Fu Ssu-nien
NTU President & Historian
Post-War Taiwan
1896–1950
Fu Ssu-nien, born in 1896 into a scholarly family in Liaocheng, Shandong, was a renowned modern Chinese historian and educator and a key figure in post-war Taiwanese higher education. He studied at Peking University, where his brilliance stood out, and in 1919 he served as a student leader in the May Fourth Movement while editing the journal Xinchao (New Tide) to champion the New Culture. He then studied in Britain and Germany, ranging widely across history, linguistics, and philosophy and building deep scholarly foundations. Returning to China, he founded and long directed the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica, advancing the modernization and scientific rigor of Chinese historiography with his dictum that "history is the study of historical materials." Around the war years he served as acting president of Peking University, known for his outspokenness and rectitude and unafraid to criticize the ills of government and officialdom. In 1949 he came to Taiwan with the government and became president of National Taiwan University, a pivotal force in establishing the university's ethos. During his tenure he pushed educational reform, overhauled administration, and stressed academic freedom and university autonomy. In the early White Terror he sought to protect the university's faculty and students and to resist excessive political intrusion onto campus. In December 1950 he collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage while answering questions before the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and died that day, aged just fifty-four. In his memory, NTU maintains the "Fu Bell" and "Fu Garden," and his stewardship is long remembered. Fu is regarded as a model intellectual uniting scholarly ideals with social conscience, and his brief presidency profoundly shaped National Taiwan University and the post-war academic climate.
Served as president of National Taiwan University (1949–1950)
Student leader of the May Fourth Movement
NTU President & Historian
Fu Ssu-nien
Era
Post-War Taiwan
Lifespan
1896–1950
Fu Ssu-nien, born in 1896 into a scholarly family in Liaocheng, Shandong, was a renowned modern Chinese historian and educator and a key figure in post-war Taiwanese higher education. He studied at Peking University, where his brilliance stood out, and in 1919 he served as a student leader in the May Fourth Movement while editing the journal Xinchao (New Tide) to champion the New Culture. He then studied in Britain and Germany, ranging widely across history, linguistics, and philosophy and building deep scholarly foundations. Returning to China, he founded and long directed the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica, advancing the modernization and scientific rigor of Chinese historiography with his dictum that "history is the study of historical materials." Around the war years he served as acting president of Peking University, known for his outspokenness and rectitude and unafraid to criticize the ills of government and officialdom. In 1949 he came to Taiwan with the government and became president of National Taiwan University, a pivotal force in establishing the university's ethos. During his tenure he pushed educational reform, overhauled administration, and stressed academic freedom and university autonomy. In the early White Terror he sought to protect the university's faculty and students and to resist excessive political intrusion onto campus. In December 1950 he collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage while answering questions before the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and died that day, aged just fifty-four. In his memory, NTU maintains the "Fu Bell" and "Fu Garden," and his stewardship is long remembered. Fu is regarded as a model intellectual uniting scholarly ideals with social conscience, and his brief presidency profoundly shaped National Taiwan University and the post-war academic climate.
Served as president of National Taiwan University (1949–1950)
Student leader of the May Fourth Movement