Zhejiang University

Divie Bethune McCartee, the founder of Hangchow University

Seal of Hangchow Christian College

In 1845, the American missionary Divie Bethune McCartee founded Ningpo Boy's Boarding School (simplified Chinese: 崇信义塾; traditional Chinese: 崇信義塾; lit. 'Worship Honesty Public School') at North Bank, Ningbo, a city of Zhejiang Province and one of the treaty ports to the according to the 1843 Treaty of Wanghia. Aiming to influence local Chinese with Christianity and making them assist the mission, the school provided training in religion, geography, history, mathematics, science, language and arts and crafts and recruited up to 30 students a year. [38]^: 48–62[39]

Student, faculty and alumni of Hangchow College at Main Building in 1917

Main Building of Zhijiang Campus, Zhejiang University in 2018

With the land lease in Ningbo due in 1867, the school moved to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, and was renamed as Hangchow Presbyterian Boys' School (traditional Chinese: 育英義塾; simplified Chinese: 育英义塾; lit. 'Nurture Elite Public School').[38]^: 48–62[39] In 1897, it attained college rating, thus renaming itself to Hangchow Presbyterian College (traditional Chinese: 育英書院; simplified Chinese: 育英书院; lit. 'Nurture Elite College').[40] In 1911, the college moved to Qinwang Hill outside Hangzhou city centre, which is known as Zhijiang Campus of ZJU today. In 1914, it was renamed to Hangchow Christian College (simplified Chinese: 之江大学; traditional Chinese: 之江大學; lit. 'Hangchow River University' [note 2]).[40] The college ceased to operate due to the Nationalists' Northern Expedition in 1926–1927. With the foundation of new Nationalist government after the expedition, the college resumed operation in 1931, and was registered as the Private Hangchow College of Sciences and Humanities (simplified Chinese: 私立之江文理学院; traditional Chinese: 私立之江文理學院; lit. 'Private Zhejiang College of Humanities and Sciences'), because the college only had two branches, the sciences branch and the humanities branch.[40] During the Japanese invasion, the college moved to Tunxi, Shanghai, Shaowu, Guiyang and Chongqing sequently. In 1948, the college was promoted to Hangchow University (simplified Chinese: 之江大学; traditional Chinese: 之江大學; lit. 'Hangchow River University' [note 2]), thus recovering its Chinese name used from 1911 to 1931.[40]

As the Communists came to power in 1949, the American faculty left the Hangzhou campus. Except for the engineering sector that merged with Zhejiang University, the university was largely incorporated into a newly founded Chekiang Teachers College in 1952, which later became Hangzhou University (also spelled as Hangchow University[44] but different in Chinese) in 1958.

The board of the former Hangchow University, along with other Christian universities in China, founded Chung Chi College in Hong Kong in 1951 as a continuation of tradition of Chinese Christian universities. The college later became part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1963. The seals of 13 former Chinese Christian universities were hung above the two sides of the altar of the Chung Chi College Chaplaincy, which is the only place to see them, including the seal of Hangchow University, in China.[45]

Lin Qi, the founder of Qiushi Academy

Puci Temple, the former site of Qiushi Academy and Chekiang Higher Institutes, remains in Hangzhou city centre. The road nearby was named Daxue Road, meaning the university road.

In 1897, then-mayor of Hangzhou, Lin Qi (traditional Chinese: 林啓; simplified Chinese: 林启; pinyin: Lín Qǐ; Wade–Giles: Lin Ch'i) established the Qiushi Academy (traditional Chinese: 求是書院; simplified Chinese: 求是书院; pinyin: Qiúshì Shūyuàn; Wade–Giles: Ch'iu-shih-shu-yüan; also romanised as Ch'iu Shih Academy), which is the first higher education institution in Zhejiang and one of the first of its kind in China.[13]

Lin studied the Western higher education system and applied it to the Qiushi Academy. The Qiushi Academy was renamed to Chekiang College (traditional Chinese: 浙江大學堂; simplified Chinese: 浙江大学堂; pinyin: Zhèjiāng Dàxuétáng) in 1902, and to Chekiang Higher Institutes (traditional Chinese: 浙江高等學堂; simplified Chinese: 浙江高等学堂) in 1903.

