Chern founded the Nankai Institute for Mathematics (NKIM) at his alma mater Nankai in Tianjin. The institute was formally established in 1984 and fully opened on October 17, 1985. NKIM was renamed the Chern Institute of Mathematics in 2004 after Chern's death. He was treated as a rock star and cultural icon in China. Regarding his influence in China and help raising a generation of new mathematicians, ZALA films says:Several world-renowned figures, such as Gang Tian and Shing-Tung Yau, consider Chern the mentor who helped them study in western countries following the bleak years of the Cultural Revolution, when Chinese universities were closed and academic pursuits suppressed. By the time Chern started returning to China regularly during the 1980s, he had become a celebrity; every school child knew his name, and TV cameras documented his every move whenever he ventured forth from the institute he established at Nankai University.He has said that back then the main obstruent to the growth of math in China is the low pay, which is important considering that after the cultural revolution many families were impoverished. But he has said that given China's size, it naturally has a large talent pool of budding mathematicians.