The Shangtung Union University, now located at Wei, will probably be
moved to Tsinan, the capital of the province in which Confucius and
Mencius were born. It is a union of the American Presbyterian and the
British Baptists, and later the Anglicans, the American Baptists,
Congregationalists and Methodists will join. The total endowment of
this effective university is only $35,000. There are five hundred
students. There are collegiate, science, pedagogical, medical, Chinese,
athletic and women’s departments. There is an attractive, towered,
large main building, science hall, dormitories, museum and a unique
observatory. The chief members of the faculty are the well-known
Messrs. Bergen, Hayes, Bruce, Burt, Luce and Whitcher, and the college
is able to draw upon the many foreign notables at Peking and Tientsin
for popular lectures. China urgently needed advanced education. The
individual missions, brilliant in parts, were in general endowed so
poorly that they could not furnish it. Therefore they united all over
China, and better results are being obtained in specialization by this
intelligent method, which has established an example for the western
world to follow. Subscriptions should as usual be sent to the mission
favored by one’s early training or allegiance, and when they reach
China they are applied in some needy department of the union work.
In union, there is no lapping over or duplication, and the result
is efficiency. When any member of the union lags, a united appeal is
addressed to the home board. The high aim of this extensive University
of Shangtung is to have an income of $150,000 a year. In all these
universities the preparatory and pedagogical departments are not
neglected. The need is urged of a large assembly hall, library, science
hall, dormitories, scientific equipment, Y. M. C. A., etc., at Tsinan
for this university, which stands where four great roads of influence
meet and its opportunity is therefore inspiring. China, Britain,
Germany and Japan come together closely in Shangtung province, and
the university’s sphere is so wide a one that the present constricted
income is insufficient. The students contribute nearly $2,000 in
fees, though many students must necessarily be taught free. Shangtung
University has always stood high for its special work in translating
and printing important books into Mandarin Chinese. It is interesting
that the students have developed choral work perhaps more than most of
the colleges. China has neglected music in the recent centuries, but
St. John’s, Nanking and Shangtung Universities are teaching it to her
again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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