Interpretation of Motto
In order to carry down and develop glorious tradition and fine university spirit, encourage constantly refreshed spirit, hard studying, rigorous scholarship, innovation, and forging ahead of faculty, staff and students, the new motto of Wuhan University was developed. It was based on the opinions from all university levels and the examination of university administration committee in 1993:
Self-improvement, broad and strong minded, truth seeking, and innovation.
"Self-improvement" is from "as heaven is moving vigorously, gentlemen should strive constantly to become stronger" of <<Book of Changes>>. The meaning is self-esteem, self improvement, and going up. Self improvement is the traditional virtue of Chinese people.
"Broad and strong minded" is from "an educated gentleman cannot but be resolute and broad-minded, for he has taken up a heavy responsibility and a long course" of <<The Analects of Confucius>>. The meaning is ambitious, strong, and resolute. The word was included in our school motto in 1930s "sensible, honest, broad, and strong".
"Self-improvement" and "broad and strong minded" summarized the meaning above and reflected the depth of history and continuation of spirit of our university.
"Truth seeking" is learned and knowledge seeking, and exploration of law. which is from "like and study of ancient culture, seek truth from facts" of the <<History of the Former Han Dynasty>>.
"Innovation" means pioneering, innovation, continuous enterprising.
In general, the overall significance of our motto is to carry down and develop Chinese nation's great spirit of ceaseless self-improvement, establish great ambition of studying hard and dedication for our thriving and prosperous country, with tenacious characters and scientific and rigorous attitude, explore objective law of development of things strenuously, initiate new prospects, obtain new achievements, run the Wuhan University of socialism well, and continue to make new contributions to our country.
Campus Culture
After a busy day of studying, wandering in the beautiful campus of Wuhan University. Under the night, walking into academic forum and listening to the forefront lectures of masters and young scholars to enjoy the feast of ideas brought by the top scholars.
"Broad and strong minded forum"
Academic lectures are hosted by the Academic Department, which is affiliated to Graduate Student Association. Academic experts or celebrities in related area from inside or outside our university are invited to give lectures about their research area or topics concerned by students. A wide range of subjects can meet listeners in different levels, different professional backgrounds, and with different preferences, which help to improve individual comprehensive quality and expand the field of vision. "Broad and strong minded forum" has great repercussions on and off campus, and become a brand academic activity that is widely known inside and outside our university. The lecture is given 7:00 pm on every Tuesday at multifunctional lecture hall in the 5th teaching building, 1st region. And the arrangement of each lecture can be seen on the poster in each school bulletin board.
"Economy and Management Forum of Luojia young Scholar"
Since the forum was instituted ,dozens of academic activities have been held successfully, which greatly strengthened academic exchanges and enriched the research field. The forum uses papers as main content, and commenting by critics and free-spoken as main form, aiming to promote collision of minds and stimulate enthusiasm of scientific research. The speakers are young scholars from universities, mainly PhD. students. The contents of the forum are extensive, and usually are the latest research results of the speaker, which reflects the academic frontier in related area, and are beneficial for improving their own ability. The specific time and place of the forum are not fixed. It is usually held on a weekly basis. For specific schedule, please pay attention to college's posters, and field of scientific research and foreign affairs on the college's home page. The paper for each lecture can be downloaded from website.
"Truth seeking forum"
Series of academic lectures are hosted by the Communist Youth League Committee of Wuhan University and The Deng Xiaoping Theory Research Institute. The forum concerns social hot spots and collision of minds, and uses novel materials and unique perspectives. Celebrities and experts outside of university are usually invited to express their academic point of view on related issues using unique perspective and innovative ideas, which are very popular with the students. The style of the forum is in accordance with the free, open academic tradition of Wuhan University. The forum is held 7:00 pm on every Thursday at room 302, the 1st teaching building, 1st region. The arrangement of each activity can be seen from posters on bulletin boards and related medias.
