The university's predecessor was founded by
Konoe Atsumaro as an overseas Japanese institution of higher education in the Hong Qiao (虹桥) District of
Shanghai in 1901, and was chartered as in 1939. The school produced numerous leaders who took part in China's
modernisation process in the early 20th century, with financial and intellectual support from Japan. At the end of
World War II, the university faced closure. Its spiritual successor, Aichi University, was established by staff and students who had previously been based at the university and other overseas Japanese institutions in
Toyohashi, Japan in 1946. ==Chronology==