jen, actually wrote "The Request of Reestablishing Fu Jen National University" when Wang Guangmei and 14 scholars who graduated from the university initiated the reestablishment plan.
The request was denied then. Now the committee is making another attempt. Their application was recently handed to Zhejiang Education Department and is currently waiting for approval.
According to Chen, the campus couldn't be established in Beijing because there's no land large enough to contain it.
"The suitable place should meet three criteria - it should offer a large area of land, boast a profound cultural background and its location should not hinder cooperation with Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University," said Chen.
The committee later expanded their sights nationwide and eventually focused on Hangzhou.
The site adjacent to the new campus of Hangzhou Normal University is in Cangqian Town, Yuhang City, Hangzhou, which, with a long historical standing and a thick cultural atmosphere, is also the hometown of Zhang Binglin, a Chinese philologist and textual critic.
And Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport has a direct route to Taiwan.
If the application is approved, a Sanmen campus will also be established in Sanmen, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, which will open to first and second-year students only.
The Hangzhou campus will occupy 2.67 square kilometers. The Sanmen campus will cover 2.9 square kilometers. Hopefully the project will commence in April 2012 and end in September 2017.
The committee will invest 17.5 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) in total for the foundation.
The new Fu Jen University will be private, and the committee will be dedicated to "putting the school on the international map and listing it among the top universities in the world before 2050," says Chen.
Despite the massive costs, the committee said the finance "wouldn't be a problem."
Chen said the committee has also turned to celebrated Chinese businessmen.
"We had contacted several of them for donations, and Ka-shing Li said he would donate the main building while Leo KoGuan would donate the library and science center," Chen revealed.
Li from Hong Kong is the richest person of East Asian descent in the world, while Leo Koguan who sponsors several China's universities is the chairman of the Leo Koguan Foundation in the United States, and the founder and chairman of Software House International.
The university established in 1925 shared the same reputation as its peers Peking University, Tsinghua University and Yanching University - collectively known as the "Four Famous Universities in Beijing."
It was amalgamated with Beijing Normal University, Beijing University and People's University of China in 1952. Its former site is located at the campus of Beijing Normal University's Continuing Education and Teacher Training College.
In 1961, Fu Jen was reestablished in Taiwan and renamed Fu Jen Catholic University. It currently has nine colleges in Taiwai, with a student body of 26,000 students. It ranks at the top of Taiwan's private universities.
During its operation on the Chinese mainland, the university lured first-class faculties such as "master of Chinese culture" Ji Xianlin and notable Chinese chemist and educator Chien Shih-Liang, and groomed lots of talented students, including 11 academicians of the China Academy of Sciences.
Chen Xiaolong, vice director of the Organizing Committee of the Reestablishment of Fu Jen University, said the reestablishement was initiated in 2003 by Wang Guangmei, director of the Alumni Association of the Catholic University of Peking, a respected Chinese politician and the wife of late Chinese President Liu Shaoqi. She passed away in 2006.
The committee director Wang Desheng, a professor of Beijing Normal University who is a graduate of Fu Jen, actually wrote "The Request of Reestablishing Fu Jen National University" when Wang Guangmei and 14 scholars who graduated from the university initiated the reestablishment plan.
The request was denied then. Now the committee is making another attempt. Their application was recently handed to Zhejiang Education Department and is currently waiting for approval.
According to Chen, the campus couldn't be established in Beijing because there's no land large enough to contain it.
"The suitable place should meet three criteria - it should offer a large area of land, boast a profound cultural background and its location should not hinder cooperation with Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University," said Chen.
The committee later expanded their sights nationwide and eventually focused on Hangzhou.
The site adjacent to the new campus of Hangzhou Normal University is in Cangqian Town, Yuhang City, Hangzhou, which, with a long historical standing and a thick cultural atmosphere, is also the hometown of Zhang Binglin, a Chinese philologist and textual critic.
And Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport has a direct route to Taiwan.
If the application is approved, a Sanmen campus will also be established in Sanmen, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, which will open to first and second-year students only.
The Hangzhou campus will occupy 2.67 square kilometers. The Sanmen campus will cover 2.9 square kilometers. Hopefully the project will commence in April 2012 and end in September 2017.
The committee will invest 17.5 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) in total for the foundation.
The new Fu Jen University will be private, and the committee will be dedicated to "putting the school on the international map and listing it among the top universities in the world before 2050," says Chen.
Despite the massive costs, the committee said the finance "wouldn't be a problem."
Chen said the committee has also turned to celebrated Chinese businessmen.
"We had contacted several of them for donations, and Ka-shing Li said he would donate the main building while Leo KoGuan would donate the library and science center," Chen revealed.
Li from Hong Kong is the richest person of East Asian descent in the world, while Leo Koguan who sponsors several China's universities is the chairman of the Leo Koguan Foundation in the United States, and the founder and chairman of Software House International.
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