Nicknames of Chinese universities

Most major universities in China are known colloquially by an abbreviated form of their names. For example, Peking University,^{[note 1]} whose Chinese name is "běijīng dàxué" (lit. Beijing University) is normally just referred to as "běidà", taking the first syllable of each word "běi" + "dà". The full names, which are much longer, are typically only used in formal communications.

Nickname (pinyin)	Full name (pinyin)	Nickname	Full name	English name	City	Province
běidà	běijīng dàxué	北大	北京大学	Peking University[note 1]	Beijing	Beijing
běiyǔ	běijīng yǔyán dàxué	北语	北京语言大学	Beijing Language and Culture University	Beijing	Beijing
chóngyóu	chóngqìng yóudiàn dàxué	重邮	重庆邮电大学	Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications	Chongqing	Chongqing
dàgōng	dàlián lǐgōng dàxué	大工	大连理工大学	Dalian University of Technology	Dalian	Liaoning
èrwài	běijīng dìèr wàiguóyǔ xuéyuàn	二外	北京第二外国语学院	Beijing International Studies University	Beijing	Beijing
lándà	lánzhōu dàxué	兰大	兰州大学	Lanzhou University	Lanzhou	Gansu
héshīdà	hénán shīfàn dàxué	河师大	河南师范大学	Henan Normal University	Xinxiang	Henan
jīngmào	duìwài jīngjì màoyì dàxué	经贸	对外经济贸易大学	Beijing University of International Business and Economics	Beijing	Beijing
réndà	rénmín dàxué	人大	人民大学	Renmin University	Beijing	Beijing
shàngshīdà	shànghǎi shīfàn dàxué	上师大	上海师范大学	Shanghai Normal University	Shanghai	Shanghai
shídà	zhōngguó shíyóu dàxué	石大	中国石油大学	China University of Petroleum	Beijing / Dongying	Beijing / Shandong
tóngjì	tóngjì dàxué	同济	同济大学	Tongji University	Shanghai	Shanghai
xiàdà	xiàmén dàxué	厦大	厦门大学	Xiamen University	Xiamen	Fujian
xīdiàn	xīān diànzi kējì dàxué	西电	西安电子科技大学	Xidian University	Xi'an	Shaanxi

Notes

1. While the name "Peking" of Beijing is no longer common, it is still commonly used in proper names. It comes from an older pronunciation before a /k/ → /tɕ/ sound change occurred in Mandarin, and can be found in the former system of postal map romanization.

References