Page 345 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

331.

71
Shanghai and Foochow. In the period 1842-44 the American

China mission acquired at least seven missionaries, two of whom

were doctors. Four additional doctors supplemented the medical

branch of mission endeavors. The total of these later arrivals

nearly equalled that of American missionaries who preceded them.

By 1844 American missionaries had successfully estab­

lished themselves in China. No longer were they dependent on

their English brethern for leadership. In fact, the English

missionary community had decreased during the Opium War and

only began to rebuild its mission after 1842. Although the

Americans continued their emphasis on education and medical

help, they were now free to proselytize openly and to hold

public services. Through the Treaty of Nanking the mission­

aries gained the opportunity to reach millions of Chinese, to

whom Imperial law previously had denied them access. In 1844
1
American missionaries in China looked back at the 1830 s as a

decade of preparation. They had acclimated themselves to

China and had obtained the good-will of the Chinese, especially

in their opposition to the opium trade. The Missionary Herald

proclaimed in 1844: "No foreigners are regarded with more favor
72
by the Chinese than Americans.11 American missionaries believed

they were on the verge of a long but exciting voyage that would

christianize and westernize China.

71
Latourette, History of Christian Missions in China,
p. 245. Latourette, "Early Relations between the United States
and China," pp. 120-22.
72
Missionary Herald, XL, 1 (January 1844), 8.