Hohai Civil Engineering School was founded in 1915 and was merged with the Department of Engineering of Southeast University into Hohai College of Engineering in 1924 and later incorporated the Fourth Zhongshan University in 1927 and became the Department of Water Resources, Central University in 1928. With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it became the Department of Water Resources, Nanjing University. In 1952 the Departments of Water Conservancy, Hydrology, and Water Resources of Nanjing University, Jiaotong University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University and the East China Engineering School of Water Resources were merged into the East China Technical University of Water Resources. In 1985 it resumed the original name Hohai again and was named Hohai University and the late leader, Mr. Deng Xiaoping, inscribed this name.