Christianity and Social Mobility in Late Qing and the Republic China, 1880-1950

The fact that Christian Chinese missions promoted some Chinese individuals’ upward social mobility has not been studied in a focused manner by either Western nor Chinese scholars.

The missionaries went to China at the time of Western imperialism expansion, and determined to “save China”. Some of these Christian missionaries made efforts to emphasize education and the idea of women’s freedom. These efforts helped some Chinese individuals, both men and women, to access education, became professionals, and gained upward social mobility, although that was not the missionaries’ original intention.

Mainly based on an extensive Canadian-Chinese family archive this study aims to shed light on how missionary-based education helped some individual Chinese Christians gain social mobility between the 1880s and 1950.

Applying scholarly studies in the fields of feminism, the social history of religion, and transnationalism, from a cross-cultural perspective, this study explores the drastically changed social status of some Chinese individuals as a result of their close ties with Christian missionaries and their educational efforts.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lynne Marks;Gregory Blue

Student:

Partner:

Zhejiang University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Victoria

Program: