Yenching University () was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university 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 in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...

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 nationally. In 1939, th ...

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

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

. Devello Z. Sheffield was the school's principal. *North China Union Women's College (). Its precursor, Bridgman Academy (), was founded in 1864 by Eliza J. Bridgman. It would be renamed the North China Union Women's College in 1907, with Luella Miner 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 was appointed as the principal of the university in January 1919, prior to which he had been teaching

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

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

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. As the university was initially short on funds, he turned to fundraising worldwide and received support from the estate of Charles Martin Hall, 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 Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

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, 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 university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for the teaching of the humanities and social sciences in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. 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 was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

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

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

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. After the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

was established in 1949, Yenching University remained open. In 1950, the School of Religion of Yanching University became independent as the Yanjing (''Modern

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

spelling of Yanching'') School of Religion, which was later renamed Yanjing Theological Seminary. In response to the PRC's entry into the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, the US froze all Chinese assets in America. The United States also prohibited transfers funds from the United States to recipients within the PRC, which cut off funding for American-influenced institutions in the PRC. The PRC began efforts to remove American cultural influence from China, including by nationalizing cultural institutions affiliated with the United States. In early 1951, Yenching University was nationalized and became administered by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. In 1952,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

'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 university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

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

China University of Political Science and Law The China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; ; pinyin: Zhōng Guó Zhèng Fǎ Dà Xué), also translated as Zhengfa University, is a national public university in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and co- ...

, its economics faculties were merged into Central University of Finance and Economics, its sociology faculties were merged into

Minzu University of China The Minzu University of China (MUC) is a national public university in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construc ...

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

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

section was merged with

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

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

Haidian District Haidian () is a northwest urban district of Beijing, bordering Xicheng, Beijing, Xicheng and Fengtai, Beijing, Fengtai. It is in area, making it the second-largest district in urban Beijing area (after Chaoyang, Beijing, Chaoyang), and is home ...

Scholars

Among the scholars who taught at Yenching University were: * Wu Leichuan (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, Peking, which was China's leading Christian university, and at Harvard University. He is known for b ...

* 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 Yin ...

(historian) * John Stewart 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 poe ...

(theologian) *

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (July 19, 1905 – February 15, 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) * Luella Miner (dean of the women's college) * Margaret Bailey Speer (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 of ...

(anthropologist) * Han Suyin (author) * C.K. Yang (anthropologist) * Bing Xin (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, a county in Guangxi, China *Nanogenerator#Triboelectric_nanogenerator, Triboel ...

(historian) * Gong Peng (diplomat) * Huang Hua (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 ...

(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'' 14: 1-4 (2004-2006). Further reading * Edwards, Dwight Woodbridge. Yenching University. New York, United Board for Christian, Higher Education in Asia, 1959.

External links