The Research On The Notions And Practices In The Early Stage Of Soochow University (1901-1927)

Soochow University, one of the thirteen Christian colleges established by Christian communities in China, was the first university of Western style in Chinese modern history. The early stage of Soochow University, here, refers to the period from 1901, shortly after its establishment to 1927, before the first Chinese President Y.C.Yang. took over the leadership. Dr. Hu Shi once thought highly of the prestige which Soochow University had enjoyed in Chinese educational history that"Undoubtedly, Soochow University and St. John's University in Shanghai had played the leading role among all the mission schools in China before Yenching University turned out to be the most famous Christian college of China in the 1930's.During its early stage of development, Soochow University had gradually formed three fundamental notions on promoting education, i.e., liberal education, combination of Chinese and Western cultures and nativization. Liberal education referred to the consideration and guidance for what kind of student the school preferred to cultivate, combination of Chinese and Western cultures reflected the attitude of accepting or rejecting foreign cultures, and nativization was, actually, a choice of model for developing education.The founders of Soochow University were liberal missionaries who were more open-minded than those traditional missionaries. According to their understanding, the primary task for mission schools was education, while the missionary work was the secondary concern. The ultimate aim was to realize the Christian occupation of China. It was under such notions that Soochow University promoted"liberal education", which could, on the one hand, provide theoretical foundations for its religious education, and on the other hand, prevent the thorough evangelicalism in school. The essence of"liberal education"lay in the full development of human beings. The full development, as proposed by Soochow University, was the cultivation of students'ability in spiritual, mental and physical aspects at the same time. Although the notion was proposed on the premise of the faith in Christianity, whose limitation was obvious, it had played its fundamental role in Chinese education history, especially, in the aspect of"undoing a full man".With the development of Soochow University, the leaders came to realize the importance of learning both Chinese and Western cultures. They believed that since the Confucianism was deeply-rooted in Chinese culture, therefore, the propagation of Western learning greatly depended on the good mastery of Chinese learning. Only did the propagation was conducted by those who were proficient in Chinese learning, could the Western learning take root in China and exert its positive influence. Considering those factors, Soochow University paid special attention to imparting Chinese history and culture to students in teaching practice. However, for some reasons, this trend was gradually reduced to the stress on Western learning alone. As a result, the position and value of Chinese learning were much lowered.Based on the experience and lessons drawn from the missionary work and education practice, Soochow University chose a nativized model for promoting education. Soochow University was trying to establish a new kind of educational system fit to the national conditions of modern China by taking many actions, such as improving the communication with local society, overcoming the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, adapting to the changes in the educational system of Chinese government, etc. Besides, in practice, Soochow University continued to strengthen the degree of nativization in the aspects of the formation of its organization and faculty, money collecting and curriculum designing, etc. However, the restrictions from the missionary work had already predetermined the tragic destiny of Soochow University.This thesis, on the basis of related researches and materials, endeavors to discuss the practice of promoting education and examine its educational notions during the early state of Soochow University, with the intention of offering some new research outcome for the study of Christian college of China, and historical reference to the current reform of advance education in China as well.