The Dilemma Of "Local" National University

With the deepening of the study of he history of Chinese modern thought and culture,Modern Universities,as an important academic community and an important carrier of producing knowledge and thoughts in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China,have attracted more and more attention from the academic circles.The proposing of the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation and building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics has also promoted the study of University history.Modern Chinese universities had many forms such as national,provincial,private and christian,among which national universities are the main body of higher education.However,there was a big gap in the scale and the level of teaching and research of national universities.Universities located in the political,economic or cultural centers had a variety of resource advantages,but there were also some national universities with short history and far from the central government,which had experienced frustrations and limited teaching achievements.If we want to have a comprehensive understanding of the various aspects of higher education in the Republic of China,we should thoroughly study such local and marginal national universities and explore the causes of their dilemma,so as to see through the interaction with governments,society and universities in different regions and the imbalance of higher education in the Republic of China.In this regard,the National Shantung University is an appropriate example.As a major province of traditional culture,Shantung's achievements in culture and education in modern times were not outstanding.Although the local government took the opportunity of the New Policy Reform in the Late Qing to set up a new academy for the first time,its teaching achievements were limited.In the next 30 years,Shantung was caught up in civil strife,famine and political disputes.The social environment in Shantung was chaotic,and this province could not get the strong support from the central government.Educational resources were scarce,so the development of higher education was slow.Except for christian universities,the universities in Shantung had never trained qualified undergraduates before 1927.After the establishment of the Nanjing National Government,the domestic environment has temporarily tended to be peaceful and stable.On the proposal of Cai Yuanpei,He Siyuan and Fu Sinian,the Executive Yuan approved the establishment of a National University in Shantung Province.In 1930,National Tsingtao University(renamed National Shantung University in 1932)was established in Tsingtao.As one of the central government plans for balancing the distribution of education,National Shantung University was the first and the only National University in modern Shantung Province,but it had a strong "locality":Although it was located in a large economic city,it had a weak foundation and was far away from the center.It was relatively marginalized in 13 National Universities at that time.National Shantung University's allocation from the central government is extremely limited.Most of the time,it relied on the provincial government's "assistance money" and other fragmentary funds to maintain.It's teachers and equipments could be continuously added,but this caused the university's own development plan to be often interfered by the provincial government.The quiet environment and developed commerce around the university made it a good place for teaching and research,and also made the university have a advantages in the development of marine biology and other disciplines.The number of students and teachers in Shantung University is rare and harmonious,and most of whom are seldom involved in political or social movements,and their style of study is simple but not impetuous.By 1937,National Shandtung University had become a comprehensive university with three colleges and eight departments.It had a balanced development of arts,science and engineering.More than 200 qualified undergraduates were successfully trained,which contributed a lot to the cultural and educational career in Shantung Province.However,during this period,some students were stimulated by the national crisis and launched several protest movements,the scale of which was limited and it showed students' strong national feelings.But it also caused the departure of two principals-Yang Zhensheng and Zhao Taimou and some teachers,resulting in the loss of teachers.The rapid development of higher education was interrupted by the outbreak of the Total Resistance.After the Lugou Bridge Incident,most of the universities in the coastal war zone migrated to the southwest and northwest regions to keep working under the pressure of Japanese invaders,and the vital arteries of national culture were ceaseless in the war,while National Shantung University was not so lucky.Due to Han Fuju's poor response,the Japanese army quickly invaded Shantung along the Jinpu Line.National Shantung University was newly established,the equipments of which were not too much.The authority had been slow to respond to the war,and its communication with the ministry of education was not good.When teachers and students moved thousands of miles to the west,the property of the university had been abandoned more than half,and the personnel were lost seriously.Because the university was only a few years old and its scale was limited,it had run out of capital and had to accept the instruction of the ministry of education to suspend and merge into the National Central University.Shantung University becomed the only national university disbanded due to the war.,of which the left property was "borrowed" by other educational institutions.During the period of Chongqing Government,alumni of National Shantung University appealed to the central government for the reinstatement of their Alma mater for many times,but the reestablishment of the university was not easy to carry out during the war,and the proposal was approved by the ministry of education shortly after the Japanese surrender in the autumn of 1945.After nearly a year of complicated work such as contacting the school building,purchasing equipment,recruiting teachers and new students,the school was successfully reconstructed in Tsingtao at the end of 1946.At this time,the whole school was organized by 5 schools and 14 departments,and the number of teachers and students had doubled and redoubled.Moreover,the school truly realized the name of "national",whose funds was provided by the ministry of education.But on the other hand,the destruction of the war to National Shantung University and the environment of Shantung Province was not easy to recover for a while:the property of Shantung University "borrowed" to various institutions was difficult to recover or damaged,the original campus was also occupied.The resumption of the university in 1946 was nothing short of a "new creation":the number of school-age students increased dramatically,and the school departments increased correspondingly,but the school buildings had to be reacquired;Books and instruments needed to be purchased,and teachers must be multilateral contacted;In terms of the surrounding environment,the armed conflicts between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China had been conflicting in Shantung since the war,the traffic routes were often paralyzed,and the shadow of the civil war enveloped Tsingtao,resulting in the influx of refugees in the city.The price of goods is higher than that of Shanghai and Beiping,and the working and living of teachers and students in Shantung University were greatly affected.Until the liberation of Tsingtao in June 1949,many courses were still unable to offered smoothly,and the daily teaching work was interrupted from time to time by strikes and extracurricular activities.The two institutes planned at the beginning of the reestablishment were decorations and did not train graduate students.In the 13 national universities from 1927 to 1937,most of them were able to achieve excellent teaching performance by virtue of their own political background,cultural environment,and advantages in the managing foundation,or opportunities under special circumstances.With some special exceptions,all of them were able to continue running and gradually expand their scale in the war.In contrast,the development of National Shantung University was rather tortuous,of which way was rare.The basic reason was the weakness of the university in regional environment,cultural accumulation,educational foundation and political background.Shantung was far away from the political,economic and cultural centers,the resources are not well allocated,the political situation in the province was chaotic,and there was a lack of farsighted statesmen and nongovernmental organizations to support education.Higher education in Shantung developed slowly,causing the Weak foundation of National Shantung University.The Kuomintang regime started from guangdong Province and guangxi Province,which had few statesmen from Shantung Province or even the north of China,who were short of discourse power.In addition,the local government of Shantung was not on good terms with the central government.These caused National Shantung University didn't catch Nanjing Government's attention.National universities' economic strength in general were related to their political status,therefore Shantung University is difficult to obtain funding from the ministry of education and other groups such as foundation before the war,it depended on "assistance money"from the provincial government to maintain the school most of the time.The scale of Shantung University only had oppunity to develop in a peaceful environment,but could't bear the incursion of the war;After the reestablishment in 1946,National Shantung University was able to get funding from the ministry of education and successfully recruited some well-known scholars.However,due to the bad political and economic situation in Shantung,the effect of this change was not obvious for a while.Until the liberation of Tsingtao,this university was in a state of restoration and rectification.In a word,although the teaching performance of Shantung University was passable under the planning and operation of all the teachers and students,and it was able to regroup and expand its scale after the war,but its teaching achievements before 1949 were limited due to its unstable foundation and the lack of superior resources.By analyzing the history of National Shantung University during the period of the Republic of China and understanding the operation experience of local and marginalized national universities,it is helpful to restore the tortuousness and imbalance of higher education during the period of the Republic of China and provide some references for the formulation and implementation of university education policies today.