Nanjing University,
Zhejiang University,
Xiamen University,
Wuhan University and
Sun Yat-sen University were called "Five Mother Universities" after the university reorganisation, as the reorganisation sent off a large number of their academic divisions, weakening their academic strengths. For example, Nanjing University was divided into
Nanjing University,
Nanjing Institute of Technology,
Nanjing Agricultural College,
Nanjing Normal College. Nanjing University was relocated to the site of
Ginling College, with its original campus taken up by Nanjing Institute of Technology. Similarly, Zhejiang University was divided into Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Normal College, Zhejiang Agricultural College and Zhejiang Medical College, with
its own campus given to
Zhejiang Agricultural University. After the reorganisation,
Shanxi University,
Nanchang University,
Henan University,
Guangxi University and
Yunnan University, which were once regionally known universities, were no longer considered among prestigious universities, while the academics of
Fudan University was significantly strengthened.
Purge and suppression of dissents The
Thought Reform campaign starting in the fall of 1950 disabused university faculty members of any possibility of their ideas of the education being accepted by the new government. Thus, there was no significant protest against the reorganisation. The
China Democratic League was a party mostly formed by university professors and scholars, who hated autocracy and dictatorship. During the Hundred Flowers campaign, several members of the Democratic League proposed their suggestions on political reforms. Meanwhile, Mao ordered higher education institutions and democratic parties to organise talks in which they were allowed to express their criticism. As Mao said, "it is the best to allow the reactionary professors, teachers and teaching assistants to spit the toxin and talk as much as they want".
Criticism of John Dewey's pragmatism While the Soviet education theory was introduced to China,
John Dewey's education theory, which was once popular in China due to his book
Democracy and Education, came under attack.
Tao Xingzhi, who was hailed as the "people's educator" by the Communist media upon his death in 1946, also came under attack due to Dewey's influence on his education thoughts in 1950. Although John Dewey actually shared the belief in the unity of theory and practice with Karl Marx, the Communist government attempted to remove his influence in China. The critics against John Dewey later targeted
Hu Shih, another student of Dewey, in 1954 and 1955. According to Hu Shih, in the years of 1954 and 1955 alone, the Communist media wrote numerous articles with some three million words in total to criticise him, and each of the article also targeted John Dewey's education theory.
1955-57 relocation to inland China After the 1952 reorganisation, most universities still gravitated in major coastal Chinese cities. In 1955, there were 97 higher education institutions, around a half of the higher education institutions, located in 17 coastal Chinese cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, where 61.5% of Chinese college students were studying. Thus, the government further proposed that universities in coastal China should move to the inland and the existing universities in the inland should be strengthened. The government planned to relocate three universities from the coastal region to the West and to found 17 new universities in inland China and upgrade an existing institution as higher education institution. Thus, a number of industrial colleges specialised in topography, petroleum science, architecture, telecommunications, chemical engineering and power engineering were founded in Wuhan, Lanzhou, Xi'an and Chengdu, among which there were
Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering and
Chongqing Medical College. After the 1955-57 reorganisation, the number of universities and colleges in Shanghai was further reduced to 19, significantly fewer than 43 in 1949. Thus, a new Zhejiang University was formed on the basis of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University and Zhejiang Medical University. Wuhan University merged with Wuhan University of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping and Hubei Medical University. Sun Yat-sen University merged with Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences.
Jiangnan University and
Soochow University, which were cancelled after the 1952 reorganisation, were re-established in the 1990s through the amalgamation of local universities. == References ==