Our school was founded in 1945 as the History and Geography Department of the Technology and Business College in Tianjin. The first dean was the famous historian and geographer Hou Renzhi (侯仁之). In 1953, the History and Geography Department was divided into the History Departmentand the Geography Department. In 1950s and 1960s, Many famous historians such as Qi xia (漆侠), Li Guangbi (李光壁), Fu Shangwen (傅尚文), Zhou Qingji (周庆基), Qiao Mingshun (乔明顺), Li Dingfang (李鼎芳) and Ge Dinghua (葛定华) worked here. In 1984, our school was entitled to confer the Doctor's degree. The entitlement was the first in Hebei Province and belonged to the second group in the whole nation. In 1993, the discipline Ancient Chinese History was granted as a Province-level Key discipline. In 1996, our school was granted by the Hebei Provincial Government as a base for historical research and young specialist training. In 2001, our school was built into the only research base of humanities and social sciences that affiliated to the Ministry of Education among the provincial universities . In 2005, the discipline History of our school was granted as a superior and characteristic discipline. In 2006, our school obtained the qualification to award the doctorate of Modern Chinese History. In 2007, our school was granted to found a center for post-doctoral studies. In 2010, the discipline History as the first-class disciplinewas entitled to confer the Doctor's degree.. In 2011, the discipline Chinese History as the first-class discipline was entitled to confer the Doctor's degree and found a center for post-doctoral studies.. In the same year, both the discipline World History and Archeology as the first-class discipline was entitled to confer the Master’s degree. In 2013, our school participated in the project named Song Dynasty and the Global Civilization, which belongs tothe Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project in the Midwest charged by the Ministry of Education.
Nowadays, our school has51 faculty and staff available. Among the 45 faculty, professors and associate professors are 26, doctors are 40. Many teachers graduated from famous universities such as Peking University, Nankai University, Beijing Normal University, Renming University of China, Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen University, Jilin University and Kansai University of Japan. Research institutes of our school engage 28 teachers, 8 of them are Doctoral Supervisors and 18 are professors or researchers. Our school values international communication and cooperation. Many teachers went abroad and studied in universities such as University of Oxford, Universität Leipzig, University of Iowa, Georgia State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And many outstanding scholars were invited to deliver lectures and attend international academic conferences.
Our school persist a developing idea that is to unite people, to increase abilities, to spread fame and to develop scientifically. Our educating idea is to culture students with heart and soul and by every possible means. Our academic idea is to make the past serve the present and things foreign serve China.