Ch 1: Introduction: Imaginaries and Modernities
In this chapter we contextualize the West China mission field within the general history of West China in the late 19th and early 20th century, and within the evolution of Protestant missionary efforts in West China. We define the cohort of West China missionaries who are the subject of this study and explain why they are important. We introduce the concept of the theopolitical imaginary, with emphasis on social gospel theology and the cult of adventure.
We reflect on how our positionality as gendered members of the descent community and as humanist social scientists impacts and informs our work. This introductory chapter will also explain our approaches to temporal and spatial aspects of the work, including the organization around phases in a lifespan.
Specific research questions we address in the study are:
1. Who were the West China missionaries, and what institutions made it possible for them to initiate and continue their work in West China?
2. What theopolitical imaginaries motivated the West China missionaries to take up their “calling” and to continue their missionary work? What modernization practices did this work involve?
3. What do stories of adventure and everyday life tell us about the embodied experiences of living in a missionary microculture and community?
4. What insights can we offer about the enduring impacts of the West China missionaries on descendant communities, their home nations and transnational culture?
Group Portrait of Missionaries Confined to the CMM Hospital, 1911
Missionaries quarantined at the unfinished CMM hospital building during the 1911 Revolution - one of many adventures that reinforced the cohesion of, and fissures in, the group of West China missionaries.