Suzhou High School

Suzhou Prefecture School

In 1035, Fan Zhongyan, the Prime Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty founded the Suzhou Prefecture School, which is the first time in Chinese history that combined prefecture school with Confucian temple. The same year, Fan Zhongyan donated a house, and began the construction of quasi-government school after the approval of the Emperor Ren Zong. Then he employed the educator Hu Yuan, the implementor of "sub-Studio" teaching style. Since then, with the school in Suzhou, Soochow Academy began the "Millennium Prefecture School"(千年府学) of history.

Ziyang College

During the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Boxing (张伯行) established the Ziyang College (紫阳书院) in the Suzhou Prefecture School. At that time, most of the governmental schools are examination-oriented while the Ziyang College focused on Neo-Confucianism. Zhang also engaged famous teachers from all over the country and the college attracted students nationwide. In 1860, Suzhou Prefecture School was seriously damaged in the catastrophe of Taiping Rebellion. Fourteen years later, governor Zhang Shusheng (张树声) arranged a huge budget in its reconstruction.

During late Qing Dynasty and ROC

In 1902, Ziyang College was renamed to Xiaoshiguan (校士馆, literally meaning a place for school scholars). Two years later, Duan Fang (端方), the provincial governor of Jiangsu, established Jiangsu Normal School (江苏师范学堂) on its campus. He invited sinology great masters Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei to the school, serving as principal and teacher respectively. After that, the renowned elite college in Jiangnan became a public high school.

In 1911, the school was renamed to Jiangsu Provincial No.1 Normal School (江苏省立第一师范学校). During May Fourth Movement, students in the school established a student council with some universities to protest the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. In mid-May, the students' strike finally affected the government's decision. In 1927, Wang Maozu, an educationist who studied at Harvard University and Columbia University and former principal of Beijing Normal University, became the principal of Jiangsu Provincial Suzhou High School. After that, he modified the English name of this school to Soochow Academy(which was again used on its logo from the year 2016). He invited some famous scholars, including Qian Mu, Zhang Taiyan and Lü Shuxiang.

After Wang resigned in 1931, Jiangsu Province Department of Education let geographer Hu Huanyong at National Central University to take this position temporarily. In July 1932, SHS started to admit girls, which is considered as a progress in China at that time. In the 1st Jiangsu Provincial High School Graduate Examination held in 1933, SHS students attracted nationwide attention by having 24 of them ranked in Top 100 in the province. Two years later, Hu Huanyong returned to National Central University after the negotiation of university and the Department of Education.

On November 19, 1937, the Japanese Army invaded Suzhou and occupied the campus of Suzhou High School. During the 8-year war, the school relocated seven times and changed its name twice, in order to minimize attention. After the fall of Suzhou, SHS initially moved to rural Yixing—the Suzhou High School at Boyang (亳阳苏中). The students and faculty members had to change their campus again when Japanese occupied the whole Sunan (Southern Jiangsu) region. The Suzhou High School at Shanghai (苏中沪校) was located at Fuzhou Road, Shanghai International Settlement. On December 8, 1941, the U.S. declared war upon Japan and the Japanese Army eventually annexed the International Settlement. As a result, SHS moved to Changzhou ("Private Qingyun School", 私立青云), Yixing("Private Hongyi School", 私立弘毅), though in the name of private schools. On October 1945, Soochow Academy finally returned to its original campus after the surrender of Japan. During the 1940s and 1950s, Soochow Academy continued to be one of China's top high schools, with 40-50 students admitted by Peking University, Tsinghua University and Jiaotong University each year. Despite this, the high-level academic atmosphere comparable with top universities no longer existed. During the Chinese Communist Revolution, the People's Liberation Army occupied Suzhou on April 27, 1949 and the Communist Party took over the school.

Today

In 1978, the school was named as a high school in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and became the first school to restore one of the key secondary schools.

In 1985, the school and the University of Science and Technology co-founded the Junior Class College preparatory classes.

It established friendly relations and cooperation with schools in Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries more than 10 universities (such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Waseda University, Japan) . In 2007, Soochow Academy introduced the Cambridge International High School program.

Founded in 1996, the Suzhou Lida Middle School was transformed in 2005 into the state-controlled joint-venture Suzhou Lida school. The Suzhou High School Park affiliate was founded in 2003 and located in Suzhou Industrial Park.

In 2004, the school was classified as a four-star high school in Jiangsu Province. For three consecutive years since 1999, the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Jiangsu Provincial People's Government awarded the "Civilized Unit of Jiangsu Province pacesetter" honor.

Teachers

Soochow Academy has five professors for senior secondary school teachers and 19 grade teachers in-service provincial team.

Campus

It is located on Sanyuan Fang (三元坊) of Renmin Road in Suzhou. Its ground occupy an area of 160 mu(1 mu = 666.67 square meters).

The teaching areas of Soochow Academy surrounds the Daoshan Hill (道山). The symbol of Soochow Academy is the Science Building facing the main gate near Renmin Road. The main teaching buildings are the East and West red buildings (西红楼, 东红楼) as well as East and West white buildings (西白楼, 东白楼). Library, the Laboratory Building, the Info-tech Building and the stadium was built in the 1990s.

Bibliographies