Traditional Learning in Shandong (1733–1901) The Luoyuan Academy () was established in Jinan in 1733 by an imperial edict from the
Yongzheng Emperor of the
Qing Dynasty. The governor of Shandong, Yue Jun (), received 1,000
taels of silver (approximately 37 kg) to fund the establishment of the academy. The incident, known as the "Jinan Missionary Incident" (), had considerable diplomatic repercussions for the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and the United States. The Luoyuan Academy was rebuilt in 1896 to become the largest institution of its kind in Shandong. Their journey had begun in New York on July 3, 1863, had taken them around the
Cape of Good Hope to Shanghai, and had ended with a shipwreck off the coast of Yantai. In the autumn of 1864, the Mateers opened an elementary school for boys, which was called Mengyang Educational Society (), in a
Guanyin temple that had been sold to them since there were insufficient funds for its upkeep as a temple. When
W.A.P Martin hired young professors of Western learning for the
Imperial University of Peking (the precursor of present-day Peking University), 12 out of 13 young professors hired were graduates of Tengchow College of Liberal Arts. The buildings on the new Cheeloo campus were designed by the architectural firm of
Perkins, Fellows, & Hamilton from Chicago. Cheeloo University attracted Chinese intellectuals and scholars. The writer
Lao She, author of the novel
"Rickshaw Boy" and the play
"Teahouse", taught at Cheeloo University (1930–1934) as well as at National Shandong University in Qingdao and other universities between 1934 and 1937. In 1937, when the Japanese forces occupied northern China during the
Second Sino-Japanese War, Cheeloo University evacuated to
Sichuan and operated on the campus of West China Union University Cheeloo University was dissolved in 1952. Its Medical School was fused with Shandong Provincial Medical College and the East China Norman Bethune Medical College to form Shandong Medical College (renamed into "Shandong Medical University" in 1985).
Formal Establishment (shown as
Emperor of China in 1916) drafted the charter for Shandong College.|237x237px The initiative for the founding of Shandong University (as Imperial Shandong University, ) in 1901 as a national, modern university came from
Yuan Shikai, then the governor of Shandong province. Yuan Shikai was the chief military modernizer of the late Qing Dynasty whose control over a powerful army combined with his personal ambition played a key role in the birth of the
Republic of China as well as its descent into warlordism in the early 20th century. (in red ink)|152x152px Yuan Shikai had been governor of Shandong Province since December 1899. He had been appointed to this post to quell the
Boxer Uprising in the province and to reassure the foreign diplomats in the country who were looking for quick decisive actions against the boxers. In 1901, the same year that marked the end of the Boxer Uprising, Yuan sent a draft for the university charter () to the
Guangxu Emperor and instructed Li Yukai, the magistrate of Penglai, to start preparations for the university. Hence, he invited the American Presbyterian missionary Dr.
Watson McMillan Hayes (, 1857–1944) who was then serving as president of Tengchow College had set a precedent for this arrangement. Hayes arrived in Jinan in July 1901 and started the preparations for the new college. As a consequence, Shandong University was closed on Sundays right from the start. Hayes went on to teach the Presbyterian Mission Theological Class in Chefoo (present-day
Yantai) and continued to work as a missionary and educator in Shandong until his death in a
Japanese internment camp in Wei County (present-day Weifang) in 1944. Imperial Shandong University occupied the premises of the Luoyuan Academy which had been renovated and extended significantly five years earlier. It was opened on November 13, 1901, in a ceremony attended by Governor Yuan Shikai. In 1904, Imperial Shandong University moved to new premises in the Ganshi Qiao () area of Jinan about 11 years after the German lease on the territory went into effect. In establishing the university, the German authorities took a much more accommodating approach towards the Chinese government than they had taken in the de facto annexation of the territory. The negotiations over the establishment of the school were led by sinologist
Otto Franke. Studies were organized in a "preparatory level" with a six-year (since 1911, five-year) curriculum for students aged 13 to 15 years and an "upper school". who had built a reputation mainly for ruthlessness, brutality, and colorful antics, ordered the fusion of six schools into a provincial Shandong University () in Jinan in 1926. In 1947, the Su Mingcheng Incident, in which an American seaman had killed a rickshaw puller after an argument, caused protests of the university students. Before the surrender of Japanese, in 1944, the Central China Bureau of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to establish Huazhong Construction University (华中建设大学) on the basis of the Huazhonga Party School. The school was located in Xinpu,
Xuyi County, in the border area of
Jiangsu and Anhui. In August 1945, the school moved to
Qingjiang City. In August 1945, the Shandong Anti-Japanese People's Government of the CCP established Shandong University in
Linyi, the capital of the communist base; to distinguish it from the National Shandong University, it was called
Linyi Shandong University. In early 1946, Peng Kang, the president of Huazhong Construction University, led the teachers and students of the university to merge into Linyi Shandong University. Shortly after Japanese withdrew from China, CCP and
KMT fought the
Chinese Civil War. In the summer of 1948, the East China Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party decided to establish East China University in
Weifang by combining the former Linyi Shandong University with Huazhong Construction University. After Jinan was taken by the communists, East China University moved to Jinan in November. In the winter of 1950, after KMT and
US Navy left Qingdao, it was ordered to move to Qingdao, and in 1951 it merged with Shandong University in Qingdao. Shandong University was also completely paralyzed by the events. The biology department was moved to Tai'an and merged into the Shandong Agricultural College.
Recent history (1980–present) Shandong University Weihai Campus was established in 1984. In 1985, Shandong Medical College was renamed Shandong Medical University. From 1986 to 1996, Shandong University underwent a period of rapid academic expansion. By 1997, is contained 14 colleges, 45 schools and offered 56 undergraduate program, 57 master's degree programs as well as 17 doctoral degree programs. Shandong University merged with Shandong Medical University and the Shandong University of Technology in 2000. With Shandong Medical University the former campus of Cheeloo University became part of Shandong University (as the West Campus, renamed Baotuquan Campus in 2009). The campus of Shandong University of Technology became the South Campus of Shandong University (renamed Qianfoshan Campus in 2009). Construction of the Xinglongshan Campus (then under the name "New South Campus"), a large new campus located in a mountain valley to the south of Jinan dedicated to education of first- and second-year undergraduate students, began in 2003. In July 2019, the university attracted controversy when it was reported that male foreign students were assigned three generally female Chinese "buddies" to help them with life in China. An application form for the study program even mentioned "making foreign friends of the opposite sex". The university subsequently apologized but dismissed reports of male international students being paired with three female domestic students, saying that the language on the application form was "improper expression" due to "insufficient checks". The incident led to complaints about foreign students receiving too many privileges.{{Cite news|url=https://shanghai.ist/2019/07/15/shandong-university-apologizes-for-pairing-male-foreigners-with-multiple-female-chinese-buddies/|title=Shandong University apologizes for pairing male foreigners with multiple female Chinese "buddies" == Reputation and ranking ==