University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+ University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2019 British women missionaries, Chinese women, and the Protestant rescue project in Hong Kong and China, 1850-1940 Tamara Cooper Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1 University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] BRITISH WOMEN MISSIONARIES, CHINESE WOMEN, AND THE PROTESTANT RESCUE PROJECT IN HONG KONG AND CHINA, 1850-1940 Tamara Cooper Supervisors: Associate Prof. Julia Martinez, Associate Prof. Frances Steel, and Dr. Claire Lowrie This thesis is presented as part of the requirement for the conferral of the degree: Doctor of Philosophy This research has been conducted with the support of the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship University of Wollongong School of Humanities and Social Inquiry March 2019 Abstract This thesis examines the British women’s missionary movement in Hong Kong and China from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century exploring the ways in which British women missionaries sought to define their relationships with Chinese women and girls. It examines the rise of the single woman missionary and considers how these new professional opportunities for women influenced the evangelical movement in China. The thesis analyses how missionaries framed Chinese culture and customs in a way that constructed Chinese women and girls as victims, thereby justifying missionary intervention into Chinese society. It pays particular attention to education and medicine as core elements of the missionary movement and considers how women positioned themselves within these projects. The thesis revisits the scholarship on the mui tsai controversy to locate the missionary within these debates. Overall this thesis seeks to reveal the personal nature of female mission and its impact on the wider missionary movement. i Acknowledgments First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisors Associate Professor Julia Martínez, Associate Professor Frances Steel and Dr Claire Lowrie for their support and guidance on this project. Their expertise has been invaluable. They have always been available to answer my questions and help me find solutions to the problems that inevitably eventuated, I am extremely grateful for all their advice. I would also like to extend my thanks and gratitude towards my parents, without whose support I could not have completed this project. They always believed in my ability to finish this research even when I doubted that ability myself. Like any historical research project, this project could not have been completed without the support of staff from various archives and libraries. I would like to thank the staff from the SOAS Library at the University of London; the staff from the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics; the staff at the British Library and the staff at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford for their guidance and help negotiating their archival collections. I would also like to thank Ivana Frlan from the Cadbury Research Library Special Collections at the University of Birmingham for her expertise on the organisation of the Church Missionary Society archives and Emily Burgoyne from the Angus Library, Oxford for her help with the Baptist Missionary Society archives. I would also like to thank the friends and colleagues who took the time to read various drafts from this project and give advice. I also need to thank my friends from outside of academia who have supported and kept me sane throughout my PhD journey. ii Certification I, Tamara Cooper, declare that this thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the conferral of the degree Doctor of Philosophy, from the University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. This document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Tamara Cooper 30 March 2019 iii Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Missionary Authorship and Emotions ................................................................................. 10 Protestant Rescue Project and Mui Tsai .............................................................................. 17 Missionaries and Imperialism .............................................................................................. 23 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter One: The Arrival of British Missionaries in Hong Kong and China ......................... 31 Missions in China and Hong Kong at the time of the First and Second Opium Wars ........ 33 The Expansion of Missionary Societies in the aftermath of the First Opium War .............. 37 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter Two: China Inland Mission and the Lammermuir Party ............................................ 44 James Hudson Taylor and the Lammermuir Party .............................................................. 48 Women’s Work in China and Chinese Distrust ................................................................... 55 The Shansi (Shanxi) Orphanage .......................................................................................... 67 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter Three: Single Women Missionaries in China and White Maternalism ...................... 72 The Call for Women ............................................................................................................ 75 Chinese Biblewomen ........................................................................................................... 84 Missionaries and Chinese Culture ....................................................................................... 87 Women Missionaries and Feminism .................................................................................. 104 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 107 Chapter Four: The Protestant Rescue Project and the Victoria Home and Orphanage ......... 110 The Protestant Rescue Project ........................................................................................... 112 Education and Rescue in China and Hong Kong ............................................................... 115 The Victoria Home and Orphanage ................................................................................... 123 Christian Education, Chinese Women and Modernity ...................................................... 142 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 145 Chapter Five: Women Medical Missionaries in China .......................................................... 148 Early medical missions in China........................................................................................ 149 Women Medical Missionaries in China ............................................................................. 155 Medical Missions and Chinese Women ............................................................................. 174 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 176 Chapter Six: Protecting Mui Tsai in Hong Kong and China ................................................. 179 The Mui tsai Controversy in the Nineteenth Century ........................................................ 182 The Advocacy of Missionaries .......................................................................................... 188 Missionaries and Rescue .................................................................................................... 194 Missionaries and Politics ..................................................................................................