Southern University: Founded by Ye Jianying, the "revolutionary melting pot" for cultivating cadres and talents

In Guangzhou, there was once such a university, known as the "seeding machine of the Chinese Communist Party to train cadres", which is the Southern University.

Southern University was founded by Ye Jianying in accordance with the instructions of the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong on running a new type of revolutionary university in Guangzhou after the liberation of South China and cultivating revolutionary cadres and professionals for new China.

In the spring and summer of 1949, in order to liberate Guangzhou, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China set up a new South China Branch, with Ye Jianying, Zhang Yunyi and Fang Fang serving as the first, second, and third secretaries respectively, and the Provisional Independent Corps formed by the Fourth Corps of the Second Field Army and the Fifteenth Corps of the Fourth Field Army advanced into Guangdong.

Before going south, Mao Zedong talked to Ye Jianying many times, and in addition to explaining the liberation campaign, he also specially instructed: "After the liberation of Southern China, Guangzhou should run a new type of university to train revolutionary cadres and intellectuals for Guangdong and Guangxi." Mao Zedong named the school Southern University, and wrote the name of the school in his own handwriting, "Southern University", and handed it to Ye Jianying.

Southern University was opened in October 1949, Ye Jianying was also the president, the campus was located in the former Li Zongren Presidential Palace in Shipai Village, the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou, which is now the Shipai Campus of South China Normal University, Ye Jianying also wrote the inscription "Revolutionary Melting Pot" for the university he personally founded and led.

In the three years since its establishment, Southern University has recruited four students and trained nearly 20,000 urgently needed cadres and talents for the construction of new China. In October 1952, Southern University was discontinued and merged into the Guangdong Revolutionary Cadre School with the "Adjustment of Faculties and Departments".

Although there is no trace of Southern University today, the bronze statue of President Ye Jianying erected in the front garden of the School of Educational Information Technology of South China Normal University is for alumni to remember and remember.

Synthesized from Guangzhou Education, Southern Magazine, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences

Poster: Chen Ting