Nankai University

Nankai University (Chinese: 南开大学) is a public research university in Tianjin, China, founded in 1919 as the private Nankai School by the educators Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling.南开大学是位于中国天津的一所公立研究型大学，1919 年由教育家严修与张伯苓创办，最初为私立南开学校。

It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China and is part of Project 211, Project 985 and the Double First-Class Construction, with three campuses at Balitai, Jinnan and TEDA.该校隶属于中国教育部，是「211 工程」「985 工程」与「双一流」建设高校，设有八里台、津南与泰达三个校区。

It is placed 329th in the 2027 QS World University Rankings, joint 173rd in the 2027 Times Higher Education ranking, 146th in the 2026-2027 U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking and in the 101-150 band of the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities.该校在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中位列第 329，在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育排名中并列第 173，在 2026 至 2027 年度 US News 全球最佳大学排名中位列第 146，并在 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名中处于 101 至 150 区间。

History

• After the failure of the 1898 reform movement the scholar-official Yan Xiu turned from politics to education and founded the private Nankai School in Tianjin in 1904 on the basis of his family school, with Zhang Boling as headmaster.1898 年变法失败后，官员严修弃政从教，1904 年在天津以自家私塾为基础创办私立南开学校，由张伯苓任校长。

• In 1916 Yan and Zhang began experimenting with higher education, and after failed attempts at a special department and a teachers college they toured American universities in 1917 and 1918.1916 年严修与张伯苓开始试办高等教育，在专门部与高等师范班受挫后，他们于 1917 与 1918 年赴美考察多所大学。

• On returning home they approached statesmen and scholars such as Fu Zengxiang and Liang Shiyi to raise funds, and the Jiangsu military governor Li Chun left a quarter of his estate to the planned university.归国后他们面见傅增湘、梁士诒等政要与学者募集资金，江苏督军李纯立遗嘱将四分之一家产捐予拟建中的大学。

• Construction of the university section at the southern end of the Nankai School began in April 1919, entrance examinations were held on 7 and 8 September, and the first opening ceremony took place on 25 September 1919.1919 年 4 月南开学校南端的大学部校舍动工，9 月 7 日与 8 日举行招生考试，9 月 25 日举行首次开学典礼。

• At its foundation the university had three departments, arts, science and business, and some 96 students, and it was noted for teaching its courses in English using foreign curricula and textbooks.建校时该校设文、理、商三科和约 96 名学生，并因使用外国课程与教材、以英语授课而闻名。

• In 1920 the philanthropist Li Zushen donated 30,000 silver dollars to add a mining department, and in 1921 the university section was formally renamed Tianjin Private Nankai University.1920 年慈善家李组绅捐银三万增设矿科，1921 年大学部正式更名为天津私立南开大学。

• In March 1922 the school leased more than 400 mu of public land at Bali Tai in the south of the city and began to build a new campus that remains the university's registered home.1922 年 3 月学校在城南八里台租得四百余亩公地并兴建新校舍，此处至今仍是该校的注册所在地。

• In 1927 the university founded a committee for social and economic research and a Manchuria and Mongolia research society, which were later renamed the Institute of Economics and the Northeast Research Society.1927 年该校成立社会经济研究委员会与满蒙研究会，二者后分别更名为经济研究所与东北研究会。

• Also in 1927 the industrialist Lu Muzhai donated 100,000 yuan to build the Muzhai Library, and in 1928 Zhang Boling set the university's guiding purpose as knowing China and serving China.同样在 1927 年实业家卢木斋捐十万元兴建木斋图书馆，1928 年张伯苓把办学宗旨定为「知中国、服务中国」。

• In 1929 Nankai converted its departments into colleges, establishing the colleges of arts, science and business together with a pre-medical course, making thirteen departments in all.1929 年南开改科为院，设立文学院、理学院、商学院与医预科，共十三个系。

