Western Missionaries Against Footbinding in Late-Qing China: A Successful Social Reform but an Evangelical Failure?

This study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of footbinding, and their activities had facilitated the spread of this movement. However, as the intention of western missionary in China was to Christianize the Chinese, did their anti-footbinding movement contribute to the recruitment of more Chinese converts? If not, why? Centering on this research question, the thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the general missionary history in China and the positions of the Catholics and the Protestants on the issue of footbinding. Chapter 2 is a case study on Rev.John Macgowan’s anti-footbinding effort in Amoy. This case shows how missionary handled the anti-footbinding issue in a local area of China and what problems the missionary met during his practice. Chapter 3 is another case study on Young John Allen and the famous...Show moreThis study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of footbinding, and their activities had facilitated the spread of this movement. However, as the intention of western missionary in China was to Christianize the Chinese, did their anti-footbinding movement contribute to the recruitment of more Chinese converts? If not, why? Centering on this research question, the thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the general missionary history in China and the positions of the Catholics and the Protestants on the issue of footbinding. Chapter 2 is a case study on Rev.John Macgowan’s anti-footbinding effort in Amoy. This case shows how missionary handled the anti-footbinding issue in a local area of China and what problems the missionary met during his practice. Chapter 3 is another case study on Young John Allen and the famous newspaper Wanguo gongbao he launched which had great influence in the modern history of China. Through the discussions of anti-footbinding in the newspaper, Allen successfully drew the attention of the Chinese reformers on the anti-footbinding issue. Young’s case signals a transition of the anti-footbinding movement from missionaries to a wider public. This transition led the anti-footbiding movement to a further development in China. However, it also implies the loosening of ties between anti-footbinding movement and the evangelical cause. Chapter 4 is a study of the larger social context of late Qing China which produced much antagonism and few support for the Western missionaries’ anti-footbinding movement, as the Western imperialists’ advancement in China affected the images of missionaries and made people unwilling to associate themselves with Christianity, even if they might support the abolishment of footbinding.Show less

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Western Missionaries Against Footbinding in Late-Qing China: A Successful Social Reform but an Evangelical Failure?