page_title: Soochow University (Suzhou)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Soochow University (Suzhou) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Old SooChow Univ Gate in Suzhou
context_page_description: Soochow University is a public university in Suzhou, China. The institution is part of the Chinese Ministry of Education's Project 211, and a Jiangsu provincial key comprehensive university. The School of Humanities, School of Textile and Clothing Engineering, School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and School of Medicine are the university's most visibly distinguished schools.
context_section_description: The original Soochow University (simplified Chinese: 东吴大学; traditional Chinese: 東吳大學; pinyin: Dōngwú Dàxué; Wade–Giles: tung-wu ta hsüeh) was founded by Methodists in Suzhou in 1900 as a merger of three existing institutions: the Po-hsi Academy, the Kung-hsiang Academy, and the Chung-hsi Academy. The word Soochow in its English name is the old spelling of the city's Chinese name according to the early postal romanisation. The original Chinese name 東吳 (Tung-wu) refers to one of the Three Kingdoms in the ancient time, of which the region of Suzhou was an important part.
  The university was split in 1949 as a result of the Chinese Civil War, and merged with the Southern Jiangsu College of Culture and Education and the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Jiangnan University to form the Jiangsu Teacher's College in 1952. The English name Soochow University was revived in 1982; however, the original Chinese name 東吳 (Tung-wu) was not adopted, and the institution was given the Chinese name 蘇州 (Soochow). The Suzhou College of Sericulture, Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology and Suzhou Medical College were each merged into the University in 1995, 1997 and 2000 successively.
  Members of the Soochow Alumni Association who fled to Taiwan after 1949 established the Soochow University in Taipei, starting with its College of Law in 1951 and becoming a full-fledged university with five schools in 1971.
caption: Old Dongwu Daxue gate
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