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Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 Nortti Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 9417558 A southern Methodist Mission to China: Soochow University, 1901-1939 Xu, Xiaoguang, D.A. Middle Tennessee State University, 1993 Copyright ©1993 by Xu, Xiaoguang. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION TO CHINA: SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY, 1901-1939 XIAOGUANG XU A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Arts December 1993 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION TO CHINA: SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY 1901-1939 XIAOGUANG XU Approved: Graduate Committee: Major Professor Commiufeee member ^ 3. Committee member mmittpe Head o Historv Department Dean of the Graduate School Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. xiaoguang Xu ABSTRACT The American missionary enterprise in China has received the attention of historians in the past three decades. However, the greatest emphasis has been on evangelical rather than educational work. The intellectual impact of Protestant missions on Chinese society through educational work has been neglected. It needs to be further explored, with case studies on mission colleges of China, and with an examination of both missionary educators' response toward Chinese culture and Chinese intellectuals' response toward Christian education. This dissertation will examine a Southern Methodist Mission in Soochow University, a well-known Christian college in modern China. It covers the first four decades of the twentieth century, from 1901, when Soochow University was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to 1939, when the unification of the Methodist churches in the United States ended the Southern Methodist Mission in China. This study will demonstrate and analyze the role of missionary educators of Southern Methodist Church in introducing Western civilization and Christian ideas to China's official-scholar class and the younger generation, and in promoting China's modern education and social transformation. Also, the attitude of missionary educators toward Chinese culture and Chinese social reform will be Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. xiaoguang Xu addressed. In addition, there will be an examination of the Chinese response, faculty as well as student, to Christian education. Furthermore, in describing the Southern Methodist educational mission in China, this study will attempt to discuss the intellectual contributions of the leading Methodist missionary educators to Christian education in China. Most of the materials in the United States concerning the Southern Methodist Mission in China came from the libraries and archives in the South, although some came from the Northeast. Some materials in Chinese, however, were collected in the People's Republic of China. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©1993 Xiaoguang Xu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Sarah Howell, my advisor at Middle Tennessee State University. Her personal encouragement has inspired my own efforts on this research. I wish also to thank the following professors at Middle Tennessee State University for the valuable guidance and suggestions they provided while I was working on my dissertation: Newell S. Moore, David L. Rowe, Fred Colvin, Steven Sage, and Jack D. Arters. In addition, in pursuing my study on the Southern Methodist Mission in Soochow University, I owe special thanks to the two influential persons in the old Soochow faculty: Dr. M. O. Williams, who taught sociology and religion at Soochow from 1929 to 1940, and Professor Zhang Mengbai, who has served at Soochow on the history faculty from the 1930s to the present. Both generously opened their personal collections to a junior researcher. Their living example and their deep love of their alma mater, have given me intellectual and spiritual inspiration as well. I would like to express my appreciation to the following institutions for their help in collecting original materials: the Special Collections and the Divinity Library of Vanderbilt University, the Library of Scarritt-Bennett Center of United Methodist Church, and the Library of the ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. United Methodist Publishing House, all of them are located in Nashville, Tennessee; the Special Collections and the Divinity Library of Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia; the Archives and Historical Commission of the United Methodist Church, in Madison, New Jersey; the National Library in Beijing, the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai Archive Department, and the Library of Soochow University, in the People's Republic of China. Financial support for travel and research expenses have been provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. In addition, the History Department and the Graduate School of Middle Tennessee State University gave me summer fellowships in the past two years. I would like to express my appreciation to these above institutions. A special gratitude is to Mr. and Mrs. Sam M. Fleming. I will never forget their kind concern and encouragement. My greatest debt is to my wife, Haibin, and my daughter, Didi. This project would not have been possible without their love, understanding, patience, and support. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................... i CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................... 1 2. SOUTHERN METHODIST CRUSADE TO CHINA: 1858-1900 . 12 3. EARLY EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE: 1875-1900 .............. 43 4. SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY: .............................. 66 THE FIRST TEN YEARS, 1901-1911 5. SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY: ............................... 95 THE SECOND TEN YEARS, 1912-1922 6. SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY: .............................. 129 THE TRANSITION PERIOD, 1922-1927 7. CHINESE LEADERSHIP A N D .............................170 METHODIST INFLUENCE: 1927-1939 8. CONCLUSION.......................................... 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................ 209 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. General evaluations of the top five m i s s i o n ....... 138 colleges in China 2. Teaching semester hours in courses at ........... 138-139 the top five mission colleges in China Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The American missionary enterprise in China has received attention from historians in the past three decades. In 1985, John K. Fairbank demonstrated that, in China's relations with the West, "Protestant missionaries are still the least studied but most significant actors in the scene."1 In the discussion, some important topics have been treated such as the missionary enterprise and the American foreign policy in China,% the cultural and religious conflicts and Chinese response to Christianity,^ ’Suzanne W. Barnett and John K. Fairbank, eds., Christianitv in China. Earlv Protestant