林徽因
The Northeastern University was founded on April 26, 1923 in Shenyang (then known as Fengtian), in response to warlord Zhang Zuolin's order in early 1921 to establish tertiary education and expand the talent pool of the Northeast. After Zhang Zuolin's assassination by the Japanese, his son Zhang Xueliang inherited the command of the Northeast, assumed the title of co-president of the university in August 1928, and became the university's most important financial and political patron in its early history. With Zhang's generous support, the institution attracted top scholars and educators from throughout the nation (e.g. Zhang Shizhao, Huang Kan, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin), and quickly developed into a top-tier comprehensive university, with six schools for science, engineering, humanities, law, agriculture and education. By the end of the 1920s, it was the biggest and best-resourced tertiary institute in China, with a budget tripling that of the Peking University.