Dickinson-in-China

Dickinson-in-China

The late nineteenth-century in America was marked by a desire to introduce Western influence, and, more importantly, Christian doctrines to the nations of the East. Not immune to this trend, numerous Dickinson College alumni used their ties to the College to help establish educational and religious institutions in China, most particularly the West China Union University in Chengtu in the Sechuan Province. Men such as John Goucher, class of 1868, and Raymond Brewer, class of 1916, were instrumental in the workings of the University as well as securing financial support for it through Dickinson and its alumni. Although thousands of students studied at the university, by the turn of the twentieth-century, anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiment had risen to an all-time high in China, resulting in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Despite such outbursts, the West China Union University continued to exist until 1926, when relations with the Chinese government as well as its people became extremely strained.

Author of Post: 
Dickinson College Archives
Date of Post: 
2005