Front cover image for Lianda : a Chinese university in war and revolution

Lianda : a Chinese university in war and revolution

John Israel
In the summer of 1937, Japanese troops occupied the campuses of Beijing's preeminent universities, Beida and Qinghua, and reduced Nankai, in Tianjin, to rubble. These were China's leading institutions of higher learning, run by men educated in the West and committed to modern liberal education. The three universities first moved to Changsha, 900 miles southwest of Beijing, where they joined forces. But with the fall of Nanjing in mid-December, many students left to fight the Japanese, who soon began bombing Changsha. In February 1938, the 800 remaining student and faculty made the thousand-mile trek to Kunming, in China's remote, mountainous southwest, where they formed the National Southwest Associated University (Lianda). In makeshift quarters, subject to sporadic bombing by the Japanese and shortages of food, books, and clothing, students and professors did their best to conduct a modern university. In the next eight years, many of China's most prominent intellectuals taught or studied at Lianda. This book is the story of their lives and work under extraordinary conditions
Print Book, English, 1998
Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif., 1998
History
xv, 459 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780804729291, 0804729298
39108542
Preface Introduction Part I. Patriot's Pilgrimage: 1. From Beiping to Changsha 2. Lianda's long march 3. The charms of Mengzi Part II. Interactions: 4. Lianda and the Yunnanese 5. Chongqing and Kunming 6. The Lianda ethos Part III. A Pride of Professors: 7. The College of Arts 8. The College of Social Sciences 9. War and scholarship 10. The College of Natural Sciences 11. The College of Engineering 12. The teachers' college 13. Years of hope: 1938-1941 14. Years of endurance 1941-1943 15. Years of trial: 1943-1945 16. Fulfilling the mandate: 1945-1946 Conclusion Appendices Notes Bibliography Index.