Ginling College of Science for Girls

Ginling College of Science for Girls was a famous mission college for girls in modern China. It was opened in Nanjing in 1915.

The first principal of the college was Madam Matilda S. Calder Thurstors. It witnessed tremendous hardship during its development. At the beginning, there were only 6 teachers and shabby teaching equipment. There was only a common chemical laboratory, two pianos and a set of Encyclopedia Britannia. They enrolled 11 students for the first session and finally only 5 of them graduated. For the second session, they enrolled 20 students and only 8 graduated. The source of students was scarce and the students were a bit too old in age. After the May Fourth Movement in 1919, things became better. In 1920, there were 70 students and 16 teachers, including 5 Chinese teachers.

The fund of the college was mainly donations from the churches and aids from other universities. In 1923, the college moved to a new campus, which was larger and beautiful. Thus the college began to attract the attention of the upper class of China and the number of students further increased.

In 1930, the college was renamed as the Ginling College of Arts and Science for Girls and the college became increasingly bigger in scale. In education, it kept strong religious flavor and implemented strict management.