The 1911 revolution led to an end of China's last imperial dynasty and a new republican government. Thus, the colleges founded during the Imperial period were restrained from recruiting new students since 1912 until a new education system was settled, which led to the closure of Chekiang Higher Institutes in 1914. However, the nationalist leaders failed to retain the control of the government, which fell into the hand of warlords, who were unable to restore monarchy. Thus, the nationalists founded a new government in Guangzhou to confront the Beiyang government controlled by the warlords.

Female students at Chekiang Provincial Medical & Pharmaceutical School doing morning exercises in July 1936

Following the 1911 Revolution, three alumni of Chekiang Higher Institutes, namely Li Suizhi, Han Qingquan, and Tang Erho, founded Chekiang Provincial Medical School in September 1912, which was the first modern medical school in China, with Han assuming the first president. Upon the request of the new government, Tang Erho left Zhejiang and later founded National Medical School in Beijing in October 1912.[46] In 1913, the School was renamed to Chekiang Provincial Medical & Pharmaceutical School.[47] In 1931, Chekiang Provincial Hospital was founded under the college.

In October 1937, due to Japanese invasion, the school first relocated Lingying and Yuquan near Hangzhou city centre to evade Japanese air strikes, and then evacuated with the provincial government to Chun'an in the western part of Zhejiang in November and then Jinyun in December. In the spring of 1938, the university retreated to Linhai. In August 1938, with the foundation of National Yingshi University named after Chen Qimei, the school became of part of the new wartime university. With further invasion of Japan in 1941 in Tiantai, the school retreated to Jinyun again. In 1943, due to objection from school alumni, the government re-grant the school the right to recruit students independently.

With the Chinese victory in 1945, the school returned to Hangzhou in 1946, with a new campus, which is later known as Hubin Campus, coming into use. In the summer of 1947, the school was promoted to Zhejiang Provincial College. In 1949, Kwang-Chi Hospital, which was one of the earliest modern hospitals and medical schools in China and was run by the British Church Mission Society, was taken over by the college after the Communists seized the city. In 1952, the college merged with the medical school of Zhejiang University to form a new Chekiang Medical College, which later became Zhejiang Medical University in April 1960.

Jiang Menglin, the first president of National Chekiang University

The seal of National Chekiang University, with Qiushi Eagle in the centre and Chinese character Zheda (浙大) above the eagle.

With the nationalists coming to power after the Northern Expedition in July 1927, the provincial government of Zhejiang returned the properties of the former Chekiang Higher Institutes, with which the alumni of Chekiang and Qiushi re-established the university, with the name National Third Chungshan University (traditional Chinese: 國立第三中山大學; simplified Chinese: 国立第三中山大学),[48] by merging Chekiang Industrial College and Chekiang Agricultural College. On 1 April 1928, the university was renamed to Chekiang University (traditional Chinese: 浙江大學; simplified Chinese: 浙江大学) and again renamed to National Chekiang University (traditional Chinese: 國立浙江大學; simplified Chinese: 国立浙江大学) later the year.[20] The University of Chekiang,[49][50] Chekiang University,[48][51] and other English names were also used.

Jiang Menglin, who graduated from Chekiang in 1903 served as the first president of the re-established institute since July 1927, but he was appointed as the minister of education within the new nationalist government in May 1928. The presidency was soon assumed by Shao Peizi, who was a graduate of Qiushi, then a teacher at Chekiang and a major contributor to the re-establishment of Chekiang in 1927.[52] However, despite invitation from Chiang Kai-shek, Shao refused to join Kuomintang (KMT), which worsened his relationship with the Nationalist government, eventually leading to financial crisis of the university and causing him to resign in March 1932 as the ongoing Japanese invasion in Shanghai discontinued the public funding to the university.

Soon, Cheng Tien-fong, a KMT member, was appointed as the new president. During his presidency, the university became directly funded by the central government, rather than the provincial government.[53] Chiang also wrote a personal letter to the provincial government of Zhejiang to solve the financial issues of the university. In March 1933, Zing-Yang Kuo, a notable psychologist and also a loyal KMT member who was teaching at Chekiang, was appointed the new president. Kuo expanded university with a new campus, which later became known as the Huajiachi Campus. However, the Nationalist government became unpopular among the people with the escalation of the Sino-Japanese conflicts and the government's soft stance against invasion. During the December 9th Movement in 1935, the students expelled Kuo, accusing him for colluding with the police to arrest protesting students.[54] As a result, Chiang Kai-shek, the head of the government, came to the university in person and eventually compromised with the students and faculty.

