Henan University is located in Kaifeng, a famous historic city which used to be the capital of China during seven different dynasties. Imperial examinations were held in this place 100 years ago; the last two imperial examinations held here in 1903 and 1904 marked the end of the thousand-year-long imperial examination system. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of Western culture and the impact of the Revolution of 1911, Lin Boxiang and a group of people with lofty ideals came to Kaifeng and founded the Preparatory School for Further Study in Europe and America, then one of the three major schools to prepare students for overseas study. It was later renamed Zhongzhou University, No.5 National Zhongshan University and Provincial Henan University. In 1942 its name was changed to National Henan University and it had developed into an influential comprehensive university with 6 schools, namely, the School of Liberal Arts, School of Science, School of Agriculture, School of Engineering, School of Medicine and the Law School. As one of the National Universities then, Henan University was proud of its brilliant academic strength and was famous both at home and abroad. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the nationwide reorganization of colleges and departments, the School of Agriculture, the School of Medicine and the School of Administration separated from Henan University and became Henan College of Agriculture, Henan College of Medicine and Henan Administrative Institute of Politics and Law. The schools of water conservancy, finance and economics and others were transferred to Wuhan University, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law as well as to other universities. Henan University was renamed Henan Normal College, Kaifeng Normal College and Henan Normal University. The name Henan University was restored in 1984. In 2000, Henan University merged with Kaifeng Normal College and Kaifeng Medicine College to become the new Henan University. On October 17th, 2008, the Henan provincial Government and the Ministry of Education signed an agreement to jointly support the future development of Henan University therefore allowing Henan University to formally enter the list of the universities which are jointly developed by the provincial government and the ministry.