• In 1931 it founded the College of Economics and the Institute of Economics, and its science college set up chemical engineering and electrical engineering departments using the Tianjin tramway company as its electrical laboratory.1931 年该校成立经济学院与经济研究所，理学院创设化学工程系与电气工程系，并以天津电车电灯公司作为电气实验室。

• By the time of the full outbreak of the war with Japan in 1937 Nankai had three colleges, twelve departments and two research institutes, with 429 students and about 110 staff, having stayed deliberately small as a private institution.到 1937 年抗战全面爆发时，南开已设有三个学院、十二个系与两个研究所，在校学生 429 人、教职员约 110 人，作为私立大学一直刻意保持小规模。

• In July 1937 Japanese aircraft bombed Tianjin and destroyed two-thirds of the Nankai campus, including the Muzhai Library, and the university bell was looted and taken to Japan.1937 年 7 月日军飞机轰炸天津，摧毁了南开校园的三分之二，包括木斋图书馆，校钟也被劫往日本。

• Nankai was the first Chinese university to fall to the war, its losses amounting to a tenth of the wartime losses of all Chinese universities, and figures such as Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi and Mao Dun expressed their sympathy.南开是抗战中第一所罹难的中国高等学府，其损失占全国高校战时损失的十分之一，蔡元培、胡适、茅盾等人士纷纷慰问。

• In August 1937 Nankai joined Peking University and Tsinghua University to form the National Changsha Provisional University, which moved to Kunming and was renamed the National Southwestern Associated University in 1938.1937 年 8 月南开与北京大学、清华大学合组国立长沙临时大学，该校迁往昆明后于 1938 年更名为国立西南联合大学。

• After the war the university returned to its Bali Tai site in Tianjin in 1946 and was made a national university, receiving some 800 million yuan for reconstruction while its books were recovered from Japan.战后该校于 1946 年回到天津八里台原址并改为国立大学，获拨付约八亿元重建经费，其被劫图书也从日本追回。

• In 1952 the nationwide readjustment of departments turned Nankai from a comprehensive university into one balancing the humanities and sciences, with fourteen departments and three specialised courses.1952 年全国院系调整使南开由综合性大学改为文理并重的大学，设有十四个系与三个专修科。

• In October 1958 the physics department built Nankai No. 1, the first experimental atomic reactor at a Chinese university, and in 1965 the nuclear physics and radiochemistry groups were transferred to Lanzhou University.1958 年 10 月物理系建成中国高校第一座实验性原子反应堆「南开一号」，1965 年原子核物理与放射化学两个专业师生整体并入兰州大学。

• The Cultural Revolution disrupted teaching from 1966 to 1976, and the 1976 Tangshan earthquake damaged 2,177 rooms and killed eight staff and twenty-three students.1966 至 1976 年的文化大革命扰乱了教学，1976 年唐山大地震损毁房屋 2,177 间，造成 8 名教工与 23 名学生罹难。

• In February 1978 the State Council named Nankai among the first batch of national key universities, and it reopened its College of Economics in 1983 and established its graduate school in September 1984.1978 年 2 月国务院将南开列为第一批全国重点高等学校，该校于 1983 年恢复经济学院，1984 年 9 月成立研究生院。

• In 1994 the Tianjin Foreign Trade College was merged into the university, in 1995 Nankai entered the first batch of Project 211 universities, and in 1999 it set up TEDA College with the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area.1994 年天津对外贸易学院并入该校，1995 年南开入选首批「211 工程」院校，1999 年与天津经济技术开发区共同设立泰达学院。

• In December 2000 the Ministry of Education signed an agreement with the Tianjin municipal government to jointly build Nankai, and in 2002 the university opened China's first financial engineering college in Shenzhen.2000 年 12 月教育部与天津市政府签署共建南开大学的协议，2002 年该校在深圳开办中国首家金融工程学院。

