Hanshan Normal University | Chinese Universities

Hanshan Normal University (HSNU), covering a floor area of 987,000 square meters and a construction area of 468,000 square meters, is an undergraduate normal university with a time-honored history and unique characteristics in Chaozhou – a renowned tourism city known for its porcelain and ceramics in Eastern Guangdong Province.

First founded in 1903 (the 29th Year of Emperor Guangxu’s Reign in the Qing Dynasty) as “Hui Chao Jia Normal Academy” (“Hui Chao Jia” refers to today’s Huizhou, Chaozhou and Meizhou respectively), the predecessor of the University can be traced back to Hanshan Academy built in 1090 (the 5th Year of Emperor Yuanyong’s Reign in the Song Dynasty). The University is the first provincial wide and among the first group nationwide to provide teacher training. Over the years it has changed its name several times as follows and was awarded “Excellence” during the 2008 undergraduate education assessment conducted by the Ministry of Education.

Over the past century, HSNU has formed its motto of “Teach whole-heartedly, Learn Diligently, Be a Model for Others” and developed the charactertics of “Loving the Country, Hometown and School with Devotion, Understanding, Preaching, Learning with the Spirit of Teaching, Seeking Truth and Integrity, Reaching the Spiritual Realm of Benevolence, Aggressiveness and Sincerity” among HSNUers. Highlighting the cultural root of Chaoshan in Eastern Guangdong, it aims at cultivating high-quality teachers for elemental education catering to local economic and social developments as well as talents with practical skills.The university has provided a large number of excellent teachers and other talents for Guangdong and its surrounding provinces, making great contributions to local education as well as economic and social development. Among those famous alumni are Zou Lu, First President of Sun Yatsen University, Philosopher Chen Weishi, Photographer Chen Fuli, Entrepreneur Chan Wainam (Hong Kong), Entrepreneur Lin Jinhua (Malaysia), Entrepreneur Kraisorn Chansiri (Thailand), and Calligrapher Chen Qiquan (Taiwan), to name just a few.

HSNU has eighteen secondary colleges/schools with fifty-four majors covering nine disciplines, including economics, laws, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management and arts. It owns the following disciplines/projects/courses: four key provincial disciplines, three key provincial disciplines listed as “Chong Bu Qiang”(a project undertaken in Guangdong Province to encourage universities to strive for the best disciplines, improve weak ones and enhance their corresponding characters), three comprehensive pilot reform projects for national-featured majors, twenty projects for provincial-featured majors, comprehensive pilot reform of majors and applied talent cultivation, five majors approved by IEET, the major of chemistry accredited by the Ministry of Education as a Level 2 teacher education major, two provincial innovation experimental zones for talents cultivation, one provincial collaborative education platform, one provincial industrial school, twenty-six provincial teaching demonstration centers and university students’ training, twenty-eight provincial demonstrative teacher education practice bases, fifteen provincial open and excellent sharable courses, three provincial excellent online open courses, three provincial online courses and two series of provincial online courses. With its students from nineteen provinces (autonomous regions), Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan, it now has over 18,000 full-time students and over 6,600 students for adult education (the latter covering a range of twenty-three majors, including Chinese language and literature, mathematics and applied mathematics, English, ideological and political education, laws, preschool education and culinary art). In recent years, it has begun joined cultivation of postgraduates with a number of universities such as Yunnan University, Central China Normal University, South China Normal University, Hunan University of Technology, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou Sport University and Guangzhou University, etc.

At present, the University has more than 1,400 teaching and administrative staff and a well-structured high-level faculty, among whom 80.94% are with a master’s degree, 36.52% with a senior professional title, and 32% with a doctoral degree. In the meantime, it has engaged outstanding scholars/experts such as Prof. Chen Pingyuan as its advisory professors, visiting professors, part-time professors, and academic leaders. Moreover, it has set up a number of Master Studios headed by Master Xie Hua for red clay pot making, Master Wu Weichao for ceramic sculpture, Chef Fang Shuguang for Chaozhou cuisine and Master Zhu Shuqin for Chaozhou embroidery to improve students’ practical skills so that they can better inherit the refined traditions.

HSNU is bestowed with favorable conditions. It owns a multi-functional modern library covering an area of nearly 30,000 square meters, with a collection of 1.983 million paper books and 1.52 million e-books. The University is the China Chaozhou Cuisine R&D and Talent Training Base as well as the supporting institution for the construction of Chaozhou Branch of Guangdong Laboratory of Chemistry and Fine Chemical Engineering (ceramic materials, food science and technology). It has sixteen provincial research platforms, such as Humanities and Social Science Key Research Base for Guangdong Universities, Guangdong Local Culture Research Base, one of the First Batch of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture Inheritance Bases for Guangdong Universities, Research Center of Guangdong Federation of Social Science Associations, Engineering and Technology Research Center of Guangdong Science and Technology Department, and Guangdong Science and Technology Department’s “One Discussion over One Case” Project on the platform jointly built by the university and the municipality. In addition, it has four research platforms supported by special funds from the central government, namely the Eastern Guangdong Analysis and Testing center, Research Platform for New Functional Materials and Their Application Technology, Chaoshan Intangible Cultural Heritage Database Research and Development Center, and Advanced Ceramic Materials Engineering Technology Research Center. Moreover, it has fifteen university/school level research platforms, including the Eastern Guangdong Rural Revitalization Research Institute, “HSNU Top Teacher Project”Research Base, Key Laboratory of Chaoshan Tourism Culture and Planning, and Eastern Guangdong Biomedical Engineering and Technology Research Center.

The University attaches great importance to students’ humanistic quality and ability of practice, innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past three years, students have taken part in various competitions in Guangdong and beyond, such as the “Challenge Cup”, the Advertising Art Design Competition for College Students, China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling, National Undergraduate Electronics Design Contest, Robot Contest, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest, and Teaching Skills Contest, etc. They have brought home more than 400 state-level awards and 1,700 provincial awards. Our university was listed No. 16 among its counterparts in Guangdong Province in the report of “2012-2016 National Regular Institutions of Higher Education’s Competition Evaluation” released by China Association of Higher Education. These data show the ever-increasing competence of our students and help explain the high employment rate of 98.32% for its graduates of 2019.

HSNU follows the path of internationalization. Over the years, it has, in succession, established ties with thirty-seven colleges/universities/educational organizations from thirteen countries – Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, America, Germany, Russia and Ukraine – as well as Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan. Such cooperation has pushed its global drive and enhanced its influence.

Guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, HSNU sticks to the principles of teachers training, applied learning, local features and openness. Taking advantage of the opportunities presented by “Chong Bu Qiang” Project undertaken in Guangdong Higher Education and Development of Institutes of Higher Education in Eastern, Western and Northern Guangdong, the University strives for reform through institutional innovation, high-level normal education through construction of high-level disciplines, promotion of local economic and social developments through its featured disciplines construction, and improvement of weak disciplines through high-level talent cultivation. With its focus on “Party building, new normal schooling, new science and engineering, Chaoshan cultures, ceramics and intangible cultures”, the University will make a great stride forward in quality, level and scale, and build itself into a high-level undergraduate normal university with unique features, innovation competence and considerable social influence.