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1952 reorganization of higher education in China

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The 1952 reorganisation of Chinese higher education[1][2] (Chinese: 1952年中国高等院校院系调整 or 1952年高校院系调整) was a national policy under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which came into power in 1949, to transform the universities and colleges in mainland China. Influenced by the Soviet Union and fuelled by anti-Americanism, the policy aimed to "eliminate cultural invasion of American Imperialism" and to adopt Soviet-styled higher education,[3] which focused more on technical and engineering education.[4] In the meantime, it served the CCP's agenda to cut the historical roots of the universities in China, especially those among the most prestigious, after the 1949 Communist revolution, to weaken the historical ties between the university and the faculty, and to establish political and organisational authority of the new Communist government over the higher education system.[5] The reorganisation involved three quarters of the higher education institutions in mainland China and shaped the basic structure of Chinese higher education today.

Background

Evolution of Chinese higher education

See also: Education in China and Higher education in China

The history of higher education in China dated back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC– c. 1045 BC). However, the education system in ancient China was highly elitist and centred around Confucianism, a form of humanism.[6] When China was defeated by Britain in the Opium War (1839-1942), liberal intellectuals in China began to reflect on Western knowledge and technology,[6] which stimulated reforms towards modern education systems, and missionary schools, which were founded and run by Christian missionaries, set an example for such reforms.[7] The Self-Strengthening Movement and the subsequent Hundred Days' Reform in the 1890s gave birth to first modern universities in China, during which the advocates of westernisation in China founded Beiyang and Nanyang Public Schools, and the reformist government founded Imperial University of Beijing.[8] Western academics, such as astrometry, geography, foreign languages, and mathematics were gradually added and emphasised in the Chinese education systems, which used to only teach students how to write eight-legged essays tailored for imperial examinations.[7] As the Nationalists, which was later known as Kuomintang (KMT), overthrew the Chinese monarchy and established a republic in the 1911 Revolution, the Nationalists and liberal intellectuals listed education and industrialisation as two prioritises of the new republic. While establishment and operation of public universities were made a legal responsibility of the government, private higher education and self-funded students to study abroad were also for the first time permitted and encouraged.[9] Despite political turmoils, five education acts were passed in succession under the Imperial government (until 1911), Beiyang government (1912-1928) and Nationalist government (1928-1949) to provide a roadmap of the new education system in China.[10] With a number of different education systems tried and abandoned, the government eventually introduced one that modelled after the United States education system.[6]

Civil war, Communist rule and Korean War

See also: Chinese Communist Revolution and Korean War

Before the 1927 KMT-CCP split-up, Mao Zedong, who was later the leader of CCP, served as the acting ministry of publicity and education within the KMT, responsible for training farmer to be revolutionaries. After the split-up, the CPC began to provide Soviet-styled public education in Ruijin and other areas under its control, during which the Communist education system focused on training Communist cadres, political and cultural education for the young people and literacy education for the general public. After Xi'an Incident in 1937, the CPC became recognised as a legal party within the Republic of China and provided public education in Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region. During the time, the education system under Communist rule focused on political education and mobilisation among the people, which deeply influenced the Communist policy on education in the 1950s.[11] After the CCP victory in the war in 1949, the new Communist government vowed to build a "national, scientific, popular education", as described in The Common Program of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or the temporary constitution of the new Socialist state, planning to replace the old education system, taught content, pedagogy.[12] At first, the government promised to protect private education and took a gradual approach for the transformation in its first national meeting with education sectors in January 1950, yet the Chinese involvement in the Korean War in October changed the expectation of the government, which became less tolerant with intelluctuals' incorporation. As the Korean War that started in 1950 damaged the relation between the United States and the new Communist government, the Communist government began to remove foreign influences from its education system.[13] Therefore, shortly after the war broke out, the government reversed its advocacy for private education, and nationalised missionary universities subsidised by American funds.[14] Especially, Mao quoted and criticised "the democratic individualism of China" from the US State Secretary Dean Acheson's China White Paper, from which Mao sensed the danger of pro-American intellectuals rooted within Chinese society.[14]

Prelude

Between 1949 and 1952, despite various suggestions from Chinese scholars to adapt higher education systems to a socialist society, the government decided to reorganise the education system to model after that of the Soviet Union.[15] 126 Soviet experts were sent to China for consultation regarding all aspects of higher education. Between 1950 and 1960, 1,296 Soviet educators were sent to teach in China, around 8,000 to 10,000 Soviet specialists were deployed in China to assist in industralisation.[15] With the help from the Soviet Union, two model universities, Harbin Institute of Technology, which specialised in science and technology, and Renmin University of China (RUC), which specialised in humanities were built. In 1950 alone, nearly one fifth of the Ministry of Education funding went into RUC.[12] Liu Shaoqi, one of major Communist leaders, suggested that RUC would be China's first truly modern university, which the old universities that were developed under capitalism should model after.[15] Meanwhile, small-scale university reorganisation began as early as the end of 1949. For example, the education departments of Peking University and Nankai University were merged into Beijing Normal University. The agricultural colleges of Tsinghua University, Peking University and North China University were merged into a new Beijing University of Agriculture.[16]

Nationalisation of private education

With the order to nationalise missionary higher education in China, by the end of 1951, Fu Jen Catholic University, Yenching University, Tsin Ku University, Peking Union Medical College, Oberlin Shansi Memorial School, the University of Nanking, Ginling College, Fukien Christian University, Hwa Nan College, Huachung University, the Boone Library School and West China Union University had been transformed into public universities, while Soochow University, Cheeloo University, St John's University, Hangchow University, the University of Shanghai, Aurora University, Aurora College for Women, Lingnan University and Qiujing Business School were handed over to the Chinese yet remained private.[12] As all private education in China was ordered to close in 1952, Christian colleges and universities were therefore forced to shut down, with teachers and students fleeing mainland China to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia to continue providing Christian education to Chinese people.[17][13][18] In addition to the transformation of Christian higher education, private Great China University and Kwang Hua University were merged and formed into a new public university known as East China Normal University in 1951.[12]

