Soochow University - Annual Yearbook (Taipei, Taiwan)

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sooonowf UNIVERSITY V. I A Historical Sketch The history of Soochow University is an on-going story that is of lively interest- and concern' to friends on several continents: to former visiting teachers from, England, West- Pakistan, India and Switzerland, to former university neighbors now in Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore and Sarawak: to former rustees.'.now in Hong Kongg to teachers and staff now in the United Statesg and, most of all, to countless numbers of ex-students and alumni scattered throughout the world, To these are added the growing constituency of this present period here in Taiwan. . A ' ' ' il The history of Soochow University is a significant part of the story of Christian education in China: its separate share through its own' sponsoring Methodist Church, and its joint share 'through the United Board for Christian Colleges in-China. . . , The history of Soochow University Law College, as ' reactivated now in Taiwan, is -a new. chapteriin the life and in. the service of the parent institution as it ministers to the young people of a nation that has the 'determinaton to be free. It is .in the light of this new situation that -the past has a .new significance and a new relevance. The brief sketch which follows, based on the materials supplied by Dr. WB. Nance. the Third President of the University, now in his 96th year in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and supplemented by Dr. M.A. Morrill, one of the American professors of English, will refresh the memories of the old friends, and inspire the confidence of the new friends, of Soochow University. Soochow University was established in the City of Scochow in Kiangsu Province in March, 1900. It received a charter from the State of Tennessee in the United States of America. A The new university gained resources and personnel from several institutions which had been founded and were being operated by missionaries of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, South. These were Tsung Yang Shu Yuan, later Buffington Institute, of Soochowg the Anglo-Chinese College of Shanghaig and the Kung Hang School of Soochow. i Soochow University's first college was the College of Arts and Sciences. For a time the university operated a medical school and a school of theology but these proved unnecessary when union colleges were established by American

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Protestant groups in Nanking for both medical and theological studiesg W The Law School 'of Soochow University was organized September 3, 1915, in a building of the Second Middle School on Quinsan Road, Shanghai. Charles W. Rankin, an American lawyer and a 'teacher of political science who had become a member of the faculty in Soochow in 1912, went to Shanghai, and became -.the first dean of the law school. ' , ' ln 1915, the first year, there were more than ten lecturers and fewer 'than ten students in the Law College. Classes were held in the' evening. The faculty were well-equipped lawyers and judges of the American, British, and international courts in Shanghai. In 1918 the LL. B. degree was conferred upon the first graduating class of seven. ' ' - Soochow University, thus, continued in two cities, the college in Soochow and the law school in Shanghai. The latter was known as the Comparative Law School- of China. A high percentage of its graduates went to the United- States and won doctorates in jurisprudence at leading universities. ' ' A A r The college in Soochow grew uninterruptedly, 'with especially strong work in the natural sciences. New buildings and a power plan't were erected, mostly with funds from the southern part 'of the United States. - Q P '- ' After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Soochow teachers and students were scattered, but eventually made their way back to the International Settlement- in Shanghai. The Japanese still observed the neutrality' of this area. Various departments of the university were established and A operated subrosa, with some degree of co-operation. The Comparative Law School was opened again. This name had previously been used only in the English language. It was now translated into mandarin and the mandarin equivalent became the name of the re-established school. It was possible thus to escape notice -by the Japanese and their collaborators. A site was prepared for the Law School also in Chungking, Szechuan Province, the war-time capital of China, so as to provide for the large number' of staff and students who 'had fled from Shanghai into the interior. The Dean of the school moved to Chungking, and instruction continued there' for the duration 'of the war. A . After the Japanese surrender, all the units of Soochow University got back home and resumed their normal functioning under a' revived and enlarged Board of Trustees. A 'commencement was held June 28, 1946, in the Metropole Theater, Shanghai. On this occasion 458 degrees were conferred as follows: B.A., 1575 B.S., 883 'LL. B., 213. The enrollment at this time was 1310. ' ' A .