Xiaoshi Middle School (), also known as Xiaoshi High School, is a public senior high school in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. Founded in 1912 as a private school, Xiaoshi has a history of more than a century and is regarded as one of the well-known secondary schools in Zhejiang Province.
Overview
The school offers a three-year programme of senior high school education. Its declared school motto is "Patriotic, Progressive, Scientific, Practical" (), and its declared academic requirement is "Meticulous, Diligent, Truth-seeking, Creative" ().
Xiaoshi has won awards in national and international competitions. It strives to develop students in many aspects and enjoys special prestige among Ningbo locals. Xiaoshi Middle School has been especially known for mathematics competitions, sports and art performances.
The school library has a collection of more than 110,000 books. Xiaoshi Middle School has more than 20 co-curricular activities, including sports societies, an astronomy club and a literature salon.
Student Council
The student council of Xiaoshi Middle School is independent of the Communist Youth League, which has been regarded as one of the differences between Xiaoshi and many other schools. However, the degree of autonomy of the student council remains a matter for debate.
History
Xiaoshi Middle School was established in 1912. The first principal was Chen Xianghan (). As a school founded one year after the 1911 Revolution, Xiaoshi Middle School was dedicated to the mission of bringing new thoughts to China and nurturing talents for Chinese society, which was then undergoing drastic changes.
The founders of the school, He Yujie (), Ye Bingliang (), Chen Xunzheng () and Qian Baohang (), organized the "Xiaoshi Academic Community" under the guidance of their declared motto "with personal wealth and private management, contribute to education and lead the people to enlightenment" (). In February of the following year, Xiaoshi Middle School was formally built on the abandoned site of a primary school. The name "Xiaoshi" came from Yan Fu, who wrote in Tianyan Lun that "the fittest survive as a result of natural selection; we must be pragmatic to truly exploit our potential" ().
Soon after its establishment, Xiaoshi Middle School came to be known for its academic achievements and discipline. Its students enjoyed the privilege of entering Fudan University and St. John's University without taking entrance examinations. Later the school expanded and started teaching Japanese, French and German, with a special focus on science, mathematics and English.
In 1937, the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War affected China's coastal areas. Xiaoshi Middle School was forced to move to the countryside and later stopped operating when the Imperial Japanese Army occupied Ningbo in 1941. During the Japanese occupation, Cai Zengku () organized the "Qiushi Academic Society" () to provide secondary education to Xiaoshi students. In 1945, after Japan was defeated by the Allied forces, Cai was in charge of the transition, and Xiaoshi Middle School was formally reopened on 25 October.
In 1956, private schools in China were nationalized, and Xiaoshi Middle School became a publicly funded school. It later received the title of a key school in Zhejiang Province.
Separation of the junior high school
Due to administrative changes by the municipal government, the junior high school section was separated from the senior high school and renamed Ningbo Foreign Language School in 1991. In 2004, after a new campus had been built for the junior high school, the junior high school classes moved there. The process of formal separation ended in 2006 with intervention from the municipal education authority.
Although the junior high school and senior high school are now two distinct entities, both have often been associated with the name "Xiaoshi Middle School" because of their shared history.
Honours
Xiaoshi has received several honours. It has been named a key school in Zhejiang Province and a first-class key school in the province. In 1999, Zhejiang Province chose Xiaoshi as one of two "bases for creative teaching of science", and in 2000 it was chosen as an experimental school of modern teaching techniques by the Ministry of Education. In 2005, Xiaoshi was listed among the "100 Famous Schools in China".
Campus
In 1999, Xiaoshi moved to its present campus. It covers an area of 126 mu with a construction area of 38,500 square metres. The campus consists of a classroom building complex, an administrative building, laboratories, an audio-visual centre, a library and several dormitory buildings with three cafeterias. A gymnasium, Kuancheng Gymnasium, stands in the southwest of the campus, covering 8,765 square metres. There is also a standard 400-metre sports field with rubber tracks, together with tennis, basketball and volleyball courts.
