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寰宇古今 ✐2006-01-01


中國第一所大學

曲拯民

 

  自古代始,直到清末,煙台市,古稱之罘(又寫作芝罘),原為登州府(今稱蓬萊)轄地,民國元年即1911後始廢;登州即今蓬萊市,在煙台西面約四十英里處,今日已成為煙台行政區的轄地。我今寫家鄉煙台的舊事,所以登州也包括在內。
  說來令人嘖嘖稱奇。中國全國第一間大學未設在廣州,上海或北京,卻設在登州,成立於1876年即清光緒二年。這所學校設在一間久已荒蕪的廟堂裏,原名“觀音堂”,就中學以上設立了文學院,六年後即1882年(光緒八年)才正式宣告成立,定名為“文會館”,兩年後,學生達七十名。1865年,美國傳教士狄考文在登州初設此小學,同年,另一位傳教士郭顯德在煙台也設了小學,兩位不約而同,多年後各設四年制的中學。狄考文在登州設大學約四年後,郭顯德也在煙台所設的中學以上加設兩年制的神道學科和師範科,取正名“會文書院”,成立於1886年。


郭顯德

狄考文

  狄考文博士和郭顯德博士可說是志同道合;同年出生,既同為美國賓州人,本已婚娶,但皆無子女,又於1863(同治二年)同船自紐約啟行前來煙台。他們不但各自興辦教育,且領導救災工作,例如1876至1877年的旱災,1889至1890年山東東部的旱災,中部的水災,是年兼有蝗蟲為患。在工作目標上兩人的分別的顯明是狄考文專心發展登州的大學,郭顯德在山東東部推廣小學教育,着重鄉區及附近各縣。
  狄考文在登州廣攬人才:舉人,廩生,秀才(縣學的畢業生,俗稱秀才),成為他私人的教師,也在學校擔任功課。那時,英漢字典缺少,他迫得藉重英日字典,並聘請了一位日語老師。他在編譯科學課本的時候這些日語字眼非常切實而達意。狄考文刻苦用功,不出數年,他便精通了中國語言,全部“三字經”不但朗朗上口,且不出錯誤。他再經常對學生講解基督教義的同時也不時說出孔孟之道。他引經據典的古書是大學,中庸,論語和孟子,統稱四書。

專心致志

  狄考文的努力目標是在培養具最高道德觀的優良師資和專心傳揚基督教義的人才。他認為中國民間普遍存在的迷信風氣是社會進步與發展的最大的障礙,唯有將基督教傳開才能挽救。他相信科學足以改善生活和生存的環境,然後迷信可解,民生水準必然得以提高。他不主張學生必讀英語,除非在學術上有此需要。學生卒業後既在本國服務,因此英語不必列為必修課。基於此,他開始編寫中文教科書。
  1895年即光緒二十一年,他從事教書和寫課本工作已進入第三十四年,他寫的教科書已達二十八本,並已出版,其中八成是科學範圍的。另外有七本出版的書由他人出名,卻是經狄考文授意並指導才完成的。上海至少兩間著名的印刷出版商抄襲了他的著作,成為己出,因為那時還沒有“版權所有翻印必究”法規。狄考文除了教書和寫作,出版工作以外,他關心學生合作精神的啟發,組成學生青年會,以德,智,體三育為宗,學術探討與辯論會及其他會社,用以聯絡感情。他為學生設醫務室。他親自施局部麻醉,給學生拔除病牙,傷口敷藥,折骨上石膏和繃帶包紮等工作。
  他禁止學生吸煙飲酒,不拘在校內或校外,更進一步對學生在校外的非法活動也加調查。經常他以嚴肅的態度對待學生,在那個時代,一位校長必須維持應有的尊嚴。結果學生對狄考文既敬愛又懼怕,給他起一綽號“狄老虎”。每屆喧鬧的場面,祇要經一人喊出“老虎”,頓時全場鴉雀無聲,由此可見狄考文的威儀如何了。先嚴,慈皆先後負笈登州,家住煙台時期常有同學來訪,談及當年學校趣事,必津津樂道。
  1879年即光緒五年,他應邀返國去參加美國全國長老會的年會。會畢,他逕去費城負有盛名的包德溫火車頭製造廠(該廠創於1854年)去當學工,歷數月,俾將所學在登州教導學生並付實用。1893年,他前去芝加哥參觀美國全國的工業展覽,以便選購他在登州的工作兼研究室所需的設備。期前,他已購得化驗室應有的化學試藥,鍋爐帶蒸氣機,發電機,柴油機,電鍍設備,製螺絲釘機,氣銲設備,瓦,木,鐵匠應用的工具等。他走在時代的前面,那些設備就中國全國的校園來說應屬首屈一指。參加此次的工業展覽,他又添購了一些物理和生物課室應有的設備和器材。狄考文將他的工作兼化驗室每年一次做公開展覽,屆時必在會場上做講述。初度的展覽會留有紀錄:應邀的賓客和參觀的人數是一萬二千。

