After the First Opium War, Guangzhou, as one of the earliest trading ports opened by western powers, was flooded by the west to set up new schools. 1884, American Presbyterian Pastor proposed to Bian Wen that an institution of higher learning be established in Guangzhou.
There is controversy about the location: Xiang Bianwen advocates Guangzhou, but the actual fundraiser and founder of the school, Reverend Andrew Bach, advocates Central China or North China. Because the site selection has been dragging on, there is only one name "China Christian University" on the school syllabus, but the location of the school is not specified. Later, one thing changed Bach's mind. Guangzhou native Chen (the father) wrote a letter to Guangzhou. The petition pointed out the limitations of the subjects set by the imperial examination system and hoped that Dr. Baha 'i could set up a polytechnic in Guangzhou as soon as possible. At that time, 400 people signed the petition, including squires, students, businessmen and others, all of whom were non-Christians. These people include 10 academicians,1/Jinshi, 100 juren and scholar, 100 government officials. Bach was very happy to read the petition and said, "I have never heard of such a thing in the whole history of missionary work." So I agree to set the school in Guangzhou. The following year, Bach began to raise funds in the United States and set up a board of directors.
1888, Gezhi College, the predecessor of Lingnan University founded by American University, was opened in Sakiri Bu (now Road 623). Bach is in charge, with a dozen students. The school takes "the highest standard of education in all Christian spiritual facilities" as its school philosophy.
Due to the wartime, at the beginning of the school, the site of Lingda changed several times: 1898 moved to Sipailou (now Jiefang Middle Road) in Guangzhou, when there were 17 students and 3 teachers; 1899 moved to huadi cuihua garden; 1900, the boxer movement took place, and the school moved to Macao, and its Chinese name was changed to Lingnan School. 1903, we bought more than 200 mu of land in Lekang Village, ten miles southeast of Guangzhou, and built a house as a school building. The number of students has increased from more than ten to more than one hundred. 1904, the permanent school site was established here.
1907, Yin, one of the founders and an American pastor, returned to China and was transferred to Yan as the supervisor and assistant principal, and raised 1.2 million yuan to build a school building, thus expanding the class. 19 12 was changed to "Lingnan School".
At the beginning, the scale was not large, and there was still a lack of conditions for offering a complete university course. Only four years of pre-university and the first and second years of undergraduate courses are offered, and western courses such as English, geography, physics and chemistry, arithmetic, geography and biology are offered. By using experimental methods in teaching, physical education class has become an important part of school education. In the late Qing Dynasty, the school was a model of modern education in Guangdong in terms of scale, management and teaching. In the early years of the Republic of China, Lingda opened a complete university course. In the case of financial difficulties, Governor Liao allocated 300,000 yuan to Lingda as the start-up expenses. 19 16, opened a university of arts and sciences; 19 18 officially called "Lingnan University"; 1920 Lingnan Agricultural University was established as an independent university within Lingnan University. At that time, Guangdong's colleges and universities were in a leading position in terms of scale, teachers, equipment and teaching.
China rule
In the national anti-church and anti-Islamic education right movement in the 1920s, the broad masses of Lingnan people fought in various forms. Finally, the Board of Directors of new york finally sent a delegation to Guangzhou at the end of February, 1926+65438. After nearly a month's consultation with nine representatives of the Old Classmate Committee headed by Li Yinglin, the Old Classmate Advisory Department reached the following plan: "It is unusual to set up a school board in China to take charge of the administration of Lingnan University, including raising the salaries of all faculty and staff in China. New york's board of directors is changed to Lingnan University American Foundation, which will still nominally own the campus and buildings (except agricultural land), but lease them to schools according to the above conditions (the rent is set at $6,543,800+$8,000 per year). The main responsibility of the foundation is to support western faculty and staff and strive for the same number. "
The board of directors with Chinese as the main body was elected by the former classmate department. The board of directors decided to hire Zhong Rongguang as the principal and Li Yinglin as the first executive vice president. Schools run by foreigners in China only appoint China as the principal, and the highest power remains unchanged; Because Lingnan was located in Guangzhou, the most vigorous revolutionary movement at that time, it can be said that this became a "unique" result.