A later east-campus project of Ningbo Xiaoshi High School was also reported in architectural media, with the design emphasizing campus memory, movement and public space.
Relationships
Xiaoshi has long-term connections with schools and educational institutions in several countries and regions. In 1999, Xiaoshi established a relationship with the Yale-China Association in the United States. In accordance with the agreement signed by both sides, Yale-China sent Yale graduates to teach at Xiaoshi, each working for two years; the programme was later terminated due to funding withdrawal.
In the same year, the school established a sister-school relationship with Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. Both schools sent exchange teachers to work in the other school, and several teachers benefited from the programme. Xiaoshi also had an agreement with Scotch College, Perth, allowing Xiaoshi teachers to be sent for language training in Perth and Scotch College teachers to teach at Xiaoshi for one year.
Xiaoshi also has ties with schools in Singapore, including Nanyang Girls' High School, Yishun Junior College and The Chinese High School. In 2013, teachers and students from Yishun Junior College visited Xiaoshi for an immersion exchange programme.
The school has also carried out exchanges with Heinrich-Heine-Gesamtschule Aachen in Germany. In 2004, Xiaoshi students visited Aachen and surrounding areas, and German students later made a return visit to Xiaoshi.
In 2001, a delegation led by Richard Levin, then president of Yale University, visited Xiaoshi Middle School.
In 2012, Xiaoshi set up its international curriculum and exchange centre. The centre opened in September 2012 and offers IGCSE and IBDP courses under the management of Xiaoshi Middle School. In June 2013, the centre was authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the IB Diploma Programme. In 2015, Xiaoshi was approved to join the Round Square network.
In recent years, several Xiaoshi graduates have been accepted by overseas universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. The international curriculum centre states that its graduates have entered universities in more than 20 countries and regions.
Alumni
Chinese media have often cited Xiaoshi Middle School's alumni as part of the school's public reputation. In 2015, China Youth Daily described Xiaoshi as a century-old Ningbo school that had educated Tu Youyou, China's first Nobel laureate in science, as well as 15 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. A 2016 report by Zhejiang Online stated that, by the school's 104th anniversary, Xiaoshi had educated more than 30,000 students and produced 15 members of the two national academies. In 2020, Ningbo Daily reported that a relief wall of distinguished alumni at the school's east campus included a Nobel Prize winner, nine members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and six members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Nobel laureate
Name Chinese name Field Main recognition Tu Youyou 屠呦呦 Pharmaceutical chemistry Tu was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria. Chinese reports state that she studied at Xiaoshi Middle School from spring 1948 to spring 1950 before transferring to Ningbo High School for financial reasons. In 2016, a bronze statue of Tu was unveiled on the Xiaoshi campus.
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Name Chinese name Field Main recognition Tong Dizhou 童第周 Biology Experimental embryologist; member of the Academia Sinica and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A bronze statue of Tong has also been installed on the Xiaoshi campus. Weng Wenbo 翁文波 Geophysics Geophysicist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Chen Zhongwei 陈中伟 Medicine Medical scientist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhu Zuxiang 朱祖祥 Soil science Soil scientist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dai Chuanzeng 戴传曾 Nuclear physics Nuclear physicist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Ji Yufeng 纪育沣 Chemistry Chemist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Li Qingkui 李庆逵 Soil science Soil scientist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Bao Wenkui 鲍文奎 Plant genetics and breeding Plant geneticist and breeder; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Xu Zuyao 徐祖耀 Materials science Materials scientist; member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Name Chinese name Field Main recognition Hu Side 胡思得 Nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Zhou Guangyao 周光耀 Chemical engineering Chemical engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Mao Yongze 毛用泽 Nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Chen Zhaoyuan 陈肇元 Civil engineering Civil engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Chen Jingxiong 陈敬熊 Electromagnetics and radio engineering Electromagnetics and radio engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Tong Zhipeng 童志鹏 Electronic information engineering Electronic information engineering specialist; member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
References
External links
School website Xiaoshi Homepage Xiaoshi International Curriculum and Exchange Center