結誼駐軍

  登州區清軍的最高長官是宋慶將軍,在他的麾下有一名軍頭,名叫袁世凱,此人和狄考文交好。清軍沒有修械所,因此軍器的維修工作有賴於狄考文的相助。某次,清軍一士兵去尋花問柳,污辱了女校的學生,那時男生基於義憤,在街市上見了清軍就打,鬧得滿城風雨,雙方不可開交,結果狄考文和袁世凱兩人出來當了和事佬,卒化干戈為玉帛。
  十年的時光易過。袁世凱官運亨通,步步青雲。甲午戰爭(中,日為朝鮮而戰,陸,海兩方面中國大敗,事在光緒二十年即1894)時期,袁世凱已榮膺清廷駐朝鮮的總辦。


應狄考文之請求在山東保僑
成功致無一傷亡的巡撫袁世凱

  1900年義和團之亂時期,袁世凱任職山東省巡撫。那時在山東內地工作的西方傳教士與家屬安全難保,狄考文電致袁世凱求助,袁便應其所請,特派武裝兵士予以護衛,自起程地到壽光縣的海口羊角溝,時由煙台方面自己僱輪船來接。被救助的西人約七十餘,此全體照我曾見過。袁世凱又電請北洋水師統領薩鎮冰親率其座艦“海坼”前赴登州海岸將該地的傳教士與家人接送到朝鮮。今日北韓之都的平壤是當年美國長老會教區的中心。次年九月,中日合約成立,全部才返回登州。當時自登州撤退的西僑中有一個兩歲的男孩,那是後來舉世聞名的魯斯。他手創時代周刊,後來又創生活幸運,此三種周報和月刊是二次大戰前在美國以至世界最風行的雜誌。魯斯生於登州(九歲時在煙台讀書,十四歲才離開中國前往英國,後卒業耶魯),他的雙親都是男校,女校的教員。父親Henry Winters Luce被譯作路思義,正職牧師。此公最有募捐與說服的本領,給後來於1904年在濰縣建校(廣文大學)和1917年在濟南建校(齊魯大學)先後在美國募捐了約三十萬美元,當年乃是偌大的數字。
  在袁世凱的任內,山東全省在義和團之亂的時期無一西人傷亡。此情此德完全歸功於狄考文和袁世凱兩人之間存在的友誼。山東方面的安謐激怒了慈禧太后,氣得咬牙切齒,正欲召袁世凱前來北京治罪,卻不意八國聯軍忽臨城下,搗毀了宮殿與頤和園。慈禧離京逃難西去後予袁世凱治罪之議便悄然而廢。民國成立,袁世凱出任第一屆正式大總統。

功果互見

  1890(光緒十六年)在中國的基督教會成立一個翻譯聖經的委員會,因為當時沒有一個統一性的中文聖經,它是由華北,華南,華東各地的學者組成的,但工作推行遲滯,協調的意見和譯法不易達成。八年後,狄考文被選為主席,此後工作加速,每年在煙台或登州舉行會議一次,雖然每次辯論的氣氛總是緊張。又過了十年即1908年,在狄考文因逝世而卸任的時候,“新約全書”已經完成。“詩篇”的譯本也近完成中。“新舊約全書”的完成和正式版又過了十多年才得實現。那就是今日習稱的“和合本”,被國內外中國基督徒所認為最標準的譯本。

