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STUART, John Leighton Sītú Léidēng ​司徒雷登 1876–1962 Presbyterian , educator, and ambassador

John Leighton Stuart was an American mis- sionary born in . He was the founder and first president of in and also served as the U.S. ambas- sador to China just before the Communist takeover. He was famously derided by as being the last representative of western imperialism.

ohn Leighton Stuart, born in , China, to American Mary Louisa and John Linton Stuart, was an important figure in twentieth century ­Chinese-​­American relations. He lived in China until the age of eleven, when he was sent to the United States to attend school in Mobile, Alabama; he later en- rolled at ­Hampden-​­Sydney College in , where he received his BA as well as his LLB. As a young adult, he did not return to China because he felt that missionary work in the land of his birth was without merit. However, he changed his mind and, following in his father’s foot- steps, became a minister, obtaining his theological degree John Leighton Stuart, one of the United States’ from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In most prolific diplomats in thepre- ­ ​1949 period. 1904, he married Aline Hardy Rood, and the following year he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and sent by the church as a missionary to China. the New Testament, as well as a handbook to New Tes- In his early years as a missionary, Stuart became an tament Greek for Chinese speakers. He wrote several educator. From 1908 to 1919, he taught Greek at Nanking other books in Chinese, mostly exegetical works on the Theological Seminary (now Union Theological Scriptures. Seminary) in Jiangsu Province, during which time he In 1919, he began to work on establishing a new uni- wrote an essential ­Greek-​­English-Chinese dictionary of versity in Beijing. He aggressively sought out benefactors 2106 J © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC STUART, John Leighton n Sītú Léidēng n 司徒雷登 2107

and found a prominent one in Charles Martin Hall, the Chiang ­Kai-​­shek and his Nationalists relegated to Tai- inventor of tinfoil. With secured funds, Stuart purchased wan. Stuart would be the last U.S. ambassador to China a royal garden that he turned into a campus. Yenching until 1979, when normal relations resumed between the University opened in 1926, specializing in law, medicine, United States and the People’s Republic of China. theology, and arts and science. Stuart was its first presi- Stuart returned to the United States and wrote exten- dent; his objective was to make the institution the very sively about his experiences; he did not visit China again. best in Southeast Asia. To that end, he helped to create He died in Washington, D.C., in 1962. Stuart’s legacy in the ­Harvard-​­Yenching Institute in 1928, a joint effort by China rests upon his active involvement in furthering Harvard and Yenching universities that concentrated on education in China, especially in the hope that it might furthering arts and science education in the region. As a serve to weaken ­age-​­old feudal traditions and usher in a result, by 1930 Yenching University was one of the very new sensibility for Chinese youth whereby they might en- best in all of China, where scholars, both Chinese and gage fruitfully and beneficially with the world at large. ­non-​­Chinese, taught, studied, and researched. Nirmal DASS At the start of the Second ­Sino-​­Japanese war (known in China as the War of Resistance against Japan) in 1937, Stuart remained in Beijing. While the Japanese occupied Further Reading the city, he played an important role in maintaining a bal- Lutz, J. G. (1971). China and the Christian colleges, 1850–​ ance between the Japanese occupiers and his university 1950. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. students, who often led­anti- Japanese​­ protests. After 1941, Rea, K. W. & Brewer, J. C. (Eds.). (1981). The forgotten am- however, with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, he was im- bassador: The reports of John Leighton Stuart, 1946–​ prisoned because he was a citizen of the United States. He 1949. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Shaw ­Yu-​­Ming. (1992). An American missionary in China: remained there until the defeat of the Japanese in World John Leighton Stuart and ­Chinese-​­American relations. War II in 1945. Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Har- Following the Second World War, Stuart served as the vard University. U.S. ambassador to China from 1946 to 1949; his man- Stuart, J. L. (1954). Fifty years in China: The memoirs of John date was to assist General George C. Marshall in find- Leighton Stuart. New York: Random House. ing a détente between the Nationalists and the emerging West, P. (1976). Yenching University and ­Sino-​­Western rela- Communists. The efforts proved unsuccessful, and the tions, 1916–1952.​ Cambridge, MA: Communists took control of mainland China, with Press.

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