CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE

Section I: East Asia Missions

Part 10: China Mission, 1834-1914
Part 11: South China Mission, 1885-1934
Part 12: South China Mission, 1888-1934
Part 13: Chekiang Mission, 1885-1934
Part 14: Chekiang Mission, 1888-1934

Introduction to Part 10; China Mission, 1834-1914

Part 10 contains the papers of the China Mission covering the years 1834-1914 and consists of Individual Letter Books for 1852-1914, Letter Books for 1834-1897, Mission Books for 1834-1880, a Précis Book for 1881-1888 and Original Papers for 1835-1884.

The Individual Letter Books for 1852-1883 and for 1883-1914 contain private and confidential letters from the Secretary in London to individual missionaries. Material includes: a Committee resolution prohibiting missionaries from communicating directly with the British government in 1869, details regarding the ending of discrimination against Protestant missionaries in China in 1881, figures for the possible expansion in the numbers of Chinese Christians, the expansion of the Fukien and Chekiang missions, letters concerning the opium trade and meetings with mandarins in 1893, the status of the missionaries in relation to the foreign community. It should be noted that the Individual Letter Books for 1852-1883 and for 1883-1888 contain some Japan mission correspondence.

The Letter Books for 1834-1897 contain copies of all correspondence from the Secretary in London to the missionaries and others concerned with mission affairs. A wide range of subjects is covered: instructions to missionaries on travelling out to China and relocating within China; reports on the establishment of an Opium Refuge; circulars re the Shanghai English school, mission estimates and native Christian autobiographies; plans for the future of the Ningpo College; plans for medical students at Hokning; reports on Biblewomen; a memorandum from the Foreign Office re the anti-foreign disturbances in China in 1892; Committee resolutions regarding the Hwa-sang massacre in 1895; a memorandum re women’s work. In the Letter Book for 1863-1876 there is some Japan mission correspondence.

The Mission Books for 1834-1880 contain copies of the Original Papers. A legible copy was made available for the Committee. The letters and journals from 1834-1849 are copied out in full, while a note of receipt is made for the financial papers and printed papers. From 1849 the letters only are copied. Annual letters from 1871 onwards are copied out also and if they are printed are pasted or sewn into the backs of the volumes. The Mission Books for 1868-1880 contain some Japan correspondence.

The Précis Book for 1881-1888 contains a précis of all the incoming papers prepared for the Group Committee. The précis comprises the number, date, writer, date received, summary of contents, proposals for committee action to be taken and/or the Secretary’s remarks.

The Original Papers comprise all the incoming papers sent to the Headquarters from the missionaries and mission secretary.They mainly consist of letters, journals and reports, but also include items such as minutes and papers of local CMS committees.

The Original Papers for 1835-1880 contain: minutes of the local CMS committees, conferences and Shanghai Lay finance committee; correspondence with bishops; miscellaneous finance papers; property deeds and schedules; maps and plans; correspondence with representatives of the British Government; papers concerning the provision of churches and clergy; papers re the 1877 Shanghai Conference of Protestant missionaries; miscellaneous papers; printed papers and newspaper cuttings.

The main body of the material (O 15-93) consists of the letters and papers of individual missionaries, catechists and others arranged alphabetically beginning with Rev Charles Atkinson and ending with Rev Yiu-Kwong Wong. There is fascinating information to be found in the letters, journals and annual letters on all manner of topics.

he Original Papers for 1881-1884 contain a mixture of material: letters from missionaries re baptisms, health, conferences, itinerations. There is information on the work of the Biblewomen, minutes of meetings on the openings of new stations, new mission houses and plans for new schools. Miscellaneous material is also to be found such as: newspaper cuttings of the anti-foreign riots at Canton, plans for a hospital at Hangchow, requests for grants as aid for the Native Christians and reports of hospitals such as the Medical Mission Hospital at Hangchow

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