Kuling American School Association - Americans Who Still Call Lushan Home
The history of the Kuling American School (KAS) is unique. The school was founded in China by Western missionaries in 1916 on top of ancient Mt Lu, Jiangxi Province (map), and operated until 1937. Its facilities were taken over by the Chefoo School in 1947, which operated until 1951. This was scarcely a blink of the eye in China’s long history, but for young English-speaking Western students, the experience of living and learning in a Shangri-La paradise was deeply engraved in their hearts. Their devotion to Lushan and the joy of living amidst its splendor are now being passed on to new generations of Westerners who have been inspired to find their way home to Lushan, called to China by the magic mountain’s incredible allure. Seventy-four years after KAS was forced by war to close its doors, those Westerners and Chinese who have been touched by its heritage have re-established—perhaps reincarnated—the school to carry on the legacy of KAS. On July 4th, 2011, the Lushan Institute, a partnership of Americans and Chinese, opened its doors onto a world both changed and unchanged—a school with its head in the present and its heart in ancient China.
What is it about Lushan which continues to capture the human spirit? Lushan is truly a sacred mountain, extolled by poets from the earliest days of Chinese history. For thousands of years, only monks lived there, praying year round on sacred grounds from many hundreds of temples. In 1895, the British missionary Edward S. Little wrested forest atop Lushan to build a controversial summer retreat for foreigners, calling it “Kuling” and later writing about it. In doing so, he ended the sacred mountain’s isolation, but also opened its majestic beauty to admiring Chinese and the world. Lushan became a place where people from different countries and religions gathered together in harmony. Chiang Kai Shek had a beautiful villa here known as Meilu. Other legendary figures in the history of China and the West including Pearl S. Buck journeyed here and it was on Mt. Lu during her annual summer pilgrimage, she decided to become a writer.
Pearl Buck's legacy continues to thus day through her charity P.S. Buck International.
E.S. Little could not have foreseen that over a century later, Lushan--its peaks and valleys, its villages and stunning stone villas--would be designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, attracting thousands of visitors to its scenery and local sites every year from around the world. Now, with the establishment of the Lushan Institute, it becomes a place for people of all nations to come to deepen their learning of the Chinese language and culture.
The students and teachers of KAS knew that Lushan had given them a special gift, one that was difficult to describe but full of meaning. In 1938, in New York City, they formed an alumni association and continued to meet with one another, sharing their stories of growing up, hiking the trails and swimming in the pools in Kuling to their children and grandchildren. Today, these second and third generations are reweaving the strands of friendship and international understanding the KAS students enjoyed, and are recapturing the spirit of the mountain for themselves and the future.
The Kuling American School Association, Nanjing University, and the Lushan Administration have collectively committed themselves to the establishment of this Institute, where students from all nations will have the opportunity to learn the Chinese language and study China’s rich history and culture, to build lasting friendships, and to experience the mystique and majesty of Lushan.
In 2012, classes will be held July 2nd through July 27th. Our new course schedule and handbook will be available and posted online by January 5, 2012. Please watch for it.
To join KAS, contact us, please sed us an email with contact info by clicking here.
Gong xi fa cai.
Steven Harnsberger, He Yunlong
President, Kuling American School Association
E.S. Little could not have foreseen that over a century later, Lushan--its peaks and valleys, its villages and stunning stone villas--would be designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, attracting thousands of visitors to its scenery and local sites every year from around the world. Now, with the establishment of the Lushan Institute, it becomes a place for people of all nations to come to deepen their learning of the Chinese language and culture.
The students and teachers of KAS knew that Lushan had given them a special gift, one that was difficult to describe but full of meaning. In 1938, in New York City, they formed an alumni association and continued to meet with one another, sharing their stories of growing up, hiking the trails and swimming in the pools in Kuling to their children and grandchildren. Today, these second and third generations are reweaving the strands of friendship and international understanding the KAS students enjoyed, and are recapturing the spirit of the mountain for themselves and the future.
The Kuling American School Association, Nanjing University, and the Lushan Administration have collectively committed themselves to the establishment of this Institute, where students from all nations will have the opportunity to learn the Chinese language and study China’s rich history and culture, to build lasting friendships, and to experience the mystique and majesty of Lushan.
In 2012, classes will be held July 2nd through July 27th. Our new course schedule and handbook will be available and posted online by January 5, 2012. Please watch for it.
To join KAS, contact us, please sed us an email with contact info by clicking here.
Gong xi fa cai.
Steven Harnsberger, He Yunlong
President, Kuling American School Association
Kuling American School, Lushan 1920's