A Historical Study on the Effects of Missionary Activities from 1842 to 1951 on the Development of Modern English Education in Amoy

School of Foreign Languages,Jimei University,Xiamen,China

College of Foreign Languages,Fujian Normal University,Fuzhou,China Email:gantt2011@163.com

Zhe Zou①

School of Art and Design,Jimei University,Xiamen,China Email:zouzhe100@126.com

Shu Huang

School of Humanities,Fujian University of Technology,Fuzhou,China Email:46482552@qq.com

[Abstract]Modern missionary activities in Amoy lasted nearly one century from 1842 to 1951.During this period,missionaries built lots of missionary schools including kindergartens,elementary schools,girl’s schools,middle schools,normal schools as a circuitous strategy to settle the difficulties and obstructions in missionary work although their aim was spreading the Gospel.The establishment of these missionary schools objectively promoted the rapid development of modern English education in Amoy because of their“integrating Chinese and Western elements”educational ideal,their“Completely Westernization”teaching mode and the“Copying Western”academic system,curriculum and textbooks.A Historical Study on the Effects of Missionary Activities on Development of Modern English Education could reexamine the historical contribution of the Spread of Christianity to early English education in Amoy.

[Keyword]Missionary Activity;Development;English Education;Amoy

Introduction

Amoy,as an excellent port in the southeast of China,has always been the frontier between China and foreign countries since ancient times.Early during the reign of Emperor Wanli in Ming Dynasty(1575),Bishop of Malacca Martin De Rada and Rev.Garrow Martin travelled from Manila by way of Amoy to Fuzhou.In the same year,they returned to Manila by way of Amoy and they were the first foreign missionaries to set foot on Amoy Island.However,only few Western missionaries visited Amoy sparsely before the Opium War due to Chinese government’s negative attitude towards missionary work.Modern Missionary trend formed after the Opium War when Amoy was forced to be one of the five treaty ports.Western countries began a century-old missionary history in Amoy with guns and cannons until the last missionary doctor,Dr.Theodore V.OLtman left Amoy in 1951 after the People’s Republic of China was founded.

Generally speaking,the one-century missionaries’work in Amoy experienced a lot of difficulties and obstructions.The consciousness of suspicion and rejection towards missionaries and missionary activities has always been dominant in Chinese society during that time.The reasons why missionary work is hard is conspicuous.First of all,Missionary activity is combined with unequal treaties for China,which undoubtedly scared the Chinese People.They could hardly believe those who started opium war and caused terrible war damage could really be“Christian lovers”.Chinese educator Jiang Menglin said,“If it could be concluded that Buddha came to China on a white elephant,Jesus Christ came on a cannonball”（Li ,2015,p.22）,which vividly reflects the preconceived impression of Christianity among the Chinese people at that time.Secondly,most missionaries believed that European civilization was superior to that of Asia and Africa,and their mission was to save the Chinese people from the darkness through God.This belief clashed strongly with Chinese people,who were proud of their own long history and civilization.For example,David Abeel,the first modern missionary didn’t convert a Chinese citizen to Christianity until he left in 1844.Figures show that by 1849,within seven years of the arrival of Protestant missionaries in Amoy,only five had become Christians(Liu,2015,p.21).In fact,not only Amoy,these chilling facts are just the epitome of Missionary activity in the mainland of China at that time.The missionaries had to reconsider and change their work strategy after experiencing repeated failure of being disgusted and boycotted.Finally,they found Chinese people are more likely to convert to Christianity through education for Chinese people are in fervent belief of acquiring success through education.Therefore,“spreading Gospel through education”became a circuitous strategy for missionaries to practice their work in China.Those missionaries in Amoy built different kinds of missionary schools including kindergarten,elementary schools,girl’s schools,middle schools,normal schools,academy of classical learning.The establishment of these missionary schools objectively promoted the rapid development of modern English education in Amoy because of their“integrating Chinese and Western elements”educational ideal,their“Completely Westernization”teaching mode and the“Copying Western”academic system,curriculum and textbooks.

