Lianda and the Long March

2 days ago

In 1938, three elite Chinese universities formed Lianda (Provisional University) and migrated 1,000 miles from Changsha to Kunming to escape Japanese invasion, with students trekking through rugged terrain, collecting folk songs, and studying on the move.
Lianda served as an intellectual hub during wartime, blending university cultures and navigating debates between Chinese values and Western academia, while facing challenges like air raids, inflation, and sparse resources, yet producing notable alumni including Nobel laureates.
The university experienced political tensions, with Nationalist-imposed patriotic education largely resisted by students, while communist student activism thrived through performances, though leftist activities dampened after the 1941 New Fourth Army Incident.
Post-war, Lianda disbanded in 1946 as universities returned to their original campuses, amidst civil war brewing, with its legacy explored in John Israel's 1998 book and later documentaries, highlighting its role in China's educational and political history.

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