Chu Kochen, the president of National Chekiang University during 1936-1949

Scientists working at ZJU during the war

Chu Kochen, a scholar who had joined KMT but never held any political position, was recommended to Chiang Kai-shek by Chiang's speechwrite and Chekiang alumni Chen Bulei and thus became the president of Chekiang in April 1936. Chu's oath was administered by Jiang Mengling, the first president of Chekiang and then president of Peking.[55] With strong financial support and full authority of political appointments within the university as promised by Chen Bulei, Chu Kochen thus recruited prominent figures in the Science Society of China as well as The Critical Review (simplified Chinese: 学衡; traditional Chinese: 學衡; also translated as Xueheng), which significantly boosted the academic reputation of Chekiang.

In the latter half of 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and due to the invading Imperial Japanese Army, the university evacuated from Hangzhou to Yishan, Zunyi and eventually Meitan in the southwestern province of Guizhou. The students of Chekiang also carried historical collections of Zhejiang, including Siku Quanshu stored in the Wenlan Pavilion, to avoid them falling into Japanese hand. In Meitan, T. C. Hsu received postgraduate training by geneticist Tan Jiazhen, despite hardships during the war.[56] Consistently ranked as among top 3 in the nation during that time, the National Che Kiang University was praised as one of the four most Prominent Universities in the Republic of China, along with National Central University, National Southwestern Associated University, and National Wuhan University.[57] As the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in Chongqing, Joseph Needham visited the wartime campus of the university twice in 1944, during which he hailed the university as ""Cambridge of the East."[16][17][18]

As the war ended in 1945, the university returned to Hangzhou and founded its own medical school according to a government order in August 1945, which then opened in March 1947. As the Nationalist government re-controlled Taiwan, Chekiang professors Luo Zongluo, Su Buqing, Chen Jiangong and Cai Zhenghua were sent to Taipei to take over and re-organise the former Taihoku Imperial University. Thus, Luo Zongluo served as the first president of the National Taiwan University after re-organisation.

The dead body of Yu Zisan

In October 1947, Yu Zisan, the head of student union of Chekiang, was arrested for being a "communist bandit" and then died in the prison. The government's claim that Yu died of suicide was widely doubted, provoking a nationwide protest locally and nationwide, echoed by Tsinghua, Peking, Nankai, Xiamen and multiple other universities and schools in China. [58]

The Communists took control of most of mainland China and formed a new government by the end of 1949. Chu resigned as the president of Chekiang, upon request by the Nationalist government, but he didn't follow the government to flee to Taiwan, despite in-person request by Chiang Ching-kuo. More than 60 of the members of Academia Sinica decided to stay in the mainland, among them all five members at Chekiang didn't leave for Taiwan. Meanwhile, a lot of Chekiang alumni went to Taiwan with the Nationalist government, including Chang Chi-yun,[59] Tsen-cha Tsao,[60] Kan Chia-ming,[61] etc. In October 1950, the university was renamed as Chekiang University, removing "National" from its name, according to the order from the Ministry of Education of the new Communist government.[52] However, the name remain in use on rare occasions, e.g. National Chekiang University Alumni Association in North America.[62]

In 1952, the readjustment of China's tertiary education system transformed Zhejiang University from a national comprehensive university to an engineering-specialised university. Its sciences departments were sent to academic institutions including Fudan University, East China Normal University and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its college of humanities merged with Hangchow University to form the Zhejiang Teachers College which later became Hangzhou University. Its medical school merged with Chekiang Medical College to became Zhejiang Medical University. Its agricultural and horticultural departments became an independent Zhejiang Agricultural University.[63]

Later the year, the chemical engineering departments of Zhejiang University, and some the other technological parts went to former Hangzhou Chemical Engineering School, now known as Zhejiang University of Technology. And the dean Li Shouheng, who was one of the main founders of China's modern chemical engineering, was pointed to be the first president of the new university. The division of Zhejiang University was opposed by the faculty, among which Su Buqing and Tan Jiazhen once claimed to boycott the relocation.