• The China Tourism Management Cadre Institute was merged in 2010 to form the College of Tourism and Service Management, and the Jinnan campus opened in September 2015 while the Tianjin Fourth Hospital became its affiliated hospital.2010 年中国旅游管理干部学院并入并组建旅游与服务学院，津南校区于 2015 年 9 月启用，天津市第四医院成为其附属医院。

• In September 2017 Nankai was selected as a world-class university, with world history, mathematics, chemistry, statistics and materials science and engineering named as first-class disciplines.2017 年 9 月该校入选世界一流大学建设高校，世界史、数学、化学、统计学、材料科学与工程入选一流学科建设名录。

Academics

• Nankai is a multidisciplinary university under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, with programmes covering the humanities, natural sciences, technology, life sciences, medical sciences and the arts.南开是教育部直属的综合性大学，其专业覆盖人文学科、自然科学、技术、生命科学、医学与艺术。

• As of December 2024 the university had 2,350 full-time teachers, among them 1,006 professors and 924 associate professors, together with 1,394 doctoral and 770 master's supervisors.截至 2024 年 12 月，该校有专任教师 2,350 人，其中教授 1,006 人、副教授 924 人，另有博士生导师 1,394 人与硕士生导师 770 人。

• Its full-time enrolment in 2024 stood at 35,546 students, comprising 17,264 undergraduates, 12,155 master's students and 6,127 doctoral students.2024 年该校全日制在校生为 35,546 人，其中本科生 17,264 人、硕士生 12,155 人、博士生 6,127 人。

• In 2018 the university offered 80 undergraduate programmes, 231 master's programmes, 172 doctoral programmes and 28 postdoctoral research stations.2018 年该校开设 80 个本科专业、231 个硕士专业、172 个博士专业以及 28 个博士后科研流动站。

• The College of Chemistry, the School of Mathematical Sciences, the School of Economics and the School of Literature are among the strongest units, with mathematics, chemistry, history, business and economics regarded as among the best in China.化学学院、数学科学学院、经济学院与文学院是实力最强的院系之一，其数学、化学、历史、商学与经济学被视为全国最佳之列。

• Its main research platforms include the State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, the State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and the National Pesticide Engineering Research Centre in Tianjin.其主要科研平台包括元素有机化学国家重点实验室、药物化学生物学国家重点实验室以及位于天津的农药国家工程研究中心。

• The Chern Institute of Mathematics, founded by the mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern, is home to some of the largest mathematics research facilities in the world, and the university runs an Institute of Applied Physics.由数学家陈省身创办的陈省身数学研究所拥有世界上规模最大的数学研究设施之一，该校还设有应用物理研究所。

• Further institutes include the Centre for Chinese Social History, the Centre for Political Economy, the APEC Study Centre, the Centre for Transnational Corporation Studies and the Research Centre for Modern World History.其他研究机构还包括中国社会史研究中心、政治经济学研究中心、APEC 研究中心、跨国公司研究中心与世界近现代史研究中心。

• Nankai has established nine Confucius Institutes around the world and links with more than 300 international universities and academic institutions.南开在世界各地建立了九所孔子学院，并与三百多所国际高校与学术机构建立了联系。

• In 2012 the university became the 35th member of the Global University Leaders Forum, a community that also includes Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Oxford.2012 年该校成为全球大学领导者论坛的第 35 位成员，该论坛成员还包括耶鲁大学、哈佛大学与牛津大学。

• Many scholars and entrepreneurs have been invited as visiting professors, and Nobel laureates such as Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee and Robert Mundell were conferred honorary professorships.众多学者与企业家受邀担任访问教授，杨振宁、李政道与罗伯特·蒙代尔等诺贝尔奖得主被授予名誉教授头衔。

• In November 2016 Robert F. Engle, winner of the 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, became an honorary professor at Nankai.2016 年 11 月，2003 年诺贝尔经济学奖得主罗伯特·恩格尔成为南开的名誉教授。

