Chengdu Shude High School

Chengdu Shude High School (Simplified Chinese: 成都市树德中学, Traditional Chinese: 成都樹徳中學, pinyin: Chéngdu Shùdé Zhongxúe) is a public high school in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is commonly known as the Chengdu No. 9 High School (成都九中). The phrase shude in Mandarin translates to "cultivation of morals" and stems from the school's mission to cultivate morals and nurture the whole person. The school has been commended on multiple occasions by municipal and provincial authorities for achieving high average scores on the Gaokao, an important university-entrance exam. In 1929, Sun Zhen (孫震), the deputy general of the 29th Brigade of the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang founded the first Shude Voluntary School. Between 1929 and 1932, Sun Zhen founded four other Shude Primary Schools. Among the four Shude Primary Schools, one of them was later expanded to include a co-educational Middle School division. The boys' division was located at Hsi Lai Temple (西來寺) at Shude Lane (樹德里) on Lingxia Street (寧夏街), while the girls' division was located at Shude Alley (樹德巷) on Lingxia Street (寧夏街). In the Fall of 1937, with the donations from the then Governor of the Sichuan Province, Li Jieren and Chairman Chen of the Jialezi Company, the school was expanded to include a High School division. A school board was formed. Since then, Shude High School became a fully operating co-educational Secondary School. In 1943, the school was commended by Professor Yang Renpian, Professor at the Wuhan University, as one of the six best private secondary schools. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, in 1950, the school was nationalized and renamed Chengdu No. 9 High School (成都九中) by the Chengdu People's Government. In 1953, the school was recognized as one of the three main secondary schools in Chengdu City. In the late 1950s, No. 9 High School of Chengdu served as the school for children of the cadres of the Chinese Communist Party in Chengdu and wider Sichuan Province, as well as a designated school for the children of returned Overseas Chinese.