  在狄考文創立文會館擔任館長期間,他曾為本地商人設計了磨麥粉機,打穀去殼機,煤球機,麻繩機,織麻袋機。他認為改善民生和宣傳基督教義必須相輔而行,民生提高必會造成宗教深入民間的機會。在1882年還未宣佈成立大學之先,已經有十一名學生通過了同等學歷的大學考試。在大學成立後直到狄考文於1895年請辭,八年之間,大學卒業考試合格的共有68名,加上前期的11名,共為78名,其照片及簡歷全部載於“文會館志”。
  狄考文於1895年辭職辦教育的史實是在說明他從事小,中,大學的教育工作完成了三十年,包括十一年致力於大學。他決定將生命的餘年從事化驗工作室,寫作,翻譯,演講,出版教科書,證道,旅行等。他研讀中國文字和古書已屆二十五年,就其所得寫書一本(Mandarin Lessons),中文名“官話問答”讀者須價購。此書一度洛陽紙貴,風行一時,狄考文將利潤贊助在校的苦學生,和支付他化驗工作室的額外開支。

承先啟後

  狄考文的後繼人是赫士,在他負責文會館(當時稱館長)的第六年,應山東巡撫袁世凱的請求前去濟南設立“山東高等學堂”,那是山東大學的前身。1901年,也就是義和團之亂以後八國聯軍入北京的第二年(光緒二十八年),有五位文會館的優秀畢業生隨行。赫士創校的同時,他舉辦成功山東全省的第一間日報。他上書清廷請全國參照世界的習慣宣佈星期日休假,清廷採納了他的意見,通令全國一體遵行,並致書赫士表示嘉獎。

  1901年柏爾根接替赫士的工作。三年後,應時勢的需要,文會館的大學部遷往濰縣。此時(1904),德國修築的膠濟鐵路完成,濰縣(今濰坊,係濰縣和原坊子合稱)接近山東和鐵路的中部,是為交通要衝。同時文會館決意和原在青州(今益都)英國浸禮會所創辦的廣德書院合併,各取一字,命名“廣文大學”,包括三個學院:文科(又稱文理科),神道學和醫科,此時全體學生總數是120名。遷校的第二年,狄考文才將他的化驗工作室遷來濰縣,原因是交通不便,運輸大半借重騾馬的馱負。狄考文在室前加築了一座美國式風車汲井水的設施,成為當時的一特景,也是濰縣東南區的標誌。廣文大學的校園那地址取名“樂道院”。


1904年遷校濰縣廣文大學的禮堂
狄考文七十壽辰滿清官員來賀


廣文大學的管理及教學樓

  1903年,在文會館遷校的前一年,狄考文應邀出席參加假洛杉磯市美國長老會的全國會議,他拒絕了主席名銜及任務,因為他在1863年離開紐約以前已經公開許下願望:“我終生將為中國人工作,死於斯,葬於斯!”他認為在以後的數年裏從事翻譯聖經,並擔任委員會的主席的任務比在美國擔任長老會的主席更重要。1906年,當“新約全書”完成時,他已經召集譯經委員會八次,每次歷時兩至六個月,假北京,登州和煙台三地舉行。
  1908年,那次委員會在煙台召開,狄考文罹病,可能為阿米巴性痢疾。此病在當時無藥可治,被稱絕症。他前往青島德國醫院就醫,不幸遽逝,享年七十三歲。遺體海運煙台等候禮畢下葬。先嚴是狄考文的學生,於1908年卒業於濰縣廣文大學,時正供職保定陸軍師範,聞訊趕赴煙台主持中國人予他的紀念儀式。下葬前的團體照片的註腳為先嚴用毛筆寫出“西曆一千玖百零八年十月四號狄大牧師葬於煙台玉皇頂圖”,共二十六個字。從照片上我認得出,先嚴的上半身正對着行將下葬的棺木。

