China's first modern university marks 120th anniversary

BEIJING: Tianjin University, the first higher education institution in modern China, marked its 120th anniversary.

A series of celebrations, including a University Presidents' Roundtable, a gala performance and unveiling ceremony of the statue of its founder Sheng Xuanhuai were held at the campus in the northern port city of Tianjin yesterday.

As a key university under the administration of Ministry of Education, it boasts of 250,000 graduates in the past 120 years, who played an important role in building China's modern industrial system, state-run Xinhua news agency said today.

Tianjin University will further expand cooperation with the best varsities and science and research teams across the world to deal with problems emerging in China's modernisation process, said Li Jiajun, president of the university.

Tianjin University, also known as Peiyang University in the past, was established in 1895 by Sheng Xuanhuai, then governor of Tianjin Customs. It was the first to fully adopt western university system in China.

Charles Daniel Tenney, an American educator, was the first president of the university who held office from 1895 to 1906.