The essence of great learning is to seek supreme benevolence. You will enjoy yourselves in the sea of knowledge at the famous university with a history of over one hundred years, achieve your ambition, and build a solid foundation of the dream mansion shared between us. In your future life, the lifelong honor and title of “a member of Lanzhou University” will follow you forever, and the spirit of Lanzhou University lasting one hundred years will be the enduring power and the quality of supreme benevolence deep in your soul.
As we all know, Rome was not built in one day. I believe that as long as we work well on everything at present, we can make a difference in the future and continuously strive for supreme benevolence. College life brings about a brand new yet the most crucial picture in your life. Better or worse, it is how to start that determines the end pattern of the picture. I hope you can set up a great ideal, make a plan for your study and life during your college career, try to shape yourselves as a qualified member of Lanzhou University with a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, and perseverance, and integrate each step pursuing knowledge and truth and sound quality into the great cause of the motherland and people.
The earliest advanced learning institution in Northwest China, from the establishment to development As the earliest institution of advanced learning and higher education in Northwest China, Lanzhou University was previously named Gansu Law and Politics School in 1909. Then the school developed to become Lanzhou Sun Yat-sen University in 1928.
Lanzhou University passed the preliminary examination by the “211 Project” Department and became one of the critical universities during the “Ninth Five-Year Plan” period in 2001; it became one of the critical supporting universities of national “985 Project” Now, Lanzhou University has been the best university in the northwestern region of China, ranking as one of the top 30 among over 1,500 universities across China. It is one of the key universities administered directly by the Ministry of Education.
In 1993, in an Asian higher education symposium held in Manila of Philippines, 100 universities were evaluated as the famous university. 26 Chinese universities were involved, and Lanzhou University was ranked sixth.
The motto of Lanzhou University was identified in July 2007. On the one hand, the Chinese version of “Constantly Improving” is extracted from “As heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection” from the Book of Change. It is an essential element of the Chinese ethos and a reason for the successful establishment of Lanzhou University as a unique top university in the less developed western China after overcoming lots of hardships.
On the other hand, the Chinese version of “Blazing Our Path” is an extraction from Yuanmei’s Essays of Suiyuan Garden on Poetry in the Qing dynasty. The phrase is a demonstration of the modern spirit featured by reform and innovation. In 1957, Chairman Mao Zedong praised Xin Shuzhi, former president of Lanzhou University, that “Mr. Xin works hard throughout his lifetime and blazes his path in the academic world” at the supreme state affairs meeting.
Such studies as Agriculture, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Studies, Semi-arid Climate, and Environmental Studies, Northwest Minority Studies, and Dunhuang Studies have made significant contributions to the nation as well as to the economic and social development of western China.
Time flies. The motto of Lanzhou University, which highly integrates both national spirit and the spirit of the time, has been recognized as a unique feature of Lanzhou University’s spirit, value, and style of behavior, becoming an irreplaceable and intangible power in the development of Lanzhou University.
