The School-building Model of the Church Schools in Nanjing, China before the 20th Century——Taking the Huiwen Academy as an Example

Abstract

Church school is a special type of school in old China. After the first Opium War, Western churches have come to China to preach. Missionaries open churches, schools, and hospitals in China. This paper selects the largest church school in Nanjing in the late Qing Dynasty(before 1911) as an example. Based on the historical data of archival materials and the research methods of on-site mapping, the initial campus construction model of Nanjing Church School is summarized. The article first introduces the background of the school in China, the reasons for the establishment of the school, the history of the school; then analyzes the location, construction process, campus planning and architectural characteristics of the school; further analyzes the reasons why the western church replicates the western campus construction model; Finally, through the development of educational buildings, the contributions of church schools in the history of modern education in China are summarized. The article shows the development of large-scale educational buildings that are rare in the history of modern Chinese education. It not only clearly clarifies the history of the development of church schools in China, but also has important guiding significance for the heritage protection of today's historical buildings. At the same time, it also has important reference value for the protection of educational building heritage and campus construction in China and even in the world.