Medical missions in China by Protestant and Catholic physicians and surgeons of the 19th and early 20th centuries laid many foundations for modern medicine in China. Western medical
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
established the first modern clinics and hospitals, provided the first training for nurses, and opened the first medical schools in China. Work was also done in opposition to the abuse of
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
. Medical treatment and care came to many Chinese who were addicted, and eventually public and official opinion was influenced in favor of bringing an end to the destructive trade. By 1901, China was the most popular destination for medical missionaries. The 150 foreign physicians operated 128 hospitals and 245 dispensaries, treating 1.7 million patients. In 1894, male medical missionaries comprised 14 percent of all missionaries; women doctors were four percent. Modern medical education in China started in the early 20th century at hospitals run by international missionaries.
Background
Traditional medicine in China has an ancient history.
Daoists developed breathing exercises, and some vegetable and mineral remedies, but their efforts were made in hopes of gaining
immortality rather than for providing therapy.
Buddhism brought new ideas on the cause of disease to China, emphasizing the part played by the mind. Buddha himself is reported to have said to Chi Po "You go and heal his body first, I will come later to treat his mental suffering."
The first hospital in China was reportedly founded by the poet
Su Shi in
Hangzhou during the
Song dynasty about the same time that
St Bartholomew's Hospital and
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
s were founded in London. Su Shi's hospital employed
Buddhist monks. Records from
Mongolia mention a man named Aisie (Isaiah) who was a
linguist,
astrologer
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
, and a chief physician to
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
under the
Yuan dynasty. He opened a Hospital in
Peking in 1271. Aisie may have been of either
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
or
Jewish ethnicity. A record of 1273 describes him as a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, but an earlier record as a Christian.
There is no evidence that the
Nestorian Christian
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...
mission of 635 A.D. or its later mission under the Yuan dynasty, or the
Franciscan Mission of 1294 under
John of Montecorvino, engaged in any medical missionary work.
In 1569 the
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
founded the "Santa Casa de Misericordia" in
Macau. In 1667 the Hospital de St. Raphael was founded there as well. The latter is still under the auspices of the Santa Casa, as is also the Lara Reis Cancer Clinic, Praia Grande, Macau.
Jesuit Missions
The phrase Jesuit missions usually refers to a Jesuit missionary enterprise in a particular area, involving a large number of Jesuit priests and brothers, and lasting over a long period of time.
List of some Jesuit missions
* Circular Mission ...
took part in medical work in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Xu Guangqi, a Chinese minister, was converted by
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
, and baptized with the name of Paul. Jesuit missionaries used a pound of
cinchona
''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...
bark obtained from
India to successfully treat the
Kangxi Emperor and members of the court for
malaria. Brother Bernard Rhodes arrived in China in 1699 and operated a dispensary from his house. The Court officials remarked about him: "He talks little, promises little and performs much ... his charity extends to everybody, to poor as well as rich. The only thing that discomforts us is that we cannot induce him to accept the least reward".
Protestant medical missions
The first western medical effort in China was the foundation of a
public dispensary for Chinese at
Macau in 1820 by the Rev
Robert Morrison and Dr. John Livingstone, who was a surgeon to the
East India Company. Although Morrison was not a medical practitioner, he had studied briefly at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. One of the objects of Morrison's dispensary was to discover whether the Chinese
Pharmacopoeia "might not supply something in addition to the means now possessed of lessening human suffering in the West." Morrison stealthily purchased a collection of over 800 volumes of Chinese medical books, along with a collection of Chinese medicines. A Chinese physician, Dr. Lee, directed the dispensing of medicines, with a herbalist in attendance to explain the properties of articles supplied by him.
A significant moment occurred in 1828, when Dr.
Thomas Richardson Colledge
Thomas Richardson Colledge (11 June 1797 – 28 October 1879) was an English surgeon with the East India Company at Guangzhou (Canton) who served part-time as the first medical missionary in China, and played a role in establishing the Canton ...
