Lianda: A Place of Passion, Belief and Commitment
Throughout history, the great thinkers of the world have often rather romantically referred to their academic struggles as being like “war”. However, for most of them, the“war” has been purely symbolic. Real war is never romantic as it brings suffering and immense challenges.
In 1937, the aggression of the Japanese army brought disaster to China's three great universities: Peking University and Tsinghua University were occupied by Japanese troops, while Nankai University was completely destroyed by bombing. To save their educational and intellectual heritage, the three universities joined together in Kunming as National Southwest Associated University, otherwise known as Lianda.
Professors and students alike in the three universities made an epic journey over a distance of more than 2,000 kilometres, most of them on foot. Their bed was the dusty road and their roof was the open sky, often lit up by exploding Japanese bombs. Conditions were little better once they reached the remote and mountainous south-west part of China. They had to live in rough buildings, packed 40 to a room, like sardines. There were dire shortages of food, books, and equipment. Furthermore, classes were frequently disrupted due to fierce air attacks and often had to be held before 10 am and after 4 pm.
However, despite the immense hardships and the daunting challenges, it was right in this place, over a period of eight long years, that the nation's intellectual heritage was not only guarded but fortified by the passion and belief of the worthy academics of Lianda. It is no wonder that many, if not most, of China's leading scholars and scientists emerged at Lianda, including the two Nobel Prize-winning physicists, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao. “Lianda laid the foundation for every achievement I have made,” Yang recalled. He still remembers learning in a temporary classroom that had no glass in the windows. “On windy days, we had to hold down the paper on the desk, which would otherwise be blown away,” he said.
With the country at war, students at Lianda were not going to shirk their duty. Driven by a sense of commitment, a great many joined the army to resist the Japanese invaders and defend the honour of the nation. In fact, Lianda provided the largest number of student-soldiers from any campus in China.
Of the thousands of college students from all over China who served as interpreters, one tenth were from Lianda, including the well-known translators Zha Liangzheng and Xu Yuanchong. Zha later depicted the contributions of his peers in a poem:
Softly, on the hillside forgotten by all,
A misty rain falls in a gentle breeze;
There is no trace of the footprints of history;
Where brave souls once stood, breathing new life into the trees.
A product of the war, Lianda is now physically gone. But it has become the crowning glory of China’s modern universities, not only because of its prominent professors and talented students, but also because of the school’s strong spirit of perseverance and dedication. In 2017, representatives from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University and Yunnan Normal University gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its founding.
More than eighty years on, the priceless contribution of Lianda still needs to be reaffirmed. It has become part of the collective memory of the Chinese nation, with its spirit as the blueprint for all universities in China in the modern era.