• Nankai offers scholarships including the Chinese Government Scholarship, the Tianjin Government Scholarship, the Confucius Institute Scholarship and the Nankai University Scholarship, and it runs international exchange programmes through its International Office.南开提供包括中国政府奖学金、天津市政府奖学金、孔子学院奖学金与南开大学奖学金在内的各类奖学金，并通过国际办公室开展国际交流项目。

• In 2012 the university offered 22 colleges and schools, and by 2018 it had grown to a comparable structure with 214 professors leading its teaching body.2012 年该校设有 22 个学院，到 2018 年其结构大体相当，并由 214 名教授引领教学队伍。

• The Institute of Economics, established in 1927, became one of the most prominent in China and was the first non-foreign body to calculate a Chinese consumer price index.建于 1927 年的经济研究所成为中国最著名者之一，也是首个测算中国消费物价指数的非外国机构。

• In 1991 the scholar Ye Jiaying founded the Institute of Chinese Classical Culture at Nankai, strengthening its work in classical Chinese literature.1991 年学者叶嘉莹在南开创办中华古典文化研究所，加强了该校在中国古典文学方面的研究。

Campus

• Nankai owns three campuses at Balitai, Jinnan and TEDA, covering about 3.75 million square metres, of which Balitai occupies 1.225 million and Jinnan 2.4589 million square metres.南开拥有八里台、津南与泰达三个校区，占地约 375 万平方米，其中八里台校区 122.5 万平方米、津南校区 245.89 万平方米。

• The Balitai campus at 94 Weijin Road in the Nankai district is the university's historic home and registered address, dating from 1922 and adjoining Tianjin University.位于南开区卫津路 94 号的八里台校区是该校的历史校址与注册地，始于 1922 年，与天津大学毗邻。

• The Balitai campus is ringed by the Weijin and Jin rivers and contains the two lakes of Mati and Xinkai together with the Xiaoyin stream, forming a water system known as two lakes and one river.八里台校区被卫津河与津河环绕，内有马蹄湖、新开湖与小引河，构成「两湖一河」的水系格局。

• A peninsula in the Mati Lake carries the Zhou Enlai memorial, erected in 1979 for the university's 60th anniversary and inscribed with Zhou Enlai's own words that he loved Nankai.马蹄湖中的半岛上立有周恩来纪念碑，为 1979 年建校六十周年所设，镌刻着周恩来手书的「我是爱南开的」。

• The Siyuan Hall, a landmark of the Balitai campus, was designated a national key cultural relic protection unit in October 2019 and the campus building group became a Tianjin cultural relic in January 2013.八里台校区的标志性建筑思源堂于 2019 年 10 月被核定为全国重点文物保护单位，校区建筑群则在 2013 年 1 月成为天津市文物保护单位。

• The Nankai Sports Centre, completed in October 2006, is the largest single building in floor area and investment since the university's founding, and a joint research building straddles the planned university road between Nankai and Tianjin University.2006 年 10 月竣工的南开体育中心是该校建校以来单体建筑面积最大、投资最多的建筑，一座联合研究大厦横跨南开与天津大学之间规划建设的大学道。

• The Jinnan campus opened in September 2015 inside the Haihe Education Park, where Tianjin allocated 3,688 mu of land to Nankai and Tianjin University, with a planned building area of 1.2 million square metres for 21,000 students.津南校区于 2015 年 9 月在海河教育园区内启用，天津市为南开与天津大学各无偿划拨 3,688 亩土地，规划建筑面积 120 万平方米、可容纳 21,000 名学生。

• The TEDA campus, occupying 67,200 square metres at 23 Hongda Street in the Binhai New Area, opened in August 2000 and hosts the TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and the TEDA Institute of Applied Physics.泰达校区位于滨海新区宏达街 23 号，占地 6.72 万平方米，2000 年 8 月启用，设有泰达生物技术研究院与泰达应用物理研究院。

