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
中国人民抗日军事政治大学，简称“抗大”，是抗战时期中国共产党领导的人民军队的最高军事学府。从1936年6月创建到1945年9月中国人民抗战胜利，在艰苦卓绝的战争环境和办学实践中，抗大培养出10多万名军事和政治干部，逐步形成以“坚定正确的政治方向和艰苦奋斗的政治本色”为主要内容的抗大精神，为取得抗日战争和解放战争的胜利发挥了重要作用。
美国记者埃德加·斯诺在《西行漫记》一书中曾这样描述：以窑洞为教室，石头砖块为桌椅，石灰泥土糊的墙为黑板，校舍完全不怕轰炸的这种“高等学府”，全世界恐怕只有这么一家。抗大精神是中国人心目中伟大和崇高的代名词，直到今天仍被不断学习与追寻。