SUFE’s history can be traced back to the fall of 1917 when a commerce program was established at the Nanjing Higher Normal School. In 1921, the program was transferred east to Shanghai and became the Shanghai College of Commerce. This university was the first commerce university on the mainland. It was run by the National Southeastern University and Jinan College. Guo Bingwen, a PhD from Columbia University, was the first Chancellor. Ma Yinchu, another PhD from Columbia University, became the first Director of Academic Affairs. Many other Chinese scholars who had studied abroad also joined the faculty.
To illustrate this, in the 1923-1924 academic year, 11 of the 16 Chinese teachers at the Shanghai University of Commerce had earned their degrees from outstanding foreign universities like Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois and Edinburgh University. In 1950, the college was again renamed, becoming the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Economics. And it became the only financial university in East China after the adjustment of faculties in the 1950s.
In 1985, it adopted its present name, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Great Elder Chen Yun (1905-1995), one of modern China’s most influential leaders, inscribed the university’s name and presented it to SUFE as a gift. In 1997, CPCCC General Secretary Jiang Zemin also made an inscription at the celebration of the university’s 80th anniversary. He wrote, “With eyes toward the new century, go forth and thoroughly transform the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics into a first-rate socialist university.”
1917.6
Nanjing Higher Normal School established its business program
1921.9 National Southeast University and Jinan College collaboratively
established the Shanghai University of Commerce, which relocated to Shanghai
1922.7 The National Southeast University established the Shanghai University of Commerce
1927.7 The university was renamed as the Fourth Sun Yat-sen University Business
School
1928.2 The university was renamed as the School of Commerce of Jiangsu
University
1928.5 The university was renamed as the College of Commerce of
Central University
1932.8 Incorporation of the Department of Economics of Shanghai Labor University. The university split and became the National Shanghai Institute of Commerce.
1950.8
Incorporation of the Shanghai School of Law. The university was renamed as the
Shanghai College of Finance and Economics.
1951.4-8 Incorporation of the East China School of Economics, the Department of
Financial Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Guanghua University
Business School, and the Accounting Department of Daxia University
1952.8-10 Incorporation of the Institute of Finance and Economics of Fudan
University, the Business School of Hujiang University, Zhejiang College of Finance
and Economics, the Department of Industrial Management of Jiangnan University,
Lixin Accounting School, the Business School of Datong University, the
Accounting and Business Administration Department of Shanghai College, the
Department of Economics of St. John’s University, the Night Program of Aurora
University Law School, China College of Industry and Commerce, the Accounting
Department of Soochow Law School, the Night School of Shanghai College of
Commerce, and the Department of Economics of Soochow University
1953.8 Incorporation of Shandong College of Finance and Economics, and the
Department of Business Administration of Xiamen University
1958.9 Recalled staff, the East China University of Politics and Law, Fudan
University Law Department, Shanghai Economic Research Institute of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, and the Shanghai History Research Institute jointly
created the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
1960.9 The Shanghai College of Finance and Economics was founded on the basis
of the Junior College Department of Shanghai Business School
1972.4 Revoked during the Cultural Revolution, the staff transferred to Fudan
University and other universities
