Wu Yi-fang
Wu Yi-fang was a prominent Chinese figure who is best known for her role as president of Ginling College and as the first and one of only four women to sign the UN Charter in 1945. Wu came from a well-educated family and throughout her life attended numerous schools in both China and America, which played a large role in her advocacy for women's education in China. This advocacy was most persistent and prominent in her role as president of Ginling College where she was able to actively integrate the educational policies she believed in.
Wu was also a significant Chinese diplomat abroad, especially in America, where she attained her MA and PhD in biology. The connections she made during her time at the University of Michigan through her leadership roles in student organizations enabled her to bridge the gap between Chinese and American networks with regard to education. Her role as a Chinese diplomat was most evident when in 1945 she was sent as the only woman part of the Chinese Delegation at the San Francisco Conference.
Wu Yi-fang is remembered as a dedicated president and diplomat, who consistently pursued greater access to education for women in China and abroad.
Early life and education
Wu Yi-fang was born the youngest of three children in Wuchang city, located in the Hubei Province in China. As she was born in the winter, her father, Wu Shou-xun ) nicknamed her “”, which translates as “Winter Born”. Wu came from a well-educated family: her grandfather was a magistrate in Jingzhou, Hubei, her father served as the director of Yali Bureau in Hubei, as well as a magistrate of Dangyang County, and her uncle was a famous scholar in Hangzhou. Wu was educated from a young age, studying at home with her brother at the age of seven, then attending Hangzhou's Hongdao Girls' School, Shanghai's Qiming Girls' School, and Suzhou's Jinghai Girls' School with her sister. As she frequently changed schools and moved cities, her experiences fuelled her curiosity about the world outside her home. With a scholarly family background, Wu was encouraged to bind her feet, like her mother had done in her youth. She would later realize she could not continue to pursue education with bound feet and began unbinding and lengthening her feet.In 1909, Wu's father was framed by his boss for “embezzling public funds”. In distress over the lost funds, he committed suicide by throwing himself into a river. Wu Yi-fang left her school, and the following year, she and her family moved to her mother's hometown in Hangzhou, relying on relatives to support them. After a year, they moved again to Shanghai with Wu's uncle, Chen Shu-tong and his family. On October 10, 1911, the XinHai Revolution broke out. Without hope of emigrating out of the country to escape the many uprisings and revolts at the time, her brother, Wu Yi-chu committed suicide by jumping into a river. Exacerbated by the deaths of her husband and her son, Wu's mother, who had fallen ill, died shortly after. The night before her mother's funeral, Wu's sister, Wu Yi-fen hung herself in despair. At the age of 19, Wu's brother, mother, and sister had died, all within a month.
Wu Yi-fang went to live with her uncle in Hangzhou, where she continued her studies at Hongdao Girls' School. A few years later, with her uncle's recommendation, she taught English at Beijing Women's Higher Normal School. She moved back to Shanghai in 1915, where she received a letter from Mary A. Nourse, an American professor at Ginling College, inviting her to study at the university. At Ginling College, in addition to being elected president of the first student self-government association, Wu led over 50 students to support the 1919 Beijing May 4 Movement. She was also introduced to Christianity by her classmate, Xu Yi-Zhen, and was baptized in 1918. On June 25, 1919, Wu Yi-fang was one of five graduates in the college's first graduation class and became one of the first female college students in China to obtain a bachelor's degree.
Following her graduation, Wu began teaching at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School, where she served as the director of the English Department. During this time, Mary Wooley, President of Mount Holyoke College visited the school. Impressed by Wu's work, Wooley recommended Wu for a Barbour Scholarship to the University of Michigan. In 1922, Wu Yi-fang attended the University of Michigan to study biology. In America, Wu served as president of the North American Chinese Christian Student Association, vice president of the Chinese Students Association in the US, and president of the Chinese Student Union of the University of Michigan. Wu earned her master's degree in 1924, and her doctoral degree in 1928, writing her dissertation on The Life History of the Black Fly,.
Career
Academic
Wu Yi-fang was the president of Ginling Women's College from 1928 to 1951. In 1928, Wu – a first class graduate from Ginling Women's College and had completed her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan – returned to China and accepted the position of president. Wu was the first Chinese woman to head a college, and often seen as one of the few female leaders in a male-dominated administrative body, Wu accomplished bold reforms in teaching and educational policies.Wu faced her first critical moment when a general wanted to occupy the headquarters temporarily for the warlord Yan Xishan. Through a reliable network of connections, she was able to reach out to the first college student, Y.T. Zee to arrange a conversation with the foreign minister. Although Ginling College was run as with a Christian background, the rise of Chinese nationalism and sinification led Wu to reframe the colleges’ vision. With the nationalist government, educational institutions could not be utilized to propagate religion. Hence, after meeting with the Ministry of Education in April 1929, Wu wanted to maintain the Christian spirit but the officials declined her proposition. After two years of working on officially registering Ginling as a national educational institution, she was able to register it as a college , however, not as a university since it did not reach the amount of departments needed for the government standards.
With a focus on the advancement of education, she readjusted teaching plans to reflect a modernized view. Only core majors were kept such as Chinese, English, History, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Sociology, Music and PE. To improve the academic standard and scientific research capacities, famous scholars, professors and highly trained experts were asked to work at the college. They also strived for a comprehensive educated that valued the integration of Chinese and western culture and built holistic knowledge. With the college's expansion and increase of sinification, Wu ensured a stable position in Christian, feminist and government-associated organizations in China.
Political
Wu Yi-fang began her political career in 1938 when she was chosen for the People's Political Council in place of the Chinese Communist Party delegation who declined to participate. Wu had a remarkable ability to remain composed in heated arguments and oftentimes effectively served as an arbiter between rivals. In her position, Wu sought to uphold and establish democratic values in China and often warned of the dangers of a political system which appoints its own representative, such as the CCP that was beginning to gain popularity in China in the late 1930s.After the Japanese surrender and subsequent retreat from Chinese territory, Wu Yi-fang became concerned with the growing “communist problem” within China. As a lifelong advocate for the benefits of an efficient democratic government, Wu viewed the CCP as yet another group seeking to consolidate power and believed that both the CCP and the Chiang governments were driven by their self-interests and would not be able to work together for betterment of the Chinese nation. Wu had also become quite critical of corruption and inefficiency within Chiang Kai-Shek's government. Wu believed that the communists were not successful at achieving support due to their ideology but rather due to the “continual poverty and skillful propaganda”. Although a prominent figure within the Chinese democracy, Wu's advice and calls for democratic change and reform were continuously ignored by Chaing Kai-Shek. As the communist victory over Chaing Kai-Shek became evident in 1949, Wu remained hopeful, hope which grounded in Chinese tradition and an effective education system. After the communist victory, Wu began to support that new government and changed her criticisms of the Communists to positivity, based on its ability to efficiently organize people and institutions. Wu began to take on an active role in the communist government and joined several committees such as the Nanjing Peoples Representatives in order to ensure that her advocacy for education continued to be heard.