During the Hongwu period in the Tang dynasty, Tang Hongwu served as the president of Sun Yat-sen University.

The Ministry of Education has recently announced that Comrade Tang Hongwu has been appointed as the President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Sun Yat-sen University. Tang Hongwu, born in September 1966, is a in-service postgraduate student, a doctor of engineering, a member of the Communist Party of China, a professor, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has previously served as the Secretary of the Party Committee of Hohai University, the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of South China University of Technology.