Old Huaxiba 
        A beautiful and dignified place, where Li Bing controlled water and Wen Weng established schools, and it is so-called Chengdu. Western religions and churches were introduced in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1910, a foreign Christian missionary society was built at the west of Nantai Temple, on riverside of Jinjiang River, by America, Britain and Canada. A piece of land with an area of 300mu was bought and built with classrooms and dorms. A university took shape and was called West China Union University. Keeping to the building idea and following the Oxford University as an example, the university executed management and coeducational method. A variety of fields were touched upon and western and Chinese teaching methods are taken. It is a paradise for students. A foreign-style university took root and grew in this place.
        The outbreak of a war forced universities to move to the west. Therefore, this place gathered the University of Nanking, Ginling Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Medical College of Central University, Cheeloo University, Yenching University and the local West China Union University. These universities continued to operate collectively. They were collectively called Great Five Christian Universities by Dr. Joseph Needham, a famous technology historian in Britain, and Chengdu Union University by John King Fairbank, a famous historian in America. Bashang stood towering buildings, the teachers were well learned, for instance, Chen Yinke, Wu Mi, Xiao Gongquan, Li Fanggui, Gu Jiegang, Qian Mu, etc., who led a style of study. Besides, famous figures taught students and educated them to be talents and useful for the country, such as Agronomists J.L.Buck and Zhang Zhiwen, Biologist Liu Chengzhao, Geographer Liu Enlan, Mathematicians E. Ralph Lapwood and Wei Shizhen, Astronomer Li Xiaofang, Leather Scientist Zhang Quan, Medical Scientists Hou Baozhang and Qi Shounan, etc.
        A large number of students bravely assumed responsibilities to study for saving the country. They publicized Marxism before the Statue of Jesus in the Church, gathered together to talk about The Communist Manifesto, and even instigated public meetings and processions…Huaxiba in  the 1940s was a stage where Montage movies were on all the time. At the time, Bashang came to known in the world, representing the whole Chengdu, just like Haishang for Shanghai and Hushang for Hangzhou.
        Glories are continued in the history. Chengdu Union University returned to be lonely after all. Today, Bashang has become a campus, Huaxi Campus, of Sichuan University, where towers and pavilions erect, birds are singing in trees, and butterflies are dancing in flowers. The memories of the past are buried in each brick, tile and tree. Looking for the signs, Clock Tower shows some look of the past and has become a culture landmark. Jinling Road is busy everyday. The campus is surrounded by towering buildings, and the names Qilucun Dormitory, Ningcun Dormitory, Jinlingxincun Dormitory are preserved. In May 2013, these old structures like Clock Tower, Offices, Library and Museum were rated as the State Protected Historic Site of the seventh batch.
        History is composed of persons, events, time and space. Chengdu, from Kuanxiangzi Alley and Zhaixiangzi Alley to Huaxiba, is unfolding a chapter of glories.
　　　

Dai Jun