Tang Jiyao
Yunnan University was founded in December 1922 by General Tang Jiyao, the warlord who controlled Yunnan province in the 1920s. The University began to enroll students on April 20, 1923. It started as the privately run "Dong Lu University" ("Dong Lu" means "Eastern Road" or "Eastern Land"). The name has changed six times in the past 80 years, but the present name dates from 1934. It is known locally as "Yunda". Following typical abbreviations for Chinese universities, "Yun" is an abbreviation of "Yunnan" and "da" is an abbreviation of "daxue", the Chinese word for "university".