One of the national key universities, South China Agricultural University is a “211 Project” university sponsored by both Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Agriculture during the ninth and tenth “Five-year Plan”. The university is also ranked to be “excellent” by the Inspection for Undergraduate Education organized by the Ministry of Education. Situated at Guangzhou, the “city of flowers”, the university enjoys beautiful scenery and pleasant environment. The campus covers an area of over 8250 mu (550 hectares), and the total gross floor area is over 1.37 million square meters. The history of SCAU can be traced back to 1909 when Guangdong Agricultural Experimental Station affiliated with an Agricultural School was founded. After years of development and efforts, when the nationwide readjustments of university and college resources took place in 1952, the Station was already called the Agricultural College and became part of the National Sun Yat-Sen University. The college merged with the Agricultural College of Lingnan University and part of the Department of Veterinary Medicine as well as the Department of Pest Pathology of Guangxi University, and formed South China Agricultural College under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). Chairman Mao Zedong autographed the college name.
