Qunxian Building Complex

Qunxian Building Complex

The Qunxian Building Complex includes five structures: Yingxue Building, Tong’an Building, Qunxian Building, Jimei Building, and Nangying Building.

The Qunxian Building Complex was built starting in May 1921 and completed by the end of 1922, serving as the first group of campus buildings at Xiamen University. At the groundbreaking, to express Tan Kah Kee’s resolve to promote education for national strength, he specifically chose May 9 (the National Humiliation Memorial Day) as the foundation-laying date. Upon completion, Tan named Building No. 1 “Yingxue Building” and Building No. 5 “Nangying Building.” The terms “Yingxue” (reflecting snow) and “Nangying” (carrying fireflies) are derived from the historical anecdotes of Sun Kang and Che Yin, who studied diligently despite poverty. Buildings No. 2 and No. 4 were named “Tong’an” and “Jimei,” respectively—place names that reflect Tan Kah Kee’s dedication to revitalizing his hometown and advancing national education. When naming the central main building, some suggested calling it “Kah Kee Building,” but Tan immediately rejected the idea. Others proposed naming it “Jingxian” (honoring his younger brother), but after consideration, Tan changed it to “Qunxian,” inspired by the phrase “Qunxian Bizhi, Shaoshao Xianji” (When all the worthy gather, both young and old are present). At the time, Qunxian Building, Tong’an Building, and Jimei Building served as teaching facilities, while Yingxue Building and Nangying Building functioned as student dormitories. From May 1938 to August 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Xiamen, Xiamen University was turned into a military barracks, and the campus buildings suffered extensive damage. After the university reopened in 1946, repairs were made to the Qunxian Building Complex and other structures. Further renovations were carried out in the 1980s and 1990s.

The buildings are arranged in a straight line, facing south with northern exposure, and feature a brick, stone, and wood structure. Yingxue Building and Nangying Building are three-story structures, each with a floor area of 2,316 square meters, laid out with a double-turret interior corridor design. The walls are constructed from granite strips, and the floors consist of wooden structures topped with red clay bricks. They have double-sloped Western-style roofs covered with red machine-made flat tiles. The gables feature pointed arch windows, and the third floor is equipped with a front porch supported by eight Western-style columns. The central lintels of the third-floor pavilions in both buildings bear inscriptions of the characters “Yingxue” and “Nangying,” handwritten by Tan Kah Kee and Tan Jingxian, respectively. Jimei Building and Tong’an Building are two-story structures, with floor areas of 1,062 and 1,096 square meters, respectively. Their walls are made of granite strips, and the floors consist of wooden structures with red clay bricks. They feature a front-porch layout, with arched corridors on the first floor and square corridors on the second, adorned with Western-style column capitals in the middle. The roofs are double-curved hip-and-gable roofs with swallowtail ends. The roofing is covered with red machine-made flat tiles. The building names for Tong’an Building and Jimei Building were inscribed by Chen Peikun, then the Xiamen Dao Magistrate, and Lai Yulin, former magistrate of Siming County, respectively. Qunxian Building has a T-shaped floor plan with a floor area of 2,593 square meters. It also features a front-porch layout, with walls of granite strips and floors of wooden structures topped with red clay bricks. The central roof is a double-curved, double-eave hip-and-gable roof, while the wings feature double-curved hip-and-gable roofs with swallowtail ends. The roofing is covered with red machine-made flat tiles. The gables and eaves are decorated with traditional Southern Fujian gray relief carvings and wooden floral ornaments. The name “Qunxian” on the building was inscribed by Lin Wenqing, then president of Xiamen University. The buildings are interconnected by double-sloped wooden corridors.