Vol. 9, No.2 nternattona• April 1985 etin ~ • China Mission History everal years ago, when we first heard of the Maryknoll SChina History Project, we asked the director of that pro­ ject, Dr. Donald MacInnis, if they would put together a special is­ On Page sue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research drawing on 50 The Maryknoll China History Project the Maryknoll materials when they were ready. Instead, at the Jean-Paul Wiest suggestion of the Maryknoll group, we have an issue with de­ 56 Diary of a Country Missioner-Manchuria, 1940 Selected and Introduced byDonald MacInnis scriptive reports and sample materials from eleven different China 59 Sample Findings from Interviews with Maryknoll mission history projects, most of them still in process. We are Sisters grateful to our Maryknoll friends for organizing and editing this Patricia Jacobsen, M.M. issue of the Bulletin. 61 Computerized Data Retrieval-The Maryknoll No comprehensive history of Christianity in China has been China History Project published since Kenneth Scott Latourette's A History of Christian Susan Perry Missions in China (1929).In recent years scholars, based both in the 62 Current Research on the History of the Jesuits and church and in secular universities, have increasingly turned to China mission society archives for source materials in writing biogra­ Theodore N. Foss phies and specialized historical studies involving missionaries 64 Southern Baptist China Mission History Project Frank K. Means and their work. Now, in these reports we have plans and projec­ 66 The Midwest China Oral History Collection tions for full-scale comprehensive histories of the China missions Jane Baker Koons undertaken by teams of missionhistorians, drawing not only on 68 Noteworthy archival sources but on oral histories as well. 69 The China History Project of the Passionist Computerized data retrieval systems now make it possible, as Congregation is described in three of these reports, to organize and utilize mas­ Robert Carbonneau, C.P. sive collections of source materials. The Maryknoll China ar­ 71 Anglicans in China: A History of the Chung Hua chives, for example, contain 90,000 pages of diaries and other Sheng Kung Hui materials, all indexed and entered in a computerized data retrieval G. Francis S. Gray system, while the Dutch Catholic mission project has processed 71 Efforts of the Imperial German Government to Establish a Protectorate over the German Catholic and entered over 700 oral history transcripts into a similar system. Missions in South Shantung Professor Kathleen Lodwick's computerized index to the China Karl Josef Rivinius, S.V.D. Mission Recorder over its full thirty-seven years of publication pro­ 74 Chinese Recorder-Index and Biographical Guide: vides easy access for scholars and students to this most important Strategies Used in Creating a Multivolume Work on of the China missionary journals. China and Asia Other China mission histories planned or in progress de­ Kathleen L. Lodwick scribed here-in addition to the Maryknoll project-are the Col­ 76 The Columban History Project umbans, the Passionists, the Jesuits, the Divine Word, the Parig Digan, S.S.C. Southern Baptists, and the one-man projects of two retired British 77 A History of the English Presbyterian Mission in China missionaries, G. Francis S. Gray and George Hood. East Guangdong Province George Hood The Midwest China Oral History Project is unique, a regional 78 KomMissieMemoires: An Oral History Project of sampling of professionally conducted interviews, now published Dutch Catholic Missions and available for the use of teachers and scholars, as described by John M. Hogema, C.S.Sp. [ane Baker Koons. 81 Book Reviews Reports on five China mission archives projects will be pub­ 94 Dissertation Notices lished in the next issue. 96 Book Notes of issionaryResearch The Maryknoll China History Project Jean-Paul Wiest Introduction Since the late 1960s, interest in China mission studies has been As progress is made, they report to an Advisory Board of gaining momentum among missionary societies and churches in eight persons, four each appointed respectively by the General the West as well as in the third world. Proof of worldwide support Council of the Fathers and Brothers and by the Central Governing came in 1980 when international associations such as the Inter­ Board of the Sisters. The Advisory Board's interest in the MCHP national Association for Mission Studies (lAMS) and the Servicio is both scholarly and practical. The board sees the urgent need to di Documentazione e Studi (SEDOS) representing the Association record the personal histories of the surviving men and women of Superiors of Catholic Societies and Congregations advocated who served in China from 1918 to 1952, and to incorporate those the creation and preservation of mission archives and the writing oral histories into a thoroughly researched objective history. At of historical mission studies. the same time, the board is aware of the