山東大學

  柏爾根於1915年病歿下葬濰縣。兩年後,校遷濟南,南京,北京,瀋陽,漢口四間醫專全部遷此合併成立齊魯大學,因此增加了十個以上西方差會的支持。五十年代,齊魯被迫關閉,校址今為山東大學的所在。


先文會館,次為廣文,至終成立齊魯大學-今山東大學校址


路思義牧師

  齊魯大學校園裏有兩座科學大樓,一為狄考文紀念館,另一是柏爾根紀念館。飲水思源,廣文和齊魯兩校舍建築經費的募集,路思義厥功甚偉。後來路思義北上北京,助史徒雷登建設燕京大學,在美國又募得鉅款。校園裏有魯斯紀念館即為明證。父子的中譯法不同:父親是路思義,兒子被譯作魯斯,那紀念館是兒子的贈物。魯斯生於蓬萊,前面已有所述,他是時代周刊生活幸運共三種雜誌的創辦人兼主管。路思義在華工作的晚期患胃潰瘍,提前退休返國。他逝於日本偷襲珍珠港(1941年12月7日)同日的晚上,顯然因為受了震驚。那夜,座上客林語堂為其中之一。兒媳魯斯夫人是美國有史以來的首任女性國會議員,首任女性駐外大使。他自1953年膺任駐意大使,1957年卸任返國。
  二次大戰日本與中國的盟國交戰時期(1941-1945)濰縣原廣文大學即“樂道院”,被改做俘虜營,日本軍方將在全華北的盟邦僑民老少約1500人集中管理於此直到勝利以後於1945年八月十七日才被釋放了。關於盟邦僑民被拘的始末和營中情況的記載很多,其中最有名的兩本書其一為紐澤西州女議員戴愛美所寫(A Song of Salvation at Weihsien Prison Camp),另一的著者是英國的柯喜樂,他寫書十本以上。兩位都是中國出生。
  前面曾提到赫士。他繼狄考文任文會館的館長六年,為袁世凱設山東高等學堂,後來創設華北神學院於山東滕縣。赫士和夫人被拘於濰縣集中營,不介意於國際紅十字會主持下的美日兩國俘虜的交換機會,拒絕返國,俾於戰後繼續在中國工作,但不幸於勝利前一年逝於濰縣,幸有他的兒子在側,年邁的赫士夫人得有照顧。

值得懷念

  1980年代,我多次向費城的長老會史學會索取資料俾可寫一篇紀念狄考文生平的中國文章。我見賓州首府哈城有許多狄考文同姓的人,便試以電話相詢,卻不料沒有一戶人家知道1863年來華興學傳教編寫教科書那位名叫狄考文的其人其事。原來哈城就是狄考文生長的地方。狄夫人一生未育,自始至終在女校工作,比狄考文早逝約十年,雙雙俱下葬煙台毓璜(玉皇)頂的北麓。此墳地距我家不足一英里。雖他在我出生七年前已逝世,但他生平的事蹟,形像,對學生和一般中國人的關心愛護,經過長輩們的述說總是常駐我心。在我家客房裏牆上所懸掛的紀念相片,狄考文的半身照就在其中。


狄考文晚年最後一張照片

  那時代,各地需求合格的師資甚殷,狄考文的學生最合需要,畢業生應聘各大專校:京師大學堂即北大的前身(自開學算起,兩年後八國聯軍的德,俄兩國強佔為駐軍養馬之地),上海聖約翰大學,保定陸軍學堂,雲南講武堂(軍專)及其他著名專校與中學。我曾在煙台讀益文商專的中學,當時數,理,化,生物等科的老師各皆畢業於登州文會館或濰縣廣文大學。
  狄考文畢生工作於中國滿了四十年。根據他的自述,估計在中國旅行一萬二千英里,對學生講話除外,演說與證道8,000次。狄考文未寫自傳。他一生尊孔子為大師和聖人。他步伐與孔子同,“其為人也,發憤忘食,樂以忘憂,不知老之將至”,享年也同是73歲。
  最近,狄考文的老同工郭顯德的墓碑已被發現,因此我函煙台史志辦公室的劉銘偉主任請求在原美國墓地帶代為查找。他覆信說明,那原墓地早經剷平,居其上的是成行的高樓大廈。郭顯德的墓碑是在此山上警備區院裏被發現的。當日何人為何將郭公的墓碑私藏彼處而保存至今?此謎已不可解答。狄公之墓碑既不可尋,故特寫此文以誌紀念。

