An American-made electric motor from the 28th year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign.

In the warm spring of March, along the North Canal in Tianjin, the Peach Blossom Embankment, connecting to the campus of Hebei University of Technology, is already ablaze with blossoms. "Peach blossoms bloom along the riverbank, making one feel as if mid-spring has returned. The peach blossoms are here again, their red glow still as beautiful as ever." Strolling along the Peach Blossom Embankment around the campus, one can truly feel the charm of the unique educational environment of Hebei University of Technology, a 116-year-old institution of higher learning. Just as the Hebei University of Technology school song sings: "Peach blossoms are in full bloom, the North Canal flows swiftly, engineering and science go hand in hand, the torch of knowledge burns ever bright..."

Less than 100 meters from the Peach Blossom Embankment, a three-story brick-concrete building on the campus of Hebei University of Technology stands out. It is marked as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

"This building was originally the Engineering Building of Beiyang Institute of Technology. It was designed and built under the supervision of Tan Zhen, an expert in port construction and waterway engineering, and was completed and put into use in 1931," Chen Hongyan, director of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of Hebei University of Technology, told China Science Daily. The building is now the third teaching building of the Hongqiao Campus of Hebei University of Technology and has been converted into the university's history museum.

“We have a large collection, and behind each ‘old object’ lies a story related to Hebei University of Technology. Some of them are ‘treasures of the museum.’ This old motor is one of our ‘treasures of the museum,’” Chen Hongyan told reporters, pointing to a small generator in the history museum of Hebei University of Technology.

The reporter observed that the generator was slightly rusty. The label indicated it was made in the USA in 1902, a DC generator used as a school teaching aid.

"According to my predecessors, this generator was a gift from foreigners to Empress Dowager Cixi, used as a DC generator to power the lights." Qian Juncheng, a retired professor from the School of Electrical Engineering at Hebei University of Technology, told reporters that he heard this from his teacher when he first entered the school in 1955.

Qian Juncheng, who is 84 years old this year, graduated in 1958 and stayed on to teach at the university. He retired in 1995.

Qian Juncheng said that for some unknown reason, this generator went from Empress Dowager Cixi to the Beiyang Technological School. Afterwards, the school underwent several name changes and relocations, but the generator remained. Initially, it was used as a DC generator to provide DC power to experimental equipment, but the power output was relatively small. Later, it was used as a teaching tool.

"1902 was the 28th year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign. This generator, manufactured in the United States at the time, has witnessed every stage of the development of Hebei University of Technology, from its initial establishment as Beiyang Technological School to its upgrade to Hebei Provincial Industrial College and its subsequent reconstruction as Hebei Institute of Technology. In particular, it has witnessed the glorious 90-year history of the School of Electrical Engineering, from its founding to its development and then to its rapid growth," said Xu Guizhi, Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering.

According to historical records of Hebei University of Technology, in May 1929, Hebei Provincial Industrial College (formerly Beiyang Industrial School, established in January 1903, which is the predecessor of Hebei University of Technology) was ordered to be upgraded to a college and named Hebei Provincial Industrial College, with Wei Yuanguang as its president.

Wei Yuanguang was a renowned patriotic industrial educator in modern my country. He advocated open education and pioneered the concept of "studying a practical Chinese-style industrial education that suits the national conditions." He oversaw the establishment of three departments at Hebei Provincial Industrial College: Chemical Manufacturing, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Municipal Water Conservancy. The Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department is the earliest predecessor of the current School of Electrical Engineering.

Xu Guizhi explained that when Hebei Provincial Industrial College was founded in 1929, the global economic crisis was spreading from the United States, and the world economy was in a slump. The fact that Hebei Provincial Industrial College was ordered to upgrade to a college at this time demonstrates the urgent need for the development of national industry. Among the first majors added to the upgraded college was electrical engineering, highlighting the important role of this discipline in the development of national industry.

The school was temporarily closed due to the war. It reopened in 1945 after the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan and began enrolling students in 1946.

“Even during the war, when the school was temporarily closed, our predecessors never stopped their research on teaching and their pursuit of professional knowledge. This generator was in the laboratory when the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was first established, and it embodies the rich history of the development of the School of Electrical Engineering at Hebei University of Technology,” said Xu Guizhi. “The entire history of the School of Electrical Engineering is a collection of the hard work, patriotic passion, struggles, and brilliant achievements of generations of electrical engineers.”

Xu Guizhi spoke with pride about the current state of the laboratory. On November 17, 2017, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Hebei Provincial Government jointly approved the establishment of the State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligentization of Electrical Equipment, which is located in the School of Electrical Engineering. This is also the first state key laboratory jointly established by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Hebei Provincial Government in Hebei Province.

In Xu Guizhi's view, the accumulation of history is a tremendous asset, and the development and effective utilization of the historical culture of universities can effectively promote the all-round development of students. In recent years, she has led the team to collect, organize, and compile tens of thousands of valuable books, textbooks, monographs, components, instruments, and equipment used in teaching experiments and scientific research, and established an electrical engineering museum.

"These devices embody the 100-year development history of Hebei University of Technology, record the footsteps of the people of the School of Electrical Engineering, witness the talent cultivation and scientific research of Hebei University of Technology, and interpret the school motto of 'diligence, prudence, integrity and loyalty'," said Xu Guizhi. She added that they will continue to expand and improve the museum, making it a sacred place for scientific research, talent cultivation and popular science promotion together with the national key laboratory.

Over the years, the School of Electrical Engineering has achieved numerous outstanding results. In 1993, it was approved as the first doctoral program in engineering in Hebei Province, making a significant contribution to the approval of Hebei University of Technology's "211 Project". From 2001 to the present, it has successively achieved breakthroughs for Hebei University of Technology in establishing postdoctoral research stations, first-level doctoral programs, national key disciplines, and national-level excellent courses, winning 5 national-level science and technology awards and cultivating hundreds of thousands of talents for society.

In addition, the college actively organizes students to participate in various academic and technological innovation competitions. In 2018 alone, 593 students won awards, including 91 national-level awards, 244 provincial and ministerial-level awards, and 237 awards in Category A competitions.

"The discipline of electrical engineering has accompanied the development of Hebei University of Technology for more than a century. From this American-style motor from the 28th year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign (1902), to the power station excitation device independently developed in the 1980s, which won the National Science and Technology Progress Award (Special Prize) for its application in the Gezhouba Dam hydroelectric generator system, to the first doctoral program in engineering in Hebei Province and a national key discipline, and now to the first national key laboratory for reliability and intelligence of electrical equipment jointly built by the province and the ministry in Hebei Province, it has laid a solid foundation for the university's "211 Project" and "Double First-Class" discipline construction. This is the result of generations of electrical engineers' pursuit of excellence and the best inheritance of Hebei University of Technology's characteristic of 'combining engineering and science'," said Xu Guizhi.

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