Amoy has become a bridgehead for European and American missionaries in China because of its unique geographical position in nineteenth century.That is why the missionaries’activities in Amoy also attracted the attention of scholars both home and abroad.These research include Gerald F.Deyong’s The ReformedChurch in Amoy 1842-1951,John Macgowan’sChrist or Confucius,Which?Or the Story of the AmoyMission Barbour and William Chalmers Burns’China and the Mission at Amoy,Edwin Joshua Dukes’sEveryday Life in China:on Scenes along River and Road in Fuh-kien,Robert Samuel Maclay’s Life Among the Chinese,Mrs.Sarah Sites’An Epic of the East,Philip Wilson Pitcher’s Fifty Years in Amoy and In and About Amoy:Some Historical and Other Facts Connected with One of the First Open Ports in Chinaand so on.However,few studies have systematically elaborated on the role of missionary schools in the development of English education in Amoy.

The second part of this paper expounds major characteristics of the one-century missionary activities in Amoy from the first missionary David Abeel arrived in 1842 to the last missionary doctor Theodore V.Oltman left China in 1951.By concluding the characteristics,the reason why missionaries practice the strategy“spreading the gospel by education”is clear.The third part presents a general review of missionary schools built in Amoy.These Missionary schools cover almost all forms and scales of early education.Part Four analyzes general situation of English education in missionary schools.These missionary schools’educational ideal are integrating Chinese and Western elements;their teaching model are Completely Westernization and they completely copy Western academic system,curriculum and textbooks.The fifth part represents the lasting effects of missionary schools on English education today in Amoy.

Historical Characteristics of Missionary Activities in Amoy

Generally speaking,the Missionary Activities in Amoy has two conspicuous historical characteristics.Firstly,Missionary Work in Amoy are often short of missionaries because early missionaries and their families did not adapt to Amoy’s climate and living conditions,causing their short period of stay in Amoy.For instance,the first missionary David Abeel stayed in Amoy for only 3 years but left for health problems.He ended his short life in 1946.Besides,Rev.William John Pohlman did missionary work in Amoy for 5 years(1844-1849)and his wife Theodosia R.Pohlman died just one year after being in Amoy.John Samon Joralmon and his wife Mrs.Martha Joralmon served from 1855 to 1860 while Rev.Alvin Ostrom and Mrs.Susan Webster Ostrom did missionary work for 6 years.Rev.Augustus Blauvelt and Mrs.Jennie Blauvelt served in Amoy for 3 years(1861-1864).Not to mention John E.Watkins and Mrs.Sara Hewston Watkins died on the way to Amoy.According to statistics fromThe Reformed Church in China:1842-1951,about half of the missionaries served in Amoy no more than five years.

A large number of missionaries,especially those early ones suffered physically and mentally illness because of the hardship they suffered to acclimatize themselves to Amoy’s climate and comparatively speaking bad sanitary conditions.Amoy is famous for South Asian tropical maritime monsoon climate.This kind of hot island climate is quite different from that of American and European,which made the newly arrived European and American missionaries and their families very uncomfortable.Rev.Talmage once recollected,“Schenck,a former foreign resident in Banlam(south of Fujian)explained that the summer heat was oppressive mainly due to its continuousness.The changes of land breeze to sea breeze and vice versa were preceded by an hour of great sultriness and oppressiveness”(Cheung,2004,p.126).Besides,compared with their own developed countries at that time,the living and sanitary conditions in Amoy were not satisfactory,and many missionary families suffered the pain of losing their relatives as a result.Boone seems to be the first Amoy missionary to write about Amoy’s unhealthiness for foreigners,whose wife was dead at Banlam in August 1842.John Macgowan wrote of“The house too,with its dirty walls and earthen floors,impossible to be kept clean,reminds the family continually of their poverty”(Macgowan,1889,p.25).Explaining the high health tolerance of the‘Chinaman’,he described in this manner the native’s little straw but sitting guard above his rice field:“One night in that hut would be enough to give an Englishman such a dose of fever that it would take all his strength and all the skill of his doctor to bring him back to life again”(Macgowan,1889,p.35).