From 65438 to 0927, when Lingnan University was reclaimed by China people, it no longer aimed at missionary work, but devoted itself to the setting of practical disciplines, combining teaching, scientific research and social application, and serving Guangdong's economic and social development became a new school-running goal. The most outstanding achievement in running a school is agronomy. At that time, the agricultural research work of Lingda and Nanjing Jinling University was the best among universities in China. For example, in sericulture, the silkworm eggs were cultivated by science and technology, and the produced immunized silkworm eggs were promoted in the Pearl River Delta region, and the 10 silkworm egg promotion station was established. The Agricultural College also introduced new reeling equipment from Japan and the United States, advanced reeling technology from Japan, and conducted experiments to improve the reeling technology. After the success of the experiment, the school extended the new equipment and technology to silk factories in Shunde and Nanhai. Since 1928, Lingnan University has set up the Department of Plant Pathology in Agricultural College, engaged in the research of plant diseases in South China. It is the earliest plant disease research institution in Guangdong. 65438-0932 Department of Plant Pathology is entrusted by Agriculture and Forestry Bureau of Guangdong Provincial Government to be responsible for the research of plant disease prevention and control in South China. The Ministry has studied the control of diseases in citrus, rice and sugarcane. The Agricultural College once introduced Hawaiian papaya into the campus and became the famous "Lingnan papaya", which was popularized to the society and planted by villagers from far and near.
Be ravaged by war
After the July 7th Incident, the world was shaken. Lingnan paralysis, coupled with economic difficulties, arrears of wages to employees, it is difficult to maintain. After Li Yinglin entered Lingnan, he first raised funds, paid back his salary, solved his financial difficulties, and insisted on continuing to teach in Guangzhou. On June 1937 and 10, all the faculty and staff of Lingnan University published a letter to all students: "In such a tense and severe situation, our school still started classes according to the time announced by the government, and it has not stopped for a day ...' The alma mater stands tall and stands firm.' The people who praised our school song in those years have actually shown it now. The people who resumed classes in Guangzhou universities are the response of our school. People who care about Lingnan have this phenomenon, which must be a deep comfort ... In short, we believe that the history of our school has started this school year, the most serious page in the history of our country ... We will serve our school with the sound of planes and bombs, and we will encourage each other with this righteousness.
In the sound of enemy bombing, Lingnan insisted on starting classes in Guangzhou. At the beginning of 1938, the school was ordered to set up wartime rural service. All literature and business students must take courses, and a wartime rural service group, led by Professor Zeng, was organized and divided into more than a dozen groups, which went to various towns and villages in Henan every week for wartime service. They publicized the anti-Japanese war to the masses, which greatly improved the anti-Japanese war sentiment. In June, the school also held a freshman entrance examination in Hong Kong, with more than 300 candidates, with students 166.
Go south to hong kong
1938 10, the Japanese army landed in Mirs Bay, the alarm came and the teachers and students began to evacuate. At the end of the month, school administrators and most students gathered in Hong Kong to borrow the premises of the University of Hong Kong and resume classes on 1015. In the meantime, the American Foundation reported that the university was closed, but Li Yinglin turned a deaf ear and delivered a speech entitled "Freshmen in Suffering", saying that even with his bare hands, he would save his alma mater's life. China people's indomitable spirit, contempt for difficulties and independent hosting of Lingnan admire the world very much.
In Hong Kong, Lingnan, on the one hand, attends classes in HKU classrooms, and on the other hand, plans to move inward. At that time, Gu Guifen, the president of Agricultural College, thought that it was of great significance to develop agricultural production in the rear area because of the fall of rich coastal areas in Guangdong, and urged Agricultural College to move to the mainland immediately to promote agricultural production in the mainland and support War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
/kloc-in the summer of 0/939, the school decided that Dean Gu Guifen, Associate Professor Lin Shuluo and Mr. Li Zhenwei would go north to Shaoguan. Li Hanhun, then chairman of Guangdong Province, personally introduced the site selection, adopted the most economical method in the local area, built an auditorium, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, dormitories for boys and girls, dormitories for single teachers, and opened up an experimental farm.
During the construction process, Dean Gu visited the construction site with illness due to heavy tasks and overwork, and finally fainted at the construction site due to poor health. The rescue was ineffective. He died in the line of duty. He used his life to realize the belief of promoting agricultural production in mainland China and supporting War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Deeply saddened by the years of working with Dean Gu, he said, "I didn't believe the bad news at first, but I still hope my soul can survive." Zhong Rongguang wrote: "Life is agronomy, and death is agronomy. Loyal to the school, especially loyal to the country ... May the Nanda family not forget this vision in today's big era. " After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Lingnan people buried his body in Kangle Campus to show their patriotism and love for the school.
President Li, who lives in Hong Kong, has a premonition of how difficult the future will be. In order to find a way out for Lingnan University, he not only sent Gu Guifen to Shi Ping in northern Guangdong to set up an agricultural college, but also led many faculty members to study the strategy of Lingnan University's evacuation to the mainland through Nanxiong and Shaoguan.
