SCIENCE & the city

A telescope in the hand of a statue of Xu Guangqi attracted the attention of my four-year-old son during a visit to the newly reopened memorial hall honor­ing the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) scientist. My son peered into the telescope and asked what the bearded grandpa was looking at with it.

This is no ordinary grandpa. Xu is often called the “Francis Bacon of China” or “the first Chinese who opened his eyes to the world” and the downtown area of Xujiahui is named after him. He was born in Shanghai in 1562, living in an era when interest in practical science was declining in China.

In 1600, on a trip to Beijing, Xu met the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci and converted to Catholicism. Ricci was a Renais­sance man of his time and shared his knowledge across a spectrum of science and humanities sub­jects with Xu.

Together, they translated several ancient Western texts, most nota­bly part of Euclid’s “Elements,” into Chinese. Xu became a scientist and scholar in his own right. He set up Western astronomy instru­ments in Beijing, experimented with cultivation of sweet potatoes in Shanghai to feed the starving, helped organize self-sufficient military settlements in Tianjin and authored many books on practical science, from agriculture and hy­draulics to the significant “Chong­zhen Almanac.”

When he died in 1633 in Beijing, Xu held minister-level positions and was buried in farmland in what was then western Shanghai. His descendants eventually settled there. The name Xujiahui means “gathering of the Xu family.”

After Shanghai opened its port in 1843, the Jesuits returned to Xujiahui in 1847 largely due to Xu. Xujiahui became a hub for the spread of science and culture. It was the home of China’s first li­brary, its first Western-style middle school, its first museum, its first modern publishing house, its first observatory and three of Shang­hai’s most important universities.

Today, some historical buildings from the “Xujiahui era” still exist and even newly open to the public.

Thinking of my son’s question, it occurred to me that the spirit and scientific curiosity of “Shang­hai Xu,” never taken seriously in his lifetime, should rightly be revived today as Shanghai strives to become a global hub for sci­ence, technology and innovative thinking.

Maybe what the bearded grandpa was gazing at through a 17th-century telescope was our future in the 21st century.

So this time, let’s embark on a journey to Xujiahui.

A red library fronted by a green lawn — this has long been among the most striking scenes at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Xujiahui campus. The library opened its top floor to the public as a museum last year to mark the 120th anniversary of the university.

“Now this beautiful heritage building not only conjures up memories, but also crystallizes the history of the university,” says research librarian Sheng Yi, former director of the Jiao Tong University History Museum and author of the book “Across Three Centuries: From Nanyang College to Shanghai Jiao Tong.”

The red-brick building was erected in 1919, replacing a small, dimly-lit room for storing books.

Jiao Tong University was founded in 1896 as Nanyang College by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) minister Sheng Xuanhuai, the then managing director of China Merchants Steam Navigation Co and Imperial Chinese Telegraph Co, to train talent for China’s modern industries. From 1904, control of the college transferred subsequently to the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Communications and lastly the Ministry of Railways. It eventually grew into the largest and best-equipped institution dedicated to engineering and technology in China.

A 1930 North-China Herald report noted that “the buildings and equipment of Nanyang University compare very favorably with that found in American universities of corresponding size. There are forty buildings on the campus. The library is a three-story building containing 39,000 Chinese volumes and 7,700 foreign volumes.”

Divided into five sections, the library is a Victorian-style building fashioned with red bricks and laced with white carvings. The entrance is graced by a porch of six light-hued classic orders, which support a large protruding balcony. The delicate, slender orders contrast with robust Roman-style columns fronting the 19th-century Middle Hall a stone’s throw away.

“The original plan had a grand French mansard with a dome to bring light in, which was dropped possibly due to budget concern. This Victorian library was built with donations from the society, which was unprecedented in China at the time,” states Cao Yongkang, a Jiao Tong University professor in architecture and author of the book “Architectural Charm of SJTU.”

The library plan was initiated in 1917, a difficult era when the university’s financial support from the Ministry of Communication was inadequate. The construction funds were raised mostly from individual donors, including the then premier Duan Qirui, relatives of university founder Sheng Xuanhuai, Chinese merchants like the Rong brothers (Rong Zongjing and Rong Desheng), as well as faculty and alumni.

The interior of the 2,687-square-meter library was plain and simple, decorated with dark-toned wood and a cast-iron staircase. A periodical reading room, two general reading rooms, two study rooms and a show room were built on its three floors.

According to the book “Old Houses, New Buildings,” tables and chairs were made of “extremely beautiful wood.” The reading rooms were constructed with pristine windows, white walls and glistening wooden floors. The windows offer views of a rockery, lush trees and tiny streams. With these contemplative touches, the library was indeed an ideal place for reading and thinking.

Professor Cao notes the presence of some “novel columns” in the reading rooms. “The slender octagon columns were made of steel and concrete, an avant-garde building material a century ago. Though the university was in a difficult transition period, this avant-garde material was used, which showed the scientific spirit of a university famed for its engineering education,” he explains.

Spirit of the ages

In 1934, a 550-square-meter fire-proof storeroom was added to the eastern façade to house a growing number of book collections on subjects ranging from engineering, business management, science, as well as British and American novels.

President Tang Wen-tche even sent a graduate named Du Dingyou to the Philippines to study library science to help manage the facilities at Jiao Tong. After attaining China’s first bachelor’s degree in library science in 1921, Du returned to serve here, becoming a renowned librarian afterward.

“With donations from the premier to tycoons, this library showed society’s expectations for this university, which was founded to achieve the goal of ‘saving China by engaging industry’,” says librarian Sheng.

“I’ve interviewed many alumni. No matter whether they are white-haired or middle-aged, they cherished most their memories of this library, where they swam freely in the sea of knowledge ...” explains Sheng with a laugh. “Renowned missile and space scientist Qian Xuesen, who graduated with a mechanics degree in 1934, recalled reading every kind of book at this library — including books on science engineering and literature — because he felt his mind was not ‘filled’ by his daily courses. Later he was renowned for his wide scope of knowledge in many fields, which was partly due to this library.”

Professor Cao adds that the library kicked off a golden era of construction at the Xujiahui campus in the 1920s and 1930s. Today the campus is dotted with 14 buildings erected between 1899 and the 1950s.

“Most Chinese universities of the same period had a well-planned campus and buildings in almost uniform style, such as Wuhan University or Tsinghua University. But Jiao Tong University is rather different,” he says.

“With only a rough campus plan, buildings were erected about every 10 years in styles that were in vogue at those times — from the 19th-century Renaissance-style Middle Hall, this Victorian library and the Art Deco engineering building to the two 1950s-era buildings that carried a strong influence from the Soviet Union. The campus is like a museum that mirrors the evolution of architecture in modern China over the past century,” he adds.

In 1985, the university erected a new, taller library. The old library then became home to the university’s archive department and history museum, which reopened with new exhibits after a restoration to celebrate the school’s 120th anniversary last April. Sheng says it’s still a favorite place for returning alumni to visit.

In April 1930, the university also held a major celebration of its 34th anniversary, which was recorded by the North-China Herald.

“The beautiful big campus with its green lawns and red brick buildings looked very gay with paper lanterns of every color lining all the roads and paths,” the paper wrote.

A letter from the Minister of Railways, Sun Fo, and the President of the University was read at the ceremony. VIP guests also spoke of the immense advantages of the school’s students and the strong reputation of the college, which aimed to become one of the best science universities in the world.