, a Christian surgeon of the
East India Company, opened a hospital in
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
(
the Canton Hospital
The Canton Hospital () or Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, also known as the Canton Pok Tsai Hospital, was founded by Protestant medical missionary Peter Parker (1804-1888) in Canton, China on November 4, 1835. The hospital treated thousands of pati ...
). Colledge believed that Christians had a duty to help the sick in China, but he was never able to devote his time fully to medical missionary work. He corresponded with the existing Protestant mission societies, and in 1834 Dr.
Peter Parker, the first full-time Protestant medical missionary, who Colledge mentored, was able to open a hospital at Canton in connection with the mission of the
American Board
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
.
Parker quickly realized the need for trained Chinese help, and trained his first medical student Kwan Ato in 1836. Parker introduced both ether and chloroform anesthesia to China. His medical school is most remembered because of Dr.
Sun Yat Sen
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radia ...
, who studied there in 1886 for one year before returning to resume his studies in Hong Kong.
In 1835-36 Parker and Colledge and a few Christian foreign residents formed the
Medical Missionary Society of China The Medical Missionary Society in China was a Protestant medical missionary society established in Canton, China, in 1838.
The first work of the society was to support the ophthalmic hospital in Canton run by Dr. Peter Parker, a medical missionary ...
. In a little time the news of Parker's mission spread.
Public preaching was not permitted in China, and foreigners were restricted to residence at the
Thirteen Factories at Canton. But the new hospital appealed to the Chinese in spite of their suspicions. In a Chinese village, married women would sit all night in the streets in order to get a chance in the line of patients crowding upon the doctor the next morning. When the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
closed Parker's hospital in 1840, 9,000 severe cases had been relieved besides uncounted minor ones.
In 1839 there were only two missionary physicians in China; by 1842 more reinforcements had arrived. 50 years later there were 61 hospitals and 44 dispensaries, 100 male and twenty-six female physicians, with a corps of trained native assistants connected to the missionary endeavor. Before the spread of Western methods in China, the Chinese generally had had little knowledge of surgery, but demand for surgical treatment soon far exceeded the capacity of the mission hospitals. In the annual reports of the hospitals in 1895 it was reported that annually no fewer than 500,000 individuals were treated and about 70,000 operations performed, of which about 8,000 were for serious conditions. At first the Chinese had to learn to have confidence in the surgeons, and submit calmly to the severest operations. A patient's relatives were consulted, and usually there were no resentments expressed if a dangerous operation failed.
[Estes (1895), p.143]
The motives that brought physicians to China to work in mission hospitals were often a puzzle to the Chinese in the beginning. According to an 1895 dissertation by Charles Estes Sumner, the patients, who were being treated with gentleness and skill that seemed almost miraculous to them, often felt that the religion that had inspired such work must be good. He explained that a few showed no gratitude, thinking that they have rendered a service in allowing a foreigner to treat them, and that many had no desire to accept the religion of their doctors, though some did. It was his belief that many patients converted to Christianity after they returned to their distant homes.
This account paints an
Orientalist picture of the Chinese and their ingratitude to an assumed noble Christianity, which is indicative of early Western
paternalism
Paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against or regardless of the will of a person, or also that the behavior expres ...
in regards to the treatment of
Asians
Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...
.
Western medical literature in the
Chinese language was first provided by the medical missionaries, and native physicians were trained in Western methods for the first time by them as well.
Western medicine was introduced to China in the 19th Century, mainly by medical missionaries sent from various Christian mission organizations, such as the
London Missionary Society (Britain), the
Wesleyan Methodist Ministry (Britain), Methodist Church (Britain) and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Benjamin Hobson (1816–1873), a medical missionary sent by the
London Missionary Society in 1839, set up a highly successful Wai Ai Clinic (惠愛醫館)
in Guangzhou, China. In 1887,
Edward George Horder(1852-1908) of the
Church Missionary Society opened the first hospital in Pakhoi(
Beihai
Beihai (; Postal romanization: Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. Its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin has granted it historical importance as a port of internation ...
