The Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory of Nankai University () formally known as the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory of the Institute of Liberal Arts, College of Literature (), Nankai University, was established in 1942 during Nankai University's participation in the formation of the National Southwestern Associated University. The Laboratory was founded by the School of Literature, Nankai University as a research institution. The Laboratory adopted field investigation as its principal research method and followed Nankai University's educational principle of “understanding China and serving China”. The stated purpose of the Laboratory was “to conduct on-site investigation as its primary approach and to assist in the advancement of borderland education”. It provided social survey materials and reference documentation for the Yunnan Provincial Shifo Railway Preparatory Committee in support of railway construction. It also formed part of Nankai University's preparations for the continuation and development of its educational activities in the postwar period.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nankai University relocated to Kunming, along with Peking University and Tsinghua University, where they jointly formed the National Southwestern Associated University. During this period, in connection with a plan by the Yunnan provincial government to construct a railway from Shiping County to Menghai County, Nankai University used related survey funding to establish the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory to undertake associated investigations, while also expanding the School of Literature, Nankai University. The Laboratory published the journal Borderland Humanities, which carried reports and research articles based on its field investigations.
After the war, the National Southwestern Associated University was dissolved, and Nankai University returned to Tianjin; the Laboratory relocated there as well. After 1950, some members of the Laboratory left for other positions. Following the 1952 Tianjin Higher Education Department Adjustment, the School of Literature, Nankai University, was abolished, and the Laboratory's activities, including the publication of Borderland Humanities, came to an end.
In 2004, marking the centenary of Nankai School and the 85th anniversary of Nankai University, the Office for the Study of Nankai University History edited and published Years of the Associated University and Borderland Humanities, which documents the history of the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory and includes a selection of previously published papers and memoirs.
History
Background
In 1937, after the campus of Nankai University at Balitai was destroyed by Japanese bombing, Nankai University relocated southward, along with Peking University and Tsinghua University, and later jointly formed the National Southwestern Associated University. Before this relocation, each of the three universities had already established its own research institutions in the humanities and sciences. Peking University had an Institute of Liberal Arts, Tsinghua University operated a National Conditions Survey Institute under its Department of Sociology, and Nankai University had the Nankai Institute of Economics. Due to the war, research activities at the three universities were temporarily suspended. In 1938, the Ministry of Education (Taiwan) of the Nationalist Government supported qualified universities in resuming and developing research institutions. By June 1939, research activities at the three universities had begun to recover. In September 1939, Mei Yiqi convened a professors’ meeting and a university council, at which it was decided to establish the “Research Institute of the National Southwestern Associated University (Tsinghua, Peking, and Nankai)” to support research activities at the three institutions . During the war, although Nankai University operated jointly with Peking University and Tsinghua University, each institution retained its pre-existing administrative structure within the framework of the National Southwestern Associated University. In matters such as personnel appointments and research organization, the three universities continued to follow their previous regulations, thereby preserving their respective academic traditions and staffing systems. Before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, although Nankai University had established a College of Literature in 1929, it comprised only three departments—Foreign Languages, History, and Philosophy—and its academic scope remained limited. A proposed Institute of Liberal Arts had not yet been realized. Against this background, professors such as Huang Yusheng and Feng Wenqian continued to advocate that, once the war ended and the university returned to Tianjin, Nankai University should reestablish a more comprehensive College of Literature with strengthened teaching and research capacity, and proceed with the establishment of the planned Institute of Liberal Arts. In this context, the establishment of the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory served multiple purposes. On the one hand, it provided social survey materials and reference documentation for the Yunnan Provincial Shifo Railway Preparatory Committee in support of railway construction. On the other hand, it formed part of Nankai University's preparations for the continuation and development of its educational activities in the postwar period. It functioned as a preparatory step toward the future establishment of an Institute of Liberal Arts. At the National Southwestern Associated University, Tsinghua University led the establishment of an Institute of Liberal Arts within its College of Literature. Subsequently, Nankai University also began planning to establish similar research institutions.