In the mid-1980s, with the general acceptance of Hanyu Pinyin, the postal romanisation of place names within the university names, became replaced by the Pinyin equivalents.[64] Hence, Chekiang became replaced by Zhejiang while Hangchow became replaced by Hangzhou, which led to changes in the universities' English names.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Zhejiang University was led by its Vice President Liu Dan, who chose to construct a new campus near the Laohe Hill. The campus came into use in 1956, now known as the Yuquan Campus. The former campus of Zhejiang University at Huajiachi was then used by Zhejiang Agricultural University. In the same year, as decided by Vice President Liu, Zhejiang University again started to offer sciences education in addition to the remaining engineering education, despite the prevailing Soviet influence on higher education where specialised universities are preferred. However, the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Great Famine undermined this effort.

A statue of Mao Zedong was set up at the Zhejiang University campus on 26 December 1969 as a result of Mao Zedong's cult of personality during the Cultural Revolution, which remains a major landmark at Yuquan Campus

In March 1960, Zhejiang University's metallurgy, geology and civil engineering departments was planned to merge with Zhejiang Institute of Textile, Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Zhejiang Institute of Electrical Engineering to form Hangzhou College of Engineering, which was cancelled and re-merged into Zhejiang University in September 1961, except for the textile department which became Zhejiang Institute of Textile, later known as Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. The government planned to merge Hangzhou College of Engineering with a metallurgy school in Deqing, yet the Great Chinese Famine stopped the relocation plan. The institutes of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering that merged into Zhejiang University separated from Zhejiang University in 1964 to form an independent Zhejiang School of Engineering, now known as Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering.

The Socialist Education Movement from 1963 to 1965 and the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 made most of Zhejiang University faculty, including Vice President Liu Dan under attack, leading to a halt of most of teaching activities. Most of the faculty were prosecuted by self-organised students during the Cultural Revolution.

Lu Yongxiang was the president of Zhejiang University during 1988-1995

In 1966, the students of Zhejiang University protected the Lingying Temple from being destroyed by the Red Guards who were mostly high school students in Hangzhou. The event is known as the Lingyin Temple Incident (Chinese: 灵隐寺事件). Zhejiang University students were echoed by local villagers and Hangzhou citizens, as well as the students of Hangzhou University and Zhejiang Lu Xun Academy of Art who then joined them to protect the temple. The event ended up with a direct order from Premier Zhou Enlai to the Red Guards to protect the temple.[65][66]

In September 1958, Zhejiang Teachers College, located in a newly constructed Xixi campus, merged with the Zhejiang Party School, located in the former Hangchow University campus, now known as the Zhijiang Campus, and formed Hangzhou University as a university specialised in social sciences. Thus, its mathematics, physics, chemistry departments was proposed to go into the Zhejiang College of Engineering and its biology to be incorporated into Zhejiang Agricultural University in July 1960, which didn't come true due to objection from the universities.[67] In 1960, Hangzhou University became wholly based at Xixi, as the Zhijiang campus became taken by Zhejiang University, where Zhejiang set up three new departments. From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution impacted the university, with at least ten killed due to political prosecution.[68][69] Upon request of Hangzhou University professors Song Yunbin, Wang Jiawu and president Chen Jiangong, Zhou Enlai ordered to protect the Wenlan Pavilion, where the Siku Quanshu was protected from being destroyed by the Red Guards.[66]

Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital building

In 1952, the college merged with the medical school of Zhejiang University to form Zhejiang Medical University, also spelled as Chekiang Medical University and located in the site of former Chekiang Provincial Medical College.[70][71][72] The first affiliated hospital of Chekiang University became the first affiliated hospital of the new medical college. Kwang-Chi Hospital became the second affiliated hospital. Chekiang Provincial Hospital became the affiliated hospital traditional Chinese medicine.

In August 1955, the college was further divided, with 278 students sent to Sichuan Medical College, Shanghai First Medical College and Beijing Medical College, as well as 45 faculty members sent to Nanjing College of Pharmacy, Shenyang College of Pharmacy, Shanghai First Medical College and Sichuan Medical College. In 1958, the Second Zhejiang Medical College, later named as Wenzhou Medical College, was established in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, with the help of Zhejiang Medical College staff. In April 1960, the college was promoted to Zhejiang Medical University. Since 1966, teaching activity was stopped due to the impact of the Cultural Revolution. Since 1968, the university began to offer 1-year training for barefoot doctors in Xinchang.[73]

