梅贻琦

Mei Yiqi was a prominent modern Chinese educator who led Tsinghua University for many years; his educational ideas and practice had a profound influence on China's modern university system. Five of his works are included here, centering on educational discussion and recollections of the National Southwestern Associated University. They range from The Meaning of a University and A Tsinghua President's Advice to Teachers, which address the purpose of a university, faculty, and governance, to documentary pieces such as Mei Yiqi's Diaries of the National Southwestern Associated University, Days at the National Southwestern Associated University, and Songs of Displacement: Our National Southwestern Associated University (Volume on Learning), which record university life in wartime. His writing is plain and concise rather than elaborate, revealing through everyday records a commitment to academic independence and character education; the works have both historical and intellectual value. Because public information is limited, biographical details are not elaborated here; readers may sense from his writings how that generation of scholars guarded education amid upheaval.