The origin of Yanshan University can be traced back to the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) founded in 1920. In 1958, the Department of Heavy Machinery of HIT and its related specialties moved to the strategic industrial town of Fulaerji, Qiqihar in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and was renamed the School of Heavy Machinery of HIT. In 1960, the school became independent as the Northeast Heavy Machinery Institute, and in 1978, it was accredited as one of the eighty-eight national key institutions of higher learning. Starting in 1985, it began to relocate southward to the historic seaside city of Qinhuangdao, in Hebei Province and completed the migration in 1997 when it was accredited by the former State Education Commission to adopt the present name of Yanshan University (YSU).