The First College In China

Moses Chu

The Beginning

  Since ancient times until the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chefoo (now Yantai) was within the prefecture of Tengchow, a name that ceased to exist once China became a Republic in 1911. Presently, Tengchow (now Penglai, located 40 miles west of the city of Yantai) is within the district government of Yantai. As I write about my hometown, Chefoo, Tengchow is naturally included.
  It is amazing that the first college in China was established in Tengchow in 1876, and not in Canton, Shanghai and Peking. It was built on the ruins of the “Temple of Goddess of Mercy.” But the name, Tengchow College of Liberal Arts, was not formally given and declared publicly until 1882, the second year in the reign of Emperor Kuang Hsu. In two years, the college enrollment reached 70. Schools of the early 1860s in Tengchow, like the Hunter Corbett School in Chefoo, were only 6-year primary and 4-year middle schools. When Calvin Mateer, the founder and principal of the boy's school, formerly established a college in Tengchow, Hunter Corbett added new classes in theology and teacher training at his school in Chefoo. The Chefoo School was then renamed as the “Hunter Corbett Academy” in 1886.
  Hunter Corbett and Calvin Mateer had many things in common; both were born in Pennsylvania in the same year, received D.D. degrees, married but without children and came to China in 1863 by the same boat. There had been a very close relationship and cooperation between them. Along with other colleagues, they worked together in disaster areas of Shantung province during the famine of 1876-1877 and in other areas struck by flooding, drought, and the plague of locusts in 1889-1890. But unlike Hunter Corbett in opening pre-college schools all over the eastern Shantung, Calvin Mateer did not expand his activities of opening a college elsewhere other that in Tengchow and its adjacent areas.
  Mateer hired accomplished scholars – Xiu Cai, Lin Sheng, and Ju Ren as his tutors and school-teachers. At the time, since an English-Chinese dictionary was not available, he had to manage the class using a Japanese-English dictionary and engaged a Chinese language tutor to help in his work. This was particularly essential when he wrote science textbooks. In a few years, his hard work enabled him to gain mastery over the Chinese language. He studied many Chinese classics; he was able to recite the San Zi Jing, or three-characters classics, without mistakes. In his speeches and sermons he often quoted the teaching of both Confucius and Mencius from “The Four-Books:” the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, and the Book of Mencius.

