On July 30th, “MEM 2023 Freshman Orientation” series activities were successfully held in the lecture hall of Yifu Building in Putuo Campus. Tang Tao, the director and researcher of the Archives of East China Normal University, gave a lecture titled The Heroes of Education - A talk on the Centennial History of East China Normal University, leading MEM students to explore the culture and spirit of the university. Subsequently, the students collectively visited the History Museum of East China Normal University to further understand its past and present.
CTO school inherits and carries forward the excellent cultural traditions of East China Normal University. After the MEM 2022 class entitled the cultural name-Da Xia Class , the MEM 2023 senior class and three elite classes also entitled cultural names, namely Saint John Class, Da Xia Class, Guang Hua Class, and Si Qun Class. This has become a unique cultural identity for the MEM students at East China Normal University.
When it comes to one of the predecessor universities, Daxia University, he combined official history and anecdotes to provide students with a detailed introduction to President Wang Boqun, a patriotic educator. He explained how he called on major figures in the political and financial industry at that time to form the board of directors and management of Daxia University, and then led the construction of Daxia campus, including the school gate, library, Qunxian Hall, Liwa River, and other campus attractions. At the same time, he also talked about the history of the difficult westward migration of Daxia University. After experiencing this period of ups and downs, Daxia University returned to Shanghai for revival in 1946. In memory of President Wang Boqun, a new Siqun Hall was built, and it still stands on the beautiful campus of East China Normal University.
Next, Director Tang emphasized the academic background of East China Normal University as a research-oriented university from the aspects of the department, traditional advantages of teacher education, disciplinary system and layout, disciplinary evaluation results, key disciplinary level, and characteristic disciplinary construction at the beginning of the school's establishment. He also introduced the development process of East China Normal University from international exchange to internationalization, and summarized the university spirit of East China Normal University.
In the afternoon, the students went to visit the History Museum of East China Normal University. Under the guidance of the teachers in the museum, they further learned about the past and present of the university from the collected materials, and felt the cultural atmosphere and spirit of the university.
Learning the history is only the first step, and the development of the university in the future requires the personal efforts of every students to become a participant, witness, and builder of the new history. We hope that freshmen（2023）would learn about the university culture and heritage, inherit the spirit of ECNU, and the spirit of their predecessors which constantly inspires themselves to firmly believe in their ideals.
