After the Opium War in 1840, the Qing Government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing. Fuzhou became one of the five treaty ports. Subsequently, the Treaty of Wanghia between China and the United States in 1844 gave foreigners the privilege of renting land for trade, preaching, and establishing schools in China.
That is why the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established the Fuzhou Mission in Fuzhou. In 1847, American missionary Stephen Johnson and his wife were sent to Fuzhou to build a church and Ponasang Primary School. Pastor Johnson was the head of the school, and students took the Bible as the main course and attended culture courses as well. It was the first modern school founded by the American church in Fuzhou, and in 1853, the school was renamed the Gospel House. After taking over as head of the school in 1858, Reverend Caleb Cook Baldwin accepted the advice of a teacher (who passed the imperial examinations at the provincial level in the Qing dynasty), named the school “Gezhi School” after the ancient maxim of “Things investigated, and genuine knowledge acquired ” from the Chinese Confucian classic, The Book of Rites. Later, the school was renamed Foochow College (Gezhi Academy in Chinese).
Before 1927, Foochow College was affiliated with the church, and its successive presidents were all American missionaries. In 1916, the middle school division was retained, and the school system was set to be six years. In fact, it had become a combined junior and senior high school.
In 1919, the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal May 4th Movement swept the whole country, and the Fuzhou Student Movement was launched in Fujian. On March 24, 1927, a total of ten graduates of the Foochow College, including Shao Chengzhang, Lin Chaohan, and others, founded the organization of Fuzhou Alliance for Anti-cultural Invasion and Recovery of Education Right, and the staff and students held up the anti-imperialist banner of fighting the cultural aggression and the recovering of the right to education. Fujian Provincial Government Affairs Committee decided, “No foreigner shall be appointed as chairman or president of the board of directors of schools.” On June 27, the decision was approved by the Provincial Government Affairs Committee. In the same month, the principal of Foochow College, Willard Livingstone Beard, was forced to resign, and the school board appointed Shen Zhizhong, the director of Fuzhou YMCA(Young Men’s Christian Association), as the principal.
Shen Zhizhong was born in Minhou, Fujian Province on August 29, 1890. At the age of seven, he began to study at a family school. Later, he graduated from Foochow College, being the 20th (or the 21st) batch of graduates of the school. After graduation, he went to the United States for further studies. During his studies in the United States, he received his master’s degrees from Yale University and the University of Minnesota. After returning to China, Shen worked as a secretary of Fuzhou YMCA, engaging in the dissemination of western culture activities, such as advocating for mass and civil education, scientific lectures, and caring for Christian students, which achieved remarkable results. Shen was also a member of the Board of Directors of Foochow College. He was appointed by the Board of Directors of Foochow College as the first Chinese principal of the school in June 1927, thus ending the history of the middle school in which only foreigners were allowed to serve as principal.
After taking charge of the college, Shen began to carry out school sports activities. Some students participated in the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Japan and the Philippines twice and were the champions in the pole vault and the champions in the high jump.
It is said “in 1927, the middle part of the second floor of the student dormitory of the Lincoln Building in Gezhi Middle School was burned, and one corner of the dining hall was blown up by grenades. Besides this, some teachers left the school and took some students with them. The school was forced to suspend all its classes”.
Shen felt that the matter was difficult and prompted his resignation. After his resignation, he returned to YMCA to work. In addition to spreading western culture, he also introduced foreign modern sports such as basketball, track & field sports, and swimming to Fuzhou, and promoted the publishing of Christian publications and news research.
In order to expand the influence of the YMCA, Shen went to southern Fujian to work. He was the director-general of Xiamen YMCA since 1934 and the head of Xiamen YMCA New Life and Labor Service Group since June 1935. He assisted the New Life and Labor Service Group of Zhangzhou Christian Church and more than 10 service groups to carry out the new life movement in urban and rural areas.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Shen guided the YMCA to devote itself to the Anti-japanese and national salvation movement. In March 1946, he became the director of Fuzhou Office of Zhejiang and Fujian Branch of the China National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) and the director of Fujian Provincial Emergency Relief Committee. He often went to Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places to raise funds and carry out relief work for soldiers in the Anti-Japanese War and students.
