Jiangyin Mission Station: An American Missionary Community in China, 1895-1951

Lawrence Kessler uses the Jiangyin mission station in the Shanghai region of China to explore Chinese-American cultural interaction in the first half of the twentieth century. He concludes that the Protestant missionary movement was welcomed by the Chinese not because of the religious message it spread but because of the secular benefits it provided.

Like other missions, the Jiangyin Station, which was sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, North Carolina, combined evangelism with social welfare programs and enjoyed a respected position within the local community. By 1930, the station supported a hospital and several schools and engaged in anti-opium campaigns and local peacekeeping efforts. In many ways, however, Christianity was a disruptive force in Chinese society, and Kessler examines Chinese ambivalence toward the mission movement, the relationship between missions and imperialism, and Westerners' response to Chinese nationalism. He also addresses the Jiangyin Station's close ties to, and impact upon, its supporting church in Wilmington.

Author: Lawrence D. Kessler
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 04/22/1996
Pages: 228
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.29h x 6.16w x 0.62d
ISBN: 9780807850626

About the Author

Lawrence D. Kessler, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is author of K'ang-hsi and the Consolidation of Ch'ing Rule, 1661-1684.