Hunan Normal University

Hunan Normal University (HunNU) is a provincial public university in Changsha, Hunan, China, affiliated with the Hunan Provincial People's Government and co-funded by that government and the Ministry of Education.湖南师范大学（HunNU）是中国湖南省长沙市的省属公立大学，隶属湖南省人民政府，由湖南省人民政府与教育部共建。

It traces its origin to the National Normal College founded on 27 October 1938, the first independently established teachers' college in China, and it is now listed in Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction.学校源头为1938年10月27日创办的国立师范学院，这是中国第一所独立设置的师范学院，学校现为“211工程”与“双一流”建设高校。

Its main campus occupies the slope between Yuelu Mountain and the Xiang River in Yuelu District, where most of its teaching buildings, libraries and residence halls stand.主校区位于岳麓区岳麓山与湘江之间的坡地上，多数教学楼、图书馆与学生宿舍都坐落于此。

History

• The National Normal College was founded on 27 October 1938 in Lantian town, Anhua County, now part of Lianyuan, as China's first independently organised teachers' college, with the educator Liao Shicheng as its first president.1938年10月27日，国立师范学院在安化县蓝田镇（今涟源市）成立，是中国第一所独立设置的师范学院，教育家廖世承出任首任院长。
• As the war moved south the college relocated to Xupu County in 1944 and then to Nanyue in Hengshan after the Japanese surrender, while a postwar plan to move to Nanjing and become a National Central Normal University was abandoned for political reasons.战局南移后，学院于1944年迁至溆浦县，抗战胜利后又迁往衡山南岳；战后迁往南京并改设国立中央师范大学的计划因政治原因未能实现。
• In December 1949 the college was merged into National Hunan University, ending its separate existence until the departmental reorganisation of the early 1950s.1949年12月，学院并入国立湖南大学，其独立建制一直中断到20世纪50年代初的院系调整。
• In August 1953 the national reorganisation dissolved Hunan University, and Hunan Normal College was created on the foundation of the old National Normal College.1953年8月，全国院系调整撤销湖南大学，湖南师范学院以原国立师范学院为基础组建成立。
• The new college absorbed Hunan University's departments of Chinese, education, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, together with their teachers and students.新学院并入湖南大学的中文、教育、历史、数学、物理、化学与生物等系，以及相应的师资和学生。
• It also took in the education department of Nanchang University, the biology department of Pingyuan Normal College and students from Tsinghua University, Northeast Normal University and South China Normal College.学院还接收了南昌大学教育系、平原师范学院生物系，以及清华大学、东北师范大学与华南师范学院的部分学生。
• The college was installed in the Yuelu Academy, a school founded in 976 during the Northern Song dynasty, and it received the entire historical archive of the former Hunan University.学院以创建于北宋开宝九年（976年）的岳麓书院为院址，并接收了原湖南大学的全部历史档案。
• In 1955 Changsha No. 4 Middle School was reassigned as the college's affiliated middle school, the beginning of an attached school network that now runs from kindergarten to secondary level.1955年，长沙市第四中学改为学院附属中学，由此开启了如今覆盖幼儿园到中学的附属学校体系。
• Changsha Junior Teachers College was merged in 1957, adding departments of foreign languages and geography and bringing the college to nine departments and seven specialities.1957年长沙师范专科学校并入，学院增设外语、地理两系，形成九系七科的格局。