The "Red Building" of Hubin Campus, the only remaining building of the former Zhejiang Medical University campus

In July 1970, Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was merged into the university. In November 1970, the university re-started to recruit students. In 1973, Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was again separated from the university, along with the affiliated hospital of traditional Chinese medicine. In 1988, the university became among the first batch of 15 medical universities to offer 7-year medical education. In 1989, Hong Kong tycoon Sir Run Run Shaw donated a new, superb western style hospital hospital to Zhejiang, his home province. The hospital was named after him and became an affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Medical University, with Loma Linda University Health providing training for local doctors. The hospital came into use in 1994 and remains among top hospitals in China.[74][75][76] In 1998, the university was merged into Zhejiang University.[20] Most of the campus of Zhejiang Medical University was demolished in January 2007.[77][78]

Zijingang Campus, the main campus of ZJU, which came into use in 2002

The call for merger of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University and Zhejiang Medical University began since Zhejiang University was split in the 1950s. Major champions of the merger included the leaders of the universities, such as Liu Dan and Lu Yongxiang of Zhejiang University, Zheng Su of Zhejiang Medical University, Zhu Zuxiang of Zhejiang Agricultural University, Chen Li of Hangzhou University.[63]^: 94 In 1997, four prominent scientists who formerly worked at National Chekiang University in the 1930s and 1940s, i.e. Wang Ganchang and Bei Shizhang in Beijing, plus Su Buqing and Tan Jiazhen in Shanghai, wrote a joint letter to the then-president of China Jiang Zemin to advise an merger of the four universities.[63]^: 94 In 1998, with the approval of the State Council, the new Zhejiang University was established as a combination of four major universities that had grown up in Hangzhou over the previous half-century.[20]

In October 2005, the Hubin campus was sold at the price of 2.46 billion Chinese yuan to Kerry Properties for commercial complex development.[79] The schools of medicine and pharmacology were relocated to Zijingang in August 2006. The "Red Building" of the campus, which was the site of the High Court of Zhejiang and the Local Court of Hang County before World War 2, was reserved and transformed into Hangzhou Urban Construction Exhibition Hall.[80][81] The remaining campus buildings were demolished in January 2007.[77][78]

Zhoushan campus, the campus for the Ocean College, which came into use in 2015

In June 2012, Zhejiang University founded the Ocean College in collaboration with Zhoushan municipal government. The collaboration involves a new campus in Zhoushan for the new college. The college started recruiting students in 2013. The college and its first batch of students moved to the new Zhoushan campus in September 2015.[82] The new campus is expected to accommodate 4000 students after 2025.[83][84][85]

Haining Campus, ZJU's base for international collaborations, which came into use in 2016

In February 2013, the university decided to build an international campus domestically and an overseas campus. In June, it began to collaborate with the local government of Haining to construct a new campus as the base for international collaborations.[86][87] In December 2014, the university signed an agreement with the University of Edinburgh to form a joint institute at the Haining campus.[88] In July 2015, another agreement to build a joint institute was signed between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[89] In September 2016, the new Haining campus came into use, which was expected to accommodate 8000 students in the future.[86][87]

In July 2020, the university came under intense criticism for allowing an ethnic minority student convicted of rape to remain enrolled.[90][91][92] The public questioned whether the university's decision was too lenient for sexual harassments.[93][91] The overwhelming public opinions made the university review the case, and eventually expelled the student.[94][95][96]

In November 2020, the university founded its new Ningbo campus, where the School of Software Technology and the Polytechnic Institute of the university offers postgraduate education. The Ningbo Institute of Technology, which used to be an ZJU affiliated independent technical college, was transformed into NingboTech University that is independent from ZJU, but remains in the Ningbo campus of ZJU.[97] In 2019, the Institute of Hainan were founded in Sanya, Hainan. In 2021, new institutes were founded in Quzhou, Jinhua, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou within Zhejiang. In March 2021, tech tycoon Colin Huang donated $100 million to support the university's Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study.[98]

Zijingang campus (simplified Chinese: 紫金港校区; traditional Chinese: 紫金港校區) serves as the main campus of Zhejiang University and is located in the northwest of Hangzhou. Zijingang Campus boasts a large assortment of academic departments and schools, including College of Media and International Culture, School of International Studies, School of Art and Archaeology, School of Economics, College of Education, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Medicine, College of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, College of Animal Sciences, College of Life Sciences, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, School of Management, and School of Public Affairs etc.

