April 18 is the 118th anniversary of Southwest University. In the evening, the school held a school history night evening with the theme of "Beautiful Campus", and students from the school history propaganda group told the story of the school history in the campus scenery with the help of archival photos and scene reproduction.
Southwest University started from the East Sichuan Normal School in 1906, during which it experienced Sichuan Rural Construction College, Sichuan Provincial College of Education, integrated into the National Women's Normal College, the private Xianghui College, and the private China Rural Construction College founded by the famous scholar Yan Yangchu, and the Mianren College of Literature founded by Liang Shuming.
A close-up photo of the "former site of the East Sichuan Agency" appeared on the big screen. Now the office building of Southwest University is the location of the former site of the East Sichuan Branch. According to the docent of the school history propaganda group, in October 1950, the National Women's Normal College in Jiulongpo, Chongqing and the Sichuan Provincial College of Education in Ciqikou, Shapingba, merged to establish Southwest Normal College. At the office meeting of the Southwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping, the first secretary at the time, made a final decision: "The best place should be used for education!" So, in the second half of 1952, Southwest Normal College, one of the predecessors of Southwest University, moved to Beibei, and the office building of the administrative office became the office building of the school. This building was selected into the list of outstanding modern and modern buildings in Chongqing, and in 2021, it was selected as an immovable revolutionary cultural relics in Chongqing and was protected.
"Chairman Zhu De came to our school on March 7, 1960, just in time for the spring flowers to bloom. The students of the school history propaganda group showed an old photo and told kindly that there were many orchids under the grape trellis at that time, and Comrade Zhu De has always liked orchids the most.
Zheng Jinsong, the screenwriter of the party and deputy director of the History Museum of Southwest University, told reporters that the school history records that during the inspection of Chairman Zhu De, he also listened to the report of the school leaders and said to the school leaders: "You must grasp scientific research, this is a big thing." Teachers and students should be encouraged to climb peaks and climb dangerous peaks. You are the ones who train teachers, don't despise them. Many of our leading comrades have been teachers...... We must encourage young people to become teachers and cultivate talents for the country!"
At the scene of the party, the Mi Garden commemorating the master of Chinese culture Wu Mi, the memorial hall commemorating Hou Guangjiong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a soil scientist, and the surviving famous sericulture scientist Xiang Zhonghuai's sericulture palace were presented one by one. Hou Guangjiong squatted in Changning County, Sichuan Province to conduct soil research until the last moment of his life. During the difficult period of the country, Academician Hou Guangjiong took the initiative to write a letter to the school leaders, asking for a reduction in the salary of the first level...... When the narrator showed the manuscript and talked about this past, many viewers couldn't help but have tears of emotion in the corners of their eyes.
In the evening, the students also recited excerpts from "Magnolia Fu" that sang the praises of the school flower Magnolia, the kindergarten children brought the dance "Lovely Jacaranda", and the teachers and students of the Conservatory of Music cooperated with the scene narration and brought songs and dances "Good Scenery on the Jialing River", "The Sun Comes Out and Beaming", "Amorous Land", "My Affection Awaits You" and other programs, showing the audience the new achievements of Southwest University in the construction of the campus environment and the beautiful scenery created outside the walls in the vast fields to help poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.
Zhou Guangming, vice president of Southwest University, said in his speech at the party that the school history party for the first time focused on the "hidden" school history stories behind the campus landscape gardens, building squares, flowers and trees, deeply excavated the cultural landscape in the natural landscape, promoted the inheritance and innovation of the university spirit and school history and culture, and educated and guided the teachers and students to love and cherish their spiritual home more, and enhance their sense of belonging, identity and pride.
Reporter Qin Tingfu