THESIS
2013
xiii, 105 p. : ill. ; 30 cm
Abstract
The China Inland Mission (CIM), founded in 1865, was the largest and most influential
of Protestant missionary societies in late Qing China. In the 1860s when the CIM entered
China, most Chinese people held animosity towards Protestant missionaries due to the issue
of the opium trade between China and Britain. The CIM played a critical role in the
anti-opium campaign together with other Protestant missions.
To lessen the hindrance for evangelization work, the China Inland Mission launched its
opium refuge work in 1876, which was becoming one important feature of the CIM’s lay
work. The CIM had set up most opium refuges among all Protestant missions in China. Thus,
first, I try to give an overall description of CIM work on opium refuges.
Second, the opium refuges were institutio...[
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The China Inland Mission (CIM), founded in 1865, was the largest and most influential
of Protestant missionary societies in late Qing China. In the 1860s when the CIM entered
China, most Chinese people held animosity towards Protestant missionaries due to the issue
of the opium trade between China and Britain. The CIM played a critical role in the
anti-opium campaign together with other Protestant missions.
To lessen the hindrance for evangelization work, the China Inland Mission launched its
opium refuge work in 1876, which was becoming one important feature of the CIM’s lay
work. The CIM had set up most opium refuges among all Protestant missions in China. Thus,
first, I try to give an overall description of CIM work on opium refuges.
Second, the opium refuges were institutions focusing on curing opium addiction, where
protestant missionaries and opium-smokers interacted with each other. Thus this thesis also
examines how missionaries dealt with evangelization work and medical work in opium
refuges.
Third, there is a special but important case among all the refuges, that of Hsi Shengmo.
Hsi, a Chinese Christian, set up more than fifty opium refuges in Shansi province, which was
regarded as remarkable in the eyes of Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), the founder of the CIM.
This thesis is also trying to use Hsi’s case to illustrate how the CIM interacted with Chinese
Christians, as well as how Chinese Christians did the contextualization work of opium
refuges.
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