• The university's colleges are split between the campuses, with the School of Economics, the Business School, the College of Chemistry and the School of Mathematical Sciences on the Balitai campus and the Zhou Enlai School of Government, the Law School and the School of Medicine on the Jinnan campus.各学院分设于不同校区，经济学院、商学院、化学学院与数学科学学院在八里台校区，周恩来政府管理学院、法学院与医学院在津南校区。

Reputation

• Nankai University is ranked 329th in the 2027 QS World University Rankings and joint 173rd in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.南开大学在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中位列第 329，在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中并列第 173。

• It is placed 146th in the 2026-2027 U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking and in the 101-150 band of the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities.该校在 2026 至 2027 年度 US News 全球最佳大学排名中位列第 146，并在 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名中处于 101 至 150 区间。

• According to OpenAlex the university has produced 112,645 research works attracting 10,339,558 citations.据 OpenAlex 统计，该校已产出 112,645 项研究成果，累计被引用 10,339,558 次。

• In the Nature Index Global of 2025 the university was ranked 16th among world universities and 12th in China.在 2025 年自然指数全球榜中，该校位列世界大学第 16 位、中国第 12 位。

• Nankai is consistently ranked among the top ten universities in China, having placed 10th in the 2011 ranking published by Renmin University of China and 8th in the 2012 first-class university ranking by Wu Shulian.南开长期位居中国前十大高校之列，在中国人民大学 2011 年发布的排行榜中位列第 10，在武书连 2012 年一流大学排名中位列第 8。

• In the Ministry of Education's 2012 discipline evaluation, 20 of Nankai's 29 assessed disciplines ranked among the national top ten, with the humanities, social sciences and pure sciences especially strong.在教育部 2012 年学科评估中，南开参评的 29 个学科有 20 个位居全国前十，人文、社科与理学尤为突出。

• In the CWTS Leiden Ranking of 2013 the university placed 53rd among world universities and first in China, and in the 2013 QS ranking it was 62nd in Asia.在 2013 年莱顿大学排名中该校位列世界大学第 53、中国第一，在 2013 年 QS 排名中位列亚洲第 62。

• Its reputation rests on a rigorous tradition of small but high-quality teaching that earned it the nickname the North Star of Higher Learning.其声誉奠基于严谨而精干的办学传统，为之赢得了「学府北辰」的称号。

• Among its honours, the university counts the Nobel laureates and honorary professors connected with it and the CWRU-class partnerships that place its mathematics and chemistry among the strongest in the country.在其荣誉中，该校拥有与之相关的诺贝尔奖得主与名誉教授，以及使数学与化学跻身全国最强的合作关系。

Student life

• Nankai's motto, adopted by Zhang Boling at the school's thirtieth anniversary in 1934, is 允公允能，日新月异, rendered in English as dedication to public interests, acquisition of all-round capability, and aspiration for progress with each day.南开的校训由张伯苓于 1934 年三十周年校庆时定为「允公允能，日新月异」，其英文表述为致力于公共利益、培养全面才能、并每日求取进步。

• The motto's four characters 公 and 能 mean unselfishness and practical ability, while 日新月异 is drawn from the I Ching idea of the gentleman's ceaseless self-improvement.校训中的「公」与「能」意为无私与实干，「日新月异」则取意于《易经》中君子自强不息之意。

• The Nankai school song, shared across the Nankai schools, was written on the eve of the May Fourth Movement, with lyrics by Wei Yunzhuang and music by the American teacher based on the state song of Maryland, and approved by Zhang Boling in 1919.《南开校歌》为南开系列学校共享，创制于五四运动前夕，由魏云庄填词、美籍教师依马里兰州州歌谱曲，1919 年经张伯苓审定。

• The university's three treasures are its motto, its school song and the Mirror Motto of self-admonition on bearing and behaviour created in the earliest years of the Nankai School.南开三宝为校训、校歌与建校初期所创、用以自省仪容举止的镜箴容止格言。