Dedication

  Mateer's aim was to create the best teachers of the highest academics and moral standards, and to train pastors to spread Christianity in China. His opinion was that since social superstitions had held the China back from keeping up with the developing world, this situation could be improved only by spreading the doctrine of Christianity. He also believed that only the science could make the people and the country productive by improving the living conditions and intellectual standards. He insisted that English should not be taught to Chinese, unless it was absolutely necessary, because the graduates should teach and serve the common people in China. In order to achieve his goal, he started to write textbooks in Chinese.
  1895 marks Mateer's 34th year of writing and teaching. He set a record of finishing 28 books, duly published, for middle school and college students. 80% of the 28 were books on science. Seven other books were written or compiled by his colleagues and students under his initiative and guidance. Prominent text book publishers in Shanghai found these books a great resource of literature and enjoyed the fact that these materials could be copied free of copyright issues. In addition, He organized news clubs, a YMCA, a debating society, etc. in the school. He opened a small pharmacy for the students. He administered local anesthetics for tooth extraction, dressed wounds and applied plaster casts.
  Mateer forbade the use of tobacco and alcohol either inside or outside the campus. Often he made inquires into the conduct of his students. Usually he was stern and serious in manner, a splendid image in those days of a school principal. So much respect, love and fear were interwoven the minds of his students, thereby earning him a nickname of “Di Lao Hu.” His name in Chinese was Di Kao Wen, with Di as his surname. His nickname meant “Di, the Tiger.” At any noisy gathering of students, one only had to utter the words “Lao Hu” for a prompt hush to follow. Both my parents were educated in Tengchow and many interesting stories were told of him whenever their former schoolmates or friends came to visit.
  In 1879, Calvin Mateer went back to the United States to attend a general meeting of the Presbyterian Church. After the meeting, he entered the renowned Baldwin Locomotive Works (established in 1854) in Philadelphia as a trainee for several months, so that his experience could be used in Tengchow. In 1893, he attended The Industrial Exhibition held in Chicago to buy instruments and equipment for his workshop and laboratory at Tengchow College. Previously, he brought to Tengchow testing chemicals, a boiler with a Watt engine, a dynamo, a diesel engine, electroplating equipment, screw machine, gas-welding and tools needed for masonry, blacksmithing, and carpentry. In those days the brand new setup was probably a prototype and the first of its kind in China. He brought enough instruments for his physics and biology classes. Once a year there would be a day for showing his workshop to the public; some 12,000 visitors saw his first exhibition, and he was always there to answer questions.

Relations with Chinese Military

  Mateer often helped the local military in doing repair work. A friendship developed between he and Yuan Shih-Kai, and officer under General Sung Ching, the regional military commander. Once a soldier behaved badly to a female student and some of the male students came to her rescue. This triggered a fight between soldiers and students, and became a very serious incident. Finally an amicable settlement was reached through the meditation of Calvin Mateer and Yuan Shih-Kai.
  More than 10 years passed. During this period, Yuan Shih-Kai earned many promotions. He was the viceroy in Korea during the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 and then the governor of Shangtung province. During the time of the Boxer Rebellion (1900) when the missionaries and their families were in grave danger, Calvin Mateer wired Governor Yuan Shih-Kai for help. Yuan sent soldiers to escort the evacuees who were traveling from interior cities to Yang-jue-Gou aboard a steamer for Chefoo. I have seen this picture showing over 70 people, including children. Yuan Shih-Kai also asked Admiral Sa to dispatch the flagship Hai-Chi to Tengchow in order to accommodate evacuees going to Korea. On arrival in Korea, they took temporary lodging in the Presbyterian Center in Pyongyang, (now the capital of North Korea) until the peace treaty was signed in September of the following year. Among the evacuees from Tengchow was the two-year-old Henry Robinson Luce, who later became the founder of Time, Life, and Fortune, the most popular magazines in the United States before WWII. This child was born in Tengchow, and his father Henry Winters Luce was also a Presbyterian missionary and a teacher at Tengchow College. By virtue of his influence and efforts in the United States, he later raised a large sum of money for the college.
  Under Governor Yuan Shih-Kai, no foreigners were harmed during the Boxer Rebellion throughout the Shangtung province. The friendship that existed between him and Calvin Mateer was the primary factor. This particular development in Shangtung angered the Empress Dowager Tsu-Hsi who wanted the governor to be summoned to the capital (Beijing) for punishment. However, before this could happen the joint force of the eight foreign powers had already invaded and occupied the capital, ransacking the palace and the summer palace of Yi-he Yuan. The Empress Dowager had to flee the capital. Later, the case against Yuan Shih-Kai was quietly dropped. When China became a republic in 1911, Yuan Shih-Kai was chosen to be the first president.

