The Founding of Peiyang University Department of Law: Oxford Style Legal Education in China (1895-1899)

• Author: Chen Li
• Pages: 228-244

228 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 9:227

THE FOUNDING OF PEIYANG UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT

OF LAW: OXFORD STYLE LEGAL EDUCATION IN CHINA

（1895-1899）

CHEN Li

Abstract

Peiyang University, established in 1895, was the first institute in

China to offer modern legal education. Several students who studied

law at the departm ent during its first four years, such as the

celebrated Chinese jurist Wang Chung Hui and his peers, w ould go

on to seek the advanced legal education in America with the

financial support from Chinese government, and earn the honour of

being the first Chinese scholars to receive Master of Laws and

Doctor of Civil Law degrees. Despite the historical significance of

law program’s early years, they have been neglected in previous

research. This paper strives to shed light on the foundation of

Chinese first law school, its faculty, curriculum, pedagogical

methods and quality of instruction.

I. INTRODUCTION

Peiyang University, established in 1895, known as Tientsin

University in the West, was the first institute in China to offer

modern legal education. As China’s first modern university, Peiyang

University was a groundbreaking and bold historic venture. Several

students who studied law at the department in the first four years of

its operation, such as the celebrated Chinese jurist Wang Chung Hui

and his peers, would go on to seek advanced legal education in

America with the financial support from Chinese government, and

earn the honour of being the first Chinese scholars to receive Master

of Laws and Doctor of Civil Law degrees. Despite its historical

significance, the first four years of the law program’s existence has

been neglected in previous research. Therefore, little is known

regarding the law school faculty, curriculum, pedagogical methods

and quality of instruction. On the 95th anniversary of Tianjian

University’s celebration in 1990, in order to publish an official

history of the university, a group of university historians conducted

an extensive research of various archives. Unfortunately, they did not

find any material capable of shedding light on the incipient years of

the law department’s operation, as the original school archival

records were entirely destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.1

Therefore, the University has no records regarding students’

admission and the date on which classes officially started in 1895.

1 TIANJIN DAXUE XIAOSHI BIANJISHI (天津大学校史编辑室), BEIYANG DAXUE - TIANJIN DAXUE

XIAOSHI DIYIJUAN (北洋大学-天津大学校史 第一卷) [THE HISTORY OF PEIYANG UNIVERSITY -

TIENTSIN UNIVERSITY VOLUME I], 15 (1990).

2017] THE FOUNDING OF PEIYANG UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF LAW 229

There is a serious gap in information related to the origin and initial

development of China's first modern legal education. The first few

graduates of the law department subsequently made a profound

impact on pushing forward China's educational, legal and diplomatic

modernization agenda. These precedent setters also became the first

few Chinese students to earn various levels of law degree in the US.

Therefore, it is essential to reconstruct this crucial chapter of history.

Since its establishment, Peiyang University faced skepticism

regarding its legitimacy as an institution that would provide adequate

career preparation for its students. Its creation was promoted by

Sheng Xuanhai, a high-ranking government official of those days,

and it came under the patronage of Wang Wenshao, a powerful

Northern Minister and Viceroy of Zhili Province. Sheng Xuanhuai

sent a proposal to establish this new institution to Wang Wenshao on

September 19, 1895. Wang endorsed the plan and memorialized the

Throne on September 30, 1895. His Majesty, by an imperial edict

issued on October 2, 1895, authorized the opening of the University

on the lines proposed by Sheng.2 It appears that the promoters of the

University were confident that his Majesty would sanction the

project, and thus the first news regarding the foundation of the

University came much earlier than the imperial edict. The project

was announced on September13, 1895.3 The Hong Kong Telegraph

reprinted news from the Peking and Tientsin Times regarding the

foundation of this modern University on September 17, 1895.4 It

reported that at its inception, Peiyang University would be under the

control of two Chinese Directors and one foreign President. The two

Chinese Directors, Wu Tingfang and Cai Shaoji, were not strangers

to progressive foreign education; they both had spent years in

England and America. Wu was the first Chinese who studied law in

England from 1874-1877, and afterwards qualified as an English

Barrister in January 1877. Cai was among the first contingent of

Chinese youth dispatched by the Chinese Government to be educated

in America in 1872. He completed secondary schooling at Hartford

Public High School and attended Yale College for three years before

being recalled by the Chinese Government in 1881. Charles Daniel

Tenney, a former missionary and educator, was named the first

President of Peiyang. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 29,

1857, he was one of four children of Daniel Tenney, a Presbyterian

minister, who studied classical course at Dartmouth College and

received theological training at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati. Tenney

was a founder of the Western College and Seminary for Women at

2 Id. at 15-16.

3 The Tientsin University, NORTH CHINA HERALD & SUPREME COURT & CONSULAR GAZETTE, Sep. 20,

1895, at 477.

4 Tientsin University, The Hong Kong Telegraph, Sep. 17,1895, at 2.