A CENTURY OF CLASSROOM REVOLUTIONS

Latest season of TV series focuses on 11 modern masters who changed the way China teaches, Wang Ru reports.

The Miyun Reservoir in suburban Beijing, one of the largest water conservancy projects in North China, plays a significant role in providing water to the capital. But not many people know this major project was actually designed by a group of university students as their graduation project.

In 1959, under Jiang Nanxiang, the then headmaster of Tsinghua University, who encouraged his students to combine theory with practice, students from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering undertook the project under the guidance of Professor Zhang Guangdou, who helped with prospecting and design.

As a result of the efforts of two groups of graduates, the design was completed. Graduation projects at Tsinghua were revolutionized, and mere words and images on paper were turned into actual, practical design tasks.