Former A.R.C.M. Girls’ Schools

In 1845, the American Reformed Church established its first school in Xiamen at Liaozaihou. Two years later, it set up an elementary-level school for girls, which was relocated in 1880 to Tianwei on Kulangsu and named the “Tianwei Girls’ School”; it was also referred to as “Huaqi Girls’ School”. The school was managed by a Principal, with Maria Talmage, the second daughter of the American missionary Rev. John Van Nest Talmage being the first principal. The school building is still on Kulangsu at No. 14, Tianwei Road today, built of red brick in colonial veranda style on a straight line layout. It was one of the larger public buildings in early times.
In due course, the school opened two teacher-training classes, and in 1889, a primary school for girls was founded. In 1910, the school was officially renamed the “A.R.C.M. Girls’ School”; in 1921, the school was further developed and again renamed the “A.R.C.M. Girls’ Middle School”. In 1925, the Middle School moved to the site of the Xunyuan Middle School in Dongshan Zaiding, and in 1931, when filing for government recognition, A.R.C.M Girls’ primary school was included as the affiliated primary school of A.R.C.M .Girls’ Middle school to simplify the procedures. In 1945, the A.R.C.M. Primary School for Girls re-opened and a U-shaped building was built to the west of the former site of the A.R.C.M. Girls’ Middle School, at No. 28, Tianwei Road. The complex on the hillside to the west of the school, also known as “Three Gables”, was the residence of John Van Nest Talmage and his daughters. The architecture combines western veranda still with a traditional South Fujian roof-line.
The A.R.C.M. Girls' Schools encapsulate the spread of western culture and modern education on Kulangsu, together with the early stages of the women’s liberation movements driven by western missionaries.