Justus Doolittle (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Lú Gōngmíng'';

Foochow Romanized Foochow Romanized, also known as Bàng-uâ-cê (BUC for short; ) or Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (), is a Latin alphabet for the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min adopted in the middle of the 19th century by Western missionaries. It had varied at dif ...

: ''Lù Gŭng-mìng''; June 23, 1824,

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

- June 15, 1880, Clinton,

) was an American Board missionary to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Life

Justus Doolittle was born in

on June 23, 1824. In 1846 he graduated from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

, and in 1849 from

Auburn Theological Seminary Auburn Theological Seminary, located in New York City, teaches students about progressive social issues by offering workshops, providing consulting, and conducting research on faith leadership development. The seminary was established in Auburn, N ...

. Having deliberately chosen

as his field of labor, he sailed for

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

with his wife soon after graduation, and arrived there on May 31. In February, 1864, he left China for a visit to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on account of his health. In 1872 he entered the service of the Presbyterian Board at

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, but was soon compelled to return home disabled. On June 15, 1880, he died in Clinton,

. He is buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Clinton, NY. Doolittle was most famous for his ''Social Life of the Chinese'' (Volum
1
an
2
, a thorough and valuable work on the details of Chinese life. He also had a significant collection of Chinese coins, which was sold in June 1881. In 1870-71 he accompanied the photographer John Thomson. Thomson's photographs of this journey were published as ''Foochow and the River Min'' (1873), a total of 46 copies. Doolittle kept a journal, "Diary; covering his life as a foreign missionary in Foochow, China, until the year 1873", now in the Hamilton College Archives and available in Hamilton College's Digital Collections.

Publications

Doolittle published prolifically in a wide range of journals, including ''

Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal ''Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal'' was published in one or another form in Shanghai from 1867 to 1941, after which it was closed by Japanese authorities. The ''Journal'' was the leading outlet for the English language missionary community ...

'', of which he was briefly an editor.

Fuzhou dialect

English

Works

* * * * *

References

External links

Introduction of ''Social life of the Chinese''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doolittle, Justus Protestant missionaries in China Protestant writers Christian missionaries in Fujian 1824 births 1880 deaths American sinologists Auburn Theological Seminary alumni Hamilton College (New York) alumni American expatriates in China American Protestant missionaries American numismatists