Historical Investigations On The Campus Life Of Xuhui Middle School Under The National Crisis (1931-1937)

Xuhui Middle School,formerly known as "COLLèGE ST-IGNACE ZI-KA-WEI",is the earliest secondary education institution which is opened by the Catholic Church in modern China.The past researches mostly take a macro-perspective to introduce the history of Xuhui Middle School and the overall situation of the school.However,there are few studies on the details of the school,including the campus life.From the perspective of national crisis,this thesis tries to investigate the campus life of Xuhui Middle School from 1931 to 1937.As a church school,the implementation of the branch system in Xuhui Middle School since the beginning of the 20 th century laid the foundation of properly handling the relationship between sacred and secular in the next few decades.Before the 1920 s,because the Qing government and the Beijing government unable to control the church school,the school experienced a free development period,forming school characteristics including not involved in politics,respect for personality and the comprehensive discipline.After the 1920 s,the Anti-Christian Movement and the Actions to Restore Educational Right have been erupted in China under the tide of nationalism.After the establishment of the Nanjing National Government,the political forces were increasingly in control of church schools,and Xuhui Middle School organizes the board of directors to prepare for the matter of register in 1931,and complete the case in 1932.After register,although Xuhui Middle School abolished the religious curriculum,the campus life is still maintained strong religious color,and focus on cultivating students’ Christian personality.Coincides with this time,the Mukden Incident broke out.In order to cope with the national crisis,to arouse national consciousness,to improve the quality of the people,the National Government launched the New Life Movement.On the basis of understanding the purpose of the New Life Movement,Xuhui Middle School agreed with the emphasis on the "rules" and "cleanliness",and actively cooperated with the "life militarization" proposed by the New Life Movement through establishing the Boy Scouts and carrying out military training.At the same time,in the face of national crisis,the students actively concerned about national affairs,published public opinions,expressed the views of national policy under the domestic and foreign background.They not only condemned the National Government’s "non-resistance" policy,but also called on all parties to unite,In addition,they also directly or indirectly support the anti-Japanese national salvation movement by boycotting Japanese goods,promoting domestic goods,relieving refugees,serving the wounded hospitals,conducting dieting movements and praying piously.All in all,with its campus life,Xuhui Middle School is a typical that showed the church school’s teachers and students how to express their patriotism and devotion to religion in the national crisis.