Lingnan Foundation, New Haven

Correspondence of Trustee members of Lingnan Foundation in an archival folder

Correspondence of Trustee members of Lingnan Foundation, 1981-2004

The Lingnan Foundation, formerly the Trustees of Lingnan University, was incorporated in the State of the New York in 1893 in response to the financial needs of the newly founded Canton Christian College in Guangzhou (est. 1888), which later became the Lingnan University. In 1927, when local Chinese leaders took charge of Lingnan University, the Trustees restructured and supported the institution in cooperation with local Chinese leadership following years of war and after the moving the campus several times.

Although Lingnan University ceased operation in 1952 because of the change of the Chinese government, the Trustees decided to continue the Lingnan spirit and embarked on supporting several colleges in Hong Kong that became the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Trustees gradually turned to the newly established Lingnan College (now Lingnan University) in Hong Kong as the object of financial support, and naturally the earlier objective of the Trustees, which was to support the development of Lingnan University in Guangzhou, was adjusted to “making contribution to the development of higher education in South China.”

After the resumption of diplomatic ties between China and the United States, the Trustees resumed their activities with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou in 1980 and, since 1988, with Sun Yat-sen University’s constituent Lingnan (University) College. The name of the Trustees of Lingnan University was changed officially to the Lingnan Foundation on July 1, 1989. Currently, the Lingnan Foundation is cited in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, which is also the home of Yale University.

Front cover of the Lingnan Biennial Report, with a drawing of the front of Martin Hall and a lion statue

Lingnan Biennial Report, 2005-2007

The front of a red house with a porch in the snow

Lingnan Foundation headquarter on the Yale University campus

Trustees and staff of Lingnan Foundation in 1995 (top); trustees and staff of Lingnan Foundation in 2007 (bottom)

Trustees and staff of Lingnan Foundation in 1995 (top); trustees and staff of Lingnan Foundation in 2007 (bottom)

The Board of Trustees of Lingnan Foundation consists of 15 to 20 (the number was larger in the 1980s and 1990s) voluntary professionals from different fields, such as education, academia, charity and philanthropy, and financial investment, who are passionate about Sino-U.S. educational exchange. The Board of Trustees has four officers—chair, president, secretary, and treasurer—elected by the trustees of the Foundation.

Many trustees during the 1980s and 1990s were connected in some way with the former Lingnan University. It was their hope that the old Lingnan’s motto of “Education for Service” should continue at academic institutions that they support. The younger generation of trustees who joined the Foundation after the beginning of this century have less historical connection with the former Lingnan University. What holds them together, however, is the belief of the Foundation that “the relationship between China and the United States is of profound importance to the world’s future.”

The Foundation gives its grantmaking priority to institutions and programs with traditions of the former Lingnan University, specifically the following institutions: Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen University, L(U)C, and United States institutions who partner with LUHK, SYSU, and L(U)C. The current list of grant programs is as follows: Lingnan W.T. Chan fellowship program; service and liberal learning; institutionalization of programs; international partnership; professional development; funding collaboration with other organizations; support of the development of LUHK’s status as a premier liberal arts university; and support of L(U)C’s development as a premier center for economic research and analysis.

Information and photographs of W. T. Chan Fellowship program participants from SYSU, L(U)C, and LUHK

W.T. Chan Fellowship program participants from SYSU, L(U)C, and LUHK

List of recipients of grant programs for Sun Yat-sen University

Grant programs for Sun Yat-sen University (Lingnan Biennial Report, 2005-2007)

Information from the biennial report about grant programs for Lingnan (University) College and Lingnan University in Hong Kong

Grant programs for Lingnan (University) College and Lingnan University in Hong Kong (Lingnan Biennial Report, 2005-2007)

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