[3] In May 1904, at the Annual Meeting of The Methodist Episcopal Church held in Los Angeles, Lydia A. Trimble (Chinese name: 程吕底亚) of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society called for the establishment of a women's university in Fuzhou.A committee was formed by Lydia A. Trimble and two other women missionaries, with a bishop Dr. James W. Bashford (Chinese name: 柏锡福), who had served as president of Ohio Wesleyan University for many years, as the first chairman of the College Board of Directors.[2][8] This move was led by the third principal, Lucy C. Wang (Chinese name: 王世静), who carried many books and supplies with the students by train and wagon.Including the Methodist Episcopal Church and Woman's Missionary Society, believers (Mr J. D. Payne, Mrs Laura Granson and others) and past alumni.In January 2007, the college site was listed as the fourth batch of the Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Cangshan District.
James W. Bashford
- the first resident bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China
In 1938, 50th Anniv. of Ex-Pres. Lydia Trimble's arrival in China, Lucy Wang and Lydia Trimble sit fourth and fifth from the left.