• In 1960 the college vacated the old Hunan University buildings for Erliban on the west bank of the Xiang River, clearing the historic site for Hunan University's re-establishment.1960年，学院从原湖南大学校舍迁至湘江西岸二里半，为湖南大学复办腾出旧址。
• Hunan Art College and Hunan Sports College were folded into the college in 1961, creating departments of art and physical education and widening its curriculum beyond academic subjects.1961年湖南艺术学院与湖南体育学院并入，学院增设艺术、体育两系，课程超出纯学科范围。
• Hunan University's Chinese, political economy and biology departments were transferred to the college in 1962 and 1963, strengthening its humanities and life science base.1962年与1963年，湖南大学中文系、政治经济系与生物系先后并入，充实了学校的人文与生命科学基础。
• Enrolment was suspended from 1966 to 1969 during the Cultural Revolution and resumed in September 1970, when the college reopened its departments to new students.“文化大革命”期间，学院于1966年至1969年停止招生，1970年9月恢复招生，各系重新迎来新生。
• The college was among the first Chinese institutions authorised to award master's degrees in November 1981, a recognition of its graduate teaching in the humanities and sciences.1981年11月，学院成为全国首批获得硕士学位授予权的高校之一，其人文与理科研究生教育得到认可。
• In September 1984 it was renamed Hunan Normal University and reorganised into 12 departments offering 14 undergraduate majors.1984年9月，学院更名为湖南师范大学，设中文、历史、政治教育、外语、教育、艺术、数学、物理、化学、生物、地理、体育等12系14个专业。
• Doctoral degree authority followed in December 1990, and in November 1996 the university passed the pre-review for entry into Project 211.1990年12月，学校获得博士学位授予权；1996年11月，又通过“211工程”部门预审。
• Construction under Project 211 began in June 1999, bringing national funding to its disciplines, laboratories and library during the ninth five-year plan.1999年6月，“211工程”全面建设启动，在“九五”期间为学校的学科、实验室与图书馆带来国家投入。
• Hunan Education College was merged in March 2000 and the Hunan Political and Legal Management Cadre College in 2001, adding teacher training and law programmes.2000年3月合并湖南教育学院，2001年又合并湖南省政法管理干部学院，增加了教师培训与法学专业。
• The merger of Hunan Medical College in March 2002 created the university's medical school and restored clinical education to an institution that had trained nurses since 1911.2002年3月合并湖南医学高等专科学校，成立医学院，使这所自1911年起培养护理人才的学校重新拥有临床医学教育。
• In 2004 agreements with Hunan Provincial People's Hospital and the PLA 163 Hospital created the first and second affiliated hospitals, with Xiangdong Hospital in Liling becoming the third.2004年，学校与湖南省人民医院、解放军第163医院签约，成立第一、第二附属医院，醴陵的湘东医院成为第三附属医院。
• Confucius Institutes followed with Kazan Federal University in 2007, Wonkwang University in 2014 and Southern Utah University in 2015, extending its teaching of Chinese abroad.学校先后于2007年与喀山联邦大学、2014年与圆光大学、2015年与南犹他大学共建孔子学院，把汉语教学延伸到海外。
• In September 2017 the university entered the Double First-Class Construction with foreign languages and literature as its world-class discipline, and in 2019 it became a jointly built institution of the Ministry of Education and Hunan Province.2017年9月，学校以外国语言文学为世界一流建设学科入选“双一流”；2019年又成为教育部与湖南省重点共建高校。

