THE CHINESE RESPONSE TO THE EARLY PROTESTANT MISSIONS AT THE CHINESE TREATY-PORTS (1842--1852): A STUDY OF THE MISSIONARY WORK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS IN CANTON AND AMOY BETWEEN 1842 AND 1852

This dissertation studies the Chinese response to the Protestant missions during the first decade (1842-1852) after the Opium War (1839-1842), which resulted in signing the so-called Naking Treaty between China and the British for opening five ports along the Chinese coast. This study selects two ports, Canton and Amoy, to study the response to missionary work by missionaries of the American Board of commissioners for Foreign Missions.; The study indicates that the Chinese public in general did not show much interest in the new Western religion. At Canton, people not only showed indifference to missionaries' message, but they were also opposed to their presence in the community. At Amoy, though people showed themselves to be friendly and warm towards the missionary presence, yet they expressed the same indifference toward the missionaries' message that Cantonese did.; The dissertation maintains that the similar response of indifference to the Christian message at both ports reflects the Chinese pride in their own culture and the traditional Chinese indifference to all religions. Contrasting responses to the missionaries' presence at the two ports had to do first with Cantonese provincialism and with the less provincial attitude of the Amoy people. The uniqueness of this study lies in its study of the first contact between the Chinese public and the Protestant missions. Catholic missions had been going on in China for three centuries. But it never received such publicity with the Chinese audience because its methods of doing mission did not stress public preaching and the distribution of tracts as the Protestant missions did. So in this study we may, to some extent, see how the Chinese public responded to the Christian missions in the middle of the nineteenth century. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one is for Introduction; Chapter 7 for Conclusion. Chapters two and three deal with the religious and social background of American missionaries and the Chinese audience. Chapters four and five are devoted to examining how missionaries conducted missions and the Chinese responded at Canton and Amoy.