Yenching University was founded, with the American missionary Stuart Layden as president
On January 31, 1916, Yenching University was established, with the American missionary Stuart Redden as its president.
Yenching University is the most famous church university in modern China, founded in 1916, it was originally formed by the merger of several church universities in North China, including Beijing Huiwen University, Tongzhou North China Union University, Beijing North China Women's Union University, respectively, by the American Presbyterian Church, the American Israel American Association, the American Women's Guild, the Congregational Church, the British London Association and so on, initially named "Peking University".
Because it was a combination of different churches and the merger of different schools, the management was very chaotic at first, and there was no satisfactory principal until Stuart Redden became the principal in 1919, and the transformation began. Stuart Was One of the most famous missionaries to China and later became the U.S. Ambassador to China. Immediately after he took office, he reformed the school and renamed it Yenching University. Subsequently, the construction of a new campus began to collect donations from all walks of life. In 1921, President Stuart Redden received donations from the famous American publisher Henry Luce and Charles Martin Hall, the founder of alcoa, to purchase several former Qing prince gardens in the western suburbs of Beijing, hired architect Murphy to carry out the overall planning, and built the largest, highest quality and most beautiful campus in modern China. In 1926, it was officially relocated. After several years of hard work, the university became the most beautiful and accomplished university in China at that time. In terms of teaching ideology, the school does not emphasize Christian education and implements free teaching. Since 1929, the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Law have been formally established, with a total of nearly 20 departments. Its graduates are mainly active in China's educational, political and religious circles.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government adjusted the faculties of colleges and universities in 1952, Tsinghua University and Yenching University were merged into Peking University, the four departments of mechanical, electrical, civil and construction of the School of Engineering of Peking University were merged into Tsinghua University, the department of chemical engineering was merged into Tianjin University, and the College of Agriculture, Medical College, and Political Science and Law majors were separated from Peking University, or formed into new colleges and universities, or merged into other related colleges and universities. After the adjustment of faculties, Peking University moved its campus to the original Yenching University site, becoming a comprehensive university focusing on basic teaching and research in arts and sciences, and cultivating a large number of talents in various industries in China.
John Leighton Stuart (1876–1962) was an American Presbyterian missionary, diplomat, and educator. Born in Hangzhou in June 1876, his parents were American missionaries in China. He began his missionary work in China in 1904 and participated in the establishment of The Hangzhou Yuying Academy (later Known as Zhijiang University). In 1906, Stuart's only son, Jack, was also born in Hangzhou. In 1908, at the invitation of the Jinling Theological Seminary in Nanjing, Situ Leiden left Hangzhou with his wife and children to take up his post. From 1919, he became the president and dean of Yenching University. He became U.S. Ambassador to China in 1946 and left China in August 1949. He died in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 1962.