Academics

• The university's 23 colleges, three teaching departments and 51 research institutions cover philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, medicine, management and art.学校设有23个学院、3个教学部与51个研究机构，学科覆盖哲学、经济学、法学、教育学、文学、历史学、理学、工学、医学、管理学与艺术学。
• Its 2019 academic profile listed 74 undergraduate programmes, 21 first-level doctoral programmes, 34 first-level master's programmes and 20 postdoctoral research stations.学校2019年的学科概况列出74个本科专业、21个博士学位授权一级学科、34个硕士学位授权一级学科与20个博士后科研流动站。
• Foreign languages and literature is its single national world-class discipline, a status confirmed when the 2017 Double First-Class list was published.外国语言文学是学校唯一的世界一流建设学科，这一身份在2017年“双一流”名单公布时得到确认。
• Education, mathematics, philosophy, Chinese language and literature and biology are Hunan first-class disciplines, while 15 further subjects sit on the provincial cultivation list.教育学、数学、哲学、中国语言文学与生物学为湖南省国内一流建设学科，另有15个学科进入省级培育名单。
• The university runs a state key laboratory co-built with the province for freshwater fish developmental biology, the base of its widely cited work on fish genetics and breeding.学校建有省部共建淡水鱼类发育生物学国家重点实验室，这是其鱼类遗传与育种研究广受引用的基地。
• Four national research bases include the Ministry of Education's key institute for moral culture studies and the national training bases in Chinese language and literature and in history.学校拥有4个国家级科研基地，包括教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地道德文化研究中心，以及中国语言文学、历史学两个国家文科基础学科人才培养基地。
• Two national-local joint engineering laboratories work on petrochemical new materials and resource utilisation, and on the creation of animal polypeptide drugs.学校有2个国家地方联合工程实验室，分别研究石化新材料与资源精细利用、动物多肽药物创制。
• Four Ministry of Education key laboratories cover high-performance computing and stochastic information processing, protein chemistry and fish developmental biology, low-dimensional quantum structures, and chemical biology with traditional Chinese medicine analysis.4个省部共建教育部重点实验室分别研究高性能计算与随机信息处理、蛋白质化学与鱼类发育生物学、低维量子结构与调控、化学生物学与中药分析。
• A national 2011 collaborative innovation centre for socialist moral culture and three Hunan collaborative centres coordinate its social science research with provincial partners.学校建有中国特色社会主义道德文化省部共建协同创新中心，以及3个湖南省“2011协同创新中心”，与省内伙伴协同开展社会科学研究。
• Thirteen Hunan key laboratories and one provincial engineering technology research centre support applied work in microbiology, protein science, creative design and exercise rehabilitation.13个湖南省重点实验室与1个省级工程技术研究中心，支撑微生物学、蛋白质科学、创意设计与体适能康复等应用研究。
• Its teaching staff of about 1,960 full-time teachers in 2020 included three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and three of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, two in each academy being dual appointments.2020年学校有专任教师1960余人，其中中国科学院院士3人、中国工程院院士3人，两院各有2人为双聘院士。
• One member of the European Academy of Sciences, 10 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and five national teaching masters also teach at the university.教师中还有欧洲科学院院士1人、国家杰出青年科学基金获得者10人、国家级教学名师5人。
• Seventy-seven professors hold State Council special allowances and six are recognised as national young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions.学校有享受国务院政府特殊津贴专家77人，国家有突出贡献的中青年专家6人。
• The university publishes 12 academic periodicals and operates its own press, Hunan Normal University Press, which issues scholarly books, textbooks and the journal Guoxue Studies.学校出版12种学术期刊，并设有湖南师范大学出版社，出版学术著作、教材与《国学研究》等刊物。
• Its library holds 3.4 million volumes, including 200,000 volumes of traditional thread-bound books, and subscribes to 4,700 Chinese and foreign periodicals.图书馆藏书340万册，其中线装古籍20万册，订阅中外文期刊4700种。
• The medical school teaches clinical medicine, nursing and preventive medicine across 12 affiliated hospitals, with Hunan Provincial People's Hospital serving as the first.医学院依托12所附属医院开展临床医学、护理学与预防医学教学，湖南省人民医院为第一附属医院。
• International links cover 187 universities and institutions in 45 countries, and joint programmes are run with the Glinka Conservatory, the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Delaware and the Berlin Media Design College.学校与45个国家和地区的187所高校及机构建立合作，并与格林卡音乐学院、中央兰开夏大学、特拉华大学及柏林媒体设计学院开展合作办学。
• A Humboldt interdisciplinary research centre was opened with the University of Potsdam on 14 September 2020, adding a German base for its humanities exchanges.2020年9月14日，学校与波茨坦大学合作成立洪堡跨学科研究中心，为其人文交流增添德国基地。