Yuquan campus (simplified Chinese: 玉泉校区; traditional Chinese: 玉泉校區) is the campus of engineering, computer science, and the physical sciences. Most students at the Yuquan campus are graduate students within these academic disciplines. The Yuquan campus was the main campus of Zhejiang University until the Zijingang campus was built in 2002.

Xixi campus (simplified Chinese: 西溪校区; traditional Chinese: 西溪校區) was previously Hangzhou University before merging with Zhejiang University in 1998. The campus hosts Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, School of Art and Archaeology, and Zhejiang University Press.

Haining International Campus (simplified Chinese: 海宁国际校区; traditional Chinese: 海寧國際校區) is located in the Zhejiang city of Haining.[99] Clusters of international cooperative partners and institutions reside at this campus, which opened in 2016 as part of Zhejiang University.

The Huajiachi campus (simplified Chinese: 华家池校区; traditional Chinese: 華家池校區) was previously Zhejiang Agricultural University before merging with Zhejiang University and served as the old Huajiachi Campus for the "National Che Kiang University". The Huajiachi campus is Zhejiang University's oldest campus. It currently hosts the School of Long-Distance Education.

Zhijiang Campus

The Zhijiang campus (simplified Chinese: 之江校区; traditional Chinese: 之江校區) is home to Zhejiang University's Guanghua Law School. Before being acquired by Zhejiang University in 1952, the Zhijiang campus served as the main campus of Zhijiang University.

Zhoushan campus (simplified Chinese: 舟山校区; traditional Chinese: 舟山校區) is a relatively new campus that opened in 2015 and serves as the campus for the Ocean College. It is located in Zhoushan.[100]

Under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University is a key comprehensive university whose fields of study cover eleven branches of learning, namely philosophy, literature, history, education, science, economics, law, management, engineering, agriculture, and medicine.[101] In addition, Zhejiang University has 7 high-level affiliated hospitals. The university library holds a collection of more than 7.9 million volumes. Library of Ancient Books with 180,000 volumes of ancient Chinese books officially opened in May, 2021.

Chu Kochen is regarded as the greatest president of Zhejiang University, who served the role during 1936-1949

Chu Kochen, who served as the president of National Chekiang University from 1936 to 1949, had great impact on the culture of Zhejiang University. His two open questions for the freshmen who enrolled in 1936 has been inscribed in the stone next to the main gate of the Zijingang Campus as well as multiple sites within the university, which says,[104]

You have two questions to ask yourself: First, what do you want to do at Zheda? Second, when you graduate, what kind of people do you want to be?

A replica of Qiushi Academy within the Zijingang Campus; Qiushi or seeking truth is the motto of the university

During the University Council meeting held in Yishan, Guangxi on 19 November 1938, "seeking truth" (Chinese: 求是; pinyin: Qiúshì) was made the motto of the university, upon President Chu Kochen's advice. Qiushi is an excerpt of the famous quote in Yangmingism, "A Gentleman learns only to know what is right. (Chinese: 君子之學，唯求其是)" It was made the name of the former body Qiushi Academy in 1897, which means seeking truth and has the same pronunciation as truth in English. According to Chu,

Seeking truth is not limited to studying hard or doing experiments in the lab. As Doctrine of the Mean says, seeking truth is 'to study extensively, inquire prudently, think carefully, distinguish clearly, and practice earnestly.'

In May 1988, "pursuing innovation" was added to the university motto by the university council, to adapt the motto to the times of reforms and opening up. President Lu Yongxiang explained in 1992,

Strictly speaking, pursuing innovation is included in seeking truth, [...] but people often regard seeking truth as being practical, emphasising the acknowledgement and application of the existing body of knowledge and the objective analysis and knowledge of the reality, with no emphasis on being creative and innovative.

