SEM plans to organize a hiking event in which faculty and students of the School will continue to retrace the journeys of the Southwest Associate University upon the 100th anniversary of Tsinghua University.

This is part of the hiking activities of the EMBA Programs. During November 25-28, 2010, over 100 EMBA students and alumni already finished a journey from Yuanling to Zhijiang in Hunan Province. In April, nearly 200 hiking team members will walk through Guizhou and Yunnan Province before they arrive at Yunnan Normal University at Chenggong.

Dean QIAN Yingyi speaking at the press conference

The journeys of the Southwest Associate University were made at the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China. The associated university was formed by Tsinghua University, Peking University and Nankai University as an effort to carry on higher education in wartime. In 1938, three groups of faculty and students hiked all the way down to Kunming in Yunnan Province, hence the establishment of the Southwest Associate University. The April journey of SEM will follow one of the teams’ route from Changsha to Kunming through Changde, Zhijiang, Huangxian, Guiyang and Yongning.

The School held a press conference to announce the event. Dean QIAN Yingyi and Associate Dean LIAO Li were present at the conference, which also invited two alumni of the Southwest Associate University: HE Zhaowu, Professor at Tsinghua University Institute of Humanities, and WEN Lidiao, son of Professor WEN Yiduo at the Southwest Associate University.

Southwest Associate University alumni HE Zhaowu and WEN Lidiao

In a speech at the press conference, Dean QIAN Yingyi said:”The event offers a valuable opportunity to review the history of the Southwest Associate University and re-cherish its spirit of persistence and perseverance.”

On the April journey of the School, there will also be several activities. Participating classes will organize salons to discuss their experience and recollections along the way. Dean QIAN Yingyi and Associate Dean LIAO Li will deliver speeches to students of Yunnan Normal University and high school students in Guizhou and Yunnan. What’s more, the School plans to select 100 teachers in rural areas to join future training programs in Beijing.