Community Service

  In 1890, a committee for translating the Bible was formed by scholars from the eastern, central, and northern provinces of China. Little progress was made until Calvin was elected as the committee chairman in 1898. The committee convened once a year, mostly in Tengchow and Chefoo with diverse opinions expressed in a tense atmosphere. The translation work moved very slowly. At the death of Calvin Mateer in 1908, only the New Testament was completed and the Book of Psalms barely completed. It took more than ten years for the translation of the first Chinese Bible to be completed and published for the first time. It was called the “He-He-Ben” or The Union Version, a standard translation that is considered the best version and is still used throughout the world by Chinese speaking Christian churches.
   When Calvin Mateer was the principal of the Tengchow College, he designed gratuitously for the local businessmen a grain grinder, husking machine, coal-ball making machine, hemp twisting and weaving machines for making bags. His conviction was that improvement of the livelihoods for the common people should go side by side with the spread of the Gospel and that the former would automatically promote the latter. Prior to establishing the school's formal status as a college in 1882, 11 students had already successfully passed the college examination. During Calvin Mateer's tenure at Tengchow College, 68 students graduated between 1887-1895 (the year of Mateer's resignation). This makes a total of 79 graduates. Their names and individual photographs appeared in “The Chronicles of the Tengchow College.”
   Due to the heavy burden at school, Calvin Mateer decided in 1895 to resign and transfer his duties to his assistant, Watson M. Hayes, D.D. After the completion of educational works for 30 years including 11 years as the principal of the College, he wanted to have enough time to work in his laboratory and workshop and to write, teach, translate, publish, preach, travel, etc. Through his experience of 25 years in language studies he wrote a book entitled “Mandarin Lessons” which was sold and read widely. He used the profits for helping poor students and for new purchases for his workshop.

Transition Years

  Mateer's successor, Watson M. Hayes, left Tengchow College to establish a provincial college in Tsinan (Jinan, the provincial capital) in 1901 at the invitation of Yuan Shih-Kai, the governor of the Shantung province. He brought with him five former graduates of Tengchow College to assist him, working as teachers. He successfully established the college in Tsinan, and also founded the first daily newspaper in the province. He made a proposal to the Manchu Royal Court that, following the international custom, Sunday ought to be declared a day of rest throughout the country. This was finally adopted with a letter issued to him expressing appreciation.
   Watson M. Hayes was succeeded by Paul D. Bergen, D.D. as the principal of the Tengchow College in 1901. After three years, he supervised and undertook the task of moving the college to Weihsien (now Weifang) in 1904. Weihsien was halfway by rail between Tsingtao(Qingdao) and Tsinan. Simultaneously, the Tengchow College merged with a college founded by British Baptists in Tsingchow(now Yidu). Taking one Chinese character from each former school created a new name, “Guang Wen,” The new school became a university with arts, theological and medical colleges with 120 students. It took one more year for the laboratory and workshop to be moved and set up in the new college campus, due to the limited transport using only mules. Calvin Mateer erected a windmill near his workshop, a landmark visible for few miles southeast of the city of Weihsien. The campus was named “Le Dao Yuan” or “The Courtyard of the Happy Way.”
   In 1903, one year before the college moved to Weihsien, Calvin Mateer attended an annual general meeting of the Presbyterian Church held in Los Angeles. He publicly declined to be nominated as the Chairman. He stood by the vow he made in New York before his departure in 1863, “I shall work among the Chinese people, die, and be buried there.” His service as the Chairman of the Bible Translation Committee was an important contribution in the coming years. By the time the translation of the New Testament into Chinese was completed in Chefoo during the summer of 1906, the committee had met over eight times for 2-6 months each time in Peking (Beijing), Tengchow, or Chefoo.
  In 1908, the committee meeting was held again in Chefoo when Mateer was ill, presumably from amoebic dysentery, a deadly disease in the absence of a proper cure in those days. He went to Tsingtao and entered a German hospital for treatment but died there at age of 73. His casket was brought to Chefoo for burial. My father, a graduate in 1908 of the college, and then a teacher of science in the Paoting Military Officers' Training College, rushed back to Chefoo to attend the memorial and burial ceremonies. In a particular picture I was able to identify him in the front among a group of mourners. His writing using a brush pen on the bottom of the picture reads, “On October 4th, 1908, the Burial of the Most Reverend Dr. Calvin Mateer took place at Temple Hill Cemetery, Yantai.”

