St. John's University 聖約翰大學 Alternative Names: Sheng-yüeh-han ta-hsüh, Sheng yuehan daxue 聖約翰大學; St. John's College Type: Higher Education / University Location: Shanghai 上海

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Source: Lutz, China and the Christian Colleges, 1971

In 1877, Bishop Schereschewsky of the American Episcopal Church started a financial campaign for the college and, subsequently was able to raise US$26,000. The school was founded in 1879. The goal of the college was the training of Chinese ministers. The daily schedule was very rigid: 6:45am, prayers; 8:00-12:00pm, study and recitation; 12:00-2:00pm, recess; 2:00-5:00pm, study and recitation; 5:00pm, prayers, supper; 7:30-8:30pm, study; 9:00pm lights out. St. John's College evolved to become a center for the study of the English language, which was established in 1881-82. F.L. Hawks Pott, after 1886, worked hard to raise the institutional standards through a course restructuring and implementation of entrance examination. After 1896, St. Jonh's included a preparatory school and and departments of theology, medicine and arts. In 1888, St. John's had 8 faculty members.
President Hawks Pott closed down the school on July 3, 1900 amid uprisings in the wake of the Boxer rebellion, and did not reopen until the fall of that same year. In 1904, the college course was changed from three to four years. In 1905, St. John's College changed its name to St. John's University.
In 1914, the University of Pennsylvania transferred its work to St. Jonh's and in 1920 the Rockefeller Foundation donated US$80,000 to the school in order to strenghten its science work. By 1925, St. John's had an enrollment of 218 students. During 1925-26, more than half of the faculty members at St. John's were Chinese.
Following the retirement of President Pott in 1939, St. John's University was administered by acting and temporary presidents as well as executive committees. William Z. L. Sung, wartime president of St. Jonh's University, was accused in 1946 of collaboration with the Japanese and received a two-year prison sentence. In 1947, the school registered with the Chinese government.
Presidents: Hawks Pott (??-1939); William Z. L. Sung; Y.C. Tu; Pan Shih-tzu.

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The following was compiled by: Peter Tze Ming Ng

Date of Establishment: 1879

Religious Affiliation: Protestant, Denominational

Sponsoring Bodies:

Protestant Episcopal Church of USA （美國聖公會）

List of Presidents:

Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (1879-1881)
Francis L.Hawks Pott (1881-1942)
William Z.L. Sung【沈嗣良 Sung Z. L.】（1942-1945）
Y.C. Tu【涂羽卿 Tu Yu-qing】（1945-1949）

Short History:

Protestant Episcopal Church of USA has started her China Mission early in the Mid-19th century. Two schools had already been set up in Shanghai in 1865 & 1866. In 1879, a Jewish American Bishop Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky went from Beijing to Shanghai and determined to found a higher education institution there. Hence, he founded “St. John’s College” in September 1879 and became the first president. He left China in 1881 because of his health condition and left the college work to a young pastor, Rev. Francis Lister Hawks Pott. Pott became the president and served for 50 years till his retirement in 1942. The college was renamed St. John’s University while registered with the New York State Education Department in US in 1906. St. John’s was famous for its most “westernized” university in China because of its emphasis on English teaching and the university curriculum which followed closely with those in the Western countries..

Existing Archives:

1. Shanghai Municipal Archives
2. Shanghai Library
3. The Archives and Library of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
4. The Research Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai
5. United Board Archives at Yale University Divinity School Library Special Collections
6. Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas
Also consult Archie Crouch, Christianity in China: A Scholars’ Guide to Resources in the Libraries and Archives of The United States. N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1989.
吳梓明、梁元生主編：《中國教會大學文獻目錄》，第1-5輯， 香港：香港中文大學崇基學院宗教與中國社會研究中心出版，1996-1998).

Other Resources:

1. Lamberton, Mary. St. John’s University, Shanghai 1879-1951. New York: United Board for Christian Colleges in China, 1955.
2. Xu, Edward Yihua. “Religion and Education: St. John’s University as Evangelizing Agency.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1994.
3. 聖約翰大學同學會編：《聖約翰大學五十年史略，1879-1929》。上海：聖約翰大學同學會，1930。
4. 沈鑒治：〈我的母校聖約翰大學〉。《良友》，第136期(1995年9月)，頁8-10。
5. 汪統：〈著名的教會大學翰大學〉。《上海文史資料選輯》，第59輯(1988)。
6. 張其昀：《聖約翰大學七十五週年校慶》。《教育與文化》，第7第9期(1944年5月19日，頁9。
7. 德佑：〈約翰大學復活了〉。《民國日報》，第76(1928)，總頁244。
8. 樂刻、陶存：〈七十年代的聖約翰大學〉。《大公報》(香港)，1951年3月12日。
9. 鄭朝強：〈我所知的上海聖約翰大學〉。《全國文史資料邏輯》(北京)，第91期(1993)。
10. 徐以驊：〈中學與西學─作為西學輸入渠道的聖約翰大學〉。《復旦教育》，第3期(1994)，頁56-62。
11. 徐以驊：〈教育與宗教：作為傳教媒介的聖約翰大學〉。章開沅編：《文化傳播與教會大學》，頁11-146。武漢：湖北教育出版社，1996。
12. 徐以驊：〈上海市檔案館館藏聖約翰大學檔案介紹〉。吳梓明編：《中國教會大學歷史文獻研會論文集》，頁97-215。香港：中文大學出版社，1995。
13. 徐以驊譯：〈卜舫濟自述〉。《近代中國》，第六輯(1966)，頁243-268。
14. 徐以驊：《教育與宗教：作為傳教媒介的聖約翰大學》。珠海：珠海出版社，1999。
15. 馬長林：〈上海地區教會大學檔案文獻概述〉。吳梓明編：《中國教會大學歷史文獻研討會論文集》，頁187-196。香港：中文大學出版社，1995。
16. 黃培瑋：〈中國教會大學歷史文獻在上海分布及儲藏情況〉。吳梓明編：《中國教會大學歷史文獻研討會論文集》，頁165-185。香港：中文大學出版社，1995。