• The Nankai bell, cast with the Diamond Sutra and weighing more than 6,500 kilograms, was moved to the Bali Tai campus in 1923, lost when the Japanese occupied the campus in 1937 and recast in July 1997.校钟铸有《金刚经》、重逾一万三千斤，1923 年移至八里台校园，1937 年日军占领校园后失踪，1997 年 7 月重铸。

• Since 2013 the university has held its annual Lotus Season in June, when the lotus blossoms on the Mati Lake become a concentrated campus landscape.自 2013 年起该校每年 6 月举办「荷花季」，马蹄湖上盛开的荷花成为集中的校园景观。

• The Nankai Alumni Association was formally established in October 1929, and the university celebrated its centenary in 2019 with a year of events.南开校友总会于 1929 年 10 月正式成立，该校于 2019 年以历时一年的活动庆祝建校一百周年。

• Each 17 October alumni return to the campuses for the anniversary of the Nankai School, keeping alive a tradition that began in the 1930s.每年 10 月 17 日校友返校庆祝南开学校校庆，延续着始于 1930 年代的传统。

Notable people

• Yan Xiu, honoured as the father of the Nankai schools, and Zhang Boling, its headmaster and first president for more than forty years, founded and shaped the university.被尊为南开校父的严修，以及任校长与首任校长长达四十余年的张伯苓，创办并塑造了这所大学。

• The education minister Fan Yuanlian took part in the preparation of Nankai University and served on its board of directors.教育总长范源濂参与了南开大学的筹备与创办，并担任其董事会董事。

• Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, was a Nankai student and later founded the university's first alumni body in December 1919.中华人民共和国首任总理周恩来是南开的学生，并于 1919 年 12 月创办了该校第一个校友组织。

• The Nobel laureates in physics Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, who shared the 1957 prize, are both Nankai alumni and honorary professors of the university.1957 年共同获得诺贝尔物理学奖的杨振宁与李政道都是南开校友，也是该校的名誉教授。

• The mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern founded the Chern Institute of Mathematics at Nankai and built one of the world's largest mathematics research centres there.数学家陈省身在南开创办了陈省身数学研究所，并在该校建成世界上规模最大的数学研究中心之一。

• The philosopher and diplomat P.C. Chang, a Nankai professor, was vice-chair of the United Nations committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.哲学家兼外交家张彭春是南开教授，曾任联合国起草《世界人权宣言》委员会的副主席。

• Among other alumni are the physicist Wu Ta-You, called the father of Chinese physics, the aerodynamicist Guo Yonghuai and the geologist Liu Dongsheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.其他校友包括被誉为中国物理学之父的物理学家吴大猷、空气动力学家郭永怀以及中国科学院院士、地质学家刘东生。

• The playwright Cao Yu, the historian Ray Huang and the classicist and poet Ye Jiaying, who founded the Institute of Chinese Classical Culture at Nankai, are leading figures of its humanities.剧作家曹禺、历史学家黄仁宇，以及在南开创办中华古典文化研究所的古典文学学者与诗人叶嘉莹，都是其人文领域的代表人物。

• In public life, the alumnus Wang Anshun served as mayor of Beijing, Guo Shuqing chaired the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and Ren Xuefeng was Communist Party Secretary of Guangzhou.在公共事务领域，校友王安顺曾任北京市市长，郭树清曾任中国证券监督管理委员会主席，任学锋曾任广州市委书记。

• The entrepreneurs Zhang Yiming, founder and former chief executive of ByteDance, and Li Jinyuan, a billionaire alumnus, are among the university's business graduates.字节跳动创始人兼前首席执行官张一鸣与亿万富翁校友李金元都是该校的商界毕业生。

• Its recent presidents have been Rao Zihe, Gong Ke, Cao Xuetao and, since August 2022, the economist Chen Yulu, and its second president was the economist He Lian.其近期校长包括饶子和、龚克、曹雪涛，以及自 2022 年 8 月起任职的经济学家陈雨露，其第二任校长则是经济学家何廉。