Aurora University (Shanghai)

Aurora University (French: Université l'Aurore, Chinese: 震旦大學; pinyin: Zhèndàn Dàxué) was a Catholic university in Shanghai from 1903 to 1952.^[1]

Aurora University

Université l'Aurore
Aurora University, circa 1940
Other name	Zhendan University (震旦大學)
Active	1903 (1903)–1952 (1952)
Founder	Ma Xiangbo, SJ
Religious affiliation	(Jesuit)
Location	Shanghai , China
Language	Chinese

Aurora University
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	震旦大學
Simplified Chinese	震旦大学
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhèndàn Dàxué Wade–Giles Chen4-tan4 Ta4-hsüeh2
French name
French	Université l'Aurore

History

The university was founded on 27 February 1903 by Ma Xiangbo and French Jesuits. In 1905, Ma resigned to establish Fudan University, and Aurora was thereafter run by French Jesuits until the success of Communist Revolution. From 1908 onwards, it was located in Shanghai's French Concession.^[2]

After the May Fourth Movement rose up in 1919, some students from this university and other schools, including the Sino-French School of Shanghai and the Xu Jia Hui Catholic School, took part in "three-phase" anti-imperialist strikes – walkouts from workplaces, schools, and markets.^[3][4]

"By the 1940s, the institution had grown to become one of the largest, if not the largest, among Shanghai’s private universities and included faculties of Law, Medicine, Sciences, Applied Sciences, and Literature, along with a Preparatory Course, Women’s College, nursing program, dental training, a renowned natural sciences museum (Le Musée Heude), and a number of associated collèges and lycées in Shanghai and other cities throughout Jiangnan."^[5]

In 1952, Aurora University merged into East China Normal University and Fudan University, while the chemistry department was absorbed by the newly founded East China Institute of Chemical Technology and the medical school joined the Shanghai Second Medical College.^[6]

Notable alumni and faculty

• Brother Octavius William Borrell, Marist brother who taught at the university and who studied the flora of Shanghai in the 1940s and 1990s.
• Yosef Tekoah, former president of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
• Liu Na'ou, Taiwanese writer and filmmaker, studied there in 1926.

See also

• List of Jesuit sites