Yunnan University

Yunnan University

Walking alone the Green lake, there is one university sitting right next to it, Yunnan University. When you walk into the campus during fall, yellow ginkgo leaves block your sight immediately. There is a huge stare taking all of its students to the Huize building. 

The House of Huize

In 1922, Tang Jiyao, the then Governor of Yunnan province founded the Donglu University, a private university which was located at the site of Mingyuan Pavilion, an official building used for imperial examination in feudal times. The House of Huize, which was so named to commemorate Governor Tang’s native place, was used as the main building of the university. 

The house was designed by Zhang Banghan, an architect who had studied in France and Belgium. 

Facing south and built with bricks and stone slabs, the house comprises a two-storey building and a basement as its main structure, with entrance gates in four directions. 

When Jiang Jieshi(Jiang Kai-shek)was visiting Kunming in 1935, he made the house his temporary residence. 

During the anti-Japanese war, the house was twice bombed by Japanese airplanes but did not collapse. In 1946, a third storey was added to the top of the building, which was named “Yangzhi(lofty) Tower”, with Wang Jingxian being its designer. 

During the July 15 Democratic Movement of 1948, the House of Huize served as the headquarters of the students. 

In 1987 the house was listed as one of the key historic sites under protection by provincial government. 

In front of the house of Huize is a calligraphy written by a student named Jia Jun who graduated in 1997. His words then were used as the motto of Yunnan University until today. “会泽百家，至公天下” which means that social responsibility and knowledge should be the historic quality of a Univesity. This motto keeps reminding everyone who is part of the university to be responsible