189
1960s, China and Christianity: the Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Antiforeignism, 1860-1870. There the singularly public murder of Ch'ea is never recorded in the Zongli yámén records, even though the Zónglĩ yámén itself had been established in January 1861. There was a particular kind of embarrassment and frustration in both the British and Qing bureaucracies in having to face an event of such large proportions during this early period – and so in fact the case was never officially handled at the highest levels. This is doubly ironic since in the missionary literature of the day Ch'ea's "martyrdom" was seen as a beacon of a new era in Chinese Protestant Christianity, one in which, to cite Tertullian's famous words, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” It was openly compared with similar indigenous sufferings in contemporary Madagascar, and so was understood to have a broad, even global, significance for all those who followed the developments of Protestant missions in China. All this being said, the fact that Ch'ëa's story has been all but forgotten is a historical anomaly which calls out to be thoroughly readdressed.
3
Before entering more fully into the context of this major event in Legge's life, a sidenote about the literature on Ch'ëa is advisable. It is very scattered and troubled by skewed transliterations of personal and place names as well as misrepresentations made through repetitions (notably in William Canton's A History of the British and Foreign Bible Society and in Helen Edith Legge's hagiographic book on her father's life). Fortunately there is a unique translation from "Chinese" (Hoklo dialect) of Ch'ea's own dictated self-referential account in 1857 as well as Legge's own extended journal of a missionary tour up the East River in May 1861 to draw upon. The sketch on "Che'a Kim-Kwong" in a typescript in the SOAS collection, copying a manuscript original now held in the Bodleian, is a relatively good account better than the one found in Helen Edith Legge's chapter written for the book dedicated to James Legge: Missionary and Scholar. All these are pieced together and thoroughly evaluated here for the first time, extra research details being added in the Chinese glossary and attached endnotes.
much
Page 255
Page 256
189
1960s, China and Christianity: the Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Antiforeignism, 1860-1870. There the singularly public murder of Ch'ea is never recorded in the Zongli yámén records, even though the Zónglĩ yámén itself had been established in January 1861. There was a particular kind of embarrassment and frustration in both the British and Qing bureaucracies in having to face an event of such large proportions during this early period – and so in fact the case was never officially handled at the highest levels. This is doubly ironic since in the missionary literature of the day Ch'ea's "martyrdom" was seen as a beacon of a new era in Chinese Protestant Christianity, one in which, to cite Tertullian's famous words, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” It was openly compared with similar indigenous sufferings in contemporary Madagascar, and so was understood to have a broad,. even global, significance for all those who followed the developments of Protestant missions in China. All this being said, the fact that Ch'ëa's story has been all but forgotten is a historical anomaly which calls out to be thoroughly readdressed.
3
Before entering more fully into the context of this major event in Legge's life, a sidenote about the literature on Ch'ëa is advisable. It is very scattered and troubled by skewed transliterations of personal and place names as well as misrepresentations made through repetitions (notably in William Canton's A History of the British and Foreign Bible Society and in Helen Edith Legge's hagiographic book on her father's life). Fortunately there is a unique translation from "Chinese" (Hoklo dialect) of Ch'ea's own dictated self-referential account in 1857 as well as Legge's own extended journal of a missionary tour up the East River in May 1861 to draw upon. The sketch on "Che'a Kim-Kwong" in a typescript in the SOAS collection, copying a manuscript original now held in the Bodleian, is a relatively good account better than the one found in Helen Edith Legge's chapter written for the book dedicated to James Legge: Missionary and Scholar. All these are pieced together and thoroughly evaluated here for the first time, extra research details being added in the Chinese glossary and attached endnotes.
much
Page 255Page 256
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.