Henan University Cultural Creations

Henan University traces its roots to 1912, when the Henan Preparatory School for Overseas Studies was founded on the grounds of the former Henan Imperial Examination Hall in Kaifeng — the very site that witnessed the end of China’s thousand-year civil examination system. Over more than a century the institution has grown from a school preparing students to study abroad into a nationally recognised “Double First-Class” university, all while remaining deeply rooted in the Central Plains. During the War of Resistance against Japan, faculty and students carried their books across three provinces — Henan, Hubei, and Shaanxi — and kept teaching through the gunfire, making Henan University the only institution in northern China to maintain classes on the front lines. That chapter of resilience, when cloth served as paper and charcoal as ink, remains the most stirring episode in the university’s history.

Carrying forward this century-old academic tradition, Henan University lives by its motto — “Illuminate virtue, renew the people, and rest only in the highest good.” Its campus blends Chinese and Western architectural styles, from the grand auditorium to the elegantly upturned eaves of its historic dormitory halls, each a testament to the passage of time. The university continues to attract scholars from home and abroad, forging ahead on its mission to preserve Chinese civilisation while engaging with the wider world.