History

Originally, each of the Sun Yat-sen Universities were adopted a statism educational model, (中山大學模式) and based on Sun Yat-sen's political philosophy, present-day Sun Yat-sen University is the result of multiple mergers as well as splits and restructurings that have involved more than a dozen academic institutions over time. The most recent merger happened in 2001, when Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science merged with Sun Yat-sen University and became Sun Yat-sen College of Medical Science.

In 1924, Sun Yat-sen founded National Kwangtung University (國立廣東大學) in Canton and inscribed in his own handwriting the school motto of "Study Extensively, Enquire Accurately, Reflect Carefully, Discriminate Clearly, Practise Earnestly." After the death of Sun Yat-sen, the Nationalist government that was set up during the first cooperation between the Communists and Nationalists formally decreed to change its name to National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學) on July 17, 1926, in memory of Sun Yat-sen. In 1926, there were four National Sun Yat-sen Universities: National First Sun Yat-sen University in Canton (the current Sun Yat-sen University), National Second Sun Yat-sen University in Wuhan (the current Wuhan University), National Third Sun Yat-sen University in Hangzhou (the current Zhejiang University), National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University in Nanking (the predecessor of the current Nanjing University, Southeast University, and National Central University). The Nationalist government also planned to organize the National Fifth Sun Yat-sen University in Zhengzhou, but end up naming it as the Henan Provincial Sun Yat-sen University (the current Henan University).

In the 1930s, there were seven schools in the University: the Schools of Arts, Sciences, Law, Engineering, Agricultural Studies, Medicine and Education. In 1935, National Sun Yat-sen University, concurrently with National Tsinghua University and National Peking University, set up the first graduate schools in China and began to enroll graduate students.

In 1949, the University removed its prefix "National" and has been thereafter referred directly to Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学). In the 1950s, colleges, schools and departments were readjusted nationwide, and Sun Yat-sen University became a national top-tier comprehensive university with the liberal arts and sciences as its backbone disciplines.