University Spatial Development and Urban Transformation in China

Cui Liu

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315312637
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

The past few decades have seen universities take on a leading role in urban development, actively providing public services beyond teaching and research. The relationship between the university and the city has great influence on the space of university, which is vividly reflected in the process of university spatial development. This process has been particularly evident in China as Chinese universities and cities have been undergoing dramatic transformations since reform in the late 1970s.

University Spatial Development and Urban Transformation in China explores the changing relationship between the university and the city from a spatial perspective. Based on theories and discourses on the production of space, the book analyzes case studies in university spatial development in China at three scales – global, national and local – covering social and urban contexts, the urban transformation, interactions in the development process and the changing dynamic between university and city to propose mutually beneficial planning strategies.

This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and urban planners in identifying the key factors and relationships in university spatial development using theoretical and empirical data to guide future urban planning.

Part I
The spatial, temporal and social perspectives

1
The evolution of universities in Chinese history

Spatio-temporal perspectives

The university is not a new-born thing. It has a history of over 3,000 years in China. The space of university is transforming over time as guided by a wide variety of social values. There were practices to revive traditional higher education institutions, to establish Western missionary universities, to orient university for productive use, to blend the university into everyday life, to mobilize the university for social revolution and so on. In the modern era, the indigenous tradition of higher education in China was mixed with various exotic academic models such as the European, American and Soviet models. Those at the present time might be of different order from those of the earlier period. However, it can be considered to a certain degree that the space of university today is influenced and governed by its historical links. History gives us some hints on the evolution of the space of university and about how to make the space of university a productive one. This chapter will examine the features of the space of university, their interaction with the city and the society, and their underlying social values in different historical periods of China.

Indigenous scholarly institutions

Chinese higher education originated as early as in 1100 B.C. during the Zhou dynasty and was called pi-yong. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220), higher education institutions were called tai-xue, which means ‘institutions of higher learning’, and were attended by more than 30,000 students during the dynasty’s most prosperous time at its main campus in the capital city Chang’an (Wang et al., 2007). During the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907) and afterward, Chinese universities were called guo-zijian, a type of higher education institutions established for the children of royal families and senior officials. The content of learning was drawn from the classical texts of Confucian teachings, which were also the dominant contents of the imperial examinations for senior civil service positions.

In addition to these ancient universities established by the Chinese state, which continued to exist until the late nineteenth century, private universities also flourished in ancient China. Confucius (551–479 B.C.) introduced private higher education in China during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, at a time when state institutions were becoming weaker (Min, 2004). And it was recorded that Confucius had taught more than 3,000 students. It became fashionable to run private learning institutions during that time, and many leading scholars at different schools operated their own institutions. There were also professional schools for law, medicine, mathematics, literature and calligraphy studies.

When speaking of ancient scholarly institutions of higher learning, one must mention shu-yuan. These institutions started to appear during the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907), when they were first established in both the state and private sectors as places for collecting books. Initially Shu-yuan were not places for teaching and learning but they gradually developed into private academies or scholarly societies, as alternatives to official higher education institutions. Their studies were not limited to the orthodox definition of knowledge institutionalized in the imperial examinations, but introduced new currents of thought drawn from Buddhism, Daoism and other sources. Influenced by liberalism embedded in these thoughts, shu-yuan were usually built away from cities or towns, providing a quiet environment where scholars could engage in studies and contemplation without restrictions and worldly distractions. Closely combined with the charming scenery in the natural environment, shu-yuan became a special cultural landscape, with flexible and idyllic spatial patterns.

While largely independent and often financed by private endowments of land, shu-yuan tended to rise and decline in accordance with the quality and vision of the great scholars who singly headed them up (Hayhoe, 1989), and they were constantly under threat from the imperial bureaucracy that sought to co-opt them to the service of the examination system or destroy them in some periods. In the Song dynasty (960–1279 A.D), the Confucian classics were reordered to form a knowledge system that had to be mastered by all aspiring to become scholar-officials in the imperial civil service. Hanlin Academy, an official institute of the state, regulated the interpretation and application of the classical texts. The imperial examination system thus dominated traditional higher education, creating a class of intellectuals who climbed the ladder of a series of examinations to become officials (Miyazaki, 1971).

