| At the end of the19th Century, with the development of theAnglo-American imperialist aggression and expansion and improvement ofthe Christian Revival Movement, many missionaries came into China. Theunequal treaties between China and foreign countries granted them privilegesincluding preaching their religions and establishing hospitals and schools inthe open ports. Their first preaching work was not smooth because of themisfits between Christianity and Chinese traditional culture, so moremissionaries started to run schools. At the first30or40years, the school sizewas very small. With the development of the Western business gradually intoChina, and China’s ruling group acknowledging the value of Western science,the Westernization Movement and Reform Movement promoted the Chineseyoung students’ learning enthusiasm and acceptance of Western science. Bythe end of the19th Century and the beginning of the20th Century, on thebase of the developed Christian elementary schools in China and with theyoung intellectuals’ accepting the church schools, Christian higher educationcame into being and became the leader in China’s higher education system in the early20th Century.The research objects of this dissertation are the13Christian Protestantuniversities’ foreign presidents at the end of the19th Century and thebeginning of the20th Century, including Edwin Chester Jones (1915-1923)and John Gowdy（1923-1927）of Fukien Christian University, Mrs LaurenceThurston（1916-1928）of Ginling College, Rev，J. H. Judson（1897-1911）,Warren H Stuar（t1916-1922），E. L. Mattox （1914-1916）and Fitch，RobertFerris（1922-1927）of Hangchow Christian University, Alfred Alonzo Gilman（1924—1929）of Huachung University, Miss Lydia Ｔrimble（1914-1925）and Ida Belle Lewis（1925-1927）of Hwa Nan University, Charles K.Edmunds （1916-1924） and James M. Henry （1924-1927） of LingnanUniversity, A. J. Bowen（1910-1928）of University of Nanking, Francis ListerHawks Pott（1896-1947, as chancellor since1941）of St. John’s University, J.T. Proctor（1906-1911as president of Shanghai Baptist College) and FrancisJohnstone White（president of Shanghai Baptist College1911-1914，andpresident of Shanghai University1915-1928）of Shanghai University, Paul D.Bergen（1904-1915）, J.Percy Bruce（1916-1919）, James Boyd Neal）（1919—1922）, Harold Balme（1922-1926）and John Donald Mcrae（1926-1927） of Shantung Christian University, David L. Anderson（1900-1911），John W. Cline（1911-1922）and W. B. Nance（1922-1927）of Soochow University, Joseph Beech (1913-1931）of West China Union University, and John Leighton Stuart（1919-1946）of Yenching University.The historical stage this dissertation studied is from the time theProtestant Universities were established to the time they were registered in theChinese government, that is, the period the foreign presidents ran theuniversities. The reason why the Protestant Christian Universities but not theCatholic Universities are chosen is that the Protestant Universities, comparedto the Catholic Universities, are larger in the quantity and scale, covering awider range and with higher quality of teaching. The foreign presidents arechosen as the research objects because that the Christian Universities “arehard to be summarized for their intending to be characteristic in the1930s.The difference between the early Christian Universities is often due to theeffort of their presidents." The Christian universities established the prototypeof modern Chinese Universities and became their source, so research on theChristian universities’ foreign presidents helps us to find out the root ofUniversities in modern China. The research objects are chosen also becausethat this group is ignored in our study area, except of the very few characterswith a higher social influence, such as Leighton Stuart, F. L. h. Pott, etc.Research on the whole of the foreign presidents of the Christian Universitieshas never been involved. The research on them can help to fill gaps of thestudy of the history of China’s modern higher education.The primary research method of this dissertation is the research method of literature, the cited literature include all kinds of Archives (municipalgovernments’ archives and University Archives), biography andautobiography, memoir, history data, and the other. When using the method ofliterature, the deductive and inductive methods are included. This researchemphasizes that theories are drawn from the history and that history andtheory should be combined.The foreign presidents of the Christian Universities were missionariesfrom various countries, born at different times, with different theologicalbackground, but all with a higher education background and most with adoctorate degree. They have different understanding and attitude towardChina due to their different background, which led to their distinctiverunning-school idea and the management practice.The foreign presidents of the Christian Universities set up theuniversities for two objectives: one is to preach, the other is for China’s future.They adjusted their