Organizing the school in Benxi
After the war against Japan ended, the Communist Party’s central leadership planned to send Yan’an University teachers and cadres to the Northeast; the group spent a period in Zhangjiakou. Early in 1946 the Northeast Bureau separately organized a school in Benxi, promoted by propaganda head Kai Feng with Shu Qun, Bai Xiqing and Zhang Songru. Initially called Northeast Public School and then Northeast University, it had Zhang Xuesi as concurrent president. It was a separate institution from the existing National Northeastern University.
Northeast Normal University’s charter dates founding to 1946, referring to that postwar Northeast University. The normal-university name came in 1950.
Dates of opening and migration
Organization, admissions and classes occurred at different times. Using Zhang Songru’s work record of 24 October 1949, Qu Xiaofan and Shi Ying date the first cohort’s opening in Benxi to 13 March 1946, the move to Andong to 19 March and another to Tonghua in April. This differs from traditional recollections of a February opening. Subsequent moves through Jilin, Changchun and Harbin led to a Jiamusi teaching period from June 1946.
The broad plan in an admissions advertisement
The Northeast Public School advertisement of 20 February 1946 envisaged training administrative, technical and teaching personnel, with colleges of natural sciences, social sciences, literature and arts, and medicine. General and research classes had entry conditions linked to prior schooling and professional ability, preceding later standardized degree levels.
The advertisement expressed a comprehensive-university plan while wartime academic organization remained in flux.
References: [2]
Studying and living at the school
Zhao Qingwei recalled taking a written test and oral interview in Qiqihar in August 1946 before studying in Jiamusi. The school supplied students’ living needs and used militarized management. Initial classes were organized for political education rather than immediate division into chosen subjects; modern history, Chinese and land questions were also taught.
In 1947 he entered a Chinese class in the education college, studying composition, the Chinese writing system and secondary-school teaching materials with teachers including Zhang Songru, Wu Boxiao and Yang Gongji. Classes alternated with rural work. Some students entered local employment and others returned to study. Provision, short training and assignments connected education with local staffing needs.
References: [3]
The turn toward secondary-school teachers
On 30 December 1946, a Northeast Bureau decision changed the school’s emphasis. It identified a large secondary-school student population and inadequate school leaders and teachers. Training young people was to connect with work in those schools, mobilizing most staff to serve as principals and teachers and adjusting courses.
The decision suspended other colleges while retaining teacher training of roughly one year focused on Chinese, history and geography, and civics. Changes in staff destinations, curriculum and training length narrowed the university’s task toward secondary education before its formal normal-university name.
References: [4]
Settlement in Changchun and a new name
The school moved to Jilin City in July 1948 and Changchun in July 1949. Mergers and reception of other institutions’ teachers and students enlarged it, while longer subject-based education gradually replaced short training. An August 1949 document on Northeast higher-education reorganization further defined its secondary-teacher role.
An education-authority order of 28 March 1950 made the name Northeast Normal University effective on 1 April. The 2014 charter preserves the sequence and also records the name Jilin Normal University in 1958 and restoration of Northeast Normal University in 1980.