Therefore, shu-yuan were gradually moved from the suburb to the city with the control of the government to serve for the imperial dominance. After the Jiading period (1208–1225), large numbers of shu-yuan were established in the central cities. Worship, a traditional ceremony in the Chinese imperial system, became a constant activity in shu-yuan besides its traditional functions in collecting books and teaching. The spatial layout of formalized shu-yuan in the imperial examination system was changed accordingly. The previous relatively free organization of buildings was replaced by formalized and ritual rules, although the idyllic ideal was still preserved in the layout of landscape. Palaces and temples appeared in shuyuan for worship; examination halls and shooting gardens were established to select both civil and military elites. The donation and funding of the government became the main financial sources for shu-yuan. The bestowal of a calligraphic signboard by the Emperor became an extremely important symbol of an academy’s status.

In fact, shu-yuan of traditional China may be a closer parallel to the medieval universities in Europe. Both of them were originated in feudal society and held the educational philosophy of elitism. Their campuses were enclosed in a courtyard integrating the activities of teaching, research and daily life altogether. However, the different history and culture generated different value system. Traditional universities in China never had the kind of statutory group autonomy enjoyed by the medieval universities through their papal charters (Hayhoe, 1989). The Chinese imperial bureaucracy enjoyed a scholarly monopoly and authority over the intellectual community, which was never effectively challenged until the empire itself began to crumble.

Universities in search of modernity

Although the indigenous tradition had a significant impact on the Chinese higher education system, modern Chinese universities developed from the European model, with a wistful longing for the shu-yuan tradition from time to time. This process involved a long and even painful interaction with the West after the Opium War in 1840, which made Chinese intellectuals aware of Western advances in science and technology and of the backwardness of China. This period was the most active and fertile stage in Chinese history to explore the university development modes.

Western missionary universities

When Western missionaries first found themselves able to operate with considerable freedom on Chinese soil, their primary concern was direct evangelism. But since Christian and traditional Chinese culture held different values, the missionaries met great opposition in their religious mission. After years of struggle, the missionaries realized that people’s resistance could only be devolved through a compromise with the Confucian ideology, a feasible way of which was to call on the upper ruling strata and the intelligentsia to influence ordinary people. Therefore, some missionaries began to pay attention to the interrelation between the civilization of Chinese society and the spread of the Gospel.

A gradual thought in their minds was to introduce Western university models. Many foreign groups tried to create universities in China, including French Jesuit missionaries, American Protestants with the cooperation of British and Canadian colleagues, and German industrialists (Hayhoe, 1987). Catholics began to focus on developing parochial education to teach new converts basic religious and liturgical knowledge. Protestant missionaries turned to medical and educational work when they faced difficulties and discouragement in their evangelical efforts. Nearly all of the missionary universities were located in the foreign concessions inside key cities that became treaty ports, following the legal jurisdictions of their homeland countries. To localize themselves in China, the missionary universities tried to combine the Western approach with Chinese style in university planning. The campus was divided into several functional zones according to Western principles, with traditional Chinese gardens going across the zones and connecting them into an integral whole.

The western university models introduced by missionaries into China were embedded with great ambitions. The mission of these colleges was oriented towards political and cultural goals rather than simply religious ones. Their value lied in the long-term guarantee of foreign interests in China through the control of education and intellectuals. These institutions were very attractive to young Chinese intellectuals after the imperial examination system was abolished in China in 1905, and their graduates contributed to the modernization of nearly all areas, such as law, engineering and medicine in ways that were limited by the inherent conservatism and respect for authority of the Jesuit order. For example, law graduates from l’Universit l’Aurore, a French Catholic university established by French Jesuits in 1903 in Shanghai, advised the Nationalist government on legal reforms along French lines and supporting French imperialist insistence so that France’s extra-territorial privileges should not be revoked until an ‘acceptable’ modern Chinese legal system had been established (Hayhoe, 1987).

By 1949, there were 21 universities run or subsidized by foreigners (Min, 2004), including such influential institutions as Yenching University in Beijing (the later Peking University) and St. Johns University in Shanghai (the later Tongji University). Among the total of 205 universities in the country, foreign universities accounted for about 10% and enrolled about 10,000 students (Wang et al., 2007). The universities that were established by the missionaries and other foreign groups had contributed greatly to the economic and political exploitation of foreign forces in China and exerted deep influence on the development of modern higher education in China. But they were still largely peripheral to the mainstream education reforms being engineered by a modernizing Chinese leadership.

Conservative modernization efforts

For Chinese modernizers of the late Qing dynasty and early republican periods, the missionary institutions were minor irritants in a situation where their own conception of higher education reform clearly reflected the political vision of each period. They did not look to missionary efforts for inspiration in their reforms, but visited or sent delegations to the nations whose educational institutions were of interest and modelled their reforms directly on foreign experience (Hayhoe, 1989). In 1847, three young students went to the United States for university studies, the first Chinese to do so. In 1872, the Chinese government decided to send a group of 120 students to the United States, initiating the country’s first official study-abroad programs. This was followed by programs that sent students to the United Kingdom and continental European countries. In the wake of increased Japanese influence in China, many Chinese scholars and students went to Japan, where they experienced the European university model with a Japanese imprint (Min, 2004). A large proportion of the returned students worked in the Chinese higher education system as teachers, researchers and administrators, becoming a driving force in the development of Chinese universities.

