Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, formerly known as Zhongyuan University, was founded in 1948. In 2000, the Central South University of Finance and Economics and the Central South School of Political Science and Law merged to form a new Central South University of Finance and Economics and Law. The university is a general institution of higher learning directly under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, with economics, law and management as the backbone, and nine disciplines including philosophy, literature, history, science, engineering and art. It is a key university under the National "211 Project" and the "985 Project Superior Discipline Innovation Platform" project, and a university jointly built by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Government of Hubei Province, Selected into the list of world-class universities and first-class disciplines ("double first-class" for short) construction universities and disciplines.