St. John's University Taofen Building

Huai Shi Hall held its foundation ceremony on January 26, 1894. The building replaced the courtyard house built in April 1879, using the original cornerstone to symbolize the continuity between old and new. The completion ceremony was held on February 19, 1895. The site covers 3,242 square meters, with a building area of 5,061 square meters. It is a brick and wood structure with a total of 87 rooms. This first building of St. John's University was planned and constructed under the direction of the American principal Francis L.H. Pott, costing $26,000 (equivalent to 31,834 taels of silver), of which $20,000 was raised in the United States and the remainder in China. At the building's completion ceremony, to commemorate the university's founder S.I.J. Schereschewsky, the building was officially named Huai Shi Hall. Schereschewsky (1831–1906), born in Lithuania of Jewish descent, lost his father early and was educated by a Jewish rabbi during childhood. In 1854, at age 24, he converted to Christianity in the United States and came to China in 1859 as a missionary. He could read 20 languages and spoke 13, with extensive research on Chinese language and characters. He contributed significantly to the church's translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Classical Chinese. In 1877, Schereschewsky was appointed bishop of the American Episcopal Church in Shanghai. Seeing the long-standing Chinese respect for teachers and learning, he advocated for and founded the church school St. John's College. In the early days after the building's completion, the ground floor housed classrooms, a dining hall, and a library, while the upper floor served as student dormitories. The library was relocated after Siyantang was built in 1904. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, St. John's University faculty and students requested to rename Huai Shi Hall to Taofen Building in honor of 1921 graduate Zou Taofen. In 1951, the East China Military and Political Committee approved the name change. In 1952, after the establishment of East China University of Political Science and Law, the first floor of the building was used for classrooms and the second floor for student dormitories. After the university's restoration in 1979, the second floor was gradually converted into classrooms. Taofen Building is a representative teaching building of East China University of Political Science and Law.