A Women’s College Rising In Wartime

Aurora College for Women was the only Christian college for women in China and the first one of this kind established in Asia by Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.For a long time it was the only comprehensive women’s college in Shanghai.With a span of 14 years and over 1,000 students and 395 graduates,the college played a significant role in the history of religious women’s college and education in Shanghai.During the Anti-Japanese War,most schools either closed down or moved inlands.Aurora College for Women was instead established in the enemy-occupied area and made great achievements.This paper sets out to explore the reasons behind.This paper firstly analyses the reasons for locating the school in Shanghai from seven aspects.Then it discusses the international strategy of the Sacred Heart and the education characteristics of the Shanghai Sacred Heart.Thirdly,it examines the universal education principle of the college.Fourthly,it builds the college’s local social network.Fifthly,it explains how the college managed to balance among different forces,the Nationalist Party of China,Japanese army,French concession,the Communist Party of China,Christianity and so on.Lastly,it explores the in-depth reasons for the college’s achievements from five aspects,namely,the special political environment in Shanghai at that time,people’s normal needs during the abnormal period,the relation to French concession and Japan,and the college’s uniqueness and special measures it took to adapt to the warfare.