Shandong University

  In 1915, Paul Bergen, the principal of the Guan Wen University, died after a short illness and was buried in Weihsien. In 1917, the college moved to Tsinan and merged with medical colleges from Hankow, Nanking, Peking, and Mukden, giving a new name “Cheeloo University” with additional support from over ten foreign missions. The site is now being used by Shandong University.
  On the campus of Cheeloo University, two memorial buildings were built named after Mateer and Bergen respectively. Henry Winters Luce traveled to the United States several times with much success to raise large sums of money for the construction of the new campus in Tsinan. He later went to Peking to help Leighton Stuart, the principal of the Yencheng University, again to raise money in order to add new buildings including the Luce Hall donated by his son, Henry R. Luce, the managing director of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines. The senior Luce had to retire early, having suffered peptic ulcers for many years. He died the night of the Pearl Harbor incident on December 7, 1941, in his son's home in Greenwich, Connecticut, obviously due to shock and grief. That night, Lin Yu-Tong was among the guests of the Luce family. His daughter-in-law, Clair Boothe Luce, was the first congress-woman and lady ambassador in U.S. history. She held the post of ambassador to Italy from 1953 to 1957.
  During WWII (1941-1945) after the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan, the old Le-Dao-Yuan campus was turned into an internees' camp by the Japaness military. Nationals of all allied countries from north China were imprisoned there until its liberation on August 17, 1945. There were about 1,500 internees. Many books were written about the life in the camp, by famous writers such as Mary T. Previte of New Jersey, now an assembly woman in the state council and Dr. Norman Cliff of England, a retired church minister and the author of more than ten books. Both of them were born in China.
  Watson M. Hayes was the founder and principal of the North China Theological Seminary established in Tenghsien. He and his wife were interned by the Japanese military in the Weihsien Internee's Camp. For many reasons he refused to de repatriated under the “Prisoners Exchange Project” organized by the International Red Cross. Aside from Mrs. Hayes, his son accompanied him in the camp. He died in 1944, just one year before the liberation.

Remembrance

  When I lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the 1980's, I obtained enough materials with the help of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia for writing Dr. Mateer's life story in Chinese. I made telephone calls to more than ten Mateer families in his hometown, Harrisburg, but none had any knowledge of this beloved and respected Calvin Mateer. He had no children and his wife of the first marriage who was teaching in the girl's school, died ten years earlier than Calvin Mateer. They both were buried in the cemetery on the north slope of the Temple Hill in Chefoo. This cemetery was less than one mile from my parents' house where I grew up. Even though his death occurred seven years before I was born, his image, work, and love for his students and the Chinese people is forever in my heart. In the sitting room of my parents' house in Chefoo, his photograph was one among many hanging on the wall.
  Demand for competent teachers was high in those days. Calvin Mateer's best students were eagerly invited to teach in the Capital University (1898-1900), the predecessors of the Beijing University, St. John's University, Paoting Military Academy, Yunan Military School, and many prominent middle schools. When I attended the middle school of the Yih-Wen Commercial College, practically all the teachers of science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology were his students, or graduates of the College in Weihsien.
  Calvin Mateer toiled in China for over 40 years. According to his own estimate, he traveled 12,000 miles and gave 8,000 speeches and sermons besides class lectures. But he did not write his own biography. Calvin Mateer admired the teachings of Confucius and often hailed him as a great teacher and saint. He followed the steps of Confucius: “A person who forgets to eat when he is buried in his work, who forgets all his worries when he is happy, and who is not aware at all that his old age is coming on!” They both lived to the same age-73.
  The recent discovery of the tombstone of Hunter Corbett, his colleague, prompted me to write to Mr. Liu Ming-Wei, the director of Yantai Local Chronicles office, requesting information on other tombstones in the cemetery. His explanation was that the former tomb area was leveled a long time ago and presently standing on the site are rows of tall buildings. In fact, none other than the Corbett's tombstone was found in the city garrison area. How and why only this particular one was preserved and protected is a mystery. When a memento like a tomb or tombstone is lost, all that can be done now is to have the story briefly retold.

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