Fudan University

Since I’m here at Fudan, I thought it might be good to let you know a little more about this university in Shanghai. Fudan University was established in 1905 by Ma Xiangbo, a former French-trained Jesuit and Qing dynasty diplomat; he was a mentor to many leaders in Chinese history, including Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei (see Ruth Hayhoe’s work on Ma Xiangbo for more information). Ma Xiangbo returned to Shanghai to establish a new-style university (as part of the wider project on modernization), so that students could be taught to “get to the root of western thought.” So in 1903, Ma and the French Jesuits established “Zhendan University” (Aurora University) with three underlying principles: education with a priority on science, an emphasis on both Chinese and Western culture, and an avoidance of religious disputes. (I wrote my M.A. thesis partly on Zhendan, but Prof. Hayhoe has the definitive work on Ma Xiangbo and Aurora University). In 1905, however, Ma came into conflict with the French Jesuits over the curricula (the politicization of students, the use of French vs. English, and other differences of perspective), so he left to form a new university called Fudan University (the renewal of Aurora; in the official Fudan history, no mention is made of Aurora). Fudan University was created to meet the more immediate needs of contemporary Chinese society, and it quickly developed a reputation for having a politically-active faculty and student body. For example, many people connected to Fudan were leaders in the May 4th Movement (1919). With the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, Fudan was designated one of the national elite universities, and especially during the reform period, expanded its facilities and disciplines to become one of the top universities in all of China. For more about Fudan, go to the university’s webiste at http://www.fudan.edu.cn (there is an English version as well, but it is not as up-to-date).