Yanjing University

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The Yenching University (燕京大学, Yanjing Daxue) was a major university with a Christian background in Beijing , Which one of 1916 bis 1949 existed.

The university was created through the merger of three Christian universities in China, namely

  • Peking University or Huiwen University (汇 文 大学), which was founded in 1889 by the Methodist Episcopal Church .
  • the United University of Tongzhou (通州 协和 大学)
  • the United Women's College of North China (华北 协和 女子 大学), the predecessor of which dates from 1864.

The university, which was originally founded as Peking University , was in chaos in the early years due to the fact that it was funded by several churches. In 1919, John Leighton Stuart , who later became the US Ambassador to Beijing, took over the position of Rector and renamed the institution Yanjing University . He was able to tap American sources of finance (such as Charles Martin Hall and a publisher) and was able to employ imperial gardeners to design the campus.

The university's educational focus was on theology, law and medicine, to which arts and sciences were added in the late 1920s. In 1928, the legally and financially independent Harvard-Yenching Institutes, which still exist on the Harvard campus today, were founded by the Yanjing and Harvard universities . In the 1930s, Yanjing University was one of the top universities in China. There was great academic freedom in teaching. During the Second Sino-Japanese War , Beijing was occupied by Japanese troops; the university was to Chengdu ( Sichuan evacuated).

After the establishment of the Communist People's Republic of China , the university with its Christian background was closed and merged with Peking University . Three years later (1952), the Peking University campus was relocated to the area of ​​the former Yanjing University in Haidian District.

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