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Between 1917 and 1923, membership doubled owing mainly to acceptance of the Protestant faith among the Miao tribesmen (La-Tourette, 1929).
In addition to attracting businessmen, diplomats and missionaries, the unknown interior also coaxed several academics to make pilgrimages to the "Shore of Pearls". The most important of these for the natural sciences was undertaken by F.A. McClure, an American botanist teaching at Lingnan Agricultural College, who was commissioned to explore the land resources of Hainan, and if possible, conquer the summit of the rugged Five Finger Range: a feat which had eluded earlier European attempts (McClure, 1922). His first assault on the summit failed, but on April 20, 1922, his second push brought him through the dense undergrowth to the ceiling of the island (McClure, 1922). The important discoveries he made on these and subsequent expeditions to Hainan (1927, 1928, 1929, 1932) form the basis of a great collection of rare plants housed in Guangzhou (Fenzel, 1933), the New York Botanical Gardens, and for some specimens, the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University (Merrill and Medcalf, 1937).
A zoological expedition, led by Clifford Pope of the American Museum of Natural History, went to Hainan in 1922 (Pope, 1924), while in 1928 the French missionary and ethnographer, M. Savina, studied in detail the language of the Li clans for the first time (Savina, 1929). The German, Gottlieb Fenzel, who journeyed through the interior in 1929 made a significant contribution to the geology and geography of Hainan (Fenzel, 1933), and his fellow countryman, H. Stubel, provided further information on the ethnology of Hainan's aboriginals from his visits in 1931 and 1932 (Stubel and Li, 1933; Stubel and Meriggi, 1937). These published reports by foreign academics provide the bulk of the information on Hainan readily accessible to the western bloc.
Civil War and Japanese occupation
In 1912, the Manchu dynasty came to an end with the abdication of the young Emperor, Hsuan-t’ung, and the New Republic was declared the constitutional form of state. However, efforts by the weak central government to create unity were sabotaged
125
Between 1917 and 1923, membership doubled owing mainly to acceptance of the Protestant faith among the Miao tribesmen (La- Tourette, 1929).
In addition to attracting businessmen, diplomats and mission- aries, the unknown interior also coaxed several academics to make pilgrimages to the "Shore of Pearls". The most important of these for the natural sciences was undertaken by F.A. McClure, an American botanist teaching at Lingnan Agricultural College, who was commissioned to explore the land resources of Hainan, and if possible, conquer the summit of the rugged Five Finger Range: a feat which had eluded earlier European attempts (McClure, 1922), His first assault on the summit failed, but on April 20, 1922, his second push brought him through the dense undergrowth to the ceiling of the island (McClure, 1922). The important discoveries he made on these and subsequent expeditions to Hainan (1927, 1928, 1929, 1932) form the basis of a great collection of rare plants housed in Guangzhou (Fenzel, 1933), the New York Botantical Gardens, and for some specimens, the Arnold Arboretum at Har- vard University (Merrill and Medcalf, 1937).
A zoological expedition, led by Clifford Pope of the American Museum of Natural History, went to Hainan in 1922 (Pope, 1924), while in 1928 the French missionary and ethnographer, M. Savina, studied in detail the language of the Li clans for the first time (Savina, 1929). The German, Gottlieb Fenzel, who jour- neyed through the interior in 1929 made a significant contribution to the geology and geography of Hainan (Fenzel, 1933), and his fellow countryman, H. Stubel, provided further information on the enthnology of Hainan's aboriginals from his visits in 1931 and 1932 (Stubel and Li, 1933; Stubel and Meriggi, 1937). These pub- lished reports by foreign academics provide the bulk of the infor- mation on Hainan readily accessible to the western bloc.
Civil War and Japanese occupation
In 1912, the Manchu dynasty came to an end with the abdica- tion of the young Emperor, Hsuan-t’ung, and the New Republic was declared the constitutional form of state. However, efforts by the weak central government to create unity were sabotaged
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