Tianjin Nankai High School

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Coordinates: 39°07′50″N, 117°09′53″E

Nankai High School, Tianjin
Nankai High School, Tianjin

Tianjin Nankai High School (traditional Chinese: 天津南開中學; simplified Chinese: 天津南开中学; pinyin: Tiānjīn Nánkāi Zhōngxúe) is an elite college-preparatory high school in Tianjin, China. This is the original Nankai High School, and it is often referred to as Nankai High School in Tianjin to differentiate it from Chongqing Nankai Middle School, its sister school in Chongqing.

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[edit] History

Nankai High School in Tianjin (or Tientsin), was founded in 1904 by Yan Fansun and the legendary educator Zhang Boling. It was originally a private school, featuring a western-style college-preparatory curricula instead of a traditional Confucian curriculum. It was the first school in the Nankai Family of Schools. This system would latter be expanded to include Nankai University in 1919. Nankai University would become one of China's most prestigious universities.

By 1936, war between China and Japan seemed inevitable. The city of Tianjin was located near the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and was vulnerable to a Japanese attack in the event of war. In anticipation of this war, the administration of the Nankai Schools established another high school in Chongqing, far to the southwest in the interior of China. This school would become known as Nankai High School in Chongqing.

When the War of Resistance against Japan began in September of 1937, all of the faculty and students at Nankai High School were evacuated to the sister school in Chongqing, where the school would remain for the duration of the war. Nankai University and other Chinese universities were also evacuated to the city of Changsha and latter Kunming. After the war ended in 1945, Nankai High School was relocated back to its original campus in Tianjin. However, the Nankai High School in Chongqing remained in operation and still exists to this day.

[edit] Education

Today, Nankai High School is a public school best known for its success in preparing students for the National College Entrance Examination 高考 (Gāokǎo). The graduates of the school are typically admitted to the best universities in China and around the world. Its college-preparatory curricula covers a wide range of subjects in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The school also encourages its students to take part in various academic extra-curricular activities, including the International Science Olympiad. Between 1998 and 2005, four Nankai students became IPhO gold medal winners. Nankai students also received gold medals in IMO, IChO, IBO, and IOI.

Admission to Nankai High School is highly selective and is based on an applicant's primary school grades and performance on an entrance exam. In 2005, 4,000 students were admitted to the school. The school is supported by 300 faculty and staff.

[edit] Famous Alumni

The most famous graduate of Nankai High School was Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People's Republic of China. However, several other national leaders were also graduates from the school, including another Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, several university presidents, and more than sixty academicians. Since 2001, six recipients of the annual Top National Scientist Award were Nankai High School graduates, including Liu Dongsheng (2003) and Ye Duzheng (2005). Other famous alumni include:

In addition to its alumni, several famous writers were once members of the faculty at Nankai High School, including:

[edit] Resources

  • Financial Times article, July 14, 2005 (p. 13)
  • PhD dissertation: Sarah Coles McElroy, Transforming China through Education: Yan Xiu, Zhang Boling, and the Effort to Build a New School System, 1901-1927, Yale University, 1996

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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