The Episcopalian missionaries in China, 1835-1900

"The Episcopalian Missionaries in China, 1835-1900" examines the cultural exchange between China and the West through the eyes of the Episcopalian missionaries and their evangelical activities in China. The study begins with the year 1835 when the Episcopal China mission was organized by the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and ends with the year 1900 when the Boxer Rebellion symbolized the end of the early Protestant missionary endeavor. The study suggests that the evangelical vision fostered the Episcopalian missionaries with an individualistic character in implementing their work in China. Such an individualistic character did not decrease when missionaries had the opportunity to apply their evangelical vision to the Chinese in mainland China. The character, in essence, created more troubles for missionaries in establishing their enterprise. From 1835 to 1900, the missionaries focused their attention on mission affairs and struggled to solve their differences. They did not influence the Chinese community as historians have suggested. The Episcopal missionary experience reflects the unorganized and emotional character of the Protestant missionary movement in nineteenth-century China. Behind the conscious, purposeful, and well-planned image of the movement, there were organizational problems and personal conflicts as the missionaries attempted to institutionalize their work. In fact, it took the missionaries a century to develop their evangelical work in language, education and medicine. All they had accomplished was to prepare for a dialogue between the Chinese and the Western cultures. Since the Episcopal China mission was a pioneer Protestant mission in China and continued its work throughout the nineteenth century, its evangelical experience sheds new light on the character of the Protestant missionary movement before 1900.