Towards the Forging of a Chinese University Ethos: Zhendan and Fudan, 1903–1919

Abstract

Fudan is one of China's few universities to survive the vicissitudes of this century's political upheavals, with a tradition of almost 80 years' standing. Many of the colleges which sprung up at the same time perished with the 1911 Revolution, and others of similar character disappeared in the reorganization of Chinese higher education in 1952. It may be significant, therefore, that Fudan was chosen by Chinese Communist leaders to become one of the main comprehensive universities for south China in 1952, which suggests that certain aspects of the tradition for which it was known were considered acceptable and worthy of continuation under the new people's government. Perhaps its development had demonstrated some small measure of success in the exacting task facing Chinese higher education in this century, that of creating a modern Chinese-style university on the ruins of the traditional education system whose values persisted in spite of the abolition of the Imperial examinations in 1905, the year in which Fudan was born.