Guo Bingwen
Encyclopedia
Kuo Ping-Wen1880–1969, an influential Chinese educator, is considered as a founder of the modern Chinese university. He was born in Shanghai, Jiangsu province, and his father was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He attended Lowrie Institute (The Pure Heart Academy, Qingxin Shuyuan 清心書院), which was connected with the First Presbyterian Church in Shanghai (founded by John Marshall Willoughby Farnham, 1830–1917), graduating in 1896. Kuo Ping-wen then served in the customs and postal bureaus before coming to the United States in 1908 under the sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church, at first attending the Preparatory Academy at The College of Wooster in Ohio, and later matriculating at Wooster with the support of the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program
(庚子賠款獎學金 Gēngzǐ Péikuǎn Jiǎngxuéjīn).
At Wooster, Kuo was the editor of the college newspaper, The Wooster Voice, and General Secretary of the Chinese Students Alliance. In 1911 he wrote an extensive article for the newspaper on the history of Chinese students in the United States, beginning with Yung Wing (Rong Hong 容宏) at Yale in the mid-nineteenth century. He won several speech prizes for the college and was mentored in oratory by Professor of Speech Delbert Lean. He graduated with honors from The College of Wooster in 1911 and then undertook graduate studies in Education under John Dewey
and Paul Monroe
at Columbia University
, where he received his M.A. degree in 1912 and his Ph.D. in 1914. His doctoral dissertation, The Chinese System of Public Education, was published by Teachers College at Columbia in 1915 and is a wide-ranging study of the history and structural development of education in China from ancient times onward. The Chinese edition of the book was published in Shanghai in 1916. In 1914 he returned to China where he transformed the Nanjing Advanced Normal School (Nanjing Gaodeng Shifan Xuexiao 南京高等師範學校) into the first modern Chinese University, National Southeast University
(Guoli Dongnan Daxue 国立东南大学), which was later renamed National Central University
(Guoli Zhongyang Daxue 國立中央大學) and was split into two major universities (Nanjing University
(南京大学) and Nanjing Institute of Technology
(南京工学院), and his ideas exerted a broad influence in Chinese educational circles. He was president of National Southeast University from 1920-1925. In 1952, the People’s Republic of China began a national adjustment of the colleges. In Nanjing, the adjustment affected Nanjing University and Jinling University（金陵大學). Nanjing Institute of Technology was formed on the original site of National Central University, combining the former Engineering Department of Nanjing University and the Agriculture Department of Jinling University, as well as the Chemistry and Electrical Machine Departments. In 1988, Nanjing Institute of Technology was renamed Southeast University
.
Kuo Ping-wen was elected three times as Vice-Chairman of the World Education Congress (Shijie jiaoyuhui 世界教育會) and became the Chairman of its Asian division in 1923. His removal from his presidential post at National Southeast University
in 1925 was a result of the intrusion of political forces into higher education and academia during the turbulent decade of the 1920s in China. Essentially, Kuo had made compromises with the warlords during that decade in order to develop National Southeast University, and the rise of the Kuomintang set him at odds with the Nationalist leadership. Later on in 1925, he came to the United States to lecture at the University of Chicago and was one of the founders of the China Institute in New York City, and also its Director, 1926-1930. He married Ruth How, Xia Yu 夏瑜, on October 12, 1935 in Hangzhou (Hangchow). During the Second World War, Kuo was stationed in London with the Chinese Embassy and then returned to the United States as a member of the Chinese delegation associated with the early formation of the United Nations. In the last decade of his life, he was President of the Sino-American Cultural Society in Washington, D.C., an organization he founded in 1958. Kuo Ping-wen is buried in Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Maryland.
In June 2011, the 100th anniversary of Kuo's graduation from the College of Wooster, and ninety years after Kuo was appointed as President of Southeast University
(Dongnan Daxue 東南大學；as renamed in 1988), a conference examining Kuo's contribution to higher education in China was held in Nanjing at Southeast University, the modern institution of higher learning that Kuo had helped found. Scholars from the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and the United States were represented, and the participants presented papers dealing with Kuo's educational thought, his ideas on structuring higher education in China, and his impact on relations between East and West.
Since his academic background was shaped at liberal arts institutions, Kuo believed that a well-rounded education in both the sciences and the humanities was essential. Moreover, since his undergraduate experience at The College of Wooster was co-educational, he was a strong supporter of women's education in China. It was also at Wooster that Kuo changed his plan to study law and focused instead on issues of educational reform, which became the basis for his career once he returned to China. His educational philosophy embraced a strategy based on Four Balances: the balance between well-rounded education and specialized education, the balance between humanistic education and scientific education, the balance between investment in teaching faculty and teaching facilities, and the balance between national and international learning. Kuo felt that China could learn much from the study of Western accomplishments in science, just as the West could learn much from China about the philosophy of life, and he was a strong supporter of the expansion of Chinese studies at American colleges and universities. In furthering interactions between East and West through education, Kuo Ping-wen contributed to building the Sino-American relationship that flourishes today.
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program
The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program was a scholarship program funded by Boxer Rebellion indemnity money paid to the United States that provided for Chinese students to study in the U.S...
(庚子賠款獎學金 Gēngzǐ Péikuǎn Jiǎngxuéjīn).