Campus

• The university occupies seven campuses covering 2,774 mu, about 185 hectares, with 1.25 million square metres of floor space in Changsha.学校在长沙拥有7个校区，占地2774亩（约185公顷），校舍建筑面积125万平方米。
• The main campus runs along the western bank of the Xiang River below Yuelu Mountain, and its historic core adjoins the Yuelu Academy grounds.主校区沿湘江西岸、岳麓山脚下展开，其历史核心区与岳麓书院相邻。
• The campus is promoted through eight named scenes, among them Hongmen Listening to the Waves at the riverside gate, Lantai Sunset at the library and Magnolia Spring along Magnolia Road.校园以“八景”传名，包括临江校门的黉门听涛、图书馆的兰台夕照与木兰路上的木兰春晓。
• The Yueling Misty Rain scene takes in the Lushan Martyrs Shrine, Yuewang Pavilion, Gongqing Lake and the cemetery of the 73rd Army, all within the campus grounds.岳亭烟雨一景包括麓山忠烈祠、岳王亭、共青湖与国民革命军第七十三军抗战阵亡将士墓，均在校园范围内。
• The Lushan Martyrs Shrine was built in 1939 by Liu Jianxu, commander of the 4th Army, to honour soldiers killed in the war against Japan, and it is listed in the third batch of national war memorial sites.麓山忠烈祠由第四军总司令刘建绪于1939年主持修建，祭祀抗日战争阵亡将士，已列入第三批国家级抗战纪念设施、遗址名录。
• The shrine, Yuewang Pavilion and the 73rd Army cemetery together form the Yuelu Mountain Anti-Japanese War Culture Park inside the campus, which the university uses as a patriotism education base.忠烈祠、岳王亭与七十三军墓共同构成校园内的“岳麓山抗战文化园”，学校将其作为爱国主义教育基地。
• The Red Building scene groups the red-brick administration building, Red Building Square and the Shangyou village residences under old trees, while the art court is enclosed by the design, fine arts and music buildings.红楼映翠一景由红砖办公楼、红楼广场与古树掩映的上游村宿舍组成；艺苑和声则由设计楼、美术楼与音乐学院和乐楼围合而成。
• The affiliated hospitals are distributed across Changsha and other Hunan cities, from the First Affiliated Hospital in the city centre to Xiangdong Hospital in Liling and the Zhangjiajie Hospital in the west.附属医院分布在长沙及湖南其他城市，从市中心的第一附属医院到醴陵的湘东医院、湘西的张家界医院。

Reputation

• In the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Hunan Normal University is placed in the 601-700 band.在2026年软科世界大学学术排名中，湖南师范大学位列第601-700名区间。
• It is ranked 1,096th in the 2026-2027 U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking.在2026-2027年度U.S. News全球大学榜单中，学校位列第1,096名。
• The university is not included in the 2027 QS World University Rankings.学校未进入2027年QS世界大学排名。
• It is also absent from the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.学校同样未进入2027年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名。
• Project 211 membership, confirmed after the 1996 pre-review, and the 2017 Double First-Class listing place it in China's national key university tier.“211工程”身份经1996年预审确认，加上2017年进入“双一流”，使学校稳居国家重点建设高校行列。
• Domestic rankings consistently place it among the top three universities in Hunan and within the national top 100, a standing built on teacher education, foreign languages and the humanities.在国内大学排名中，学校长期位居湖南高校前三、全国百强之列，这一地位建立在师范教育、外国语言文学与人文学科之上。
• The 2025 CWTS Leiden Ranking placed it 467th in the world on publication impact for the 2020-2023 period, and the Nature Index 2025 tables put it among the top 300 universities for natural science output.2025年CWTS莱顿排名按2020至2023年论文影响力将其列为世界第467位，2025年自然指数年度榜单又将其列入自然科学产出全球前300所高校。
• Its world-class discipline in foreign languages and literature and its freshwater fish laboratory are the two flagships cited in national discipline assessments.外国语言文学世界一流学科与淡水鱼类重点实验室，是学校在全国学科评估中最常被提及的两块招牌。
• Joint construction with the Ministry of Education since 2019 has brought additional national funding for discipline building and graduate training.自2019年起与教育部开展部省共建，为学科建设与研究生培养带来额外的国家经费。

