Date: November 15, 2016

Source: Nanfang Daily

Author: Tao Dapin

Published: JNU News Center 

(Group photo of the team from National Chi Nan University of Taiwan attending 2016 "Cross-Strait Structural Model Competition")

At the end of September, Jinan University had 886 students from Taiwan, the most of any mainland university. National Chi Nan University (NCNU) in Taiwan shares JNU's Chinese name, demonstrating that blood is thicker than water between mainland China and Taiwan. Especially in economy and culture, "Jinan People" often take an active part in cross-strait exchanges.

Among Taiwan universities, NCNU stands at the highest altitude. It is in Puli Township in Nantou County in central Taiwan, famous for its scenic Sun Moon Lake. The winding mountain path offers a panoramic view of the green trees and Chinese-style architecture between the mountain and the lake. Here is NCNU, sharing JNU's 110-year history. Both were rebuilt on the foundation of National Jinan University in Shanghai.

Professor Xu Hong, former acting president of NCNU, once said, "JNU's motto of Loyalty, Sincerity, Integrity and Respect shares the same vision with that of NCNU, which is Infuse distinctive local features, Integrate humanities and technology, Aggregate traditional and foreign education and Combine ecology and environmental protection. There are also frequent exchanges between the teachers and students from the two universities in many areas, including training of students, academic research, scientific research training and exchanges of events."

After receiving a bachelor's degree from JNU, Liu Xiaowei, the first Taiwan president of the Student Union, chose to pursue his master's degree at Sun Yat-sen University in mainland China. "All things here are really unbelievable," he said. "The facts show that this place is full of opportunities and, more important, full of tolerance. As long as you have an idea and take action, it will come true. Since cross-strait flights started, it just takes nearly two hours to reach Taiwan from Guangdong. You can eat malatang -- a common Chinese street food, similar to hot pot – "in the mainland in the morning and fried chicken in Taiwan in the evening. I think the development potential here is great and its future will be promising."