Protestant Missions in China, 1904

The Yale University Library includes in its holdings a full directory of the Protestant missions functioning in one way or another in China in 1904, listing both organisations and members in the field. This absolutely extraordinary document is almost Pythonesque in proportions. It does however give some indication into the organisational shambles of the missionary enterprise as a whole, not to mention the absolute fragmentation of the Christian faith into national-religious sects. And if missionary activity eventually provoked severe reactions from the local population, their patience worn down to a thread by the constant knocks on their doors, the directory list may at least provide some explanation for the savagery with which the missionaries were sometimes treated.  

And as an interesting side-note to this voluminous list, it may be noted that there is only one mention of any organisation that is actually 'British'. This absence provides just another clue to ongoing identity debates about what it means to be British, and suggests that religious affiliation has never been a binding imperative.

Either way, depending on where you lived, if you were Chinese, and looking for an alternative to your traditional beliefs and way of life at the turn of the twentieth century, it would appear that your options included participation with any of the following well-meaning groups:

1. American Friends Mission
2. American Norwegian Lutheran Mission
3. American Presbyterian Mission
4. American Protestant Episcopal Mission
5. American Reformed Presbyterian Mission
6. American Southern Baptist Mission
7. Basel Missionary Society
8. Berlin Foundling House
9. Berlin Missionary Society
10. Bible Christian Mission
11. British and Foreign Bible Society
12. Canadian Methodist Mission
13. Canadian Presbyterian Mission
14. Central China Religious Tract Society
15. China Baptist Publication Society
16. China Inland Mission
17. China Missionary Alliance
18. Chinese Tract Society
19. Christian and Missionary Alliance
20. Christian Catholic Church in Zion
21. Christian College in Zion
22. Christians’ Mission
23. Christian Vernacular Society of Shanghai
24. Church Missionary Society
25. Church of England Mission
26. Church of Scotland Mission
27. Cumberland Presbyterian Mission
28. Danish Lutheran Mission
29. Educational Association of China
30. English Baptist Mission (including Rev. A. Sowerby and wife)
31. English Methodist Mission
32. English Presbyterian Mission
33. English United Methodist Free Church
34. Finnish Free Church Mission
35. Foreign Christian Missionary Society
36. Friends’ Foreign Mission
37. German China Alliance Mission
38. Gospel Mission
39. Hauge’s Synodes Mission
40. Hildesheim Mission for the Blind
41. Independent
42. International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations’ Secretaries
43. Irish Presbyterian Church Mission
44. London Missionary Society
45. Lutheran Brethren Mission
46. Medical Missionary Society
47. Methodist Episcopal Church South, USA
48. Methodist Episcopal Mission
49. Methodist Protestant Church Mission
50. Methodist Publishing House in China
51. Mission for the Chinese Blind, Peking
52. Missionary Home and Agency
53. National Bible Society of Scotland
54. North China Tract Society
55. North West Kiangsi Mission
56. Norwegian Lutheran Mission
57. Norwegian Mission in China
58. Norwegian Missionary Society
59. Presbyterian Church of New Zealand Mission
60. Reformed Church in America
61. Reformed Church in The United States
62. Rhenish Missionary Society
63. Scandinavian American Christian Free Mission
64. Scandinavian China Alliance Mission
65. Scandinavian Missionary Alliance
66. Seamen’s Church and Mission Society
67. Seventh Day Adventist Mission
68. Seventh Day Baptist Mission
69. Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among The Chinese.
70. South Chihli Mission
71. Swedish American Missionary Covenant
72. Swedish Baptist Mission
73. Swedish Holiness Union
74. Swedish Mission in China
75. Swedish Missionary Society
76. The John G. Kerr Refuge for Insane
77. Unconnected
78. United Brethren in Christ
79. United Evangelical Church Mission
80. United Free Church of Scotland
81. United Society of Christian Endeavour for China
82. Wesleyan Missionary Society
83. Woman’s Union Mission
84. Yale University Mission
85. Young Men’s Christian Association of China, Korea and Hong Kong
86. Young Men’s Christian Association of Hong Kong
87. Young Men’s Christian Association of Tientsin.

Well, nobody can say that the Western colonialists did not offer some diversity to their Chinese interlocutors. At a later point in history, those same Western countries were to prove slightly less tolerant when the cultures and values of such countries as China started to impact on their own ways of life in their own cities, towns and villages. That though is another story.