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 passed on to new generations of Westerners who have been inspired to find their way back 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 a connection to remember our shared legacy of KAS.
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.
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.
For more information about the Kuling history, please send me an email with contact info by clicking here.
Gong xi fa cai.
Steven Harnsberger,
He Yunlong
Former 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.
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.
For more information about the Kuling history, please send me an email with contact info by clicking here.
Gong xi fa cai.
Steven Harnsberger,
He Yunlong
Former President
Kuling American School Association
Kuling American School, Lushan 1920's