In 1952, the private universities and missionary universities were further reorganised, leading to closure of most of the universities and handover of their campuses to other universities. The campus of Fu Jen Catholic University was handed over to Beijing Normal University. Peking University moved into the campus of Yenching University, which is its main campus today. Zhejiang University took over the campus of Hangchow University as its Zhijiang campus. The University of Nanking was taken over by Nanjing University. Jiangsu Normal University (renamed to Soochow University in 1982), Fujian Normal University and Central China Normal University was founded anew on the basis of Soochow University, Hwa Nan College and Huachung University, respectively. The campus of Cheeloo University was taken up by the newly founded Shandong Medical College. The University of Shanghai campus was handed over to the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical Technology, which was later renamed to the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology in 1996.

After the 1952 reorganisation, Tsinghua University became an engineering-focused university

Centralisation of enrolment plans

Five normal universities and 14 comprehensive universities were established anew, along with around 200 technical colleges. Meanwhile, with comprehensive universities before Communist being restructured, the whole higher education system prioritised the training of scientists, technicians and teachers.[19] The universities were placed under the national economic plans, while the courses which was set to 215 narrowly defined specialisations, which grew to 323 in 1957 in response to manpower need.[15]

Tsinghua University was ordered to be reorganised as an engineering-focused university, with its college of arts and humanities and college of science merged into Peking University.

References

  1. ^ Hsu, Immanuel C. Y (1964). "The Reorganisation of Higher Education in Communist China, 1949-61". The China Quarterly (19): 128–160. ISSN 0305-7410.
  2. ^ Yang, Rui (2000). "Tensions between the global and the local: A comparative illustration of the reorganisation of China's higher education in the 1950s and 1990s". Higher Education. 39 (3): 319–337. doi:10.1023/A:1003905902434.
  3. ^ Stiffler, Douglas (2005-10-17), Connelly, John; Grüttner, Michael (eds.), "8 Resistance to the Sovietization of Higher Eduction in China", Universities Under Dictatorship, Penn State University Press, pp. 213–244, doi:10.1515/9780271093499-011, ISBN 978-0-271-09349-9, retrieved 2022-11-15
  4. ^ Hsu, Immanuel C. Y (1964). "The Reorganisation of Higher Education in Communist China, 1949-61". The China Quarterly (19): 128–160. ISSN 0305-7410.
  5. ^ Deng, Jinglei (2016-05-01). "1952年高校院系调整60年再回首" [Reviewing 1952 reorganisation of Chinese higher education: 60 years on]. China News Digest (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2017-08-21.
  6. ^ a b c Tao, Liqing; Berci, Margaret; He, Wayne. "Historical Background: Expansion of Public Education". New York Times. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  7. ^ a b Zhang, Chuansui; Li, Mao (2012). "The Academy Reform in the late Qing Dynasty and the Native Basis of Building of the Modern Educational System". Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences) (in Chinese). 30 (3): 89.
  8. ^ "聚焦中国百年著名高校: 高等教育变迁与启示". China Credentials Verification. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  9. ^ Yu, Heping (2015-06-25). "The Impact of the 1911 Revolution on Education Reform:Focusing on the Businessmen's Donation for Universities during the Early and Middle Period of the Republic of China". Journal of Historical Science (in Chinese) (416): SXYK201506006.
  10. ^ Gao, Pei (2015). Risen from Chaos: the development of modern education in China, 1905-1948 (PhD thesis). London: Department of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science.
  11. ^ Gao, Hua (1999). "试论延安教育的价值和意义". Jiangsu Social Sciences (6).
  12. ^ a b c d Chen, Hui (2003). "1952年中国高等院校的院系调整 ──"以苏联为师"的后果". Modern China Studies (3).
  13. ^ a b Ng, Peter Tze Ming (2017). "A New Form of Christian Presence: The Case of Christian Higher Education in China in Recent Decades". Journal of World Christianity. 7 (2): 123–139. doi:10.5325/jworlchri.7.2.0123. ISSN 2377-8784.
  14. ^ a b Li, Yang (2004). "五十年代的院系调整与社会变迁——院系调整研究之一". Open Times (5).
  15. ^ a b c d Hayhoe, Ruth (1989-01-01). "China's universities and Western academic models". Higher Education. 18 (1): 49–85. doi:10.1007/BF00138961. ISSN 1573-174X.
  16. ^ Li, Gang (2003). "大学的终结——1950年代初期的"院系调整"" [The end of university: higher education reorganisation in early 1950s]. China Reform (in Chinese) (8). Caixin.
  17. ^ Ng, Peter Tze Ming (2018-08-08). "Reimagining Christian Higher Education in China Today". Christian Higher Education. 17 (4): 185–197. doi:10.1080/15363759.2017.1382399. ISSN 1536-3759.
  18. ^ Xing-An, Xiao (2014). "How the Soviet Union Influence the Change of Personnel System in Chinese Universities". Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Public Management 2014. Bali, Indonesia: Atlantis Press. doi:10.2991/icpm-14.2014.70. ISBN 978-94-6252-020-2.
  19. ^ Lianqing, Qiang (1996-01-01). "China's higher education under reform". International Journal of Educational Management. 10 (2): 17–20. doi:10.1108/09513549610105704. ISSN 0951-354X.
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