梅贻琦 (MéiYíqí): Mei Yiqi (1889-1962)

Meanings

1 Mei Yiqi (1889-1962)
2 physicist and long-serving president of Tsinghua University (1931-1948, and National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan 1956-1962)

Characters

梅

to bequeath; to leave to

琦

qí

fine jade; extraordinary

Examples

梅贻琦是清华大学历史上任期最长的校长。

Méi Yíqí shì Qīnghuá Dàxué lìshǐ shàng rènqī zuì cháng de xiàozhǎng.

Mei Yiqi was the longest-serving president in Tsinghua University's history.

他说:'大学者,非谓有大楼之谓也,有大师之谓也。'

Tā shuō: 'Dàxué zhě, fēi wèi yǒu dàlóu zhī wèi yě, yǒu dàshī zhī wèi yě.'

He said: 'A great university is not so called because it has great buildings, but because it has great masters.'

Tips

history

Mei Yiqi's 1931 inaugural address defined the modern Chinese university: 所谓大学者,非谓有大楼之谓也,有大师之谓也 — 'a great university is not one with great buildings, but one with great masters.' He led Tsinghua through the wartime evacuation to Kunming, where Tsinghua, Peking University, and Nankai merged into the legendary Southwestern Associated University (西南联合大学).

culture

Revered as 清华永远的校长 ('Tsinghua's eternal president'), Mei re-established National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1956. Both the Beijing and Hsinchu Tsinghuas claim him, and both display his famous dictum on campus.