Bishan Academy

Bishan Academy

Bishan Academy, named after the nearby Brush Rack Mountain (Bijia Mountain) to the south of Xingyi City which the academy faces, is the predecessor of today’s Qianxinan Normal College for Nationalities. Established nearly 200 years ago, it has spanned three historical periods: the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China. In 1905, Bishan Academy was transformed into a higher elementary school, with an affiliated normal training institute, later becoming the Xingyi Junior Normal School (affiliated with the Provincial Xingyi Middle School), and then the Xingyi Rural Normal School. In 1926, it was changed to Xingyi Junior High School, and in 1941 it was renamed Guizhou Provincial Xingyi Middle School. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the provincial government decided to relocate the former Provincial Pan County Normal School to the original site of Bishan Academy in Xingyi, merging it with the junior normal school and officially naming it the Guizhou Xingyi Prefecture Normal School. In August 1975, with approval from the provincial Party committee, it became the Xingyi Prefecture 57 Normal University. In April 1978, with the approval of the State Council, the Xingyi Teachers College was established, and in 1982, following the establishment of Qianxinan Prefecture, it was renamed Qianxinan Prefecture Nationality Teachers College. In 1993, it was changed to Qianxinan Prefecture Nationality Normal College.

In 1905, Xu Tiansu, the head of the higher elementary school, led students Wei Zhengkai, Wang Wenhua, Dou Jianzhi, Xiong Fengjie, Gao Zhixiang, and 13 others to take the entrance exam for the Provincial Public Middle School in Guiyang. They swept the top 13 spots. When the news spread, the school gained great renown, attracting students from the neighboring provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi.

Over the past hundred-plus years, the school has nurtured cultural, scientific, artistic, and other professionals for both the nation and the eight counties of the Panjiang region during various eras, as well as influential military and political figures, and business leaders. Many of its graduates stood out and achieved remarkable success. Among them were Liu Xianshi, who served as governor of Guizhou Province in the early years of the Republic of China; Wang Boqun, who was Minister of Communications in the Nationalist Government; Wang Dianlun (Wenhua), Commander-in-Chief of the Guizhou Army; and He Yingqin, who served as Minister of Defense and Premier of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Generals Huang Jun and Xiao Junsheng trekked over mountains and rivers to reach Yan’an, the revolutionary base, to join the fight. In the nearly half-century since, more than ten thousand graduates of the secondary normal school and teachers’ college have made active contributions to China’s social progress and the development of various causes during the democratic revolution, the socialist revolution and construction, and the reform and opening-up period. These include cadres at the prefectural level or above such as Dai Dongyong, Yang Ju, Pan Hongfan, Huang Darong, Tan Xun, Liu Kunjiu, and Run Wei, professors and engineers such as Dr. Luo Anren, as well as a large number of outstanding teachers and education workers.

On New Year's Eve in 1986, the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee—accompanied by Hu Jintao (then Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee) and Wang Anze (then Secretary of the Qianxinan Prefectural Committee)—visited Qianxinan Nationality Teachers College.