Editor | Mary Jane and Robert John Davidson (first editors) |
---|---|
Categories | News magazine, Protestant missions in Sichuan |
Frequency | Monthly |
Format | A5 |
Circulation | Around 400 [1] |
Founded | January 1899 |
First issue | February 1899 |
Final issue Number | December 1943 Vol. 45, Nos. 5–12 |
Company | West China Missions Advisory Board |
Country | Qing and Republican China |
Based in | Chengdu |
Language | English |
OCLC | 7549478 |
The West China Missionary News (WCMN) was a monthly news magazine published in Chengdu (Chengtu) from 1899 to 1943 by the West China Missions Advisory Board, and printed by Canadian Methodist Mission Press. [2] It was aimed at Protestant missionaries working in Sichuan (or referred to as "West China"), [3] [note 1] and was the first and longest-running English-language newspaper in that province. [4] [2]
The establishment of The West China Missionary News was one of the results of a Protestant conference held at Chongqing (Chungking) in January 1899. [5] The periodical was started as a platform of communication among various missionary workers. [6] It came to light in February 1899, [7] under the editorship of Mary Jane Davidson, with the assistance of her husband, Robert John Davidson, who were Quaker missionaries of the Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA). Joseph Beech, an American Methodist missionary, became assistant to the editor at the end of the year 1899; W. H. Aldis was one of the sub-editors. [8]
In 1900, with the help of some members of the FFMA, a small printing press was bought in London and brought to Sichuan by Mary Jane's brother-in-law, A. Warburton Davidson. The early volumes were large in size (8 × 10+1/2 inches), but A5 (5.8 × 8.3 inches) became the Missionary News standard since the publication of Volume 3 (1901), a size adapted to the new press. [8]
As an English newspaper "for the missionaries, about missionaries and written by the missionaries themselves", the positions of editor-in-chief and manager were almost held exclusively by Western missionaries, but local editors such as S. C. Yang (Yang Shao-chuan, a Quaker Christian) joined the editorial board later. Contributors included David Crockett Graham, George John Bond, Vyvyan Donnithorne, Thomas Torrance, Theo Sørensen, and Song Chʻeng-tsi, just to name a few. Although principally aimed at missionaries in West China, the WCMN had subscription services for worldwide readers in Los Angeles. Its highest circulation was around 450. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the WCMN lost its overseas subscribers and fund donations, it ceased publication after Volume 45 in 1943. [2]
Leslie Gifford Kilborn spoke highly of the Missionary News at the 1942 annual meeting of the West China Border Research Society, saying The News is "a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and scientific research. It not only connects missionaries of diverse denominations in West China, but also covers a wide range of topics including studies of local languages, customs, religion, economics, medicine, natural environment, and ethnic minorities, as well as translation of historical works concerning the Szechwan region. The News serves as a first-hand account of the 1911 Revolution and the various factions arose in Yunnan, Kweichow, and Szechwan during this period, which certainly provides valuable information for regional studies." [9]
Mianyang is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwestern China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of 20,281 square kilometres (7,831 sq mi) consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and three urban districts. Its total population was 4,868,243 people at the 2020 Chinese census, of whom 2,232,865 live in its built-up area made of three urban districts.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Chengdu is a suffragan Latin Catholic diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Chongqing covering southwestern China's Sichuan area, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The West China Union University, also called West China University or Huaxi University, was a private university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It was the product of the collective efforts of four Protestant, denominational, missionary boards — American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, American Methodist Episcopal Mission, Friends' Foreign Mission Association and Canadian Methodist Mission — and eventually became a division of the West China Educational Union, which was created in 1906. The Church Missionary Society became a partner in the university in 1918.
Christianity is a minority religion in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. The Eastern Lipo, Kadu people and A-Hmao are ethnic groups present in the province.
William Reginald Morse was a Canadian author, medical doctor, and medical missionary serving under the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in Sichuan, West China. In 1901 he proceeded to West China where he founded West China Union University. The university was one of the first co-educational medical schools in China that provided western education. Morse also made substantial contributions to the fields of anthropology and medical history through his published works. Morse provided historical insight to the West on the traditional practices of Chinese and Tibetan Medicine. Morse specifically delineated the influence of religion and culture in the evolution of medicine in East Asia. Additionally, Morse wrote several anthropological books that outlined the physical and physiological behavior of the people of Sichuan and Tibet. Morse was interested not only in understanding the vast differences in culture between China and the West, but also communicating these differences to the West.
