The State Council has recently published a list of the Seventh National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units, and Hunan University’s early architectural complexes were included. There are few university architectural complexes on the list, and among the others are Tsinghua University, Peking University, Wuhan University and Xiamen University.
Nine of the early architectural complexes of Hunan University are listed as “National Treasures”, among which reflect architectural styles ranging from the historical periods of the 1820s to 1850s. “The Second College and Science Museum speaks of a Western classical and eclectic style, while the Engineering Building, Victory Study, The First Hut, The Seventh Hut and Old Ninth Hut display early modern art. Additionally, the Auditorium and Old Library are architecture of the 1950s national style”, professor Liu Su of Hunan University explained.
He said the other architectural complexes listed as “National Treasures” were mostly around the same time and of the same style as each other, while the architectural complexes in Hunan University are unique, being of different styles from different times. The architectural complexes of Hunan University, a microcosm of Chinese modern architectural history, is rather precious, for it follows the evolution of modern China and clearly shows the historical process from ancient academy to modern university. The architectural complexes in Hunan University were mostly designed by the two famous architects Liu Shiying and Liu Dunzhen.
