Miss Leybourn's Life in China
A research project undertaken by Judy Ding, Museum Volunteer and Hannah White, Collections Assistant.
Part 2
Establishing the Mission
Christianity is not a new religion to China; evidence suggests that it has in fact been present in the country since the 7th century. However, the religion has gained a significant amount of influence in the last 200 years. Starting in the early nineteenth century, Protestant missionaries in China, attracted small but influential followings. By the 1840s, China had become a major destination for Protestant missionaries originating from Europe and the United States, just as our records of Amelia Leybourn show. It is estimated that some 50,000 foreign missionaries both Protestant and Catholic worked in China between 1809 and 1949. The missionaries were not welcomed openly however, with many of the local elites believing that they represented a Western imperialism and they were thus afraid of them.
The British and Foreign Bible Society
We have already seen that Miss Leybourn worked for the British and Foreign Bible Society. This was a non-denominational Christian Bible Society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The society was formed on 7th March 1804 by a group of people including William Wilberforce and Thomas Charles, with the aim of encouraging the ‘wider circulation and use’ of the Scriptures. Many young girls walked long distances to Thomas Charles in order to obtain copies of the Bible. As the British and Foreign Bible Society gathered strength and support, they extended their work to other countries including England, India, and Europe and beyond.
The Beginnings
Protestant missionary work very much began with Robert Morrison (Figure 1) who arrived in Macau on China’s South Coast on 4th September 1807. Born in 1782, Morrison was an Anglo-Scottish Protestant missionary to Portuguese Macao, Qing-era Guangdong, and Dutch Malacca, and is sometimes described as being the ‘Father of Anglo-Chinese Literature’. Morrison established a mission in Guangzhou (Canton) in 1808, however the work of Christian missionaries was restricted by the Chinese authorities. Amongst his achievements, Morrison produced a Chinese translation of the Bible and compiled a Chinese dictionary for use by Westerners. The translation of the Bible took twelve years in total and the dictionary sixteen (Figure 2). Having previously been employed by the East India Company, he left the company to complete the translation projects.
Figure 1. Robert Morrison of the London Missionary Society (Public Domain)
Figure 2. Etching of Li Shigong (far left) and Chen Laoyi translating the Bible as Rev Morrison looks on
The literature distribution was focused on members of the merchant class, and this laid foundations for additional educational and medical work which would in turn, significantly impact the culture and history of China. Interestingly, when Morrison arrived in China and was asked whether he thought he would have any impact on the county, his reply was “No sir, but I expect God will!”.
For Robert Morrison and the first missionaries who followed him, life in China consisted of being confined to Portuguese Macao and the Thirteen Factories trading ghetto in Guangzhou (then known as “Canton”) with only the reluctant support of the East India Company and confronting opposition from the Chinese government and from the Jesuits who had been established in China for more than a century.
Morrison stayed in China for a total of 27 years during which he worked with other contemporary missionaries and was only furloughed back home to England once. The China Mission Society had consulted Mr Morrison when he was in England in 1824 and in 1835, and it is believed that they corresponded with a Charles Gutzlaff, a Prussian evangelist working under the Netherlands Missionary Society. He was renowned for his journeys in defiance of the Chinese authorities, sailing along the coast, distributing tracts wherever he could. His zeal encouraged the China Mission Society to send Edward Squire in 1836 to investigate possibilities of work. His reports were discouraging however, and the outbreak of the first Opium War between Britain and China forced his return to England.
After the First Opium War in 1842, the pace of missionary activity increased considerably. Christian missionaries and their schools, under the protection of the Western powers, went on to play a major role in the Westernization of China in the 19th and 20th centuries.
What was early Missionary work like in China?
Ironically, it was the Opium War that opened China to the Gospel. By the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 five Chinese ports were opened to Europeans (including missionaries); and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. Many missionary societies immediately started work in mainland China. The China Mission Society was in a financial crisis, but an anonymous gift of £7,000 to start a China Mission enabled them to send out two missionaries in 1844, George Smith and Thomas McClatchie. By 1847 work was established at Ningpo and Shanghai. In 1848, George Smith became Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong, having missionary authority over China.
The development of the work of the missionaries was beset by many difficulties. The country was vast with a large population and a sophisticated indigenous culture which was highly resistant to Christianity, regarding it as an insidious form of Western influence. Moreover, the language, with its innumerable dialects took many years to master. The educated Chinese (the literati) were violently opposed to the missionaries and encouraged the Chinese authorities to seek disputes with them, often (as at Foochow) over ownership of property. Property fights soured relationships with the British authorities too, exacerbated by the missionaries’ denunciation of the opium trade.
Despite all this the work prospered. Successive conflicts gradually opened the interior of the country to Europeans and missionaries extended their work. In 1873 the Rev W Russell was consecrated Bishop of North China and in 1880 the Bishop of Mid-China (Shanghair and Chekiang provinces) was established with the Rev GE Moule as its first Bishop.
