Yenching University (), was a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its status as capital of the state of Yan, one of the seven

Warring States The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

that existed until the 3rd century BC.

History

Yenching University was formed through the merger of four Christian schools over the course of five years, from 1915 to 1920: * Hweiwen University (), also known as the Methodist Peking University, founded in 1890 by the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

. This should not be confused with the National Peking University founded eight years later in 1898. Huiwen's precursor (崇內懷理書院) was founded in 1870. Hiram Harrison Lowry was its principal. *

North China Union College North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

in Tongzhou (). Its precursor (公理會潞河書院) was founded by the

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. Devello Z. Sheffield was the school's principal. *North China Union Women's College (). Its precursor, Bridgman Academy (), was founded in 1864 Eliza J. Bridgman. It would be renamed the North China Union Women's College in 1907, with

Luella Miner Sarah Luella Miner (October 30, 1861 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator and Christian missionary in China. She founded and led the North China Union College for Women, China's first women's college. Early life Miner was born in Obe ...

as its first president. When it joined Yenching University in 1920, it bore the name College of Arts and Sciences for Women of Peking University. *The school of theology was itself a union of the theological seminary of North China Education Union and two Methodist theological schools in Beijing. John Leighton Stuart1948

John Leighton Stuart John Leighton Stuart (; June 24, 1876 – September 19, 1962) was a missionary educator, the first President of Yenching University and later United States ambassador to China. He was a towering figure in U.S.-Chinese relations in the first half o ...

was appointed as the principal of the university in January 1919, prior to which he had been teaching

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

at the Jinling Theological Seminary (金陵神學院) in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. As the university was initially short on funds, he turned to fundraising worldwide and received support from the estate of

Charles Martin Hall Charles Martin Hall (December 6, 1863 – December 27, 1914) was an American inventor, businessman, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminum, which became the first metal to atta ...

, an American executive of Alcoa Aluminum. The university bought the royal gardens of a

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

prince to build a scenic campus and employed gardeners from the Imperial gardens. In 1926 the campus was completed. Theology, Law, and Medical were the main schools of the university, together with Arts and Science studies. Stuart determined to create a university that served the Chinese nation. He attracted major Chinese and Western scholars to teach. Religion was not a qualification, although Stuart gave major support to the School of Theology. Among the first was

William Hung William Hing Cheung Hung (; born January 13, 1983) is a Hong Kong motivational speaker and former singer who gained fame in 2004 as a result of his unsuccessful audition singing Ricky Martin's hit song "She Bangs" on the third season of the ...

, who became Chairman of the History Department and Dean. In 1928, the Harvard-Yenching Institute was jointly founded by Yenching University and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

for the teaching of the humanities and social sciences in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. Under Hung, the university's reputation for Chinese studies rose steadily, especially with the publication of the ''Harvard-Yenching Sinological Index Series''. By 1930, the school was among the top universities in China, its teaching distinguished itself by a considerable academic freedom. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, the area was occupied by Japan and the university was moved to

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. After the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

was established in 1949, Yenching University remained open, although under control of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1952,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

's government re-grouped the country's higher education institutions with individual institutions tending to specialize in a certain field of study after the Soviet model. As a result, Yenching University was closed up, and its arts and science faculties were merged into

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

and other state-operated institutions, its politics and law faculties were merged into

China University of Political Science and Law China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国政法大学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國政法大學; pinyin: ''Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué'', abbr. � ...

, its economics faculties were merged into

Central University of Finance and Economics Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE; ), is a national public research university located in Beijing, China. Central University of Finance and Economics is the first economics and management university which was founded by the China ...

, its sociology faculties were merged into

Minzu University of China Minzu University of China (MUC, ) is a national public university in Haidian District, Beijing, China designated for ethnic minorities in China. MUC was selected as one of national key universities to directly receive funding from Double First ...

, and other faculties merged into other institutions. At the same time, its

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

section was merged with

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

, and Peking University moved from central downtown Beijing to take over the former Yenching University campus in the city's

Haidian District Haidian District () is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It is mostly situated in northwestern Beijing, but also to a lesser extent in the west, where it has borders with Xicheng District and Fengtai District. It is 431 square km in a ...

