The No. 60 High School: A School Named After a Warship

Basic information

This section is about a school, not a sight. The school gate is the boundary — the school does not receive visitors, so please do not linger or take photographs at the gate.

First, the name: a warship

Most middle-school names in Shanghai come from a place, a person or an auspicious phrase. The predecessor of the No. 60 High School is different —

its name comes from a warship.

In December 1915, with Yuan Shikai's scheme to make himself emperor pressing hard, revolutionaries launched an uprising in Shanghai centred on the navy: the "warship Zhaohe" rose in Shanghai and fired on the Jiangnan Arsenal. The uprising failed in the end, but the name "Zhaohe" became from then on a symbol of the struggle against Yuan.

In 1933, to commemorate that uprising, a group of Kuomintang elders founded a middle school in Shanghai and named it "the private Zhaohe Middle School".

A warship is hidden in the school's name — a rare form of commemoration among Shanghai school names.

1933: Yang Hu, Sun Fo and Wu Tiecheng found a school

The people who founded this school were all figures of consequence:

• Yang Hu — the first principal;
• Sun Fo — the son of Sun Yat-sen;
• Wu Tiecheng — the mayor of Shanghai;

Chiang Kai-shek himself served as honorary chairman of the board.

(According to the school's own historical material, before the war Dai Li also ran several training courses at the Zhaohe Middle School — from its birth this school carried the complicated colouring of that era. This account comes from encyclopaedia material and is offered for reference only.)

"Zhaohe" in the fires of war

The fate of a school follows the fate of the nation:

• in 1938 Yang Hu went to Chongqing, and Yu Qiaqing succeeded as principal;
• after the Pacific War broke out, Japanese troops entered the concession and the school closed;
• in 1943 the school moved to Jiangshan in Zhejiang, taking students mainly from Jiangshan, Yushan, Guangfeng, Pucheng and the neighbouring counties;
• after the victory in the War of Resistance the school moved back to Shanghai and settled on Qingyun Road.

Between "Zhaohe" and "No. 60" lies the whole of the War of Resistance.

1956: renamed "No. 60 High School"

In 1956 the private Zhaohe Middle School was taken over by the relevant Shanghai municipal departments and renamed "Shanghai No. 60 High School".

This is where a batch of Shanghai's "numbered schools" came from — private schools were taken into public ownership and named by number. The name "Zhaohe", with its memory of a warship, retreated into the school's history from then on; "No. 60" became the new identity.

• in 1963 it was designated a Shanghai municipal key middle school;
• in 1985 it was among the first to carry out the reform of separating the senior and junior divisions — the junior division merged into Qingyun Middle School, and the No. 60 High School became the first independent senior high school in Shanghai;
• in 1987 it was designated a key middle school of Zhabei District;
• in 2007 it became a Shanghai experimental and model senior high school.

A "red academy" on the campus

The ground at 323 Qingyun Road carries another, earlier history as well.

In 1922 Shanghai University, founded through Kuomintang–Communist cooperation, was formally established in premises on Qingdao Road — premises that stood near today's No. 60 High School at 323 Qingyun Road. This school, jokingly called a "lane university", brought together Yu Youren, Shao Lizi, Chen Wangdao, Li Dazhao, Deng Zhongxia, Qu Qiubai … and was one of the most important "red academies" of the early Communist Party (for the detail see the former site of Shanghai University).

In April 2013, "the red academy on Qingyun Road" — the memorial wall of the Shanghai University (1922–1927) site — was completed on the campus of the No. 60 High School.

What is most moving is how it was made:

The memorial wall is about 4.5 metres high and 15 metres long, and was made by the students of the No. 60 High School using, as their main materials, recycled Tetra Pak cartons and old clothes mixed with epoxy resin — a middle school of 2013 "rebuilding" the premises of 1922 in the most environmentally friendly way.

One school stands on two histories at once: the old site of a "red academy", and a school "named after a warship".

Today

At 323 Qingyun Road the campus covers 27 mu. The names of its three main buildings are very "No. 60": the "61", "71" and "81" buildings — like three years, and like three cohorts of students.

The school is a Shanghai experimental and model senior high school, and an old neighbour of this "Qingyun Road" quarter.

Practical tips

1. A school is not a sight — it is closed during lesson time; please do not enter the campus or linger at the gate to take photographs;
2. to learn about these two histories: the full story of Shanghai University is in Part Three's "The Former Site of Shanghai University"; the lineage of the Zhaohe Middle School has been set out in full in this piece;
3. reading around it: the Qingyun Road area is the "cultural back street" of Baoshan Road — the Commercial Press and the Oriental Library and the Huzhou Guild Hall are both within walking distance.

Connections

• Sub-district：Baoshan Road Subdistrict
• See also：The Former Site of Shanghai University, Qingyun Middle School, Baoshan Road Subdistrict

Sources: that its predecessor the "private Zhaohe Middle School of Shanghai" was founded in 1933 to commemorate the Shanghai uprising of December 1915, when the "warship Zhaohe" of the navy rose against Yuan Shikai's bid for the throne; that Yang Hu was the first principal and Chiang Kai-shek honorary chairman of the board; that Yu Qiaqing succeeded as principal in 1938; its closure after the Pacific War; its move to Jiangshan in Zhejiang in 1943 (taking students from Jiangshan, Yushan, Guangfeng, Pucheng and other counties); its move back to Qingyun Road in Shanghai after the victory; its takeover by the municipality and renaming as Shanghai No. 60 High School in 1956; its designation as a municipal key school in 1963; the separation of its senior and junior divisions in 1985 (the junior division merging into Qingyun Middle School, making it the first independent senior high school in Shanghai); its designation as a district key school in 1987; its becoming a Shanghai experimental and model senior high school in 2007; its address at 323 Qingyun Road; its site of 27 mu; and its buildings the "61", "71" and "81" — follow the 360 Baike and Hudong Baike entries "Shanghai No. 60 High School" (Grade C, the two sources corroborating each other); "Dai Li ran several training courses at the Zhaohe Middle School", and the alternative account that its founders also included Du Yuesheng and Huang Jinrong, follow the same Hudong Baike entry (Grade C, for reference only); that the sub-district of the school's address is Baoshan Road Subdistrict follows public information on food-safety inspections in Jing'an District, Shanghai, and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission's Information on the Opening of School Sports Grounds to the Community in Jing'an District (Grade B); that Shanghai University was founded through Kuomintang–Communist cooperation in 1922, that its premises on Qingdao Road stood near the No. 60 High School at today's 323 Qingyun Road, that the memorial wall of the Shanghai University (1922–1927) site was completed at the No. 60 High School in April 2013, that the wall was made by students from recycled Tetra Pak cartons and old clothes mixed with epoxy resin (about 4.5 metres high and 15 metres long), and that the sculpture includes Yu Youren, Shao Lizi, Chen Wangdao, Li Dazhao, Deng Zhongxia, Qu Qiubai and others, follow the People's Daily Online reproduction of the Xinmin Evening News piece "The Memorial Wall of the Shanghai University Site Is Completed This Morning" (3 April 2013, Grade B). The full bibliography is in Appendix 4.