National Huwei Senior High School (Chinese: 國立虎尾高級中學, abbreviated as Huwei Senior High School) is a public general high school located in Huwei Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan, under the administration of the K-12 Education Administration. It operates as a three-year community high school, offering programs in sports, mathematics and science class, and general education.
Today's Huwei High School was formed in 1979 by the merger of Huwei High School (a boys' school) with Provincial Huwei Girls’ High School, maintaining the original name, Taiwan Provincial Huwei Senior High School, and relocating to the former Huwei Girls' High School campus. Huwei Girls' High School was once famous for its unique campus landscape, with some buildings designed by Taiwan's first female architect, Xiu Zelan. It was popularly known as "North Jimei, South Hu-Girls." In 2000, following the streamlining of the provincial government, it came under the Ministry of Education and adopted its current name.
History
Under Japanese rule During the Japanese colonial period, the Huwei Agricultural Vocational School (after World War II was changed to the Tainan County Huwei Junior Agricultural School or National Huwei Agricultural and Industrial High School) was established as a boys' school. Considering the lack of educational facilities for girls, the three-year Tainan Prefecture Huwei Home Economics Girls' School, the first girls' school in Huwei District, was established in 1939, during the Showa era. This school is recognized as the precursor to Huwei High School. At that time, the school had no dedicated buildings and temporarily borrowed classrooms from Huwei Ordinary High School (now Anqing Elementary School), with Principal Nakata Yoshio serving concurrently as the acting principal. Later, a school building was constructed north of the Huwei Ordinary High School. In 1941, the school was renamed Huwei Agricultural Practical Girls' School. Due to its proximity to the Huwei Sugar Factory, the school was affected by Allied bombings toward the end of World War II. After the war, the principal returned to Japan, and the school was renamed Tainan County Huwei Junior Girls' Vocational School, under the administration of the Tainan County Government.
Huwei Junior High School Following the Republic of China’s takeover of Taiwan, prominent local figures, including Hwang Tzongy, Dr. Huang Qi, Hwang Kuochun, Wang Biao, Yan Xinhou, Fang Ruiyu, and Wang Laose, recognizing the absence of a general middle school in the Huwei area, planned to convert Tainan County Huwei Junior Agricultural School (now ) into a junior high school with a general education department, using the former Huwei Ordinary High School campus. With the approval of the county magistrate, Yuan Guoqin, and led by Huwei Agricultural School Principal Wang Anshun, the school enrolled nearly 400 students. However, the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office's Department of Education, noting that China was an agriculturally-based nation, determined that it was inappropriate to close the agricultural school. Consequently, a separate junior high school was established.
On April 20, 1946, Tainan County Huwei Junior High School (abbreviated as Huwei Junior High) was established at the former campus of Huwei Elementary School, becoming the first boys' middle school in the area. Liao Kun-jin was appointed as the acting principal. Subsequently, Huwei Junior High incorporated the nearby Tainan County Huwei Junior Girls' Vocational School, establishing separate departments for boys and girls.
Structure In August 1949, the Taiwan Provincial Department of Education merged Huwei Junior High School and the nearby Taiwan Provincial Huwei Girls' High School, forming the "Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School." Chen Dongrong, the principal of Huwei Girls' High School, was appointed principal, with the original Huwei Girls' High School serving as the main campus and girls' division, while the original Huwei Junior High School became the boys' division, headed by Liu Kegang as branch director. In August 1950, the Department of Education separated the two due to the distance between the boys' and girls' divisions, re-establishing the main campus as "Taiwan Provincial Huwei Girls' High School," with Chen Dongrong returning as principal. The boys' division was then set up independently as "Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School" (known as Provincial Huwei High), with Ling Xiaofen as principal.
During his tenure, Ling Xiaofen recruited esteemed scholars from mainland China to teach. To clarify property ownership, he communicated with various institutions, including Huwei Girls' High and the township office. Ling resigned in 1954, becoming a specialized commissioner for the Ministry of Education. The position of principal of Provincial Huwei High was then assumed by Jin Shurong, who was previously the principal of the Taichung Municipal Taichung First High School. After one year, Jin transferred to Taiwan Provincial Pingtung High School, and Xu Tianzhi, formerly principal of National Chao-Chou Senior High School, took over as principal of Provincial Huwei High in August 1962. However, due to declining enrollment, Provincial Huwei High reduced its classes, and the early "recommended admission quotas" were gradually phased out.
In August 1965, the Provincial Department of Education appointed Tan Dida, former principal of Tainan County Zengwen High School (now ), as principal of Provincial Huwei High. During his tenure, Tan compiled the school's rules and regulations into a handbook, establishing the school motto "Justice, Sincerity, Diligence, and Righteousness." In 1968, Provincial Huwei High School established the "Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School Siluo Branch" (canceled the following year and merged into ). In line with the new "Provincial Senior High, County, and Municipal Junior High" policy, the school ceased junior high enrollment in 1968 and was renamed "Taiwan Provincial Huwei Senior High School." At the Ministry of Education's request, the school briefly offered two sessions of "Open Supplementary School."
