| During the period of1923-1936, three CIM female missionaries (Mildred Cable, Evangeline Frances French and Francesca Law French, also known as "the Trio") itinerated along Gansu-Xinjiang Road (also Silk Road in China) and started a mission station in Suzhou. The evangelistic journeys led to their encounters and dialogues with local people, about which plenty of records have been written and kept till now. Specifically, all of these diaries, letters, articles, autobiographies and other books are the main part of primary material used in this research. The rest covers data from local society, involving archives and local documents, and collection of other contemporary travelers’notes. By examining the comprehensive text, this research chooses the local perspective from below.Not only the picture of rural society in the Trio’s eyes can be captured in material, but also the relationship between missionaries and local people can be discussed. In another word, this is how the Trio being "in" the local society. Based on the Trio’s observation and participation, this paper focuses on the three missionaries and highlights a metaphor of testing of sowing local field with exotic seeds ("exotic seeds" stands for missionaries and the culture they represented,"soil" means ordinary people in local society). By taking a new look at missionaries’ways to approach folks and to interact with them, this research aims to explore the nature of regional soil and the Trio’s contact with them.Of the local society, description could be given. Firstly, the inner conflict of local people, who lived in an open but closed area, indicated that they were receptive but persistent, passionate but boring. Secondly, the impact of the era and social turbulence had deprived ordinary people of ethic and moral principles, which needed to be changed and shaped by new ideology. Meanwhile, the regional soil indeed had the potential for growth of new culture. Thirdly, the power of the military dominated villages and small towns within this area, and between the military and grassroots people were local officials, gentry, merchant and religious leaders, who were supposed to play the role of guardians in rural society, but actually not.From the accommodation/adaptation of the regional soil to the inculturation, it can be concluded that the Trio mastered appropriate approach and contextualization along their journeys. First of all, they took advantages of the nature of local environment to show up, and then they grasped the curiosity and suspicions of local people to establish their social networks. What’s more, the Trio fulfilled cross-cultural and cross-religious dialogue with Muslims, Tibetans, Mongols, Chinese and other groups. As can be seen during such interaction, both western missionaries and local people with multi-cultural background were receivers and transmitters. Last but not least, the Trio’s mission services benefited the basic subsistence of the weak and the poor, and they also set an example of charity and civil group.To sum up, by focusing on three female missionaries and their records, this micro-study investigates the society along Gansu-Xinjiang Road between1920s and1930s. It would be a good effort if the vivid picture of local people and their life could be exhibited and the cross-cultural exchange could be understood. |
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