Establishment
By the early 1940s, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, China's eastern seaboard had been blockaded by Japanese forces, and the Yunnan–Burma railway and Kunming–Haiphong railway became key routes linking China with the outside world. Under these circumstances, the Yunnan Provincial People's Government decided to construct a new railway from Shiping County in western Yunnan to Fohai near the border, connecting with the Kunming–Haiphong railway. The Shifo Railway Preparatory Committee allocated funding to commission academic institutions to conduct investigations along the proposed route, covering social and economic conditions, local customs, and linguistic and cultural practices, to support railway construction. After learning of this plan, Chang Po-ling wrote to his associate, Miao Yuntai, in Yunnan, seeking assistance. With Miao's support, the Yunnan provincial government subsequently entrusted Nankai University with this task.
On 28 April 1942, Gong Zhongjun, director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Construction, sent a letter to Chang Po-ling proposing that Nankai University undertake field investigations along the proposed Shifo Railway route. Huang Yusheng and Feng Wenqian subsequently signed an agreement with the Yunnan authorities, under which Nankai University formally assumed responsibility for the survey work and received a dedicated grant of 30,000 yuan. After receiving funding from the Shifo Railway Preparatory Committee, Nankai University established the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory to carry out the research. The Laboratory was intended to conduct investigations in support of railway construction and to provide a basis for the development of research in the humanities at the university. At its establishment, the Laboratory was small in scale, with fewer than 10 members and limited material resources. It was located in three rooms in the eastern wing of a courtyard outside the Xiaoximen gate of the National Southwestern Associated University campus. The western wing housed a history research institute established by Lei Haizong of the Department of History. Feng Wenqian handled supplies and logistical matters for graduate students.
In June 1942, following preparations by Huang Yusheng, Feng Wenqian and others, the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory of Nankai University was formally established. At the same time, it issued its charter, Regulations of the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory, School of Literature, Nankai University, which defined its scope as borderland humanities, its method as field investigation, and its purpose as assisting the development of borderland education. The Laboratory was headed by a director responsible for research and fieldwork, appointed by the university president from among faculty members recommended by the dean. Following the nomination, on 1 August 1942, Chang Po-ling appointed Tao Yunkui, a graduate of Nankai University who had studied in Germany, as professor of historical anthropology and director of the Laboratory.
Development
In May 1942, following the establishment of the Borderland Humanities Research Laboratory, Tao Yunkui served as its director and oversaw its overall operations. The Laboratory was organized into four groups: borderland languages, anthropology (including social and physical anthropology), human geography, and borderland education. At the time of its founding, most of the Laboratory's personnel were drawn from departments of the National Southwestern Associated University. Huang Yusheng, one of the founders, had previously served as secretary-general of Nankai University and concurrently as dean of the Normal College of the National Southwestern Associated University. Feng Wenqian was dean of the College of Literature at Nankai University and also a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the National Southwestern Associated University. At the same time, Tao Yunkui concurrently held a professorship in the Department of Sociology. On 6 July, recent graduates of the National Southwestern Associated University, Li Zongxian and Li Guobin, were appointed as investigators for the Laboratory. In August, Xing Gongwan joined the Laboratory, and shortly thereafter, Gao Huanian, a graduate student recommended by Luo Changpei, also became a member.Although the Laboratory gradually expanded in scale, the number of full-time researchers remained limited. Feng Wenqian held a nominal position but was primarily responsible for logistical and administrative tasks.
In 1943, Li Guobin was arrested by government troops in Cheli (present-day Xishuangbanna) during fieldwork and accused of collaboration; he was later released after intervention from multiple parties. On 30 December of the same year, Tao Yunkui contracted Relapsing fever that developed into Sepsis, and died on 26 January 1944 at the hospital of Yunnan University. Following Tao's death, Nankai University planned to appoint Rui Yifu, a researcher in the Institute of Social Sciences' ethnology section at Academia Sinica, as head of the Laboratory; he did not assume the post due to illness. Feng Wenqian subsequently took charge of the Laboratory. Between 1944 and 1945, Nankai University received two placements for study in France, and intended to send Li Guobin; he declined the opportunity and continued his research work. In 1945, after the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the National Southwestern Associated University was dissolved, and Nankai University returned to Tianjin. Except for Yuan Jiawa, who returned to Peking University, most members of the Laboratory relocated to Tianjin with Nankai University. After the university's return, the Laboratory was attached to the College of Literature without independent institutional status. With limited funding, its research activities were reduced. In 1947, the Laboratory issued volume 4 of Borderland Humanities, which included several academic articles.
Dissolution