Motto in English Light and Truth Active 1879–1952 Phone +86 21 6802 0439 Founded 1879 | Affiliation Anglican Website www.sjuaa.org Motto 學而不思則罔 思而不學則殆 | |
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Notable alumni Similar University of Shanghai, University of Nanking, Cheeloo University, Yenching University, East China University of Politica | ||
St. John's University (SJU) was an Anglican university in Shanghai. Founded in 1879 by American missionaries, it was one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, often regarded as the Harvard of China.
Contents
- Foundation as St Johns College
- St Johns University
- Chinese Civil War and disestablishment
- Notable alumni
- Administration
- Other colleges established by alumini for commemoriating SJU
- References
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist government closed the university in 1952, most of its faculty members, students and library collections were transferred to the East China Normal University. Its Board of Governors moved the university to Hong Kong, founding Chung Chi College, a part of Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Foundation as St. John's College
The university was founded in 1879 as "St. John's College" by William Jones Boone and Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop of Shanghai, by combining two pre-existing Anglican colleges in Shanghai. The architect for the college's original quadrangle of buildings was Newark, New Jersey architect William Halsey Wood.
St. John's began with 39 students and taught mainly in Chinese. In 1891, it changed to teaching with English as the main language. The courses began to focus on science and natural philosophy.
St. John's University
In 1905, St. John's College became St. John's University and became registered in Washington D.C. in the United States. It thus had the status of a domestic university and American graduates of St. John's could proceed directly to graduate schools in the United States. As a result, the university attracted some of the brightest and wealthiest students in Shanghai at the time. It was the first institution to grant bachelor's degrees in China, starting in 1907.
The university was located at 188 Jessfield Road (now Wanhangdu Lu), on a bend of the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai and was designed to incorporate Chinese and Western architectural elements.
In 1925, some academics and students fled from the St. John's University, later forming the Kwang Hua University. In 1951, Kwang Hua University was incorporated into East China Normal University.
Chinese Civil War and disestablishment
The university survived World War II and the Chinese Civil War. However, in 1952 the Communist government adopted a policy of creating specialist universities in the Soviet style of the time. Under this policy, St John's was broken up. Most of its faculties were incorporated into the East China Normal University. The medical school was incorporated into Shanghai Second Medical College, which became the School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2005. The campus became the site of the East China University of Politics and Law.
Notable alumni
Administration
Other colleges established by alumini for commemoriating SJU
To keep the school's traditions alive, SJU alumni (called Johanneans) founded three academic institutions around the world bearing the name of St. John's: