The Campus Construction Of The National Universites In The Time Of The National Government

Luojia campus of Wuhan University is honored as one of the most beautiful university campuses in China,due to its natural environment and magnificent historic edifices.Luojia campus,which was mainly contrived by an American architect,is an emblematic case in the architectural intercourse history between China and western world,owing to its architectural style and cultural significance.The area around Luojia Hill was wildness in 1928 when sited to be the location of the brand new university.The construction of new buildings of the campus was completed,as were barely constructions of other national universities,before Sino-Japanese War in the era of National Government.The construction and the faculty’s and students’ lives are worth delving.This dissertation utilizes fully original unpublished archives from China mainland,Taiwan area,U.S.,studies profoundly the indispensable case in contemporary architectural and educational history in China,from perspectives of educational,architectural and social economical history.There were vicissitudes in Westerners’ cognition of Chinese architecture from 13th century to 18th century.Buildings with western style emerged in China since the First Opium War,while there was scarce intercourse between western and Chinese architecture for half a century since then.In the first two decades of 20th century,buildings constructed by Chinese embraced western styles,while buildings constructed by foreign ecclesiastic embraced Chinese styles.Subsequently,the National Government of R.O.C.advocated the traditional Chinese styles and nostalgia.Sun Yat-sen University’s new campus in Shipai of Guangzhou was the largest under-construction national campus in scale during that time,and was a momentous representative of the traditional Chinese style.Modern education in Hubei commenced in the 1890s when Zhang Zhidong implemented reforms in Hubei.High education was behind times,and campus constructions were barely eligible in Hubei in the late Qing Dynasty.In the time of Beijing Government of R.O.C.,government-run high education was in predicament.Campus construction in Hubei during that time was more balky than in the late Qing Dynasty and more lagging than in other areas in China.The National Government established National Wuhan University in 1928 when there was separation between the governments of Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-Shek and University District System was performed tentatively.Whether the new university was affiliated to Hubei provincial government or central government had been under discussion until Cai Yuanpei’s resolution of foundation of a national university and its construction committee.The committee member Li Siguang first proposed the construction plan of new buildings in Wuhan University.The site of the construction included Hongshan Hill,Zhuodaoquan,but Luojia Hill was decided to be the location under the consensus of construction committee members including Li Siguang,Jacob Ye and Kales.Within the area of the new campus,the university,abiding by the Land Levying Law,levied lands for eight year during which there were some dissensions about relocation of houses and tombs,which engendered convoluted imbroglios and struggles among the university,natives,local government and central government.The funds of the campus construction,whose provenance was intricate,comprised 1.5 million yuan’s worth of early appropriation which was shared by central government and Hubei provincial government,supplementary appropriation,subsidy from Hunan government and Hankow government,reimbursement of Boxer Indemnity from U.S.and U.K.,donation from Li Brothers,subsidy from Peking-Hankow rail administration and so on.The process of the funds raising were diverse,tortuous and hesitant.The buildings of Luojia campus were mainly designed by American architect Kales.His superb education and profuse travel experiences made him a competent architect.The earlier and the later construction were contracted respectively to Hanxiesheng Construction Company and Liuhe Construction Company.Both contractors consummated the construction generally,despite some problems during it.Kales’s architectural style of Luojia campus,while encompassed other substantial architectural elements,catered the China Renaissance trend,and held a significant position in contemporary Chinese national architectural history.The architectural style of the campus consisted of elements of north and south China and elements of ancient and modern China,and reconciled styles from West and of China.There were conciliation and compromises when he confronted with contradiction between formality and function during his attempt.There are affinities bet\Aween Luojia campus and East Lake.The exploitation of East Lake Scenic Area began with Ren Tong’s conception in the early R.O.C and Zhou Cangbai’s construction of Haiguang Garden in the 1930s.The campus construction made its contributions to the exploitation,with the road to the university improving the East Lake traffic condition.The campus became one of the scenic spots and resorts of East Lake.The campus was regarded as Shangri-la in Wuhan in the 1930s and developed its peculiar campus culture and college life pattern.