Shaoguan temporary residence
194 1 year 65438+ February, Hong Kong fell, and Li Yinglin was also wanted by the Japanese army. He sneaked into Kowloon, went through layers of checkpoints and blockades by the Japanese invaders, went through difficulties and obstacles, arrived in northern Guangdong, and got the news that the American Foundation "closed the university". Immediately, he went to Chongqing and asked the Ministry of Education for a loan to resume his studies. The Ministry of Education replied: "The Ministry of Education will cover all education funds without changing the country." Li Yinglin neither listened to the "closed door" proposition of the American Foundation nor accepted the "save trouble and worry" method of the Ministry of Education, and was determined to adhere to the Lingnan spirit of independence, self-improvement and openness.
Repeatedly hit by the invaders and once again facing the critical moment of life and death, President Lin tried to raise funds from all walks of life. After returning to Shaoguan, with the support of Yu Hanmou, Commander-in-Chief of the Seventh Theater, 48 huts in Xianrenmiao Village, Shaoguan, the original training ground of this department were handed over to Lingnan University as the re-school venue, and the housing equipment was allocated to Lingnan University for use, dozens of guns were allocated for Lingnan University to set up a self-defense force, and a batch of rice was allocated to Lingnan University from Hunan. So Lingnan University built a simple teaching building here. The university teaches in different subjects, and the attached middle school starts at the same time. The Agricultural College is located in Shi Ping and the Medical College is located in Shaoguan, which makes Lingnan University stand firm in the stormy storm attacked by the Japanese invaders and maintains a large number of young students.
Regarding life in Dacun, Situ Wei, a former president of Lingnan Branch, wrote: "There is a YMCA in the school's office in Shao, and the address is borrowed from the Methodist Church. There are not many cases, and the faculty and students are shoulder to shoulder, such as turtles in a jar, while the principal and two or three colleagues are working hard in this area. When the headmaster saw Yu, he didn't say hello. He said,' I have a very interesting job, just waiting for my brother to come. How about developing a big rural campus for me? Answer: "Yes." ..... (in the big village), the only furniture at this time is a wooden bucket with food on it and our dining table at the bottom ... The villagers are unwilling to welcome new guests because they are isolated from the outside world. At first, they refused to sell all the food, vegetables and meat. The school went to a far market and it was difficult to buy! "
After the fall of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong closed down, and exiled students entered the mainland and went to Ren Xian Temple to borrow money from Lingnan University. Soochow University, presided over by President Shen Tilan, and Guangzhou Concord Theological Seminary, presided over by President Gong John and Professor Zhao, also reopened in the temple. Since then, the three institutions have stood firm and United and helped each other. 1945 At the beginning of the year, on the eve of the fall of Shaoguan, teachers and students of Lingnan University were evacuated to Shi Ping, Lianxian and other places, and the economy was in a desperate situation. Li Yinglin immediately went to Meizhou to set up a foreign liaison office to raise aid, so that Lingnan University could persist until the Japanese army surrendered without dissolution.
Rebuild the campus
1August, 945, victory in the Anti-Japanese War. Li Yinglin went to Guangzhou to rebuild the campus and restore school affairs. All the work is gradually on the right track, and the school scale and education quality have reached a new peak. Building Lingnan University into a high-level university based in South China and facing the whole country has become a new school goal. The school hired Dr. Li Ting 'an as the dean of Sun Yixian Hospital of Lingnan University, and hired famous X-ray expert Xie Zhiguang and internal medicine expert Chen Guozhen as professors. After Li Ting 'an's death, Xie Zhiguang succeeded as Dean of Medical College and Affiliated Ji Bo Hospital, and Chen Guozhen was also the director of internal medicine of Ji Bo Hospital. They replaced the positions of American professors respectively. Li Yinglin has always adopted the policy of improving the status of China people in schools, which was unexpected by Americans who had been urging Li to ring the doorbell.
President Li also strives for Tan Liting, manager of the coal mine company, to donate money to the school and set up Tan Liting Foundation. Chaozhou businessman Zheng Furu donated places to the university to improve Chaozhou oranges. All these measures will help to reduce Lingnan University's economic dependence on American foundations.
1948, Li Yinglin resigned as president of Lingnan University. 195 1 year, he used the savings of American Foundation of Lingnan University and parent-child universities such as Yanjing, Jinling, Hujiang, St. John, etc. 13 to establish Chung Chi University in Hong Kong, and became the president himself, arranging a large number of teachers and students from Lingnan University to go to Hong Kong.
Leave a legacy
1953, in the adjustment of national departments, the relevant departments of Lingnan University were merged into South China University of Technology and other institutions of higher learning.
1967, some Guangzhou Lingnan University alumni organized Lingnan College in Hong Kong;
1996, Lingnan University of Hong Kong moved to Fudi Permanent Campus in Tuen Mun;
1999, promoted to Lingnan University. Lingnan University offers humanities, business administration and social sciences, with a total of 13 departments and 7 master's and doctoral programs.