External video
Zhejiang University Anthem

During the 19 November 1938 university council meeting, the neo-Confucianism scholar Ma Yifu, who was teaching at Chekiang was invited by President Chu to be the lyric writer of the university anthem, upon Chu's advice. However, as the lyric by Ma was written in classic Chinese and thus difficult to understand, the anthem wasn't composed until Professor Ying Shangneng at National Conservatory of Music was invited to compose the anthem in the summer of 1941. In 2014, the Zhejiang University Anthem was ranked the most popular university anthem, according to an online survey by the news office of the Ministry of Education.[105]

In 2018, research funding at Zhejiang University amounted to more than 4.56 billion RMB (~US$680 million). More than a hundred projects under research have each secured a grant of more than 10 million RMB. In 2019, 2,853 Chinese patents were issued to ZJU researchers and 8,230 SCI-included papers were published by ZJU scholars.[106]

ZJU has been selected into several national plans to found world-class universities, including Double First Class University Plan,[21] Project 985 and Project 211. In 2021, with a budget of 22.82 billion Chinese yuan, the university had the second largest budget in China after Tsinghua.[22] Regarding research output, the Nature Index 2020 ranks the university sixth in China, seventh in the Asia-Pacific and 18th in the world among the global academic universities.[23]

Zhejiang University consistently stands among top receivers of alumni donations in China. In 2021, it received 2.38 billion Chinese yuan, the fourth most after Tsinghua, Peking and Wuhan.[107] On September 21, 2006, Chinese billionaires Duan Yongping (Zhejiang University alumnus) and Ding Lei (Zhejiang native) donated together a one-time endowment of 40 million US dollars to Zhejiang University. US$30 million was from Duan with 10 million from Ding. It was the largest private one-off endowment to a university in Mainland China.[108] In 2017, the university received a donation of 1.1 billion Chinese yuan (circa.160 million US dollars), again breaking the record for highest alumni donation.[109]

The university now has 110 specialties for undergraduate studies, and it is entitled to confer master's degrees in 264 programs and doctoral degrees in 181 programs. It has set up 24 national key specialties and 39 post-doctoral stations.

In the fourth round of China University Subject Rankings by the Ministry of Education released in 2018, ZJU had 31 subjects rated A, the most among Chinese universities, among which 11 subjects were rated A+, the third most after Peking and Tsinghua.[24]

Among its approximate 4,191 standing faculty[110] members, more than 1,893 faculty members hold the title of professor. The faculty includes: 26 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 27 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 164 Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) Award winners, and 154 recipients of the awards from the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. Zhejiang University also has prominent foreign faculty members. Zhejiang University has 10 State Key Laboratories, as one of the universities with most SKLs in China.

Zhejiang University is a comprehensive research university. Research at Zhejiang University spans 12 academic disciplines: agriculture, art, economics, education, engineering, history, law, literature, management, medicine, natural sciences, and philosophy. In the Essential Science Indicator (ESI) rankings of 22 disciplines, Zhejiang University ranks among the top 1% in 15 disciplines and is listed in the top 100 of the world's academic institutions in 4 disciplines.

School of Medicine

Zhejiang University is consistently ranked among China's top universities.[123] Typically, Zhejiang University is consistently ranked among the top universities in the Asia-Pacific according to major international university rankings.[8][124][125][126]

As of 2021, the QS World University Rankings ranked Zhejiang University 45th in the world and fifth in Asia.[9] The Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the "Shanghai Ranking", placed Zhejiang University 52th in the world, seventh in the whole of Asia & Oceania region and third in China.[124] Zhejiang University was among the top 50 most reputation universities in the world by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.[127]

As of 2021, it was ranked tenth among universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.[128] The 2021 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked Zhejiang University at third in the world based on their publications for the time period 2016–2019.[129] Regarding research output, the Nature Index 2020 ranks the university sixth in China, seventh in the Asia-Pacific and 18th in the world among the global academic universities.[23]

As of 2021, the U.S. News & World Report placed "Agricultural Sciences", "Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology", "Chemical Engineering", "Chemistry", "Civil Engineering", "Computer Science", "Condensed Matter Physics", "Electrical and Electronic Engineering", "Energy and Fuels", "Engineering", "Food Science and Technology", "Material Science", "Mechanical Engineering", "Nanoscience and Nanotechnology", "Optics", "Physical Chemistry", "Pharmacology and Toxicology", "Plant and Animal Science" and "Polymer Science" at Zhejiang University in the global Top 50 universities.[130]

In 2020, there were a total of 60,739 full-time students enrolled at Zhejiang University, including 29,209 undergraduates, 18,046 master's candidates and 13,485 doctoral candidates. In 2020, there were 5,596 international students studying at Zhejiang University.

See List of Zhejiang University alumni