Introduction and History

The School of Law at Xiamen University is one of the oldest and most distinguished law schools in China. In June 1926, Xiamen University established the Faculty of Law, under which there were three departments: Law, Politics and Economics. Having experienced several adjustments, the School of Law was re-structured in 2003 and became a single disciplinary school. Together with Xiamen University, the School of Law has upheld the motto: “Pursue Excellence, Strive for Perfection”, by maximizing its resources and creating an academic environment which allows both faculty members and students to meet their highest potential.

The School of Law prides itself in creating a nurturing and inspiring academic environment for students and professors. Thus it has become an attractive academic institute with expertise in different areas of legal research. At present, the School of Law has over 94 full-time faculty members, including 35 professors, 34 associate professors, and 25 assistant professors. Currently, our faculty teaches and works closely with 1787 students, including 647 undergraduate students, 915 master degree students and 225 doctoral degree students. Each year, a large number of international students join the School of Law either as exchange students or formally registered students.

With the achievement of academic prosperity and cultivating the finest legal talent as its goal, the School of Law has developed a system of disciplines with their own unique traits. At present, the School of Law is qualified to confer master (LLM) and doctoral (PhD) degrees in First-level Disciplines. The School also offers a postdoctoral research programme with individual and specialized focuses as well as Juris Master (JM) and Juris Doctor (JD) programmes. Among them, studies in International Law – approved as a National Key Discipline –ranks within the top three in China. Additionally, the First-level Discipline of Law has been designated as a Key Discipline in Fujian Province.

XIAMEN UNIVERSITY OVERVIEW

Xiamen University (XMU), established in 1921 by the renowned patriotic overseas Chinese leader Mr. Tan Kah Kee, holds the distinction of being the first university founded by an overseas Chinese in the history of modern Chinese education.

XMU is recognized as one of China's leading universities and has been included in the national 211 Project, 985 Project, and the Double First-Class Initiative—major government programs aimed at elevating selected universities to world-class status.

The university is comprised of four campuses: Siming Campus, Zhangzhou Campus, Xiang'an Campus, and the Malaysia Campus. It is structured into six academic divisions, including 35 schools and colleges, as well as 17 research institutes. This comprehensive academic structure covers 12 disciplines, including philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, medicine, management, arts, and interdisciplinary studies. Furthermore, XMU maintains 36 postdoctoral research stations to support advanced research initiatives.

The university employs nearly 3,000 full-time faculty and researchers, with professors and associate professors accounting for 74 percent of the academic staff. It is home to 15 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, along with three academicians of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

Since its founding, XMU has educated more than 500,000 talented individuals. Currently, the University has over 47,000 enrolled students, including more than 21,000 undergraduates, 20,000 master's students, and 6,000 doctoral students. XMU's internal quality assurance system was recognized as a model case in UNESCO's project Exploring Good and Innovative Options in Internal Quality Assurance in Higher Education, making it the only university from China—and the broader East Asia region—selected for this honor.

XMU has signed inter-institutional cooperation agreements with 277 universities worldwide and has established substantive partnerships with 54 prestigious international institutions. It initiated and leads the university consortium of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". Globally, XMU has established 14 Confucius Institutes and one Chinese Language and Culture Research Center across 12 countries on five continents, overseeing a total of 34 Confucius Classrooms.

Established in 2014, Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM) represents the first, and thus far the only, overseas branch campus entirely established by a Chinese university under the Double First-Class Initiative. The university features a fully autonomous campus and offers a comprehensive array of academic programs, having evolved into a multidisciplinary institution that provides 24 undergraduate, 12 master's, and seven doctoral programs. Four of its disciplines are recognized among the global top 1 percent according to Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Currently, XMUM accommodates over 8,500 students alongside more than 500 faculty and staff members, with its student body comprising individuals from more than 40 countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

Nestled between lush green hills and the blue sea, XMU is considered the most beautiful university in China. Its scenic surroundings, combined with state-of-the-art educational facilities, provide an exceptional environment for teaching, learning, and research.

(The above data is as of December 31, 2024)

Founding Father

TAN KAH KEE (1874-1961)

Tan Kah Kee rose from humble beginnings as a village boy from Fujian Province, to great prominence as an entrepreneur, social reformer, political activist, philanthropist, and community leader. He was acknowledged as a wise and generous friend of Chinese people inside China, and in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaya. When he died in Beijing in1961, at the age of 87, he was accorded a state funeral for his contribution to the country.

He was born on October 1874 in Fujian, China, after time of great turmoil. When he was a teenager, in 1890, Tan joined his father in Singapore, which was then under the jurisdiction of British-ruled India and part of Malaya. Many Chinese immigrants worked in the Singaporean rubber plantations and related businesses survived and failed around the plantations. When Tan’s father’s rice business failed in 1904, young Tan started a pineapple canning business. He was only 17 but Tan Kah Kee was thinking ahead, to rubber. He had a rubber plantation in mind and beyond that, rubber manufacture. Rubber was the commodity upon which he built a diversified conglomerate that made him one of the most successful overseas Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia. By the 1920s, he presided over a huge business empire, including rubber plantation and manufacturing, shipping, import and export brokerage, real estate and rice trading, employing over 10,000 people living in most East and Southeast Asian cities. As one of the earliest industrial pioneers in the region, Tan Kah Kee earned the accolade "Henry Ford of Malaya."

Philanthropy

Tan poured profits made during the World War I into political causes in China. And his business success put him in the leadership of the Hokkien community in Singapore, that is, the community of people, like himself, from Fujian province speaking the Hokkien dialect. He urged his fellows to avoid habits then prevalent, like gambling, opium-smoking and ritual extravagance but he was also concerned about the health and success of the all Chinese nationals who had left familiar places and people all across China in search of opportunity and success in Malaya and Singapore. Here are some examples:

• In 1929, he established a Chinese Association to enable different linguistic and regional culture groups to overcome parochial interests and cooperate for the betterment of all.

• He raised money, donated money, and directed efforts to improve lives of mainland Chinese through the turbulent twenties and thirties.

• In Singapore, he helped found five primary and secondary Chinese schools. He supported English-medium schools, for example, donating $30,000 to the Anglo-Chinese School in 1919.

• He wanted good teachers. In 1918, he established a normal school to train teachers in Fujian.

• When he founded Xiamen University, in 1921, he ensured that the department of education had the best possible faculty.

• In Singapore, for a decade he campaigned for a Nanyang Chinese Normal School to train teachers for Chinese schools and it was established in 1941.

Tan lived during a time of tremendous upheaval in China and Asia; the British Empire was global; the world capitalist system was ascendant, and China waking up the necessity of change and modernity. China struggled. But there was wealth-a tremendous wealth of scholarship and philosophy, Tan Kah Kee loved. This love for Chinese historical scholarship is reflected in his own memoirs, Nanqiao Huiyilu, which has been described as "undoubtedly one of the best documented autobiographies ever written by an immigrant Chinese in Southeast Asia.”

Xiamen University is fortunate to have such an admirable founding father: purposeful, able brilliantly active. His energy and resources were focused on the uplift of the Chinese people. His gift to us is Xiamen University and it grows in his spirit.