Mr. Tsung-Dao Lee has had friendly exchanges with Shanghai Jiao Tong University for more than 40 years. In his personal letter to then Premier Wen Jiabao, he mentioned that he had "many years of friendly exchanges" with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
As early as 1978, in order to enable teachers and students of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to understand the latest developments in international physics, Tsung-Dao Lee donated three volumes of "Physics Lectures" and two volumes of physics exercises to Shanghai Jiao Tong University to provide support for the development of education.
In 1979, Tsung-Dao Lee visited Shanghai Jiao Tong University for the first time. During his visit, he presented an electronic computer to the Department of Engineering Mechanics and discussed the exchange of researchers and students. In May of the same year, Tsung-Dao Lee first proposed the establishment of a Sino-US joint recruitment program for physics graduate students (hereinafter referred to as the "CUSPEA program"). The visiting scholar exchange at Shanghai Jiao Tong University provided an important reference for Tsung-Dao Lee to consider and design the CUSPEA program. From 1980 to 1987, a total of 11 students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University went abroad for further studies through the program organized by Tsung-Dao Lee.
In 1987, Tsung-Dao Lee was appointed as an honorary professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in recognition of his help to the university in promoting international cooperation and exchanges in education and science and technology, promoting talent cultivation, and cooperating in scientific and technological research. At the appointment ceremony, he encouraged students to "maintain self-respect and self-confidence."
The Sino-US high-energy physics cooperation is one of the causes that Tsung-Dao Lee attaches the most importance to. It is also the earliest and longest-lasting cooperation project between the two countries since the reform and opening up. From 2003 to 2006, Academician Zhang Jie, then Director of the Bureau of Basic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, served as the head of the Chinese delegation to the Sino-US high-energy physics cooperation talks. Under the guidance of Tsung-Dao Lee, Academician Zhang Jie promoted Sino-US cooperation and creatively solved many difficult problems in Sino-US scientific and technological cooperation. He was deeply trusted by Tsung-Dao Lee and was called "a close friend regardless of age" by Tsung-Dao Lee.
Since 2006, Academician Zhang Jie has served as the president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which greatly enhanced Li Zhengdao's understanding of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After Zhang Jie was transferred to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, Li Zhengdao also wrote a special letter to highly praise Zhang Jie's achievements in the professional field, his confidence and insight in the development of Chinese science, and his vigor and confidence in dealing with people.
In 2009, Tsung-Dao Lee was invited by President Zhang Jie to visit Shanghai Jiao Tong University and give a speech at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Inspirational Forum. He gave a scientific report on the theme of "Using the Language of Heaven to Understand the Way of Things" and had in-depth exchanges with teachers and students.
Tsung-Dao Lee took a photo with Zhang Jie.
During his visit in 2010, Mr. Tsung-Dao Lee had several "deep conversations" with Zhang Jie, and deeply agreed with the culture and talent training philosophy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He then decided to donate his manuscripts, medals, art collections and former residences that he had collected over the years to Shanghai Jiao Tong University to inspire future generations.
Since 2011, Tsung-Dao Lee has donated various manuscripts, Nobel Prize medals, scientific and artistic works and real estate in Shanghai to the school. President Zhang Jie made a special trip to Columbia University and, after many communications, obtained Tsung-Dao Lee's consent to name the library that displays these precious gifts after him.
In the same year, the Ministry of Education approved the construction of the Tsung-Dao Lee Library at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 2014, the Tsung-Dao Lee Library was officially completed at the Minhang campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Tsung-Dao Lee Library.
In 2013, Tsung-Dao Lee and Zhang Jie agreed that Mr. Lee would donate money to establish a permanent fund project, the "Shanghai Jiao Tong University Tsung-Dao Lee Science and Art Lecture Fund," to support the construction of interdisciplinary disciplines and the cultivation of new types of talents with the concept of "integration of science and art."
In order to commemorate his wife, Ms. Qin Hui-yi, and to allow undergraduate students to get in touch with scientific research and active scientists as early as possible, Tsung-Dao Lee established a permanent fund project in 1998 with his private funds, the "Qin Hui-yi and Tsung-Dao Lee China Undergraduate Internship and Training Fund" (hereinafter referred to as the "Tsung-Dao Lee Fund"). In 2013, Shanghai Jiao Tong University joined the Tsung-Dao Lee Fund, with the goal of "cultivating scientific research elites and leaders with global vision and innovative thinking". In ten years of operation, it has successfully cultivated 325 Tsung-Dao Lee scholars. In 2015, Tsung-Dao Lee personally wrote letters to various Tsung-Dao Lee universities, moving the Tsung-Dao Lee Fund Management Committee's supporting unit to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The first version of the Tsung-Dao Lee Fund Management Committee website was also independently designed and developed by Jiao Tong University students.
In 2016, at the suggestion of Tsung-Dao Lee, the Party and the State supported Shanghai Jiao Tong University to establish the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, which aims to make breakthroughs in fundamental scientific problems and cultivate world-class master-level talents. It aims to build a world-class scientific research institution and promote China's basic research to focus on fundamental scientific problems. At the end of 2021, Tsung-Dao Lee asked Zhang Jie to serve as the director of the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute to continue to promote the construction of the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute. In 2021, Tsung-Dao Lee agreed to set up the Tsung-Dao Lee Physics Class at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, aiming to cultivate outstanding talents in basic science.
Tsung-Dao Lee has a long history with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 1911, Tsung-Dao Lee's father-in-law Qin Mengjiu graduated from the predecessor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Shanghai Higher Industrial School of the Ministry of Posts and Communications of the Qing Dynasty. He later served as a clerk in the Taxation Department of the Ministry of Finance and an accountant in the Audit Office. His residence in Beijing was located at No. 2, Bingjiao Hutong, Baimi Xiejie, outside the back gate (near Baimi North Lane today, no complete remains exist). In 1926, Qin Mengjiu used part of the funds from the sale of his Beijing residence to build the Industrial Hall (now the Engineering Hall of the Xuhui Campus) to support the development of the school.
Around the 1950s, Li Zhengdao's fifth brother Li Xuedao and younger sister Li Yayun graduated from the Department of Naval Architecture of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Later, Li Xuedao taught at the Department of Naval Architecture in the 1960s, and Li Yayun taught at the Department of Solid Mechanics in the 1970s.
Professor Li Zhongqing, the eldest son of Tsung-Dao Lee, was hired as a visiting professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the early 21st century and director of the Northeast History and Social Research Center of the School of Humanities. He has served as director of the Tsung-Dao Lee Library since 2014.
Professor Chung-Ching Lee, the eldest son of Tsung-Dao Lee.
On May 12, 2015, Li Zhengdao's eldest grandson, Dr. Li Shanshi, a doctor of medicine from Stanford University, became the first guest speaker in the Li Zhengdao Lecture Hall of the Li Zhengdao Library of our university.
Li Zhengdao’s eldest grandson, Li Shanshi, a medical doctor from Stanford University.
Four generations and a hundred years later, the relationship between Tsung-Dao Lee and Shanghai Jiao Tong University that spans a century continues to write new chapters.
