Xiamen University was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee, the well-known overseas Chinese leader honored by Comrade Mao Zedong as the Flag of the Overseas Chinese and Glory of the Nation. It was the first university in the history of modern Chinese education to be founded by an overseas Chinese. The institution is situated in Southeast China in the beautiful coastal city of Xiamen Island. It is set amid picturesque scenery, with its campus running along the seashore at the foot of mountains. Because of its neatness and beauty, the campus is regarded as one of the finest in China. At present it is the only key comprehensive university directly affiliated with the Education Ministry in any of the five special economic zones or the many overseas Chinese hometowns in China.
When the university was first founded, Tan Kah Kee chose the following for its motto: Pursue excellence, Strive for perfection. Over the past eighty years, as the result of painstaking efforts by several generations of teachers and students, Xiamen University has accumulated rich experience in running its programs. It follows the fine tradition of loving the motherland and the university, and in particular has the characteristics of being a university in the Special Economic Zone on the coast near Taiwan and with close ties with overseas Chinese. It enjoys a fine reputation both at home and abroad, and many world-renowned experts and scholars have come here to deliver lectures. This university has produced many first-rate graduates for the country. In the past 80 years since its founding, it has graduated over 80,000 students. Some of them have become internationally known experts and scholars. Some have become outstanding leaders in various fields in China, and most have become the mainstay in various areas of our country. For example, as many as 53 academicians from both the Social and Natural Science Academies of China have studied or worked in Xiamen University.
Xiamen University has successively established inter-university ties with 46 institutions of higher education in such countries and regions as Britain, the US, Japan, France, Russia, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Since 1980, it has successfully hosted over 30 international and regional academic conferences; has sent scholars or teachers abroad on dozens of occasions for cooperative research, further study, and attending academic conferences each year; and has hosted more than 2000 foreign experts who came to teach, lecture, or research. With respect to cultural exchange with Taiwan, Xiamen University has an especially favorable geographical location and irreplaceable advantages in human resources. It has carried on active and extensive exchanges by establishing academic ties with 24 universities and colleges, 63 research institutes, and 34 media outlets in Taiwan. It is one of the universities in mainland China most actively engaged in educational, scientific, and cultural exchanges with Taiwan.
