UHHC: Bringing Young Historians Together

On June 21, 2026, three presenters gathered online for a morning of sharing ideas. Among them was Tian Runfeng, whose presentation was titled “The Dawn of Civilization.” It was the second sharing session of UHHC, a humanities and history alliance. The setting was modest: an online meeting, a few speakers, and subjects worth discussing. But it offered a glimpse of what a student-built intellectual community could look like.

Tian, also known as Peter, is a member of the class of 2028 in the international division of Beijing No. 2 High School. He is the founder of UHHC—the Union of Humanities and History Clubs. The alliance extends the idea of a school society into a wider community. His participation as a speaker adds something important to the picture: the founder is also a fellow learner, contributing to the conversation rather than simply arranging it.

As of September 2026, UHHC’s published introduction lists 13 student clubs and 47 independent members, connecting 33 schools across 19 cities in four countries. Its membership brings together school societies and students joining independently, extending the community beyond any single campus. Their interests include history, literature, art, economics, business, and law. These subjects offer different ways of asking how people live, what they value, and how societies change.

The practical purpose suggested by UHHC’s activities is straightforward: give those interests somewhere to meet. A school club can provide a starting point, while an alliance makes exchanges with other communities possible. A student does not have to belong to the same classroom—or even the same school—to become part of a discussion.

An August 2026 reading-group programme showed what such cooperation could involve. Beijing No. 2’s humanities and history club joined the Chickpea Club, a classics group based at the high school affiliated with Peking University, for a programme on Troy. The subject was approached through historical evidence and through the different cities imagined in Homer’s epics and Virgil’s writing. The attraction was not simply the famous story of the Trojan War. Putting historical investigation alongside literary interpretation invites a different kind of attention. What can a story tell us about the people who preserved it? Where does a compelling narrative stop being reliable evidence? Such questions make the humanities an active practice: reading closely, comparing accounts, and recognizing the limits of an explanation.

The alliance’s website also leaves room for more personal encounters with literature. In a September 2026 post, a contributor approached Hemingway’s “In Another Country” through the experience of being an international student. The writer acknowledged the distance separating a modern reader from the First World War, while finding a connection between the story and contemporary life. A work from another century became an invitation to reflect on the present.

Alongside its published writing and joint reading activities, UHHC has also developed a series of student sharing sessions, giving members opportunities to present questions, ideas, and subjects that interest them. These meetings broaden the alliance beyond a single type of activity and allow students to contribute in different ways—as presenters, readers, organizers, or participants in discussion.

As UHHC continues to develop, its activities reflect a broader vision of what student communities can become. Rather than limiting intellectual exploration to formal classrooms, the alliance creates a space where students can pursue questions together, exchange perspectives across schools, and transform individual interests into collective projects. Whether through discussions, publications, collaborations, or new formats that emerge over time, UHHC’s work represents an ongoing effort to make the humanities a shared experience among young people.¹