Ginling College (), also known by its pinyin romanization as Jinling College or Jinling Women's College, is a women's college of Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China. It offers both bachelor's and master's degrees. It offers six undergraduate majors: applied English, accounting, financial management, labor and social welfare, food science and engineering, and food quality and safety. Master's degrees are offered in food science, agricultural products processing, and storage, and women's education.
Ginling College traces its roots to the Christian college of the same name founded in 1913, which started operations in 1915 and was the first institution to grant bachelor's degrees to female students in China. The school was closed from 1951 to 1987, when it was reestablished on its previous site.
American architect and art historian Talbot Hamlin designed some of the buildings that were constructed in the 1919 to 1925 period.
Wu Yi-Fang, who was one of Ginling's first five graduates and earned a doctorate degree from the University of Michigan in 1928, became the first Chinese woman to head a college in China, heading Jinling College from 1928-51 until it merged with the University of Nanking in 1951. Wu, who became a powerful figure in the People's Republic of China as a patriotic woman educator, worked tirelessly to reopen the school. However, it did not ultimately reopen until 1987, two years after her death.
During the Nanjing Massacre, the college, led by its acting principal Minnie Vautrin,Chang, Iris, The Rape of Nanking: The forgotten holocaust of World War II, Basic Books, A Subsidiary of Perseus Books, L.L.C., 1997 pp. 130-138 harbored over 10,000 women trying to hide from the Japanese Imperial Army.
History
Establishment (1913~1915) Ginling College was founded in 1913 against the backdrop of the Social Gospel Movement and the Student Volunteer Movement in the United States, and the increasing demand for women's education propelled by the 1911 Revolution. Through the efforts of a united board composed of eight American mission boards—Baptists (North and South), Disciples, Episcopalians, Methodists (North and South), and Presbyterians (North and South)—Ginling College officially opened in 1915 with six faculty and eleven students. All subjects were taught in English except for the Chinese classics. The first graduating class, consisting of five women, including future Gingling College President Wu Yifang, graduated in 1919. They became the first women in China to receive fully accredited Bachelor of Arts degrees. Matilda Thurston, a Mount Holyoke graduate who had previously been with the Yale Mission in Changsha, served as the first president of the college from 1913 to 1928. In August 1928, Wu Yifang—a Ginling graduate—was inaugurated as the next president.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937~1945) When the war broke out between Imperial Japan and China, the members of the college had to disperse to different parts of China while the Nanjing campus was turned into a refugee camp under the supervision of Minnie Vautrin. On December 8, 1937, the first 300 women and children were admitted to the Nanjing campus. Nanjing was captured on December 13, marking the beginning of the Nanjing massacre that lasted for more than a month. At its peak, the campus provided a refuge for nearly 10,000 people. Vautrin herself patrolled the campus chasing away soldiers, visited the Japanese Embassy to ask for protection, and organized the sale of rice in mat sheds that had been erected on the college grounds. She also started Bible classes, and with the help of the refugee women, created a list of missing men to present to the Japanese Embassy. The Nanking International Relief Committee supplied food and fuel for the camp. Once the refugee phase of the work became less urgent, Vautrin diverted her attention to education—opening a middle school, a day school, and a nursery school on the Ginling campus, and providing Homecraft course for “destitute women.” In April 1940, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was taken back to the U.S. The evacuated students and faculty members started “Ginling centers” as part of other missionary institutions in Shanghai, Wuchang, and Chengdu. The Ginling center at Wuchang began when Huachung University accepted thirty Ginling students as guest students. As time went on, more faculty joined the unit and taught at least one course which Huachung University was needing. In return, Ginling students were admitted to all the regular departments of the university. As the war developed, Ginling College worked together with Huachung University and Wuchang Y.W.C.A to carry on a dressing station for the wounded soldiers. However, as it became obvious that the next objective of the Japanese army would be to capture Hankou and Wuchang, many students began to leave. By the end of 1937, only a few Ginling members remained.
