Chapter 3, titled “The Dawn of the Modern Chinese University”, discusses the emergence and development of the modern Chinese university system. It highlights the contributions of missionary universities to the formation of the modern university spirit in China, though they never became the mainstream. The core spirit of modern Chinese universities is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture while being shaped by external influences. Key institutions such as Peiyang University (founded in 1895), Nanyang Public School (1896), and the Imperial University of Peking played significant roles in this process. The chapter also examines the Qing Dynasty’s establishment of a national modern school system in 1901, modeled after Western systems, and the open attitude of the early Republic of China (1912–1926) towards absorbing and transmitting new ideas. The modern university spirit in China is linked to the ancient Chinese tradition of “Great Learning” and reflects a fusion of Chinese and Western educational practices.