In 1948, Shen was sent by the Chinese Christian World General Association to serve as the director-general of the Singapore Chinese Church and the principal of the Singapore Chinese Journalism Institute to conduct research on Chinese news. In 1949, he represented Singaporean Chinese Christian leaders at the Southeast Asian YMCA Leadership Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. After the meeting, he said in an interview, “Only with the development of the World YMCA can people live in peace and work in peace...”
On August 17, 1964, Shen retired from his life in Singapore at the age of 74.
On March 17, 1942, after graduating from the China Bible Seminary in Shanghai, Shen Biyu, the eldest daughter of Shen Zhizhong, married Wu Naiwen, a native of Longshan Town, Nanjing County, Fujian province, who had graduated from the North China Theological Seminary in Teng County, Shandong Province.
Shortly after their marriage, they devoted themselves to preaching the gospel in Anxi and Tongan churches in the mountainous area of Southern Fujian Province. From 1945 to 1946, the couple served as missionaries at Guankou Church in Xiamen. In the winter of 1946, they and their two children went to Shanghai to visit relatives, and Wu studied at the China Bible Seminary in Shanghai for half a year and served as a short-term preacher in a Shanghai church. In May 1948, he was appointed to serve as a preacher in Shima Church. On October 16, 1949, Wu Naiwen was appointed as the fifth pastor of the church. On September 20 of that year, Shima was liberated from the Japanese invasion. After the founding of new China, the Chinese Christian Council launched the “Three-Self Patriotic Movement", and the Shima TSPM was also established.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
福州格致书院的历史
1840年鸦片战争之后，清政府被迫签订了《南京条约》，福州为五个通商口岸之一；嗣后，1844年的《中美望厦条约》给外国人在中国除通商租地、传教、建校的特权。
于是美国教会公理会布道会在福州设立福州差会，于1847年派传教士约翰逊夫妇分别到福州南台设教堂和保福山小学，约翰逊牧师为学校主理，以《圣经》为主课，兼修文化课。这是美国教会在福州创办的第一个近代学堂，1853年学堂更名为“福音精舍”，1858年摩嘉立牧师接任学校主理后，接受举人塾师建议，以中国儒学经典《礼记.大学》中“致知在格物，格物而后知至”的古训，取名格致学校，后又改为“格致书院”。
1927年前，福州格致书院的办学附属于教会，历任主理全部都是美国传教士担任。1916年“格致书院”保留中学部，定学制为六年，格致书院实际已成为一所完全中学。
1919年反帝反封建的“五四”运动席卷全国，福州学生运动如在八闽展开。1927年3月24日福州格致中学毕业生邵成章、林朝汉等十人成立“福州各界反文化侵略收回教育权大同盟”组织，师生举起反文化侵略、收回教育权的反帝旗号。福建省政务委员会作出决定：“学校不得由外国人充任董事长或主席”。6月27日获省政务委员会批准立案，同月格致书院主理裨益知被迫辞职，校董事会任命福州基督教青年会干事沈志中为校长。
沈志中生平
沈志中，1890年8月29日出生，福建省闽侯人。他自幼天资聪颖，七岁在家塾读书，后就读于福州格致书院，是该校第20届（亦有报道称21届）毕业生，毕业后赴美国留学。在美求学期间，取得美国耶鲁大学和美国明尼苏达大学硕士研究生学位。沈回国后，在福州基督教青年协会任干事，从事西方文化的传播活动，诸如倡导平民、公民教育、科学演讲、关爱基督教学生等工作，效果不凡。沈先生也是格致书院董事会成员，1927年6月被格致书院董事会聘任为该校首任华人校长，至此格致书院（中学）结束了外国人才能担任校长的历史。
沈主政格致书院后开展学校体育活动，有学生两次参加日本、菲律宾举行的远东运动会，蝉联撑竿跳冠军和跳高冠军。
“1927年格致中学林肯楼学生宿舍二楼中段被焚，膳厅被手榴弹炸毁一角，加上一部分教师离校外聘，並带去一部分学生，学校被迫停课”，沈深感办事棘手，引咨辞职。
辞职后的沈又回福州青年会工作，除传播西方文化外，还将国外现代体育项目篮球、田径、游泳等引入福州，并推动了基督教刊物书籍的文字出版和新闻研究等。
为了扩大青年会的影响，沈志中先后到闽南开展工作，1934年起任厦门基督教青年会总干事、1935年6月起兼任厦门青年会新生活劳动服务团团长，协助漳州基督教漳州堂新生活劳动服务团等10几个服务团队深入城乡开展新生活运动。
抗日战争爆发，沈热情指导各地基督教青年会投身抗日救亡运动，1946年3月沈志中任行政院善后救济总署浙闽分署福州办事处和福建省会急赈委员会主任，经常往返福州、杭州、上海、南京等地筹集善款，开展为抗战军人服务和学生救济工作等工作。
