| Missionary cases refer to the disputes between the Church forces in the late Qing Dynasty and officials, gentries and civilians in China about all kinds of issues, which are settled by the creation of cases of the Chinese officials and dealt with by the foreign missionaries, consulates or envoys. During the late Qing Dynasty, as a high-frequency region, Guangdong ranks No.5 in the number of missionary cases dealt with. All kinds of featured missionary cases take place, giving a great impact on the political, economic and cultural aspects of Guangdong. Therefore, the Guangdong missionary cases are more research-worthy.This article seeks to state the issue from the prospective of regional history and systematizes the spread of Christianity in Guangdong as well as the occurrence of missionary cases in the late Qing Dynasty. Adapting a quantitative analysis method, it analyses the 5 reasons behind the occurrence of missionary cases ( apart from the China-France War and the Boxer Movement), that is: the exclusive mentality (in the form of posters and rumors), the law breaking activities of those priests and missionaries, the illegal acts done by those bandits, the disputes and fight for possessions between those civilians and churches, and the illegal acts by those churches. The missionary cases in the late Qing Dynasty have their distinctive characteristics, including the "equi-peak shape" development, the "a myriad of stars surrounding the moon" distribution pattern, and the serious conflicts which have not led to significant domestic and foreign disputes. In the Guangdong cases, the different responses of the officials, gentries and civil act differently, performing different roles in missionary cases.By the analysis and study on the Guangdong missionary cases, we can better understand those missionaries and the spread of Christianity in Guangdong in the late Qing Dynasty, gaining a holistic understanding of the missionary cases in Guangdong.
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