During the 1930s and 1940s, under the help of the foreign mis- sionaries, many Chinese dioceses opened schools and major and minor seminaries. After the founding of New China in 1949, many Catholic schools could not survive because of the block- age of the foreign economic support. The Political Affairs‘ com- mittee of the People"s Republic of China took over the Catholic schools and made them part of the public educational system. All the seminaries were closed gradually because of lack of funds and the departure of foreign missionaries. In 1962, during the second meeting of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the representatives suggested to establish a national seminary managed only by Chinese clergy. A tentative decision was madeto establish such a seminary and the Board of Trustees was formed. Later, because of Leftist interference leading to Cul- tural Revolution, the decision was not implemented.
At the beginning of the 1980s, as the church buildings were gradually returned to the Church, dioceses were faced with seri-
ous problem of the ageing clergy. Therefore, the idea of training a new generation of clergy resurfaced. At the third meeting of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in 1980, along withthe First Chinese Catholic Representatives Congress, the "Plan of Rebuilding the Chinese Catholic Seminary‘ was made. It de- clared: "In order to preach the Gospel of Jesus and to continue the ministry of the Apostles, and to meet the needs of the Catho- lic Church in China, we need to have good priests and special- ists in theology and philosophy. The meeting has decided to open a National Catholic Seminary and therefore has asked the Church Affairs committee of Catholic Church in China to carry out thetask.‘ Later, many dioceses thought that one national seminary would not be enough. Therefore, a decision was made that pro- vincial and regional seminaries would be appropriate.
The first reopened seminary was the Shanghai Sheshan Seminary, recruiting students from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. This seminary officially opened on Octo- ber 11,1982 with 34 seminarians. Its curriculum was a six-year system with Jin Luxian, who later became the bishop of Shang- hai, as its first rector. Later, the churches in Shandong, Fujian and Jiangxi joined the Board of Trustees, so that Sheshan be- came a regional seminary for East China. It further expanded in1985 and, the year 2000, it had trained over 200 young priests and there were 110 seminarians in five classes. It also oversaw two minor seminaries in Tailaiqiao and Suzhou.
Beijing Catholic Seminary, sponsored by the Beijing dio- cese, opened its doors to the public on November 2nd,1982 with only six seminarians. Currently, this seminary recruits students from Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Tianjin. The curriculum cov- ers four to six years. It rector is Fu Tieshan, the bishop of Beijing. This seminary has been moved three times. In 1999, the Beijing Municipal Government provided 15,000,000 Yuan to help the diocese buy a piece of land in Haidian District to build a modernseminary with a constructed area of 6,700 square meters. BySeptember 2000, this seminary had trained over 70 young priests.