Northwest Normal University (NWNU) [1] is a key university under the joint construction of the People's Government of Gansu Province and the Ministry of Education of China. It is also one of the 14 state-supported universities in western China. The predecessor of NWNU is the National Beiping Normal University, which originates from the Normal School of the Metropolitan University founded in 1902. After the "July 7 Incident" of 1937, Beiping Normal University was incorporated into the National Beiping University and the Beiyang Engineering Institute. The new incorporation was named as the Northwest Union University, and the National Beiping Normal University reconstructed itself as an affiliated normal school and became independent in 1939 after being renamed as the National Northwest Normal Institute and moved to Lanzhou City In 1941. Before 1958, the National Northwest Normal Institute was one of the six key normal institutes directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education.