"Spring of the Luojia" Cultural Festival of Science and Technology
With the main body of college students' science and technology festival, academic lectures and science and technology competitions, such as extracurricular academic works of science and technology contests, business plan competitions, "Luojia Forum", "Red Maple Forum", "Academician Forum", "Innovation and "Entrepreneurship Forum", "Life Planning and Occupation Navigation" etc., are held regularly, to nurture and enhance science and technology innovation ability, entrepreneurial ability, and employment competitive power.
Luojia Golden Autumn Art Festival
Luojia Art Festival in Golden Autumn was established in 1987, which is the most famous brand in campus cultural activities of Wuhan University. The festival is aimed to sing the main rhythm of the times, and to fuse art competition and art appreciation perfectly.
Luojia Golden Autumn International Cultural Festival
Luojia Golden Autumn International Cultural Festival was established in 2005. The festival is taking international students as the main body, and international cultural exchange as the theme, aiming to enhance mutual understanding of international students and strengthen Chinese and foreign cultural exchange.
Community Cultural Festival
Community Cultural Festival is the most important brand activity of Students' AssociationUnion of Wuhan University and an exotic flower of campus cultural activities. The festivals have been held five times in a row, including more than 60 activities. Of these activities, "Sakura Poem Competition" and "Sakura Pen Club" had widespread influence in Wuhan area even national universities.
Cultural Activity Supermarket on Campus
"Cultural Activity Supermarket on Campus", established in 2003, is a new brand of campus cultural activities of Wuhan University. Six plates and more than 30 sub projects have been formed, such as "Luojia Drama World", "Luojia Literary World", "Art Arena", "Art Kaleidoscope", " Sailing in Scientific Sea", and "Weekend Art World" etc., and its content involves in many aspects such as literature, art, science, and practice.
Administration building: one of the early buildings, located in Luojia Mountain, designed by America famous construction engineer Kelce, built by a winning bidder Shanghai Liuhe Construction Company in 1936. The total floor area is 8140 m2, and the total cost at that time is 400000 yuan. The building faces south and is in axial symmetry with College of Science on the opposite side of the 912 playground.
912 playground: On September 12, 1958, Mao Zedong visited Wuhan University and met more than ten thousand teachers and students headed by Wuhan University. During the period of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kaishek used this playground for reviewing troops and practice. The university's opening ceremony and military training are held here every year.
Cherry Blossom Avenue: The three towns of Wuhan have fallen at the end of October, 1938. Old Study Dorm in Wuhan University was used as operational headquarters of Japanese Army and health resort of wounded soldiers. In order to alleviate homesickness of wounded soldiers, less than 30 cherry blossom trees have been planted in 1939 in Wuhan University. Most of them are single and multi-petal cherry blossoms. (Later, the university has expanded greening. More than 1000 cherry blossoms are in campus of Wuhan University today, including four botanical species Japanese cherry blossom, cerasus serrulata, cerasus subhirtella var. pendula, and cerasus cerasoides rubea and more than a dozen of cultivated varieties or variants). At the end of March to April of each year, tens of thousands of tourists are attracted to cherry blossom avenue by its reputation. At that time, cherry blossoms fly and the campus is in the sea of cherry blossoms, especially in late March. However, the flowering period is short, only about 13-20 days.
Old Study Dorm: located at southern slope of lion mountain, in the front of the library. It is the earliest student dormitory and one of early buildings. The construction of the building was completed in September 1931 by a bidding winner Hanxiesheng construction company. The total floor area is 13773 m2 and total construction cost is 550000 yuan.
The whole building has been ingeniously designed, comprising four dormitories that are united by four Rome arches as one. The dominant color of the building is gray of granite, displaying simple, elegant, kind, and steady. At the entrance, there are one hundred steps, which are uniform and magnificent. Each dormitory is divided into three rows: front, middle, and back by two big courtyards. Each row is 1 to 4 floors according to the height of mountain. Each floor of each dormitory was named by the first 16 words in <<Thousand Words>>, forming 16 study dorms: heaven, earth, xuan, yellow, yu, zhou, flood, huang, sun, moon, full, ze, chen, su, lie, and zhang that mean all-embraced in here. Roofs of the dormitories were built into flat surface by the side of the mountain. That implies the ideal pursuit of "uneven earth but even heaven", namely, although the starting point is not the same, the same achievement will be reached through hard working.
