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| History
of the modern Navy in China dates back to Tongzhi
5th year of the Qing Dynasty (1866A.D.), when Shen
Bao-Zhen established anacademy in Mawei, Fujian and
started lecturing. That was 139 years from now.
At the beginning
of navy establishment in Qing Dynasty, a number of
naval academies and shipyards were established in
Mawei, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Weihaiwei, Yantai and Tianjin
during the Tongzhi and Guangxu years. However, these
schools failed to have unified planning, nor was there
any long-term objective, because of the restriction
of objective condition and the subject of the officials
in charge.
It was not until the
inauguration of the Republic of China that Dr. Sun Yat-sen
proposed the formation of the Navy and the summon of
maritime sovereignty, as he saw the origin of China
prolonged weakness in its undefended coast which was
subject to frequent foreign aggression. Nonetheless,
China at that time was still troubled by serious civil
war, where warlords occupied their separate regimes.
Hence, naval academies run independently and separately,
with neither unified organization nor standardized education
system. Although naval academies such as Mawei, Qingdao,
Wangpu, Dianlei, etc. had developed into well-equipped
institutions with greatly improved education quality
and that nurtured a large number of naval talents
by the time before Sino-Japanese war, they were running
under completely different systems.
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| As the national capital moved to Chongqing
at the outburst of the World War II, naval academies
throughout China were moved as well. The Qingdao,
Dianlei and Wangpu academies were once combined but
then ordered to stop before long. The Mawei Navy,
after several moves, was re-established in Chongqing,
continuing to recruit new cadets in 1941 and insisting
on educating naval officers in that difficult time.
Upon victory of the War, the government decided to
establish the Central Naval Training Center at Qingdao
in the winter of 1945, responsible for training the
soldiers, in view of the importance of coastal defense
and the pressing need to establish a modern navy.
On June 16, 1946, the Chinese Naval Academy was established
in Gaochang Temple, Shanghai and recruited new cadets
for 1950 Class, and President Chiang Kai-Shek became
the first superintendent. The Academy was moved to
Qingdao since April 1, 1947. President Chiang made his
first visit to the school on October 17, 1947 to express
his eager expectation and encouragement to the entire
school. The date then became the Academy's anniversary
date, as a sign of respect and memory to President
Chiang.
Officer education is the foundation
of the Navy. While consolidating the naval force and
taking every step to rebuild the navy, the Academy
made special reference to the officer education system
of the navies of well-developed countries, but did
not forget to consider China's unique situation. Then,
a four-year general education system was established.
New cadets are recruited throughout the country from
different provinces, and hence the Navy's foundation
for the next century took root deeply at this
time. Unfortunately, while the Academy gradually developed
and expanded its scale, the Communist war spread.
In 1949, the government moved. The school firstly moved to Xiamen in April 1949, then to the present
location at Tsoying in September. The Academy then
began building up itself in the rough and tumble environment
with new cadets of the 1953 Class reporting duty in
November.
After the retreat to Taiwan, the
Academy had not ceased its effort in educating naval
officers under the leadership of various
superintendents. Special effort has not only been
put in building the school facilities, but also in
enhancing curriculum design. The 4-year
comprehensive curriculum has been approved by the
Ministry of Education in 1954 for conferring the
Bachelor of Science degree. Voyage training has been
implemented since 1967, to consolidate knowledge and
practice and to broaden cadets' vision. In addition,
as the Academy technological and academic achievement
has won international recognition; distant-friend
class was set up in 1983 for training Saudi Arabian
border army and the incubation and education of navy
officers. As the idea of sexual equality arises, the
Academy broke through the Navy tradition to begin
recruiting female cadets since 1994. In order to facilitate
the academic linkage with advanced general civilian universities
so that cadets may continue further study and research,
the Academy restructured the academic constitution
and set up five academic departments under general
education division, in the hope to attract quality
young elite to join the Navy. On the other hand, graduates
of the Academy have made outstanding achievement both
inside and outside the Navy. This is the hard work
of the entire officers and cadets at the Academy who
work toward the common goal of Educating the first-rate
talents; building up the first-rate navy. We look
forward to a prospering Naval.
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