Since the first American missionary to China arrived in 1830, the growth of the American Protestant Christian in China had been very slow but steady. Even though the first Chinese converted to Christianity were often their clients or coworkers, the missionaries also reached a few literati and reformers. These Protestant missionaries brought not only their small schools and rudimentary medicine but also the Christian Bible into the major cities and rural areas. This study focuses on American missionaries’ contacts and activities in and conceptions concerning traditional Chinese society from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. It first examines the real image of Chinese literati and Confucianism held by American Missionaries. Generally speaking, they could not understand this Chinese way of life or appreciate their philosophical and ethical learning as real religion. It next focuses on missionaries’ understanding of the Boxer Rebellion (1898-1901), a well-known episode that helps us understand American Missionaries’ attitudes toward the Chinese people and their culture and religions. American Missionaries had a special animosity against the rebellion, and requested the American government to revenge it cruelly.

Since the first American missionary to China arrived in 1830, the growth of the American Protestant Christian in China had been very slow but steady. Even though the first Chinese converted to Christianity were often their clients or coworkers, the missionaries also reached a few literati and reformers. These Protestant missionaries brought not only their small schools and rudimentary medicine but also the Christian Bible into the major cities and rural areas. This study focuses on American missionaries’ contacts and activities in and conceptions concerning traditional Chinese society from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. It first examines the real image of Chinese literati and Confucianism held by American Missionaries. Generally speaking, they could not understand this Chinese way of life or appreciate their philosophical and ethical learning as real religion. It next focuses on missionaries’ understanding of the Boxer Rebellion (1898-1901), a well-known episode that helps us understand American Missionaries’ attitudes toward the Chinese people and their culture and religions. American Missionaries had a special animosity against the rebellion, and requested the American government to revenge it cruelly.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission, ABCFM, Student Volunteers Movement for Foreign Mission, SVM, the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China, Confucianism, The Boxer Movement