importance for the two In the United States, Protestant churches paved the way with societies to adjust to changing conditions in the world today. For projects such as the China Records Project launched in 1969. this reason it is vital to evaluate the original vision, goals, and Sponsored by the China Program of the National Council of methods used in the China years in view of both the political sit­ Churches, it resulted in the storage at Yale University of archival uation of that period and the significant changes that have taken records dealing with Protestant missioners who served in China. place since Maryknoll's departure in 1952. Since an essential in­ Other projects, several presented in this issue of the International gredient of missiological planning is historical hindsight and in­ Bulletin, followed suit; although most were Protestant, a few Cath­ sight, researchers are also examining the relations between olic projects have recently begun, such as the Maryknoll China American missioners and their Chinese colleagues, parishioners, History Project (MCHP). and non-Christian neighbors in the years before 1952, seeking to Now in its fifth year and final stage, the MCHP is the first in­ discover lessons learned and paving the way for a deeper reflec­ depth study that attempts to combine a comprehensive oral his­ tion on future mission practices. tory component with an analysis of archivaldocuments and the writing of a critical history of an American missionary group in Significance China. Since the pioneer work of Kenneth Scott Latourette in 1929, nu­ Purpose and Organization merous books have been published on twentieth-century North American mission history in China. These studies fall into two cat­ The Maryknoll China History Project is a joint venture of two re­ egories. First are those written by scholars who draw on the rich ligious societies, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, and the history of American missions in China in their overall study of Maryknoll Sisters. Approved in April 1980, its mandate is China's modern history. Their main interest in using missionary records is to broaden the base of their research materials rather to gather and to study all primary source materials, both oral and than to present a record of mission history or to evaluate mission­ written, and to produce a published critical history of the work of ary work. Very few studies are devoted to the Chinese response the Maryknoll Fathers, Sisters, and Brothers in China from the year to Christian missions. The most prolific scholarly writings have 1918 to 1952. The primary intent of the project is to seek to under­ been done at Harvard University under the inspiration of Profes­ stand the past history of the mission work of the two societies in sor John K. Fairbank. All the monographs and symposia produced China through objective and critical scholarly research, as a guide for the future service of the two societies. and published at Harvard have drawn on Protestant mission ar­ chives; there is no Catholic title in the entire Harvard output. In Four researchers (Donald Macinnis, Joanna Chan, Susan recent years only one author has published a history of North Perry, and Jean-Paul Wiest), carefully selected for their scholar­ American Catholic missions in China; however, his highly selec­ ship and practical experience, have designed and are running the tive use of sources limits its reliability and usefulness as a scholarly project. As a team they combine academic training in church his­ and objective history. 1 tory, mission studies, theology, Chinese history, and Chinese re­ The second category of books on mission history in China in­ ligions with in-the-field experience in mission service, an inside cludes the so-called house histories, which are often the work of knowledge of Maryknoll, and native familiarity with the Chinese devoted members of a society or institution, written to preserve language, as well as expertise in conducting oral history, gather­ the early records and to commemorate the work of the early gen­ ing missionary records, organizing research projects, and operat­ erations. These writings take generally the form of a chronological ing a word-processing system, They are aided by part-time or a biographical account and rarely give a critical interpretation or associates and consultants. comprehensive coverage of the sources. This study will be of interest, therefore, not only to Mary­ knollers and members of other missionary institutions but also to scholars in various fields such as Chinese history, church history, missiology, and sociology. It will reveal Maryknollers not only as Jean-Paul Wiest wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of French Catholic faithful narrators of Chinese daily rural life, but also as active par­ missions in south China. French bybirth, he haslivedin Taiwan and is currently ticipants or concerned bystanders in the many events that shaped writing the historyof Maryknollmissionsin China.