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Yuan Liu Dissertation.pdf (2.4 MB)

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We Are Ginling: Chinese and Western Women Transform a Women’s Mission College into an International Community, 1915-1987

Liu, Yuan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1585222813888865

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, History.
This dissertation will explore the short history of Ginling College, a women’s college established by American missionaries in Nanjing, China, lasting from 1915 to 1951. Ginling aimed to provide higher education to Chinese women and train women leaders for the advancement of Chinese Christianity. Between 1927 and 1928, the surging appeal of the Chinese to regain control over educational institutions in China pressed Ginling to Sinicize its administration. Under the Chinese leadership, Ginling continued to be managed cooperatively by an international body of women. During World War II, the college earned public acclaim for its service to Chinese refugees during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and its relief work for China’s government on its wartime campus at Chengdu, West China. After the war, Ginling navigated the furious political complexities of the Nationalist-Communist conflict. In 1951, it was combined with the University of Nanking. All its Western faculty went back to their home countries. However, through local alumnae associations all around the world, Ginling’s former Western faculty and overseas alumnae continued to sustain an active women’s community. After the economic reform of China in 1978, Ginling’s overseas alumnae and faculty reestablished contact with mainland China members. In 1987, through alumnae efforts, Ginling was rebuilt within Nanjing Normal University on its old campus. The Ginling Alumnae Association is still active today. Previous studies often accused the missionary project for overlooking the agency of local people and thus for deepening international misunderstanding. Taking Ginling as an example, this study shows that Western missionaries and Chinese people could have deep and effective communication. Ginling’s Western faculty and administrators cared about Chinese needs and respected Chinese agency. Meanwhile, Chinese agency in defending and facilitating the nationalistic cause of sovereignty, independence, and autonomy for China, was not necessarily an obstruction to the missionary movement, but smoothed the indigenization of a Western, Christian institution like Ginling. The long-lasting and rewarding international community created and sustained by Ginling women also demonstrated the positive function of “separate spheres” in encouraging women to pursue advanced education and jobs, and to define and strive for a common goal.
David Hammack (Advisor)
455 p.
American History; Asian Studies; Education History; International Relations; Womens Studies; World History
Ginling College; Christian colleges and universities; missions; women missionaries; collegiate women; women colleges; Nanjing Massacre; Republican China; Restore Educational Rights Movement; World War II; Wu Yifang; Minnie Vautrin

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Liu, Y. (2020). We Are Ginling: Chinese and Western Women Transform a Women’s Mission College into an International Community, 1915-1987 [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1585222813888865

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Liu, Yuan. We Are Ginling: Chinese and Western Women Transform a Women’s Mission College into an International Community, 1915-1987 . 2020. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1585222813888865.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Liu, Yuan. "We Are Ginling: Chinese and Western Women Transform a Women’s Mission College into an International Community, 1915-1987 ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1585222813888865

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1585222813888865
565
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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.