Date:Nov. 8, 2021

Source: China News Service, Guangdong

Author: Chen Lian, Guo Zhifan, Zheng fan, Wu Jianhao  

Jinan University is the first university for overseas Chinese founded by the government and one of the oldest universities in China. Since its establishment in 1906, JNU has trained more than 400,000 talents from more than 170 countries on five continents and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. This achievement is inseparable from a group of special people: the school’s board of trustees. 

Jinan University established its first board in 1921, one of the earliest in China,  and the Ministry of Education of the Beiyang government under the Republic of China from 1912 to 1928 officially issued the letter of appointment on March 2, 1922. At that time, there were 20 trustees,  including Zhang Jian, Fan Yuanlian, Lin Wenqing, Yuan Xitao and Huang Yanpei. Most of them were educators or industrial giants enthusiastic about education of overseas Chinese.

On March 19, 1922, the first board meeting of Jinan School was held in Shanghai.

In the spring of 1931, the 126th executive meeting of the central executive committee of the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, decided to establish a new board of trustess for Jinan University, which included almost half of that committee.

(The JNU campus plan in 1923)

In 1958, with the approval of the State Council, Jinan University, which had been closed for nearly 10 years, was rebuilt in Guangzhou.

(The main gate of Jinan University in 1958.)

(Jinan University held its opening ceremony on Sept. 24, 1958.)

On Feb. 9, 1963, the board held its inaugural meeting at Guangzhou Yangcheng hotel, during which the board’s articles of association were adopted. Liao Chengzhi was the first chairman of the board after the founding of new China.

(From left, Wang Shoudao, Liao Chengzhi and Xi Zhongxun)

During the Cultural Revolution, Jinan University was forced to close and the board suspended its activities.

In 1978, the Party Central Committee and the State Council decided to restore Jinan University, and its board of trustees  was restored the same year.

( JNU's reopening ceremony)

In 1985, Rong Yiren，vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, took over as board chairman.

(Rong Yiren presiding over the second meeting of the second board of directors in June 1988.)

After careful consideration, the State Education Commission approved Jinan University and Huaqiao University to resume independent enrollment in 1989.

From 1994 to 2010, Qian Weichang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, took over as board chairman. He became its longest-serving chairman.

(In January 1994, Jinan University held the first meeting of its third board of trustees  since 1978.)

In 1998, to facilitate the schooling of Macao students, the board recommended and promoted the joint establishment of Zhuhai College between Jinan University and Zhuhai City, forming today's Zhuhai campus. Under the promotion of the board, the Graduate School of Jinan University was established in 2011.

(Dai Bingguo, center)

In 2013, Dai Bingguo, a former member of the State Council and director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, took over as board chairman.

(Wan Gang, front row, fourth from left)

In 2019, the new chairman was Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, chairman of the Zhi Gong Party Central Committee, and chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. The board now consists  of 82 trustees s from Canada, Russia, Australia, Peru, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries, as well as Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.

Edmund Ho Hau-wah，who served the post of the first and second chief executives of the Macao Special Administrative Region; and the current vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and  Cui Shian,who served the post of the third and fourth chief executives; and He Yicheng, the current chief executive are all board members. 

(JNU Party Secretary Lin Rupeng, left, paying a courtesy call on Edmund Ho Hau-wah 

(Lin, left, visiting Cui Shian 

(He Yicheng, with Lin Rupeng)

(He Yicheng, fourth from left, meeting with President Song Xianzhong, third from left, and his party)