In November 1972, the Department of Education appointed Li Shikun as the new principal of Provincial Huwei High. Li organized alumni, including teachers Lin Jiuhua and Li Chaomao, as well as the long-serving teacher Chen Shusheng, to establish the "Provincial Huwei High School Alumni Million Dollar Scholarship,"In Chinese: 省立虎尾中學校友百萬獎學金. with Lin Jiuhua and others being recognized in the first "Fragrant Records of the Teaching Garden"In Chinese: 杏壇芬芳錄. published by the Department of Education. During this period, rural depopulation significantly affected student enrollment. The Department of Education proposed turning Provincial Huwei High into a vocational high school or technical senior high school, but Li opposed this, believing in maintaining a general high school curriculum. He suggested merging Huwei Girls' High with Provincial Huwei High, given both schools' declining enrollments. In 1979, the Department of Education accepted this proposal and, on May 3, issued a directive that the two schools be merged starting in the 1979-1980 school year (August 1979 to July 1980). In August 1979, the two schools formally merged, with Huwei Girls' High ceasing enrollment and Provincial Huwei High admitting both boys and girls. Li served as the acting principal of the newly merged school, which was located on the former Huwei Girls' High campus. In 1981, the original Provincial Huwei High campus was converted into the Yunlin Institute of Technology, now the National Huwei University of Science and Technology, while the school continued under the name "Taiwan Provincial Huwei Senior High School."
Following the merger, Li Shikun remained principal and appointed Dean Lin Jiuhua to oversee the construction of the faculty dormitory, "Hongdao New Village," adjacent to the new campus (the former Huwei Girls' High campus). In August 1985, Li retired upon reaching the age limit, and Manager Cai Jinchong succeeded him as principal of Provincial Huwei High. During his tenure, Cai built a science building, a social sciences building, and a second gymnasium (now the school gymnasium). He transferred to become principal of Taichung Second High in August 1992. The position was then filled by Chen Longxiong, who initiated construction of a five-story male dormitory, Jinzhu Hall, and a multi-functional complex that included an indoor swimming pool and volleyball courts while also landscaping the campus. In February 1998, Chen retired, and Huang Qingjiang, who had previously taught history at Huwei Girls' High, became principal.
On February 1, 2000, following the streamlining of the Taiwan Provincial Government, the school was renamed "National Huwei Senior High School" under the Ministry of Education's jurisdiction. Chen Longxiong resumed the principal role in 2006, retiring in 2009. Yang Haosen, former dean of student affairs at , was selected to succeed him, becoming the youngest principal in the school's history at age 41. In August 2016, Yang transferred to become principal of Hsi-Hu High, and Xue Dongbu, former principal of , became the principal of Huwei High.
In August 2020, Xue Dongbu transferred to , and Chen Huizhen, former principal of National Hsin-Feng High School, assumed the role of principal at Huwei High.
Principals The following is a list of past principals of Huwei High School, along with their dates of appointment and departure: TenureNameAppointment DateDeparture DatePrincipal of Tainan County Huwei Junior High School1Liao Kunjin (廖昆金)April 1946August 1949Principal of Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School (First Merger Period)1Cheng Dongrong (陳東榮)Director of the Boys' School: Liu Ke-gangAugust 1949August 1950Principal of Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School (Boys' School Period)2Ling Xiaofen (凌孝芬)August 1950August 19543Jin Shurong (金樹榮)August 1954August 19554Xin Xianchun (辛仙椿)August 1955August 19625Xu Tianzhi (徐天秩)August 1962August 19656Tan Dida (譚地大)August 1965November 15, 19727Li Shikun (李士崑)November 1972July 1981Principal of Taiwan Provincial Huwei High School (Co-ed Period)1Li Shikun (李士崑)August 1981August 19852Cai Jinzhong (蔡錦忠)August 1985August 19923Chen Longxiong (陳龍雄)August 1992February 19984Huang Qingjian (黃清江)February 1998February 2000國立虎尾高級中學校長4Huang Qingjian (黃清江)February 2000February 20065Chen Huizhen (陳龍雄)February 2006August 20096Yang Haosen (楊豪森)August 2009July 20167Xue Dongbu (薛東埠)July 2016August 20208Chen Huizhen (陳惠珍)August 2020Present
Organization The school is a three-year general senior high school, offering programs in general subjects, physical education, and a specialized math and science program. In the 108th academic year (August 2019 to July 2020), the school enrolled a total of 1,448 students.
School symbols
Motto and vision The school motto, established by Principal Tan Dida, is “Justice, Sincerity, Diligence, Righteousness.” The school's vision was later defined as “Quality, Innovation, Competitiveness, and Macro-vision.”
School song After Huwei Boys' and Girls' High Schools merged in 1981, the principal at that time, Li Shikun, advocated for a new school song, which was composed by He Zhihao and retired teacher Liao Xingzhang. However, the new song met with resistance from students, and subsequent compositions also failed to gain acceptance, leading the school to continue using the original Huwei High School song. In 2016, both the original girls' and boys' school songs were still sung during assemblies and alumni gatherings. The boys' school song has a more neutral melody, while the girls' song is higher-pitched and softer in tone. When Principal Xue Dongbu took office as the school's seventh principal, he admitted that even after three years, he hadn't yet learned the girls' song.