As in other missions’ the prime emphasis had always been given to the training of native clergy and the development of the native church. One of the most important of the training colleges was that at Ningpo, founded by JC Hoare in 1875 (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Missionary Teaching in China using The Wordless Book
Church Missionary Society (CMS)
The Church Missionary Society in China was a branch organisation established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), which was founded in Britain on 12th April 1799 at Aldersgate, London at a meeting called to discuss how the Gospel (Figure 4) could be spread overseas.
Figure 4. A Gospel tract printed by the China Inland Mission with large figure for ‘happiness’ (Public Domain)
The society was founded in a revival of the Church of England influenced by John Wesley and others. It was strongly Evangelical, the idea being to save people’s souls by bringing them closer to Christ. When the China Missionary Society was founded, the country of China, was closed to all missionaries. In 1871, a plan to end all missionary work in South China and persecution of Christians leads to an advance and eight years later in 1879, there was further action to eject the mission from Foochow city (Figure 5).
Figure 5. City of Fuzhou (FooChow) (dated 1756)
As the China Mission Society work developed, it was gradually separated into five missions. In 1885, the work was divided between South China and Mid-China. In 1897, Western China was separated from Mid-China; in 1900 Fukien was split from South Shina and finally in 1911, the work in Kwangsi and Hunan was made independent of South China (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Map showing the location of Church Mission Society stations in 1903
Early CMS work in Foochow, China
The CMS first began work in 1850 and were based in Foochow, China (Figure 7). Unfortunately, there was little success until the mid-1860s and there was even a consideration to close the mission at Foochow. However, Reverend George Smith who was overseeing the mission, asked to be granted another year to progress their work.
Then in 1861, the Reverend John Wolfe (Figure 8) was appointed in charge. As well as preaching in Foochow, Woolfe undertook long tours with a native catechist, many miles beyond Foochow.
In 1868, the Bishop of Victoria who lived in Hong Kong (Figure 9), ordained the catechist to the diaconate. He was formerly a landscape painter and named the Reverend Wong Kui Taik (Figure 10).
Figure 7. Eastward view of Fuzhou (FooChow) a location of one of the Church Missions (circa 1880) (late Qing dynasty)
Figure 8. Reverend John Woolfe and his family (Public Domain)
Figure 9. Dr Alford, Bishop of Victoria (Hong Kong) (1849-1865) (Public Domain)
Figure 10. Reverend Wong-Kiu-Taik
It was in fact in Foochow City, that William Welton, the first China Mission Society doctor, began his work. William was followed by Dr. B Van Someren Taylor who started an itinerant mission, helped by medical catechists whom he had trained.
By 1910, eleven Anglican dioceses had been formed. The China Mission Society worked on its own in three-Fukien (1906), Chekiang (1909) and Kwangsi and Hunan (1909), and in partnership with an Anglican section of the China Inland Mission in Western China (1895) and the diocese of Victoria, Hong Kong. In 1912 the dioceses united to form the Chung Hua Sheng Kuang Hui (Holy Catholic Church of China) which in 1930 became a fully constituted province of the Anglican Communion.
Hopefully that has given you an introduction into the early years of missionary work in China and some of the people involved the establishment of the first missions. We will be revisiting some of the places and people who were ‘for bearers’ to China’s missionary work, in later articles.
References
Christianity in China, Wikipedia, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China>, Accessed: 12.07.2021
Lodwick, Kathleen L. (2016). How Christianity Came to China: A Brief History. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press.
British and Foreign Bible Society, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society>, Accessed 25.06.2021.
Robert Morrison (missionary), Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_(missionary)> Accessed: 28.06.2021
Church Missionary Society China, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society_in_China>, Accessed: 02.07.2021
Etching of Chinese translation of the Bible, WikiMedia Commons (Public Domain), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_(missionary)#/media/File:Morrison_at_work.jpg> Accessed 25.06.2021
#/media/File:Morrison_at_work.jpg){kind=link}
Missionary Teaching in China using The Wordless Book, Wikimedia Commons, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Air_Preaching_WB.jpg>, Accessed: 25.06.2021
Church Missionary Society China, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society_in_China>, Accessed: 02.07.2021
Etching of Chinese translation of the Bible, WikiMedia Commons (Public Domain), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_(missionary)#/media/File:Morrison_at_work.jpg> Accessed 25.06.2021
Missionary Teaching in China using The Wordless Book, Wikimedia Commons, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Air_Preaching_WB.jpg>, Accessed: 25.06.2021
Church Missionary Society in China, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society_in_China> Accessed: 02.07.2021
Tract, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CIM_Gospel_Tract.jpg>, Accessed: 20.08.2021
City of Fuzhou, Wikimedia Commons, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:City_of_Fuzhou_in_1756.jpg>, Accessed 25.06.2021
View of Foochow, Wikimedia, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foochow_morrison.jpg>,
Accessed 25.06.2021
Church Missionary Society in China, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society_in_China>, Accessed: 02.07.2021