Shaanxi university celebrates 120 years

One of China's oldest universities celebrated its 120th anniversary on Friday, and the 60th anniversary of it moving from Shanghai to Northwest China's Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

Xi'an Jiaotong University, or Xi'an Jiaoda as it is colloquially known, has educated more than 230,000 graduates over the past six decades, one third of whom went on to work and live in western China.

This was the aim of the university's relocation by the State Council in 1955, to help speed up the development of the country's west, according to Wang Shuguo, Xi'an Jiaoda's president.

Liu Yandong, vice premier of the State Council in charge of science and education, sent a letter of congratulations to Xi'an Jiaoda on the occasion of its anniversary, highlighting the positive contributions that it has made to the development of the country and the west of China.

Chen Xuejun, 97, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Xi'an Jiaoda's power and energy institute, recalls leaving Shanghai with his wife when the university relocated.

"We left our hometown in August 1956 and felt proud to have the chance to practice national strategy," Chen said.

From a young teacher to an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chen overcame countless difficulties on his path to building China's first engineering research institute of thermal physics in western China, and achieved a number of scientific research results that won State-level awards.

Like Chen, all the teachers and staff at Xi'an Jiaoda work toward building the university and, in turn, helping the country develop.

In May, Xi'an Jiaoda launched the Silk Road University Alliance, which features 124 colleges and universities from 32 countries and regions, working together to build a higher education cooperation platform that will service the construction and development of the countries and regions along the ancient trading route.

Then, in October, the university signed an agreement with the Education Ministry and Shaanxi provincial government to build a scientific innovation town in Xixian New Area, a State-level urban and industrial development zone between Xi'an and its neighboring city Xianyang, to further promote the school's education and scientific research and train new talents.

Friday's celebration attracted a number of high-ranking officials, principals and representatives from 104 universities and 26 countries, including: Yukio Hatoyama, former Japanese Prime Minister, president of the East Asian Community Institute and honorary professor of Xi'an Jiaoda; Aurora Gonzalez, vice minister of Cuban Ministry of Higher Education; William Philips, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics; Berry Marshall, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine and foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; and Konstantin Novoselov, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics.

Zhang Maizeng, Party secretary of Xi'an Jiaoda, said the university would continue to contribute to the development of western China, serve the country and conduct world-class research.