West China Missionaries Digital Repository

Lone Carrier on Anlan Bridge

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Beginning in the late 1880s, a small stream of Canadian and American missionaries made their permanent home in Sichuan Province in West China. Inspired by Social Gospel theologians, their numbers had swelled to hundreds by the 1920s, then began dwindling during the 1930s and lessened further during  WWII. The missionary presence in China finally ceased in 1951 when they were forced to leave under the Communist regime.

Although these missionary men and women left their homes and families to “evangelize the world in one generation,” from the start their mission embraced not only evangelism, but also education and medicine. Their teaching fine arts, humanities and sciences in middle schools and universities was motivated by the premises that Christianity formed the foundation of a universal democratic society, and that liberal arts and science education was the route to effective Christian leadership. Their social engineering experiment provides a unique opportunity to analyze processes of rapid social and cultural change in both East and West. 

This site is dedicated to presenting resources by and about the West China missionaries, especially photographs and ephemera held in the families of their descendants, compiled and researched mainly by Cory Willmott, a "Mish Kid II" herself, and also an emerita professor of anthropology.

I welcome feedback about the site and its contents. Please email me at cwillmo@siue.edu if you have questions or comments about anything on the site, including but not limited to corrections of fact and identification of subjects in photos.

 

Sneak Peek

  • Robert Cunningham, Tibet

    Portrait of CIM missionary Robert Cunningham dressed in Tibetan attire. He is sitting on a chair in front of a painted background that appears to be in a photography studio.

  • The Ewans in a Garden with Church Tower

    Robert and Sarah Ewan standing on a garden path with an unidentified boy and woman. Small buildings are at intervals along the path. A tall church tower is in the background.

  • The Ewans in a Lush Tropical Garden

    Robert and Sara Ewan stand on a lawn with an unidentified female missionary. They are surrounded by tall palm trees and other tropical plants in a cultured garden.

  • Lotus Pond at Chengdu

    Close view of lotus leaves tightly packed into a small pond with small trees, grass and a small building in the background.

  • CMM Compound at Sichengci Street, Chengdu

    Arial view over Chengdu with CMM compound at Sichengci Street in lower left foreground. Probably taken from a window of the CMM hospital.

  • Ewan House in Chengdu

    Large missionary house with arched verandahs that encircle top and bottom floors. A yard with grass and flowers enclosed within a low brick fence.

  • Portrait of Edna and Douglas Ewan

    Formal portrait of Edna as a small child and Douglas as an infant standing on a chair and being held up by his mother from behind. Taken in a drawing room with two small tables, a wide Chinese-style wooden chair, a large oil-burning lamp, a small carpet and a folding screen. Decorative brickwork on the wall behind.

  • Robert Baker Ewan Portrait

    Robert Ewan poses for a formal portrait, possibly in a photo studio, for an almost full length shot. He wears a cutaway suit jacket and slim cut trousers.

  • Robert Baker Ewan Family Portrait

    Robert and Sarah Ewan are seated on wooden chairs with their children standing next to them, Edna on the left and Douglas on the right. They wear formal dress. There is a dog sitting in front of them. They are on a verandahed porch with some wood debris visible on the ground.

  • Six Men Ordained Together, 1918

    Six unidentified Chinese men stand in front of the entranceway to a brick building with large round columns. They wear traditional Chinese scholars' regalia, minus the caps.

  • Portrait of Teacher Gin Fong U and Family

    Portrait of the Gin family outdoors against a whitewashed wall. Gin stands wearing a cap and a center closing jacket over a scholars gown. His wife sits on a wicker chair with a baby on lap and flanked by two small children. She wears the traditional Han ensemble of jacket and vest over trousers with "lotus shoes" on her bound feet.

  • Boys at Work, Jenshow Industrial School

    Under the direction of an unidentified female missionary, high school boys till the soil in the Industrial School's agricultural fields. Mountains can be seen in the background.
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