Under the Communist Party (1949~1951) Under the new Communist government, Ginling's curriculum had to incorporate some political requirements. Even though these were not different from the earlier requirement of learning Party Principles under the Nationalist government, Thurston argues that the new Communist requirements were more serious because they contained "more definite challenges to Christian beliefs." The college life went on very much as before, except for the frequent interruptions in school work for special lectures, parades, and other political functions. Religious activities also continued without any direct opposition from the government. However, as anti-American propaganda began to rise, on November 14, 1950, some students accused their American sociology professor Helen Ferris of spreading anti-revolutionary messages and of attacking the Chinese-Korean alliance. This led to widespread criticisms of not only Ferris, but of "crimes of cultural imperialism" happening in many missionary schools in China. With such hostile atmosphere, all American missionary faculty members left Ginling by spring semester 1951, either by deportation or voluntarily. Some Chinese faculty members who did not completely identify with the aggressive campaign also faced persecution. On December 17, 1950, the U.S. State Department ordered freezing of all Chinese properties in the U.S. and outlawed sending funds to China—making the Smith College's engagement with Ginling impossible. Without its main source of the budget, Ginling accepted government funding and merged with the University of Nanking to form a public National Jinling University. Ginling College reopened in 1987 as part of Nanjing Normal University through the efforts of alumnae and Wu Yifang.
Academics and Educational Programs
1915-1951 Jin Feng has argued that Ginling's founders belonged to the group of "modernists" in the mission field who were more interested in preparing elite Chinese women for "Christian leadership," than in converting the illiterate and poverty-stricken Chinese masses. Even though Ginling was in principle a missionary college, the faculty from the very beginning emphasized the importance of it being a "bona fide institution of higher education" that possessed rigorous academic standards. As a result, curricula taught at Ginling often mimicked the curriculums at elite American women's liberal arts colleges in New England. Ginling was especially strong in English, physical education, and home economics. Ginling had a reputation of strength in English and weakness in Chinese instruction because of its emphasis on English. Almost all courses were given in English, and the school also established an English Comprehensive Test that required all students to pass in the second semester of their second year. Physical education was designed around the missionary discourse of equating a healthy body with Christian moral character. Physical education including dance instructions at Ginling was what garnered the most attention but also gave it bad publicity. For instance, an incident in 1927 in which a group of Ginling students was found dancing with British naval men outraged the public, as it went against Chinese ideal of propriety and national pride. The Home Economics Department was established in 1938 in order to meet government regulations during wartime and to strengthen institutional collaboration with other missionary institutions while it was in Chengdu. All Home Economics majors were required to select teaching methodologies for home economics, and starting from the second year, students could choose from three areas as their majors: nutrition, child welfare and development, or art and dress. Even though the program itself the home economics program allowed missionaries to offer science courses to female students. Also, majors in child welfare and development often found themselves studying education in the U.S. after graduation and were able to become teachers in kindergarten and elementary school.
Today's Ginling Ginling College currently offers 6 undergraduate majors, 5 master's programs, and 4 orientations for master's degree candidates. The college has 72 faculty and staff members on the payroll, with 58% of the full-time teachers possessing tenures, 55% holding doctor's degrees, and 50% with recent overseas study experience.http://schools.njnu.edu.cn/ginling/about http://schools.njnu.edu.cn/ginling/about
Traditions
Student life During its early years, the faculty members organized enjoyable group activities with students outside of the classroom setting to create a sense of familiarity and intimacy. These included designated social times with the students, and faculty-led naturalist walks and outings. According to Feng, such attempts at creating solidarity "not only institutionalized a family spirit at Ginling, but also expanded the trope of the family from the institutional to the national level, and thereby cultivated among their students a collective sense of Noblesse oblige toward their nation and people." According to the official website,http://schools.njnu.edu.cn/ginling/about http://schools.njnu.edu.cn/ginling/about these traditions also came into place under the leadership of President Wu Yifang: Chinese and western cultures were integrated. The "Abundant Life" was interpreted as the guiding ideology for cultivating Ginling College students. It required students not only to master their basic and professional knowledge well, but also to have noble dreams. They should be diligent, tough and selfless at their posts and dedicate their lifetime to others, society and nation with their own wisdom and strength. Student autonomy and tutorial system were combined to manage students. There was a head teacher for every grade and a tutor for every 8 students. The tutor instructed students' life and study with skill and patience. There was an instructor in students' life for each dormitory building. The sister-class system was put into practice. Senior "sisters" gave instructions on daily studies and life of junior "sisters" and led them to adapt to the change from a middle school to a college. Therefore, the younger sisters benefited a lot and the elder sisters strengthened their sense of responsibility and pride and thus became stricter with themselves, through which they promoted each other. Students' physical exercise was valued. Every fresher got a health card since she entered college so that teachers could teach students in accordance with their aptitude. The 4-year compulsory PE lessons aimed at improving students' physique. Students' musicianship was also valued. The one-year music lessons taught basic knowledge and skills of music like producing sound and reading music. Besides, students could take courses in the Department of Music and participate in the activities held by the chorus or choir to improve their musicianship.
Academic Year Events