Secondly,the missionary shortage situation was further complicated by the language acquisition.Fujian province is probably the most complicated dialect area in China.Even residents in neighbour towns could not understand each other,not to mention there is huge difference in the accent of dialect between the northern part and southern part of Fujian.Amoy dialect belongs to Banlam language system,which is quite different from the Mandarin.For those missionaries to Amoy,not only they should understand Mandarin but also Banlam dialect.Two months after arriving in Amoy,William John Pohlman described the obstacles in missionary work because of language,“ Once again,we suffer the language barrier.There are so many dialects in this enigmatic language...In many ways it is like a new language,the dialect we have learned is not spoken in this province.But don't think we've lost all our work...Hopefully,with diligence and God's blessing,we will be able to use the new dialect fluently in this large parish within a year”(Gerald,1992,p.32).Upon first arrival in Amoy,both Doty and Pohlman suffered some disheartenment upon knowing that the Amoy tongue was somewhat different from the Chinese dialect they had learned in Borneo.David Cheung described some missionaries had to seek the aid at various times on account of language limitations(Cheung,2004,p.129).

For these above two reasons,Missionary work in Amoy suffered a lot of difficulties at the beginning.Figures show that by 1849,within seven years of the arrival of Protestant missionaries in Amoy,only five had converted to Christians.Under such conditions,missionaries had to think of other suitable ways to promote missionary activities.“Spreading gospel through education”later became a roundabout strategy for missionaries to take because they learned that the Chinese people were always in great belief in education.

A Review of Church Schools in Amoy

Missionaries in Amoy was pioneered in setting up missionary schools although Amoy was relatively speaking a second-tier city in China considering its geographic area and population.According to History of Education in Fujian,Yinghua old-style private school in 1844 was not only the first church school in Amoy but also the first one in Fujian province.Huaide Kindergarten,the first kindergarten in China was built in Amoy in 1898，which is for four to six year old children of Christians(Xu,2015,p.31).In 1847,Mrs W.Young founded a girls' school named Yu De girl’s school with only 12 students in Amoy(Li,2013,p.78),which was the beginning of woman's education in Amoy and even in modern China.Besides,Mary Eliza Talmage founded a three-year woman's school in Tianwei in 1884,also known as Tian Wei Woman's School.This school was specially designed for women after marriage,and the age of schooling ranged from 20 to over 70.In addition,in 1901,the British Presbyterian Church set up a naive normal school in Huaide Kindergarten to train teachers for kindergarten in southern Fujian,which became the cradle of preschool normal education in Fujian.

Secondly,the schools established by various churches have covered almost all forms and scales of early education in Amoy,including academy of classical learning,girl’s school,women school,normal schools,kindergarten,primary school,and so on.Many famous schools of Amoy nowadays grew out of church schools.For example,Xiamen Gulangyu Sun Kindergarten,formerly known as Huai De Kindergarten,was one of the earliest kindergartens in China;Xiamen Fourth Kindergarten,also known as Lujiang Kindergarten,was founded in 1914 by Rev.Huang Zhiting of the New Street Church.Xiamen No.1 Kindergarten,founded in 1948 is exactly benefited from Huai De Kindergarten for the missionaries built the first normal school basic on it.Besides,the missionaries to Amoy also followed the traditional educational pattern at that time and set up the old style Chinese academy,take“Xun Yuanzhai Chinese Academy”in 1869 and“Hui Lan Sheng Dao Chinese Academy”in 1881 for instance.It is also worth mentioning the girl’s schools founded by missionaries when it was unimaginable for girls to go to school then.Those schools were often run by missionaries’wives,providing chances for Chinese girls to learn.These girl’s school include Tianwei girl’s school,Meihua girl’s school,Wudai girl’s middle school.In addition,there are more schools founded by Christianity missionaries,such as Xunyuan School(1881-1925),Yinghua School(1897-1951),Meihua School(1905-1949),Fumin School(1850-1951)and Yangyuan School(1889-1951)and so on.

Overview of English Education in Missionary Schools in Amoy

Missionary schools in Amoy devoted much attention to English education.They imitates the teaching model of school in British,employs their teaching method and teaching materials.In accordance with the records inOld and Famous Schools in Amoy,English textbooks were introduced except for The Four Books and The Five Classics.Ying Hua School could be a good example.English course is the main course only inferior to religion in this school and most other subjects were taught in English:“The junior section in this school is like middle school in British while the senior section is like high school.The last two years of school are just preparation for university.The courses are categorized into business and science.All these courses adopts English and even extracurricular religious activities are required to speak English”(Gu,2004,p.228).