Student life

• About 40,000 students are enrolled, including more than 10,000 postgraduate students and nearly 1,200 international students from Asia, Africa and Europe.学校在校学生约4万人，其中研究生一万余人，来自亚洲、非洲与欧洲的国际学生近1200人。
• The university has produced more than 500,000 graduates since 1938, most of them teachers, and it also admits students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.自1938年以来，学校已培养毕业生50余万人，其中多数从事教育工作，学校同时面向香港、澳门与台湾招生。
• Its motto, Ren'ai Jingqin, meaning benevolence, love, refinement and diligence, was proposed by founding president Liao Shicheng and published on 14 January 1939 in the first issue of the Guoshi Quarterly.校训“仁爱精勤”由创校院长廖世承提出，于1939年1月14日在《国师季刊》创刊号上发表，意为倡导仁道、爱人以德、研精思覃、勤奋踏实。
• The school spirit is summarised as diligence and rigour, truth seeking and innovation, dedication to education, and unity, a formula drawn from the university's older motto.校风取自老校训中的“勤勉严谨、求实创新、献身教育、团结奋进”，至今仍是校园文化的基本表述。
• Three Confucius Institutes, in Russia, South Korea and the United States, give students and staff overseas teaching placements and Chinese-language teaching practice.学校在俄罗斯、韩国与美国共建的三所孔子学院，为学生和教师提供海外任教与汉语教学实习机会。
• Joint degree programmes with partners in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Russia allow undergraduates to spend part of their course abroad.学校与英国、美国、德国和俄罗斯的合作院校开设联合培养项目，本科生可赴海外完成部分课程。
• The attached middle school, descended from the 1955 takeover of Changsha No. 4 Middle School, is one of Hunan's best-known secondary schools and supplies teaching practice places.附属中学源自1955年接办的长沙市第四中学，是湖南最知名的中学之一，也为师范生提供教育实习岗位。
• The university also runs an attached primary school, a kindergarten and affiliated schools in Yueyang, Guidong, Liling and other Hunan cities, giving students structured teaching practice.学校还办有附属小学、幼儿园，并在岳阳、桂东、醴陵等湖南城市设立附属学校，为学生提供系统的教学实习机会。

Notable people

• Liao Shicheng, the founding president, was a psychologist and educator who led the National Normal College from its creation in 1938.创校院长廖世承是心理学家与教育家，自1938年建校起主持国立师范学院。
• Qian Zhongshu modelled the fictional Sanlv University in his novel Fortress Besieged on the National Normal College, giving the institution a place in modern Chinese literature.钱钟书小说《围城》中的“三闾大学”即以国立师范学院为原型，使这所学校在中国现代文学中留下印记。
• Li Guyi, the singer who popularised the song Xianglian, studied in the music department from 1958.以《乡恋》闻名的歌唱家李谷一，1958年进入音乐系学习。
• Han Shaogong, author of the novel A Dictionary of Maqiao, graduated from the Chinese department in 1977.长篇小说《马桥词典》的作者韩少功，1977年毕业于中文系。
• Tang Sulan, a children's author and professor at the university, graduated from the Chinese department in 1981.儿童文学作家、本校教授汤素兰，1981年毕业于中文系。
• Wang Yougui, composer of the song The Story of Spring, studied music at the college in 1973.歌曲《春天的故事》的作曲者王佑贵，1973年进入音乐系学习。
• Wei Wenbin, who led Hunan Broadcasting System as it became a national television producer, graduated from the Chinese department in 1974.带领湖南广播影视集团成长为全国性电视内容生产机构的魏文彬，1974年毕业于中文系。
• Yi Lianhong, who served as governor of Jiangxi, studied politics at the university from 1982.曾任江西省省长的易炼红，1982年进入政治学系学习。
• Chen Dake, an oceanographer and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, graduated in physics in 1977.海洋学家、中国科学院院士陈大可，1977年毕业于物理系。
• Tan Weihong, a chemist elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences, graduated in physics in 1978.化学家、中国科学院院士与发展中国家科学院院士谭蔚泓，1978年毕业于物理系。
• Liu Shaojun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in fish genetics, graduated in biology in 1982 and later returned to the university as a professor.鱼类遗传学家、中国工程院院士刘少军，1982年毕业于生物系，后回校任教。
• Zhang Chuting, who led the university as party secretary and president, graduated in mathematics in 1955 and became one of China's best-known higher education theorists.曾任学校党委书记兼校长的张楚廷，1955年毕业于数学系，后成为中国知名的高等教育理论家。