At Wooster, Kuo was the editor of the college newspaper, The Wooster Voice, and General Secretary of the Chinese Students Alliance. In 1911 he wrote an extensive article for the newspaper on the history of Chinese students in the United States, beginning with Yung Wing (Rong Hong 容宏) at Yale in the mid-nineteenth century. He won several speech prizes for the college and was mentored in oratory by Professor of Speech Delbert Lean. He graduated with honors from The College of Wooster in 1911 and then undertook graduate studies in Education under John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
and Paul Monroe
Paul Monroe
-Biography:He was born at North Madison, Indiana. He graduated at Franklin College, Franklin, Indiana in 1890, studied at the University of Heidelberg and took his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1897. He became professor at Columbia in 1899, his research involving education in its...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he received his M.A. degree in 1912 and his Ph.D. in 1914. His doctoral dissertation, The Chinese System of Public Education, was published by Teachers College at Columbia in 1915 and is a wide-ranging study of the history and structural development of education in China from ancient times onward. The Chinese edition of the book was published in Shanghai in 1916. In 1914 he returned to China where he transformed the Nanjing Advanced Normal School (Nanjing Gaodeng Shifan Xuexiao 南京高等師範學校) into the first modern Chinese University, National Southeast University
Southeast University
Southeast University , colloquially Dongda is a public, coeducational research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China....
(Guoli Dongnan Daxue 国立东南大学), which was later renamed National Central University
National Central University
National Central University is a national comprehensive university in Taiwan .National Central University was founded in 1915 and originated in 258 CE at Nanjing, China. After NCU in Nanjing was renamed Nanjing University in 1949, NCU was re-established in Taiwan in 1962...
(Guoli Zhongyang Daxue 國立中央大學) and was split into two major universities (Nanjing University
Nanjing University
Nanjing University , or Nanking University, is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China...
(南京大学) and Nanjing Institute of Technology
Southeast University
Southeast University , colloquially Dongda is a public, coeducational research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China....
(南京工学院), and his ideas exerted a broad influence in Chinese educational circles. He was president of National Southeast University from 1920-1925. In 1952, the People’s Republic of China began a national adjustment of the colleges. In Nanjing, the adjustment affected Nanjing University and Jinling University（金陵大學). Nanjing Institute of Technology was formed on the original site of National Central University, combining the former Engineering Department of Nanjing University and the Agriculture Department of Jinling University, as well as the Chemistry and Electrical Machine Departments. In 1988, Nanjing Institute of Technology was renamed Southeast University
Southeast University
Southeast University , colloquially Dongda is a public, coeducational research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China....
.
Kuo Ping-wen was elected three times as Vice-Chairman of the World Education Congress (Shijie jiaoyuhui 世界教育會) and became the Chairman of its Asian division in 1923. His removal from his presidential post at National Southeast University
Southeast University
Southeast University , colloquially Dongda is a public, coeducational research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China....
in 1925 was a result of the intrusion of political forces into higher education and academia during the turbulent decade of the 1920s in China. Essentially, Kuo had made compromises with the warlords during that decade in order to develop National Southeast University, and the rise of the Kuomintang set him at odds with the Nationalist leadership. Later on in 1925, he came to the United States to lecture at the University of Chicago and was one of the founders of the China Institute in New York City, and also its Director, 1926-1930. He married Ruth How, Xia Yu 夏瑜, on October 12, 1935 in Hangzhou (Hangchow). During the Second World War, Kuo was stationed in London with the Chinese Embassy and then returned to the United States as a member of the Chinese delegation associated with the early formation of the United Nations. In the last decade of his life, he was President of the Sino-American Cultural Society in Washington, D.C., an organization he founded in 1958. Kuo Ping-wen is buried in Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Maryland.
In June 2011, the 100th anniversary of Kuo's graduation from the College of Wooster, and ninety years after Kuo was appointed as President of Southeast University
Southeast University
Southeast University , colloquially Dongda is a public, coeducational research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China....
(Dongnan Daxue 東南大學；as renamed in 1988), a conference examining Kuo's contribution to higher education in China was held in Nanjing at Southeast University, the modern institution of higher learning that Kuo had helped found. Scholars from the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and the United States were represented, and the participants presented papers dealing with Kuo's educational thought, his ideas on structuring higher education in China, and his impact on relations between East and West.
Since his academic background was shaped at liberal arts institutions, Kuo believed that a well-rounded education in both the sciences and the humanities was essential. Moreover, since his undergraduate experience at The College of Wooster was co-educational, he was a strong supporter of women's education in China. It was also at Wooster that Kuo changed his plan to study law and focused instead on issues of educational reform, which became the basis for his career once he returned to China. His educational philosophy embraced a strategy based on Four Balances: the balance between well-rounded education and specialized education, the balance between humanistic education and scientific education, the balance between investment in teaching faculty and teaching facilities, and the balance between national and international learning. Kuo felt that China could learn much from the study of Western accomplishments in science, just as the West could learn much from China about the philosophy of life, and he was a strong supporter of the expansion of Chinese studies at American colleges and universities. In furthering interactions between East and West through education, Kuo Ping-wen contributed to building the Sino-American relationship that flourishes today.