The spirit of the Military and Political University of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression 

The Military and Political University of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the highest military academy of the CPC-led people's army. It was opened in June 1936 and ended its mission in September 1945 with victory in the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Despite its poor conditions in the harsh wartime environment, the university followed a sound political orientation. Its faculty and trainees practiced frugality and overcame all the difficulties they faced. It trained more than 100,000 military and political officers, who played a great role in winning the War of Resistance and the War of Liberation that followed.

In his book, Red Star Over China, American correspondent Edgar Snow described the university as holding classes in earthen caves, and making stones and bricks into tables and benches and clay walls into blackboards. It might have been the only higher learning academy in the world whose classrooms could resist bombardment of any kind.

The spirit of the Military and Political University of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression enjoys a high status in the hearts of the Chinese people, and is still cherished today.

抗大精神

中國人民抗日軍事政治大學，簡稱“抗大”，是抗戰時期中國共產黨領導的人民軍隊的最高軍事學府。從1936年6月創建到1945年9月中國人民抗戰勝利，在艱苦卓絕的戰爭環境和辦學實踐中，抗大培養出10多萬名軍事和政治干部，逐步形成以“堅定正確的政治方向和艱苦奮斗的政治本色”為主要內容的抗大精神，為取得抗日戰爭和解放戰爭的勝利發揮了重要作用。

美國記者埃德加·斯諾在《西行漫記》一書中曾這樣描述：以窯洞為教室，石頭磚塊為桌椅，石灰泥土糊的墻為黑板，校舍完全不怕轟炸的這種“高等學府”，全世界恐怕只有這么一家。抗大精神是中國人心目中偉大和崇高的代名詞，直到今天仍被不斷學習與追尋。