Hunan Third Normal School

Hunan Third Normal School

The former Hunan Provincial Third Normal School was originally situated on Yanjiaping, east bank of the Xiang River in Hengyang, with the majestic Laiyan Pagoda visible across the river. This school has a long history and was once hailed as “the highest academic institution in southern Hunan.” It was founded in the winter of 1904 as the “Southern Road Normal School.” After the Xinhai Revolution, in January 1912, it was renamed the “Hunan Public Third Normal School.” In 1914, the term “Public” was changed to “Provincial,” and the school remained at its original location. In 1927, the school was forced to close. It reopened in the spring of 1928 under the new name “Hunan Provincial Fifth Middle School.” In 1934, it was again renamed “Hengyang Middle School.” In 1938, due to bombings by Japanese aircraft, the school was relocated to Leiyang and then moved to Changning the following year. In February 1941, following the provincial government’s directive that “schools should be established in war zones,” the normal education department of Hengyang Middle School was transformed into the Hunan Provincial Second Normal School. In the autumn of 1944, as Changning fell, the Second Normal School was forced to move to Ningyuan. In the spring of 1945, it relocated again to Lanshan, where it operated jointly with the then Hunan Provincial Third Normal School (i.e., Chenzhou Normal School) and the Hunan Provincial Eleventh Normal School, collectively known as the Hunan United Normal School. In August 1945, after the victory of the War of Resistance, the Second Normal School separated from the United Normal School and moved back to Ningyuan. In January 1950, the school returned to Hengyang from Ningyuan and temporarily operated in the former campus of the Third Middle School. In 1951, its current permanent site was established at Huangchaling. In 1960, by decision of the provincial government, the school resumed its original name — “Hunan Provincial Third Normal School.”

The Hunan Third Normal School served as a major base for revolutionary struggles in “southern Hunan” and was a place where Mao Zedong engaged in early revolutionary activities. The CCP branch of the Hunan Third Normal School, established in 1922, was the earliest grassroots organization of the Party in southern Hunan. Under the Party’s guidance, hundreds of students and faculty, including Chen Weiren, Li Qihan, Deng Zhongxia, Jiang Xianyun, Xie Geijun, and Principal Jiang Xiaoqing, sacrificed their lives for the revolution. To this day, dozens of surviving veteran proletarian revolutionaries were once students of the Third Normal School.