Our Legacy | Hopkins-Nanjing Center
The vision for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center dates back to 1979 when Washington and Beijing established formal diplomatic ties. Both nations realized the tremendous need to train leaders with superior cultural and linguistic proficiency to manage this burgeoning relationship.
In 1981, Steven Muller, former president of Johns Hopkins University, and Kuang Yaming, former president of Nanjing University, began the first of several talks leading to the establishment of the first Sino-American academic partnership in modern China. Three years later construction began on the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies. In 1986, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center officially opened its doors and welcomed 60 students to participate in a bilingual, multicultural educational collaboration, not duplicated elsewhere in China or the United States.
For more than 30 years, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center has upheld the highest academic standards in the pursuit of educating future leaders. Students live and study together in a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to free and open academic exploration and intellectual dialogue. International students take most of their courses in Chinese taught by Chinese faculty, while Chinese students are taught by international faculty with courses primarily in English.
At the heart of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center is its unrivaled research library featuring more than 130,000 volumes in English and Chinese and the electronic assets of both the Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University. The result of this rich bicultural and bilingual learning environment is nearly 4,000 accomplished alumni who have gone on to influential roles around the world.