Library: In the front of library, the building on the left is Law School, which has straight eaves representing justice, equity, and strictness, and the building on the right is School of Liberal Arts, which has eaves with cocked angles representing great literary talent.
The library, located on the top of Lion Mountain, built in 1935, is the most famous building in early stage of Wuhan University. The floor area is 4767 m2, and the total construction cost is 240000 yuan at that time. The advanced floor heating was used at that time. However, the heating equipment is too old to use right now. There is an image of an old master Laozi on the gate of the library, who was the earliest curator of the library in our country's history. The total library holdings is 400000 books. Among of them, there are 200000 ancient books, including over 800 rare editions, over 1000 local Chronicles, over 400 genealogies, and over 2600 historical newspapers and periodicals. The major of library and information science in Wuhan University is number one in the country.
Student activity center on the top of dormitory in cherry blossom garden: Student dining hall and club is nearby the old study dorm. Its interior decoration is full of nationality features. "Magic gourd inserted with three halberd" is on the roof beam, which means to bless student upgraded three levels. "Bat (Fu) is before the eyes" were carved on the angle of the roof beam. During the period of anti-Japanese war, many lectures were given here by important leaders of the country such as Zhou Enlai, and many shows of anti-Japanese were also held here.
Roc Square: Roc Square takes its name from the shape of sculpture in the center of the square, meaning the huge bird was flying highly. Cherry blossoms in this area are part of the 50 cherry blossoms given by premier Zhou.
Songqing Gymnasium: located in south side of the Lion mountain, is one of the early buildings in Wuhan University, and a typical Chinese and Western combined building. The construction was completed by a bidding winner Shanghai Liuhe company in July 1936 with a total floor area of 2748 m2 and total construction cost of 123100 yuan. In the early Republic of China, president Li Yuanhong (styled Song Qing) died of an illness in Tianjing and wanted to be reburied in south foot of Luojia Mountain. However, the university refused his request. Later, his two sons Li Shaoji and Li Shaoye handed over 100000 silver dollar that was kept by their father and donated by Xin Hai revolutionaries for construction of JiangHan University to Wuhan University for construction of gymnasium, also called Song Qing gymnasium.
Mid-level Cottage: also named single professor dorm. Located in northern halfway up to Luojia Mountain in Wuhan University. The residential building is two stories with brick-wood structure in elegant environment, and little and dainty. From 1933 to 1937, famous and single professor in Wuhan University have lived here. From 1937 to 1938, during the anti-Japanese war in Wuhan, Chiang Kai Shek, Song Meiling, and important politicians of the National Government have stayed here. Now it is used as the offices of Board of Trustees and Alumni Association.
Eighteen buildings: The residential buildings of faculties and staffs are located in southeast of Luojia Mountain in Wuhan University. Its overall architecture is British country house style, but each building has its own characteristics. There are a total of eighteen buildings, and another four buildings were built later. After the Japanese occupied Wuhan, the internal structure of some houses have been changed into Japanese style, and one building has been removed. (Later people still call it eighteen buildings habitually).
During the battle of Wuhan, due to the second cooperation of Nationalist Party and Communist Party, Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao, and Guo Moruo have lived here.
In 1961, Guo Moruo has revisited here and had a picture before the former residence. In his anti-Japanese War memoir <<Hongbo Song>>, he said "the area of Wuhan University outside Wuchang city should be considered as the hidden paradise of three towns in Wuhan.
The University Gate: The earliest memorial gateway is located inside the opening of the street. It was built about in 1937. The new memorial gateway was built according to the old one before its centennial in 1993 using the funding raised by Shenzhen Alumni Association and alumni at home and abroad. On its back is "art, law, science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine" six characters, representing six colleges, and on its front is "National Wuhan University". Many people are interested in who wrote the memorial gateway of "National Wuhan University". However, this issue is still in controversy. At present, the statement that majority of people agreed is that, "National Wuhan University" on the new memorial gateway at front gate of Wuhan University were inscribed by Mr. Cao Lian, and "art, law, science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine" on the back of memorial gateway were written by professor Liu Boping.
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