One of the modernization efforts introduced in China after the Opium War was the movement to adapt the Western university model and to promote the learning of Western science and technology as a response to foreign aggression. From the 1860s to the 1880s, Western-style military and naval academies and foreign-language institutions were established by the powerful scholar–officials in China to train young people capable of dealing with the barbarians at both a diplomatic and military level. These institutions were strictly subordinate to the traditional institutions of the imperial examination system and the shu-yuan, which continued to focus on the classical knowledge tradition. And they were confident that Western technologies could be absorbed into a revitalized Confucian empire to deal effectively with foreign incursions. These thoughts were evident in the fact that some Western missionaries were appointed to leadership positions within the government-opened foreign language institutions and were trusted to develop Western studies that would contribute to China’s self-strengthening (Hayhoe, 1989).

Therefore, universities at this time did not get rid of the pursuit of scholarly officials in traditional shu-yuan and did not understand the spirit of freedom and democracy in European universities, but were still government-controlled higher education institutions. The space of the universities followed the typical organization of shu-yuan, making only minor changes to adapt themselves to the changed educational and social requirement. For example, the form of formalized shu-yuan that was characterized by ritualized building groups and artistic natural landscape was reserved for teaching the traditional courses; physical environment as required by modern higher education was organized along a sub-axis parallel to the main traditional ritual axis. Moreover, the spatial organization no longer followed the model of traditional Chinese courtyard but a Western model of squares with relatively open borders enclosed by buildings.

However, it was not anticipated that most students abroad got access to the radical and revolutionary currents of thought rather than those supportive of the gradualist reform envisaged by their mentors in China. Neither was it expected that the translation of scientific and social materials by the liberally minded missionaries was a powerful source of new ideas for Chinese reformers who became more and more radical in their demands. Likewise in China itself, the real educational progress of the period was achieved less by the official public institutions than by the energetic gentry who set up their own modern schools (Hayhoe, 1989). By 1910 there were only three universities established by the imperial government. Most part of modern higher education was carried out in gentry-supported colleges, provincial higher institutions and missionary colleges.

Radical education reform

With the Revolution of 1911, the provisional government established by Sun Yat Sen in Nanjing appointed Cai Yuanpei as Minister of Education. In the higher education legislation of 1912, Cai introduced a European model derived largely from the German universities of Berlin and Leipzig where he had studied between 1908 and 1911. The aims of education formulated by Cai and expressed in the 1912 legislation were five-fold: utilitarian, moral, military, aesthetic and a world view. Cai saw the first three as essential to republican political and economic development, while the latter two rose above politics and were to foster a modern Chinese spirit that would replace Confucianism. While the higher professional institutions were to be largely committed to utilitarian, moral and military education, Cai felt that the universities had a special responsibility for aesthetic education as a bridge to build a modern Chinese world view. By emulating the German model with its central values of autonomy, professorial self-government and academic freedom, he succeeded in creating what was probably the first truly modern Chinese university, which provided the context for the May 4th movement in 1919, a movement whose cultural and political implications constituted an important turning point for modern China.

The space of university under such influences showed typical features of openness, freedom and diversity. The university shared its educational and cultural resources with the city, while the city performed certain social functions as the university. University planning did not restrict to the Western style or the Chinese character, neither was it aimed to build a totally new world as pursued by Western missionaries. What took into consideration by modern reformers was just actual needs and social reality. It followed economic principles. The university encouraged free interaction between the students and teachers as well as between the university and the community and provided space to facilitate such activities. For example, campus walls in some universities were cancelled in order to open the university to society; campus buildings were organized around the courtyards to form some small venues; the residence of students and teachers were located near to each other. Modern educationists paid high value to traditional Chinese culture and kept both the ritual layout of buildings and the idyllic ideal of landscapes in campus design.

Universities with nationalistic spirits

With the accession of the Nationalist Party to power in 1927, China finally had a clearly focused modern ideology in Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People: nationalism, people’s livelihood and people’s rights. The tutelage of the Party was regarded as essential before people’s rights could be fully implemented, and education was aimed to serve economic development and nationalistic unity. The Na...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• PART I The spatial, temporal and social perspectives
• PART II The global, national and local scales
• PART III Case studies
• Conclusion
• Index