The Department of Chinese Literature of Zhijiang University (Hangchow Christian College) and Chinese Studies in the Academic Circles of China During the Republican Era

Abstract

The existence of Chinese studies (国学研究) at China’s Christian universities seemed to be a paradoxical phenomenon in the early twentieth century. However, the development of the subject became a distinctive feature of Christian colleges in Republican China. The Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Zhijiang UniversityZhijiang University (Hangchow Christian CollegeHangchow Christian College) is one excellent example that can be seen as parallel to the development of the Harvard-Yenching InstituteHarvard-Yenching Institute at Yenching University. The setting up of a Chinese studies department was a unique response to the Western curriculum at Zhijiang University (ZU), showing great respect to traditional Confucian teachings and significantly constituting a gradual move from Western learning (xixue)Western learning (xixue) to (Chinese) National learning (guoxue)National learning (guoxue) at the university. The present chapter is a report of the development of this characteristic feature found at ZU. The development of Chinese studies could be traced back to the time when Warren H. Stuart (the brother of John L. Stuart) became the president of ZU from 1916 to 1922. He transformed ZU into a liberal arts and science university, with the addition of Chinese studies courses. By 1922, ZU succeeded in having Chinese courses account for 15% of the total number of courses offered at the university. By 1924 Zhong Tai, a famous Chinese scholar, was hired to help develop the department of Chinese language and literature at ZU, and by 1931, the university section of ZU succeeded in acquiring approval and registration from the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist government as Private Zhijiang College of Arts and Sciences, with a strong Department of Chinese Language and Literature. This was an outstanding case of the localization of one of China’s Christian universities.