1948年，沈先生受中华基督教世界总协会差派到新加坡华人教会任总干事，兼新加坡华文新闻硏修院校长，开展华文新闻研究。1949年以新加坡华人基督教领袖代表参加（战后）在泰国曼谷举行东南亚青年会领袖会议。会后沈志中先生在接受《新闻学研究》记者采访时说：“唯有世界青年会事业的发展，人类始有和平安居乐业的生活……”
沈先生1964年8月17日在新加坡息了他世上的劳碌，享年74岁。
沈志中后人
沈志中长女沈碧瑜从上海中华神学院毕业后，1942年3月17日与就读山东滕县华北神学院毕业的福建南靖县龙山镇人吴迺（乃）文先生结为伉俪。
他们婚后不久，便投身在福建闽南山区安溪、同安教会传道工作，1945年至1946年吴乃文夫妇在厦门灌口教堂任传道，1946年冬，吴乃文夫妇和两个幼儿至上海探亲， 在上海中华神学院进修半年，并在上海教会担任短期传道工作。1948年5月，应聘为石码堂会任传道。1949年10月16日，吴乃文被按立为该堂第五任牧师。同年，9月20日石码觧放，新中国成立后，中华基督教发起“三自”革新运动，石码也成立“基督教三自革新爱国运动委员会”。
福州格致书院（中学）首任华人校长沈志中
After the Opium War in 1840, the Qing Government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing. Fuzhou became one of the five treaty ports. Subsequently, the Treaty of Wanghia between China and the United States in 1844 gave foreigners the privilege of renting land for trade, preaching, and establishing schools in China.
That is why the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established the Fuzhou Mission in Fuzhou. In 1847, American missionary Stephen Johnson and his wife were sent to Fuzhou to build a church and Ponasang Primary School. Pastor Johnson was the head of the school, and students took the Bible as the main course and attended culture courses as well. It was the first modern school founded by the American church in Fuzhou, and in 1853, the school was renamed the Gospel House. After taking over as head of the school in 1858, Reverend Caleb Cook Baldwin accepted the advice of a teacher (who passed the imperial examinations at the provincial level in the Qing dynasty), named the school “Gezhi School” after the ancient maxim of “Things investigated, and genuine knowledge acquired ” from the Chinese Confucian classic, The Book of Rites. Later, the school was renamed Foochow College (Gezhi Academy in Chinese).
Before 1927, Foochow College was affiliated with the church, and its successive presidents were all American missionaries. In 1916, the middle school division was retained, and the school system was set to be six years. In fact, it had become a combined junior and senior high school.
In 1919, the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal May 4th Movement swept the whole country, and the Fuzhou Student Movement was launched in Fujian. On March 24, 1927, a total of ten graduates of the Foochow College, including Shao Chengzhang, Lin Chaohan, and others, founded the organization of Fuzhou Alliance for Anti-cultural Invasion and Recovery of Education Right, and the staff and students held up the anti-imperialist banner of fighting the cultural aggression and the recovering of the right to education. Fujian Provincial Government Affairs Committee decided, “No foreigner shall be appointed as chairman or president of the board of directors of schools.” On June 27, the decision was approved by the Provincial Government Affairs Committee. In the same month, the principal of Foochow College, Willard Livingstone Beard, was forced to resign, and the school board appointed Shen Zhizhong, the director of Fuzhou YMCA(Young Men’s Christian Association), as the principal.
