How new campus of Wuhan University was built
New Campus of Wuhan University Built in Modern Times
Not much attention has been paid to the processes of the construction of modern Chinese universities. Recently, the publishing of New Campus of Wuhan University Built in Modern Times by Liu Wenxiang provides an excellent case. The book relays the complicated construction process of the new campus of Wuhan University (WHU).
Under the proposal of Chinese geologist Li Siguang (1889–1971), WHU decided to abandon the old campus in Wuchang City (a district of present-day Wuhan City) and build a new campus near Hongshan Hill. To this end, a special construction committee was established, with Li Siguang as the chairman. However, the Hubei Provincial Government had planned to cultivate a forest farm near Hongshan Hill, so the committee decided to build the new campus south of the Luojia Hills. At that time, this area was not included in the urban construction plan.
But why is the campus of WHU largely located north of the Luojia Hills? In February 1929, Francis Henry Kales, the main architect and designer of WHU, undertook a procedural aerial observation and analysis and persuaded the committee to build WHU north of the Lujia Hills and at the peninsula area inside the East Lake.
After the school site was confirmed, the construction of the new campus gradually began. Due to the impact of the Yangtze River floods in 1931 and the January 28 Incident in 1932, the construction process before 1937 was divided into two distinct stages. However, the second phase was not completed before the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937.
In addition to the above-mentioned accidents, insufficient funding for construction was also an important reason for the delay in construction. The allocated governmental funding of 1.5 million yuan was not even enough to pay for the first phase of the construction. After 1933, the committee had to raise further funds for construction by themselves.
Before the site of WHU was selected in the Luojia Hills, most buildings of colleges and universities in Wuchang City were reconstructed or expanded from previous Qing government offices, temples and halls. At the end of 1926, the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949) decided to merge many of these universities together to establish the National Wuchang Sun Yat-sen University. It was renamed National Wuhan University in 1928. With all this in mind, expansion of the campus became a top priority.
The area near the East Lake did not carry out urban construction and large-scale scenic development during this time. The construction of WHU and subsequent urban expansion is the reason why the East Lake has gradually been included in the scope of Wuhan City. Wuhan’s status as a “landscape city” began for the same reason.
edited by YANG LANLAN