Abstract: Contemporary Chinese universities derive from the late Qing Dynasty (late 19th century), and they are the dependencies of the Chinese government from the very beginning and strictly controlled by the party-government synergy. However, the evolvement of their respective functions in universities and government alike, especially after the implementation of the opening-up policy in late 1970s, has witnessed a new trend of independent development in Chinese universities. An inquiry into this process offers an insight into the relationship between Chinese universities and the Chinese government, which is characterized with the feature of from government control to government supervision.