objectives in the process of running the universities, withtwo main characteristics: both science and religion paralleled and Christianityand Confucianism compatible.All Christian universities were the result of jointing several collegesexcept for St. John’s University, Hwa Nan University and Lingnan University.At their early stage, the biggest problem the foreign presidents encounteredwas the difficulties in the jointing process, including campus location, president chosen, personnel, administration and finance, with the collectionand management of funds the most vital difficulty the foreign presidents facedat the initial period. The funds they raised were mainly used for construction,purchasing books and equipment, paying the teachers, etc.In the aspect of the management of teachers, the foreign presidents of theChristian Universities set up a group with teachers in various fields, and triedto improve the treatment of teachers.In the management of students, the foreign presidents promoted thecomprehensive development of students. When facing the students’movements, the foreign presidents usually held a positive attitude ofencouraging and and supporting students, or held a natural and peacefulattitude, while Francis Lister Hawks Pott of St. John’s University was opposedto the students’ movement, under the command of Anglican Church.In the aspect of specialty and curriculum construction, the foreignpresidents of the Christian Universities always attached great importance tothe religious curriculum, and gradually enriched the scientific curriculumsystem, also added the secular and occupational curricula.In the internal management of schools, all the foreign presidents of theChristian Universities emphasized the construction of modern managementsystem and shaped an atmosphere of fusing Chinese and Western culture. Inthe Anti-Christian Movement and Regaining Educational Right Movement in the1920s and1930s, the foreign presidents tried to properly handle all kindsof conflicts.The foreign presidents of the Christian Universities were deeplyinfluenced by Christian Gospel theories and actively promoted theuniversities to provide various services for society. They founded socialservice agencies, to some extent spreading the Christian gospel of socialservice, also wanting the social service agencies to transform people, get ridof their bad habits and change bad customs. With the change of socialenvironment and the specific service object, the religious color of the socialservice work increasingly diluted and their social relief and social servicefunction was more and more obvious. The social service activities can bedivided into three categories: comprehensive social service agencies,individual social service agencies and social service activities by individualteachers or students.After the active construction of the foreign presidents of ChristianUniversities, the Christian universities received a high reputation and werewell received by government officials and all the society. The reputation waswon both through the presidents and teachers and the graduates. The foreignpresidents were praised by teachers and students on campus, all walks of lifeof the society, and also the upper church and their home countries.The conclusions of this dissertation are:(1) the foreign presidents of the Christian Universities must be localized in order to run a university smoothlyin this land of China;(2) when dealing with the relationship betweenChristian Universities and their upper regious institutions, the foreignpresidents must make the Universities remained relatively independent, toensure that the presidents can indepently and actively run their universities,establish the modern university management system, and run their universitiesin accordance with the educational law;(3) the foreign presidents of theChristian Universities is group with charismatic personalities and outstandingabilities, who led the Christian Universities to the front of the modern Chinesehigher education, but their achievements are not the same due to variousconstraints.The innovation of this dissertation is that it, from the perspective of theforeign presidents group for the first time, explores the running-schoolactivities and the contributions to Chinese modern higher education of theforeign presidents of the Christian universities in modern China, which helpsto fill the blank in this research field. This dissertation systematicallysummarizes the administration ideals and the activities of the foreignpresidents of the Christian Universities, and their historical and realisticsignificance.The shortcoming of this dissertation is that, because of the shortage ofdata, especially the shortage of foreign resources, with so wide a coverage of the group of the foreign presidents involved, it is impossible to collect all therelevant materials, and so some conclusions this dissertation has drawn willbe superficial and be lack of deep exploration. |
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