For China, and for science: the Institute of Agriculture at Tsinghua University and scientists in Republican China, 1930s-1940s

Abstract

In 1934, the National Tsinghua University established an institute of agriculture. It was expanded and strengthened during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Although it only existed for twelve years, this institute played a significant role in the history of science in modern China. Fifty-nine agricultural scientists worked at this institute. Four of them were selected as academicians of the Academia Sinica in 1948, and fourteen became academicians of the China's Academy of Sciences after 1949. This essay will examine the history of the Institute of Agriculture in Tsinghua University and explore the reason for its success. I argue that the Tsinghua researchers' dual-identity of being both Chinese people and scientists enabled this institute to survive and thrive in an extremely turbulent era. Motivated by the Chinese-scientist dual-identity, these scientists at Tsinghua IOA were able to be flexible and to relieve tensions between the Chinese and the foreign, between the central and local political forces, and between different local environments, and therefore contributed to the development of both their country and the scientific knowledge they worked on.