Shen Zhizhong was born in Minhou, Fujian Province on August 29, 1890. At the age of seven, he began to study at a family school. Later, he graduated from Foochow College, being the 20th (or the 21st) batch of graduates of the school. After graduation, he went to the United States for further studies. During his studies in the United States, he received his master’s degrees from Yale University and the University of Minnesota. After returning to China, Shen worked as a secretary of Fuzhou YMCA, engaging in the dissemination of western culture activities, such as advocating for mass and civil education, scientific lectures, and caring for Christian students, which achieved remarkable results. Shen was also a member of the Board of Directors of Foochow College. He was appointed by the Board of Directors of Foochow College as the first Chinese principal of the school in June 1927, thus ending the history of the middle school in which only foreigners were allowed to serve as principal.
After taking charge of the college, Shen began to carry out school sports activities. Some students participated in the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Japan and the Philippines twice and were the champions in the pole vault and the champions in the high jump.
It is said “in 1927, the middle part of the second floor of the student dormitory of the Lincoln Building in Gezhi Middle School was burned, and one corner of the dining hall was blown up by grenades. Besides this, some teachers left the school and took some students with them. The school was forced to suspend all its classes”.
Shen felt that the matter was difficult and prompted his resignation. After his resignation, he returned to YMCA to work. In addition to spreading western culture, he also introduced foreign modern sports such as basketball, track & field sports, and swimming to Fuzhou, and promoted the publishing of Christian publications and news research.
In order to expand the influence of the YMCA, Shen went to southern Fujian to work. He was the director-general of Xiamen YMCA since 1934 and the head of Xiamen YMCA New Life and Labor Service Group since June 1935. He assisted the New Life and Labor Service Group of Zhangzhou Christian Church and more than 10 service groups to carry out the new life movement in urban and rural areas.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Shen guided the YMCA to devote itself to the Anti-japanese and national salvation movement. In March 1946, he became the director of Fuzhou Office of Zhejiang and Fujian Branch of the China National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) and the director of Fujian Provincial Emergency Relief Committee. He often went to Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places to raise funds and carry out relief work for soldiers in the Anti-Japanese War and students.
In 1948, Shen was sent by the Chinese Christian World General Association to serve as the director-general of the Singapore Chinese Church and the principal of the Singapore Chinese Journalism Institute to conduct research on Chinese news. In 1949, he represented Singaporean Chinese Christian leaders at the Southeast Asian YMCA Leadership Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. After the meeting, he said in an interview, “Only with the development of the World YMCA can people live in peace and work in peace...”
On August 17, 1964, Shen retired from his life in Singapore at the age of 74.
On March 17, 1942, after graduating from the China Bible Seminary in Shanghai, Shen Biyu, the eldest daughter of Shen Zhizhong, married Wu Naiwen, a native of Longshan Town, Nanjing County, Fujian province, who had graduated from the North China Theological Seminary in Teng County, Shandong Province.
Shortly after their marriage, they devoted themselves to preaching the gospel in Anxi and Tongan churches in the mountainous area of Southern Fujian Province. From 1945 to 1946, the couple served as missionaries at Guankou Church in Xiamen. In the winter of 1946, they and their two children went to Shanghai to visit relatives, and Wu studied at the China Bible Seminary in Shanghai for half a year and served as a short-term preacher in a Shanghai church. In May 1948, he was appointed to serve as a preacher in Shima Church. On October 16, 1949, Wu Naiwen was appointed as the fifth pastor of the church. On September 20 of that year, Shima was liberated from the Japanese invasion. After the founding of new China, the Chinese Christian Council launched the “Three-Self Patriotic Movement", and the Shima TSPM was also established.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Shen Zhizhong, the First Chinese Headmaster of Foochow College
