Zhong Bao, M.A.
Topic
The German School Shanghai (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Schule Shanghai), 1895-1945
Abstract
After the First Opium War Germany intensified its ties with China. The influx of German families in Shanghai brought about the establishment of a German school. It was officially opened in 1895, on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and was renamed “Kaiser-Wilhelm-Schule” (KWS) in 1906. It lasted until the confiscation of the school building in 1945. After the collapse of the Third Reich, the German School Shanghai existed in the form of a private German Community School until the beginning of the 1950s. The fate of the German School Shanghai displays a part of the history of Germans in China, and reflects the cultural and political relationship between the two countries.
The dissertation concentrates on the history and development of the German School Shanghai. The focus of this research lies on the change of the school policies and administration as well as the transformation of national identity in the school. In addition, it attempts to explore the school´s relations to the local German Community, churches and other schools in Shanghai. The influence of the international circumstances and the German educational and foreign policy of that time on the school will also be discussed. This research project is based on material from various German and Chinese archives as well as a corpus of printed sources, such as annual reports and periodicals. Interviews with former KWS students will also be carried out.
Research interests
- German-Sino relations
- History of Education
- Modern German history
- German cultural diplomacy
Biography
Zhong Bao, M.A., studied World History and European History at the University of Fudan (Shanghai, China). She received a master´s Degree in Modern German History.