| Ginling College was a pioneer institution of higher education for women in China founded by Western Christian missionaries. When Ginling opened its doors in 1915, traditional gender segregation and notions of female behavior precluded the entry of women into China's universities. In the years after the 1919 May Fourth Movement and its challenge to traditional society and thought, co-education became the dominant pattern in Chinese higher educational institutions, but Ginling continued as one of two Christian women's colleges.; In order to better understand the history of Ginling College, which was a cross-cultural enterprise, a partly institutional and partly biographical focus was employed. Ginling's first president, Matilda Thurston (1875–1958), was an American missionary educator who went to China to Christianize the Chinese. Although this hope was far from being realized, Thurston played a role in promoting higher education for Chinese women.; In 1927, Matilda Thurston was forced to resign when rising nationalist sentiment demanded a Chinese president. Wu Yifang (1893–1985), a Chinese Christian and a graduate of Ginling's first class—and thus one of China's first college-educated, professional women—headed a majority Chinese administration after 1927. A liberal educator who continued the college's expansion and Sinification, Wu also held important positions in Christian, women's and government-related organizations in China.; Thurston and Wu both believed that separate women's colleges were the best way to cultivate female leaders and fought to maintain Ginling's independence. Although the two presidents had some success in enlarging the scope of their work and the college enrollment, their goals were ultimately difficult to attain because they operated in a Republican China wracked by war, revolution, and intellectual and social change.; Using college records and the personal papers, published articles, speeches, and recollections of its two presidents as well as faculty, staff, alumnae and former students, the lives of Matilda Thurston and Wu Yifang are explored. The college history is also traced from its founding after the 1911 Republication Revolution to its demise following the outbreak of the Korean War, when Western-subsidized educational institutions became unacceptable to the Chinese Communist government. |
