The Shuyuan and the Development of Chinese Universities in the Early Twentieth Century

Considerable research was done on the shuyuan in the period around the May Fourth Movement of 1919. In this chapter I will explore the relationship between the spirit of the shuyuan and the development of national identity in modern Chinese higher-education institutions in the context of cultural interchange between China and the West. This research on the shuyuan emerged at a time when the actual shuyuan themselves had been abolished a mere twenty years earlier and there was a high tide of interest in China to learn from the West and oppose traditionalism. This makes it a particularly fascinating historical juncture.