Secondly,the course evaluation of Ying Hua School also emphasizes English over Chinese.The school authorities place an obvious emphasis on English in assessing students'qualifications for graduation.Overseas Chinese students from Nanyang usually have a high level of English and a low level of Chinese.These students are able to acquire diplomas as long as they perform well in English,regardless of their capability of Chinese.On the contrary,the school will not grant them diploma until their English has met graduation requirement.Therefore,students and parents generally attach great importance to English learning.In addition,most English teachers in the schools are British or overseas"returnees".Some of them are local teachers who graduated from famous Chinese missionary universities and are fluent in English and knowledgeable.They pay great attention to the development of students' English writing ability,and also pay attention to the training of students'English eloquence,so as to ensure that students can graduate at the same level as the British advanced schools,and can be admitted to the British university without examination.

Thirdly,the English teaching method of missionary school is helpful for English education.Yang Yuan primary English is taught in the second year of primary school,and one to two years later,it is taught directly by foreign teachers.Because many English teachers did not master Chinese and cannot interpret grammar,they could only ask students to recite texts or other articles repeatedly,which is similar to the traditional learning method of private schools in China.When students recite more,they will naturally form a sense of English language,explore a little grammar and gradually reach a state of mastery.This“direct”English teaching method creates a whole foreign language teaching environment,which has become a major feature of foreign language teaching in Yangyuan Primary School.In this way,English naturally becomes an indispensable teaching language.

The Lasting Effects of Missionary School on English Education

English education of missionary schools is exerting lasting effects now.Xiamen No.2 High School was once second to none in English education in Xiamen and it should not be neglected that it was formed from the merger of several missionary schools,including Yu De girl’s school in 1870,Huai Ren girl’s school in 1877,and Ying Hua Academy of classical learning in 1898.

No.2 High School is pioneering in English education.It was not satisfied with the goal of English teaching in the Senior High School Syllabus before the“Cultural Revolution”,which stipulated that“the purpose of English teaching in senior high school is to teach students to read and understand simple English reading materials or popular articles with the help of dictionaries.”It is not surprising that high school students have mute English if oriented by this“syllabus”.However,No.2 High School,which has a good English tradition,was not satisfied with cultivating talents who can only understand foreign languages in the native language environment of China.Instead,they aim at a higher level,aiming at having a solid foundation in foreign language listening,speaking,reading and writing,which could enable them“go out”and live and work in a country where the native language is spoken.This is a breakthrough in the syllabus of ordinary senior high school,which is indeed an important innovation in the early stage of reform and opening up.In terms of teaching,they inherited the“open”tradition accumulated from English teaching in missionary schools,and made bold innovations under difficult conditions.Their innovation in foreign language teaching in the new era is mainly reflected in the creation of a learning environment in schools that is in line with foreign language and culture.Besides,they introduced Hong Kong Chinese textbook as teaching materials.At that time,Hong Kong had not yet returned to China and was still a British colony,which was indeed a courageous act.At that time,it was difficult to hire foreign teachers.In order to develop an accurate and rich sense of language and authentic American and American pronunciation and intonation,they adopted a lot of“audio-visual teaching”means and a lot of foreign original audio-visual teaching resources,and invited“virtual foreign teachers”into school to make up for this lack.Subsequently,Xiamen No.2 Middle School English Experimental class became the prototype of Xiamen Foreign Language Middle School.The current Foreign Language Middle School is a national famous middle school featuring English teaching.

Conclusion

The establishment of these missionary schools objectively promoted the rapid development of modern English education in Amoy because of their“integrating Chinese and Western elements”educational ideal,their“Completely Westernization”teaching mode and the“Copying Western”academic system,curriculum and textbooks.A Historical Study on the Effects of Missionary Activities on Development of Modern English Education could re-examine the historical contribution of the Spread of Christianity to early English education in Amoy.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Young and Middle- aged Teachers Education Research Fund(Grant No.JAS180179).