Henry Theodore Hodgkin was a medical doctor and a British Quaker missionary who, in the course of his 55-year life, co-founded the West China Union University in Chengdu, co-founded and led the first Christian pacifist movement, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, and founded the Pendle Hill Quaker meeting and training center, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.
Frederick Boreham was Archdeacon of Cornwall and Chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Omar Leslie Kilborn, was a Canadian medical missionary who greatly advanced Western medical techniques in West China. He was one of the founders of the West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and was a member of the Canadian Methodist Church. He was an educator, a leading professor of science and medicine, and the author of multiple medical and linguistic texts.
The history of Anglicanism in Sichuan began in 1887 when Anglican missionaries working with the China Inland Mission began to arrive from the United Kingdom. These were later joined by missionaries from the Church Missionary Society and Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society. Or according to Annals of Religion in Mianyang, in 1885, a small mission church was already founded in Mianyang by Alfred Arthur Phillips and Gertrude Emma Wells of the Church Missionary Society. Missionaries built churches, founded schools, and distributed Chinese translations of Anglican religious texts. These efforts were relatively successful and Anglicanism grew to become one of the two largest denominations of Protestant Christianity in the province, alongside Methodism.
The Protestant mission began in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan in 1877, when premises were rented by the China Inland Mission in Chungking. However, compared with Catholicism, which had been spread throughout the province for over two centuries at the time, it grew rather slowly, it was not until the late 1980s that Protestantism experienced rapid growth. The two largest denominations in the province before 1950 were Anglicanism and Methodism.
The presence of the Catholic Church in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan and city of Chongqing dates back to 1640, when two missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, through Jesuit missions in China, entered the province and spent much of the 1640s evangelizing in Chengdu and its surrounding areas.
The Canadian Methodist Mission (CMM), also known as Missionary Society of the Methodist Church in Canada, was a Canadian Methodist Christian missionary society mostly working in the province of Szechwan, which was also referred to as "West China."
The history of Methodism in Sichuan began in 1882 when missionaries began to arrive from the United States. Methodists founded or helped found several colleges, schools, and hospitals to aid in modernization and conversion efforts. Later, American Methodists were joined by missionaries from Canada. Methodism grew to become one of the two largest denominations of Protestant Christianity in the province by 1922, along with Anglicanism.
The history of Quakerism in Sichuan began in 1887 when missionaries began to arrive from the United Kingdom. Missionaries founded schools and established meeting groups. Nonetheless, missionary activity in China generated controversy among many native Chinese and faced armed opposition during both the Boxer Rebellion and the later Chinese Communist Revolution. Although the former did not affect Sichuan so much as some other parts of China, the province was one of the hotbeds of anti-missionary riots throughout its ecclesiastical history.
The history of Baptist Christianity in Sichuan began in 1890 when missionaries began arriving from the United States. Baptist missionaries in Sichuan were organized under the American Baptist Missionary Union, later renamed American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Missionary activity in China generated controversy among many native Chinese and faced armed opposition during both the Boxer Rebellion and the later Communist movement in China. Although the former did not affect Sichuan so much as some other parts of China, the province was one of the hotbeds of anti-missionary riots throughout its ecclesiastical history.
Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church is a Protestant church situated on Sishengci North Street in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It is the first church in Chengdu built by the Canadian Methodist Mission. It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954.
The history of Adventism in Sichuan began in 1914 when American and Chinese missionaries arrived in Chongqing. Adventist missionaries in Sichuan were organized under the Szechwan Mission, later split into the East Szechwan, West Szechwan, and Tibetan Missions. Missionary activity in China generated controversy among many native Chinese and faced opposition from popular riots and the later Communist movement in China. Numerous mission properties and native Church leaders in Sichuan were respectively destroyed and killed by communists in the mid-1930s. Missionary activity ceased after the communist take over of China in 1949. Under government oppression in the 1950s, Adventist congregations and other Protestant Churches across China severed their ties with overseas Churches, and their congregations subsequently merged into the Three-Self Patriotic Church. Since 1980, their services have been provided by the China Christian Council.
Joseph Beech, or Joe Beech as he was more commonly known, was an American Methodist missionary and educator, member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa, and founding president of the West China Union University. He was a recipient of the Order of Brilliant Jade.
Harry Thomas Silcock (1882–1969), also known as Henry Thomas Silcock, was an English missionary of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), who served as vice president of the West China Union University during its initial years.
The Journal of the West China Border Research Society (JWCBRS) was a scientific journal published at irregular intervals between 1922 and 1945 by the West China Border Research Society, and printed by the Canadian Methodist Mission Press. It was the first English-language journal published in Sichuan.