Outstanding Alumni

Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai was among the first batch of students of Nankai University. From August 1913 to June 1917, he studied at Nankai School. In four years' study, Zhou Enlai made up his mind to save the nation. He studied diligently, was good both in character and in scholarship and brilliantly talented, and held in high esteem by his teachers and schoolmates. In September 1917, he went to Japan for studies, where he got in contact with Marxism. In April 1919, he returned to Tianjin, and was admitted to Nankai University in September, majoring in liberal arts, with student number 62.
During his study in Nankai University, it was just the time of continuous upsurge of "May Fourth" anti-imperialism and patriotic movement. Zhou Enlai, along with numerous progressive young people, plunged into the great powerful current ever since the breakout of the "May Fourth" Movement. He was the chief editor of the "Journal of Tianjin Students Association", and the sponsor of the establishment of "Juewu Society". He organized Tianjin students to Beijing President Office Building for petition. On the campus, Zhou Enlai took charge of the "student communication office" to make connections with Nankai alumni in China and abroad. He also assisted President Zhang Bolin to promote the reform of the university. In January 1920, He organized and led more than 3000 Tianjin patriotic students from Nankai University, Beiyang University, Zhili Industrial School, Zhili Women Teachers' School, and Nankai Middle School to go to the office of Zhili Province for petition, and was captured by the reactionary authorities. After he was released from the prison, Zhou Enlai went to Europe to pursue the work-study program, with the financial support of "Fansun scholarship" of Nankai University.
After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, as the state premier who was busy with a myriad of state affairs, was always concerned with the development of Nankai University. He inspected the Alma Mater three times in February 1951, April 1957, and May 1959. Especially in his third visit to Nankai, Zhou Enlai spent a whole day long to investigate and learn about the teaching and scientific research, warmly talk with teachers and students, ask about the circumstances of teachers and friends, and give important speech to the whole teachers and students. He encouraged Nankai to "have a new university style and new focuses of teaching in the new times, guarantee quality, and really serve better for socialism and future communism".
Nankai University is proud of having such aluminum as Zhou Enlai. In 1979, a "Zhou Enlai Monument" was built in the center of the horseshoe lake on the campus. A fine-gold profile relief sculpture of Zhou Enlai figure and six big golden characters in handwriting by Zhou Enlai, "I love Nankai", are inlaid in the front side of the monument. In the thirtieth anniversary of Zhou Enlai's third inspection visit to Nankai University held in 1989, a full-body white marble sculpture of Zhou Enlai was erected in esteem on the square of the central teaching building of the university, where is now the patriotism education base of Nankai teachers and students.


Cao Yu

Cao Yu, originally named Wan Jiabao, was born in Tianjin in September 1910. He was admitted to Nankai School in 1922, and soon became an activist of Nankai new drama troupe. Under the fostering and guidance of Prof. Zhang Pengchun, a famous drama artist, Cao Yu, with overflowing brilliance on the road of drama, took part in the drama performance, which "won warm acclaim from the audience". In 1928, he was enrolled in the department of politics, and he was always the backbone of Nankai drama troupe. Very soon, to realize the pursuit of dedicating himself to the drama undertaking, Cao Yu, who was very fond of foreign literature, left Nankai University, and was transferred to the department of Western literature, Tsinghua University, in 1930. He completed his maiden work "Thunderstorm" in 1933, which was brewed in Nankai and written in Tsinghua. Cao Yu became one of the founders of Chinese drama. After leaving Nankai, Cao Yu never forgot the Alma Mater. Cao Yu and Lao She jointly wrote a poem in congratulation on the 70th birthday of Mr. Zhang Boling held in the United States in 1946. In his later years, Cao Yu came to the Alma Mater, and said with deep emotion, "Nankai has educated me and I never forget it all in my life."


Shiing-Shen Chen

Shiing-Shen Chen was born in Zhejiang Jiaxing, in October 1911. In his early years, he attended the middle school in Tianjin. In 1926, he was admitted to the department of mathematics, Nankai University, and taught by famous mathematician Jiang Lifu. In the summer of 1930, he was graduated. After the breakout of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Shiing-Shen Chen returned from Europe to China, and taught in Southwest Associated University. In 1948, he was elected to be the academician of the central research academy, and at the end of that year, he went to the United States. He made achievement in differential geometry that attracted worldwide attention, for which he was granted the Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics. After the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and USA, he visited China many times, and the honorary professorship of Nankai University was conferred upon him in 1982. Shiing-Shen Chen was appointed by the Ministry of Education in 1984 to be the director of the research institute of mathematics, Nankai University. Advanced in age, Shiing-Shen Chen established the base for training Chinese talented persons of advanced mathematics, taking root in China. In 1994, Shiing-Shen Chen was elected to be a foreign academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences.