Tianjin Nankai High School

Tianjin Nankai High School () is a 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. Nankai was one of the first modern secondary schools in China and boasts several of the important figures of modern Chinese history as its alumni. The main campus is located at 22 Nankai 4th Rd in Nankai District. The other two campuses are in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and Haihe Jiaoyu Yuanqu, Tianjin.

History

Nankai High School was founded in 1904 by Yan Xiu (also known as Yan Fansun). Nankai 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 later be expanded to include Nankai University in 1919. Nankai University would become one of China's most prestigious universities.

Establishment

right|thumb|220px|Nankai's founder, [[Yan Xiu]]

Before his work at Nankai, Yan Xiu was an intellectual with a strong understanding of traditional Chinese culture who had held positions at the prestigious Hanlin Academy earlier in his career, and in both China's provincial and central governments. The difficulties that confronted China in the late nineteenth century led Yan to become interested in Western and Japanese models of education, to which he attributed the contemporary strength of the West and Japan. Yan's experiences working within the Chinese bureaucracy led him to believe that only the most progressive reforms could save China from further decline.

Yan Xiu belonged to a group of reform-minded intellectuals who, in 1905, presented a memorial that suggested abolishing the traditional examination system, focused on knowledge of the Confucian classics, to a system of education focused on practical knowledge. Yan's memorial was well received by the Qing government, which was by then interested in reform as a way to preventing the dynasty from destruction. After he had received a mandate for reform, Yan took part in a large-scale educational reform aimed at modernizing the educational institutions throughout China. After the Qing dynasty was abolished in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, Yan was offered several high-level government positions, but refused them all in preference to devoting his time and energy to the establishment of Nankai.

Nankai was a boarding school with strict schedules, discipline, and moral codes, and promoted a strict daily schedule of student activities, similar to contemporary British schools. Zhang placed great importance on physical activity, and worked hard to break down traditional Chinese attitudes of contempt for physical exercise and manual labour. Zhang considered himself as both a teacher and a role model to his students, attempting to personally instruct them in basic principles of hygiene, eating with students, and participating in their exercises. Zhang's close association with his students was unusual in China (and elsewhere), but contributed to the admiration that most of his students reportedly felt for him throughout their lives.

Today

250px|thumb|right|Centennial monument

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 extracurricular 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.

Others

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 established in 2001, seven recipients of the annual Top National Scientist Awards were Nankai High School graduates, including Liu Dongsheng (2003), Ye Duzheng (2005), Wu Liangyong (2011) and Zhang Cunhao (2013). Famous Nankai alumni include:

Zhou Enlai (b. 1898), Chinese Premier (1949–1976)
Wen Jiabao (b. 1942), Chinese Premier (2003-2013)
Wu Dayou, President of Academia Sinica (1983–1994)
Qian Siliang, President of Academia Sinica (1960–1983)
Zhou Guangzhao, President of Chinese Academy of Sciences (1987–1997)
Zhu Guangya, first President of Chinese Academy of Engineering (1994–1998)
Zou Jiahua (b. 1926), Chinese Vice-Premier (1991–1998)
Mei Yiqi, first President of Tsinghua University (1931–1948 and 1955–1962)
Chang Li-sheng, Vice Premier of the Republic of China (1950–1954)
Mao Yushi, economist
Cao Yu, dramatist
Jiao Juyin, director
Zhou Zhongzheng, painter
Wu Yuzhang, painter
Zhou Ruchang, writer
Mu Dan, poet

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

Lao She, playwright
He Qifang

Footnotes

References

Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. Zhou Enlai: A Political Life Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. .
"Introduction" Nankai Middle School. China Service Mall. Retrieved at <http://www.at0086.com/TNHS/> on May 31, 2011.
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
Vohra, Ranbir. Lao She and the Chinese Revolution. Harvard University Asia Center, 1974. Volume 55 of Harvard East Asian Monographs. , 9780674510753.