Scholars

Among the scholars who taught at Yenching University were: *

Wu Leichuan Wu Leichuan (; alt. ) (1870–1944) was a leading Chinese theologian in the early 20th century and Chancellor of Yenching University. Biography From his childhood, Wu poured his energy into mastering the Confucian classics and working his way u ...

(theology) *

William Hung (sinologist) William Hung (; October 27, 1893December 22, 1980), was a Chinese historian and sinologist who taught for many years at Yenching University, Beijing, Peking, which was China's leading Christian university, and at Harvard University. He is kno ...

* Zhao Zichen (theology) *

Qian Mu Ch'ien Mu or Qian Mu (; 30 July 1895 – 30 August 1990) was a Chinese historian, philosopher and writer. He is considered to be one of the greatest historians and philosophers of 20th-century China. Ch'ien, together with Lü Simian, Chen Yink ...

(historian) * John Stuart Burgess (sociologist) * Kenneth K.S. Chen (historian of Buddhism) *

Lu Zhiwei Lu Zhiwei (; 6 February 1894 – 21 November 1970), also known as C. W. Luh, was an influential Chinese psychologist and linguist from Wuxing, Zhejiang. He was also an important figure in Chinese poetry, both for his critical ideas and as a poet ...

(theologian) *

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (19 July 1905 – 15 February 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...

(journalism) * Louis Rhys Oxley Bevan (Law) *

(dean of the women's college) *

Margaret Bailey Speer Margaret Bailey Speer (November 20, 1900 – September 21, 1997) was an American educator and teaching missionary. She was dean of the Women's College of Yenching University in Beijing from 1934 to 1941, and headmistress of the Shipley School in ...

(dean of the women's college)

Alumni

Prominent alumni include: *

Fei Xiaotong Fei Xiaotong or Fei Hsiao-tung (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a Chinese anthropologist and sociologist. He was a pioneering researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies in the study o ...

(anthropologist) *

Han Suyin Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou (; 12 September 1917 or 1916 – 2 November 2012) was a Chinese-born Eurasian physician and author better known by her pen name Han Suyin (). She wrote in English and French on modern China, set her novels in East an ...

(author) *

C.K. Yang Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang ( Amis: Maysang Kalimud, ) (July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was an Olympic decathlete from Taiwan. Yang attended college at UCLA where he trained and competed with team mate and Olympian Rafer Johnson and w ...

(anthropologist) *

Bing Xin Xie Wanying (; October 5, 1900 – February 28, 1999), better known by her pen name Bing Xin () or Xie Bingxin, was one of the most prolific Chinese women writers of the 20th century. Many of her works were written for young readers. She ...

(Xie Wanying) writer *

Teng Ssu-yu Teng may refer to: * Teng (surname) (滕), a Chinese surname *Teng (state), an ancient Chinese state *Teng (mythology), a flying dragon in Chinese mythology *Teng County Teng County or Tengxian (; za, Dwngz Yen) is a county of eastern Guangxi, ...

(historian) * Gong Peng (diplomat) *

Huang Hua Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was i ...

(diplomat) *

James Shen James C.H. Shen (; July 2, 1909 Shanghai – July 12, 2007 Taipei) was a Taiwanese diplomat. Shen served as the last official Republic of China ambassador to the United States before the U.S. switched its diplomatic recognition to the People's Re ...

(diplomat) * Larry Wu-tai Chin (double-agent)

Notes

References

*West, Phillip ''Yenching University and Sino-Western Relations, 1916-1952'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976). * Arthur Lewis Rosenbaum. ed., ''New Perspectives on Yenching University, 1916-1952 : A Liberal Education for a New China.'' (Chicago: Imprint Publications, 2012). . Some of the essays were first published in ''

Journal of American-East Asian Relations Journal of American-East Asian Relations (JAEAR), according to its website, is a "peer-reviewed quarterly journal of interdisciplinary historical, cross-cultural, and social science scholarship from all parts of the world," which began publication ...

'' 14: 1-4 (2004-2006).

External links