The following article on the Harvard. Yenching Institute of Chinese Studies was written for the Crimson by Professor G. H. Chase '96, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The late Charles M. Hall, inventor of the modern processes for making aluminum, left in his will a very substantial bequest to the trustees of his estate, Mr. Homer H. Johnson '88 and Mr. Arthur V. Davis, to be devoted to educational work in Asia and the Balkan States in such manner and through such agencies as his trustees might think best. The trustees, acting under the discretionary power given them, have devoted a considerable part of Mr. Hall's bequest to the endowment of the Harvard-Yenching Institute of Chinese Studies, with centers in Cambridge and in Peking.
The work of the Institute will be under the control of a board of trustees composed of nine members. At present these are as follows:
Dean G. H. Chase '96, Professor A. C. Coolidge '87, Professor J. H. Woods, representing Harvard University; Dr. J. L. Barton, Mr. G. G. Barber, Dr. E. M. North, representing Yenching University; and Mr. R. W. Boyden '85, Dean W. B. Donham '98, Mr. R. S. Greene '01, named by the trustees of the Hall Estate.
The purpose of the Institute is to promote both in China and America graduate study and research in the various branches of Chinese culture, with the primary objective of encouraging the Chinese to study their own highly, developed civilization in the light of occidental methods of research and to interpret this civilization to the West. It will thus be made possible for Yenching University to offer graduate work to its own students and to those who come from other parts of China, and thus assist in strengthening the emphasis on Chinese culture which is one of the beneficial consequences of the recent nationalistic awakening among Chinese students. The work at Harvard will consist of courses in the Chinese language and literature, as well as in various aspects of Sinology studied through the medium of English or other European languages.
