What I forgot to add to the previous post, but which can have a post of its own, is Hunan University’s claim to 1033 years of history:
学校起源于宋朝四大著名书院之一、创建于宋太祖开宝九年(公元976年)的岳麓书院，历经宋、元、明、清等朝代的时势变迁，一直保持着文化教育的连续性。1903年岳麓书院改制为湖南高等学堂，1926年定名湖南大学，1937年成为国民政府教育部十余所国立大学之一。中华人民共和国成立后，著名的哲学家、教育家李达为湖南大学解放后第一任校长，毛泽东主席亲笔题写了校名。
The school has its origins in one of the four famous academies of the Song Dynasty, the Yuelu Academy established in the 9th year of the reign of the Song Emperor Kaibao [Historians! Help! How should that name be translated?] (976 AD), which witnessed the trends and changes of such dynasties as the Song, Ming and Qing, preserving along the way the continuity of culture and education. In 1903 Yuelu Academy was reformed to become Hunan School of Higher Learning, setting its name as Hunan University in 1926. In 1937 it became one of the dozen state-established universities of the Republican government’s Ministry of Education. Following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the famous philospher and educator Li Da became Hunan University’s first post-Liberation president, and Chairman Mao wrote the school’s name with his own hand.
Indeed, Hunan University has a collossal statue of Mao on its campus, and I do remember seeing signs proclaiming its 1000th anniversary in 1976. Anyway, I like their logic, and I like how the history of Yuelu Academy has been claimed as Hunan University’s own.
