In 1919, the university enrolled the first class of English learning under the liberal arts and had 500 students. In 1922, the second class was enrolled and there were 874 students. In 1923, 315 students mainly from the first class of English learning and the first class majoring in politics under the law graduated and in 1926, 151 students mainly from the second classes graduated. From 1927 to 1931, the third to the fifth class of English learning were enrolled.
In 1931, Shanxi Grand School was renamed Shanxi University with Wang Luxun appointed as the first president. The liberal arts was renamed the School of Liberal Arts, Chinese learning the Department of Chinese and English learning the Department of English. The Department of English offered numerous courses, including British Literature, An Introduction to Literature, History of British Literature, An Introduction to Philosophy, An Introduction to Aesthetics, Chinese, German, Meaning and Significance of Kuomingtang, British History, History of Chinese Literature, History of Greek Literature and History of Modern European Literature, etc. In 1934 and 1935, the sixth and the seventh class of the Department of English graduated and the tenth class did in 1936.
In 1936, Shanxi University established the School of Liberal Arts, the School of Science, the School of Law, the School of Education and the School of Engineering. The School of Liberal Arts consisted of the Department of Chinese Literature, the Department of Foreign Literature, the Department of History and the Department of Education which was set up in 1937. In 1943, the Department of Foreign Literature enrolled 19 students and 3 graduated and from 1944 to 1948, it enrolled 7, 7, 11, 17 and 7students respectively.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, in an activity organized by the English Society, Xu Shihu (the acting president) talked about the situation of the war in fluent English, while Du Renzhi told stories in German-style English. Besides, Yan Kaiyuan gave a presentation about food and health in American English and Zhu Junzhe performed a mini English play which was written by himself.
In September 1949, the School of Liberal Arts was renamed the Teachers’ College , and the Department of History was changed into the Department of Literature, History and Geography. Thus the Normal School consisted of the Department of Literature, History and Geography, the Department of Foreign Languages, and the Department of Education. And Professor Li Guanying, director of the Department of Foreign Languages (1949-1950), proficient in English and foreign literature, was a noted authority on Northern European literature. Both English group and Russian group recruited 30 students in that year.
In 1950, the Department of Literature, History and Geography was divided into the Department of Chinese Language and the Department of History. Thus the school consisted of four departments, that is, the Department of Chinese Language, the Department of History, the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Education. At that time, the director of the department of foreign languages was Professor Jiang Shaoyuan(1950-1952) . The Department of Russian recruited 30 students.
In 1951, the School of Science in Shanxi University was incorporated into the Teachers’ College, including seven departments (Department of Mathematics, Department of Chemistry, Department of Biology, Department of Chinese, Department of Foreign Languages, Department of History and Department of Education) and six subjects (Chinese, history and geography, mathematics, physics and chemistry, biology and P. E). In the year of 1952, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature was changed to the Department of Russian and the original English group was removed, with only the Russian group left ( 4 juniors and 15 seniors in the Russian Department were transferred to Beijing Normal University and Tianjin Teachers’ College for their further studies).
1953—1961 Restructuring of Universities and Colleges
On September 11, 1953, Shanxi University received an official letter issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Education of the Central People's Government, writing: “The application for the adjustment of your school , that is, both the School of Engineering and the Teachers’ College could become self-governed, and the School of Finance and Economics should be incorporated into Renmin University of China, has been submitted to the Government Administration Council and got approval form Administrative Conference ... After the adjustment, the School of Engineering was named Taiyuan University of Technology, and the Teachers’ College was named Shanxi Teachers’ College” Since January 1954, the Medical College changed its name to Shanxi Medical College. On January 15, 1954, the cancellation of the organizational system of Shanxi University was formally announced in the papers.
1961—1966 Restructure of Shanxi University
1966—1976: The Cultural Revolution Period
In 1977, the National Conference on Higher Education decided to establish the Japanese specialty in Shanxi University. People who participated in the formation of the specialty were Cao Jiyue, Zhan Shangren, Wang Xuan, Sun Fengxiang, etc. And then Gauchos (Japanese), Liu Shuyuan, Cao Shitang, Wang Yifan and some young teachers, including Zhang Linsheng, Li Aiwen, Fu Yin and Liang Jiguo, were all transferred to the specialty.
In 1983, the Russian specialty was restored and the Russian Teaching and Research Section was established.
In 1992, Sun Wenjin and Zhang Zongtang, the alumni from Department of Foreign Languages, endowed 30,000 yuan as a scholarship fund.
In 1996, SXU formulated “the Outline of Ninth Five-Year Plan and Long-term Goal Before 2001” and decided to establish School of Music, School of Fine Arts, School of Law and School of Foreign Languages.
and master’s degree conferring disciplines approved by the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics was included as one of the 11 newly-approved disciplines in Shanxi University.
In 2000, Japanese Language & Literature was included as one of the 18 newly-approved disciplines in Shanxi University in the list of the eighth batch of doctoral and master’s degree conferring disciplines approved by the State Council Academic Degrees Committee.
In 2003, the Ministry of Education authorized SXU to set up the undergraduate program of German specialty.
In 2006, French Language & Literature was approved as a new master’s degree conferring specialty.
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Dean
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Term of Office
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Zhu Qihuan
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1931, 1946
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Xu Shihu
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1935
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Li Guanying
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1949-1950
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Jiang Shaoyuan
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1950-1952
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Yan Shuen
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1953-1954
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Pan Zeqing
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1954-1956
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Chang Feng
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1956-1958
1979.12-1980.6
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Zhou Xiuqing
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1958-1961
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Chen Shunli
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1963
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Wang Zerui
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1969.8-1969.10
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Liu Tingyu
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1969.8-1971，11
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Gao Guangdou
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1973.3-1979.6
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Zhao Chaoqun
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1982.3-1984.8
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Wang Zhengren
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1988.8-2001.1
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Nie Jianzhong
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2001.1-2009.3
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Wu Yaxin
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2009.4 to the present
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