Chung Shing University grounds are covered with trees of many varieties, testifying to a previous history as a formal arboretum. Today, buildings and trees together provide a campus of great beauty.
Chung Shing's School of Agriculture, School of Natural Sciences, and College of Liberal Arts are all located in Taichung; the School of Law and Economics is located in Taipei.
Particularly well known, the Agricultural School staffs many departments, including forestry, veterinary medicine (with its own veterinary hospital), soils, agronomy, horticulture, botany, entomology, and agricultural economics.
The department of forestry is the oldest on campus, the precursor of the University. It counts 1400 graduates, many active in charting Taiwan's forestry future.
Veterinary medicine has been increasing in importance in Taiwan due to the affinity of an increasingly affluent population for pets, as well as a burgeoning livestock industry. Some dogs are placed in the veterinary hospital by their owners for a month for delivery and care of the puppies--leading more luxurious lives than people. But the hospital also conducts research, as well as being a full teaching hospital for students from all over Taiwan.
A new problem that has recently come to the forefront is those departments which teach basic, theoretical subjects rather than practical are becoming more and more unpopular. This is pointed out by the department of agronomy which has fewer students due to its theoretical nature. The botany department is also an example of this trend. "Though human beings have weekends, one can't tell a plant to stop growing because one wants to go to the beach," says botany department chairman Chen Ching-yi, "therefore no one wants to study it due to its clinical and theoretical nature".
Therefore the department uses 7 professors to teach its first year classes in order to keep the students interests from waning from this road in which they will never see the results of their work. "This road where the trees are planted now so future generations can take advantage of the breeze". A student says "In the college entrance examination everyone hopes to test into Medical School because it offers better career prospects. If this can't be done, however, many students at this University transfer to the School of Law and Economics."
Chung Shing University Chancellor Li Ch'ing-tao says that "Though Taiwan is industrializing very fast and has put more emphasis on industry than on agriculture, agriculture is still important to feed the people of the world. How much is agriculturally produced in Taiwan today, is what we must consider in order to discover how important agriculture is. Why are there stories in the papers of mangos being dumped into rivers? Because of overproduction of some things and underproduction of others. In the Second Agricultural Plan, the stress is on increasing the modernization of the agricultural products. Also, as 3/4 of the land on the mainland and on Taiwan is comprised of mountains, we must utilize the mountain slopes. All of this is a challenge to all the students who want to study agriculture, and those who study in the four schools at this University."
"Relatively speaking the Schools of Natural Sciences and Liberal Arts are young. They each have their own specialties," Chancellor Li observes. "Lets take the department of history in the College of Liberal Arts as an example, knowing that China's agricultural history is long it could and did start an agricultural history course." Chancellor Li being an agriculturalist does not limit or confine the other schools of the University due to his feeling that each have something different to offer the students.
The students of the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Natural Sciences also benefit from the small campus environment. It has been said that National Taiwan University students are proud, Tunghai University students are westernized, while Chung Shing University students are more down to earth or practical.
Chancellor Li says "Our students here at Chung Shing don't need to be proud; they have fortitude and backbone, we also don't need to be westernized, earthiness, (being down to earth) isn't all that bad. Our students are sincere earnest, well-behaved, agreeable, and nature loving." Even though being down to earth isn't a bad quality, Chancellor Li wishes at times that the students at Chung Shing were a little more active.
For instance, at the first activity that the Chancellor went to after arriving at Chung Shing, he noticed that the students in the audience were greater in number than the students on stage. So he instituted a program that would encourage students to participate in activities.
As in today's society organizing ability is very important, there are special programs to encourage this. Thus the activity center was updated through provision of more funding and the hiring of new employees to help the overworked director of the center. This is in accordance with Chancellor Li's philosophy that the University must prepare students for life and not just a career.
The University's School of Law and Economics, located in Taipei is also run on this principle. Since Taipei is a bigger city it has a different student body with different needs. For instance, many students like to dance, but in Taiwan's conservative society, few universities provide students with a place for this activity. Chancellor Li however, feels that it is better that there is a place for students to dance on campus where they can be supervised rather than a place with little or no supervision. So he provided such a place to the students in Taipei.
He has also established a rule that the students studying in Taipei must spend their first year at Taichung so that they can also get the feel of the small campus, of country living, and of closeness to nature.
Thus under the guidance of Chancellor Li, Chung Shing University is becoming a more open and better place for students to study. The students at Chung Shing University are indeed fortunate and happy with this learning environment.
[Picture Caption]
1. This is the Student's Activity Center at Chung Shing University. Housed inside are the cafeteria, the bookstore, numerous lounges and club offices. 2. Amid the beautiful greenery, students merrily ride their bikes. 3. Ivy--covered hall. 4.5. Interior and exterior of the library.
1. School of Law and Economics girl's dormitory in Taipei. 2. Chung Shing University building ledges are overflowing with potted plants. 3. Flaming Tree. 4. Ivy covered window. 5. School of Law and Economics located in Taipei. 6-9. Plants often seen on campus.
1.3. Students conducting experiments in school laboratories. 2. Veterinary Hospital scene. 4. Plant watering machine in the greenhouse. 5. Professor and student doing experiments in the rice field. 6. Plants under experimentation in one of the labs. 7. Soy sauce made by the department of food science. 8. Carrots undergoing experimentation by the students of the department of food science.
1. Girl Watching. 2. Green long distance telephones are a homesick student's best friend. 3. Relaxing in the Student's Activity Center. 4. Columns of the Administration Building. 5. Lovers meeting in one of the school's forests. 6. Kite flying.
1. Professors teach happily in this natural environment filled with greenery. 2.4. Students attending physical education classes. 3. Students watching fish in Chung Shing Lake. 5. Female students in gym suits riding bikes to their physical education class.
1. This is the Student's Activity Center at Chung Shing University. Housed inside are the cafeteria, the bookstore, numerous lounges and club offices.
3. Ivy--covered hall.
4.5. Interior and exterior of the library.
4.5. Interior and exterior of the library.
1. School of Law and Economics girl's dormitory in Taipei.
2. Chung Shing University building ledges are overflowing with potted plants.
3. Flaming Tree.
5. School of Law and Economics located in Taipei.
4. Ivy covered window.
6-9. Plants often seen on campus.
6-9. Plants often seen on campus.
6-9. Plants often seen on campus.
6-9. Plants often seen on campus.
1.3. Students conducting experiments in school laboratories.
2. Veterinary Hospital scene.
1.3. Students conducting experiments in school laboratories.
5. Professor and student doing experiments in the rice field.
6. Plants under experimentation in one of the labs.
4. Plant watering machine in the greenhouse.
7. Soy sauce made by the department of food science.
8. Carrots undergoing experimentation by the students of the department of food science.
1. Girl Watching.
2. Green long distance telephones are a homesick student's best friend.
3. Relaxing in the Student's Activity Center.
4. Columns of the Administration Building.
5. Lovers meeting in one of the school's forests.
6. Kite flying.
1. Professors teach happily in this natural environment filled with greenery.
2.4. Students attending physical education classes.
3. Students watching fish in Chung Shing Lake.
2.4. Students attending physical education classes.
5. Female students in gym suits riding bikes to their physical education class.
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