The Destruction of the former Bridgman Memorial School, Laoximen, Shanghai

Sue Anne Tay of the excellent Shanghai Street Stories blog brings sad news of the destruction of the former Bridgman Memorial School (裨文女中). As she notes the Bridgman was, “Shanghai’s first girls’ school was founded by missionary Elijah Coleman Bridgman (1801-1861) in 1843. The most famous alumnae was the mother of the Soong Sisters, Ni Guizhen (倪桂珍)(1869-1931). Ni was known to be a bright and bold woman, never had bound feet and spoke English. Now you know how her daughters came to be. Ni’s own mother Lady Xu was a descendent of Ming dynasty mathematician and Jesuit concert Xi Guangqi (徐光启). In Chinese, the building was first called 上海第一所教会女中 (Shanghai’s first Protestant school) or 裨文女中 (biyi nvzhong). Located on a small road Xinlinhou Lu（西林后路) by Fangxie Lu (方斜路) near Laoximen (老西门) area.”

To add a bit – Bridgman was an American Protestant Missionary who founded the groundbreaking missionary run journal The Chinese Repository (about which there’s a lot in my Through the Looking Glass book). He was also later an editor of the Royal Asiatic Society’s North China Branch journal (i.e. the Shanghai based branch of the RAS back then). Arguably it was actually Bridgman’s wife, Eliza Jane (nee) Gillett, an American Episcopalian missionary who founded the school. After her husband’s death she moved to Peking, secured substantial property and started Bridgman Academy, noted for educating a large number of Chinese women leaders.

The school was just outside the French Concession on what was then Fong Zia Road (now Fangxie Road), close to the West Gate (Laoximen and officially the Gate of the Ritual Phoenix) and Dah Ling Road (now Xinlinhou Road). The West Gate was torn down sometime around 1912-14. The school was torn down just recently….