). The
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
(香港華人西醫書院) also was founded in 1887, by the
London Missionary Society, with its first graduate (in 1892) being
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
(孫中山). A contemporary of Sun Yat-sen was Dr Harry Chung (b. 1872) who had returned from
Johns Hopkins University to serve the
Manchu dynasty. Sun later led the
Chinese Revolution (1911), which changed China from an empire to a republic. The
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
was the forerunner of the School of Medicine of the
University of Hong Kong, which started in 1911.
Due to the social custom that men and women should not be near to one another, the women of China were reluctant to be treated by male doctors of Western Medicine. This resulted in a tremendous need for female doctors of Western Medicine in China. The Women's Foreign Missionary Society hoped alleviate the suffering of Chinese women by sending Dr.
Lucinda L. Combs
Lucinda L. Combs-Stritmatter (October 10, 1849April 23, 1919) was an American physician who was the first female medical missionary to provide medical care in China. She is credited with establishing the first women's hospital in Beijing. Combs w ...
the first female missionary to Peking (Beijing) China in 1873. Dr. Combs also established the first hospital for women and children in 1875. The first Women's Hospital in Shanghai,
Margaret Williamson Hospital
The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University (), commonly known as the Red House Hospital (), is a teaching hospital in Shanghai, China, affiliated with the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University. It is rated Grade 3, Class A, ...
, was opened in 1884 by
Elizabeth Reifsnyder. Subsequently, female medical missionary Dr.
Mary H. Fulton Mary Hannah Fulton (31 May 1854 – 7 January 1927) was a medical missionary sent to South China by the Presbyterian Church. She began her work by setting up a dispensary in Kwai Ping, then continued by working with the Canton Hospital. Dr. Fulto ...
(1854–1927)
was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to found the first medical college for women in China. Known as the
Hackett Medical College for Women
Lingnan University () in Guangzhou (Canton), China, was a private university established by a group of American missionaries in 1888. At its founding it was named Canton Christian College ().
When the Communist government reorganized China's high ...
(夏葛女子醫學院),
this college was located in Guangzhou, China, and was enabled by a large donation from Mr. Edward A.K. Hackett (1851–1916) of Indiana, USA. The college was dedicated in 1902 and offered a four-year curriculum. By 1915, there were more than 60 students, mostly in residence. Most students became Christians, due to the influence of Dr. Fulton. The college was officially recognized, with its diplomas marked with the official stamp of the Guangdong provincial government. The college was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and modern medicine and the elevation of Chinese women's social status. The David Gregg Hospital for Women and Children (also known as Yuji Hospital 柔濟醫院
was affiliated with this college. The graduates of this college included
Lee Sun Chau (周理信, 1890–1979) and WONG Yuen-hing (黃婉卿), both of whom graduated in the late 1910s
and then practiced medicine in the hospitals in Guangdong province.
There were peculiar dangers even in this humanitarian work. In times of trouble, stories were circulated that the foreign doctors plucked out human eyes to make charms. The
Yangzhou riot
The Yangzhou riot of August 22–23, 1868 was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing dynasty. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of Yangzhou who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries in the city, who clai ...
of 1868 was caused by this kind of misunderstanding. When the
Bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
broke out in Canton and
Hong Kong in summer 1894, a rumor was started that foreign doctors were killing the people by scattering scent-bags, one whiff of which would cause death, and at one point a general uprising was being planned to kill the foreigners.
Most of the early mission hospitals began with often only one medical missionary, and no other trained staff. One of the first mission hospitals was the "Chinese Hospital" operated by the
London Missionary Society in
Shanghai, founded by Dr.
William Lockhart William Lockhart may refer to:
* William Lockhart of Lee (1621–1675), Oliver Cromwell's ambassador at Paris
* William Lockhart (surgeon) (1811–1896), medical missionary and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
* William Lockhart (priest) (18 ...
in 1844 (who had opened his first Chinese missionary hospital in
Dinghai in 1840, while the island of
Zhoushan
Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of H ...
was occupied by British troops). It was later known as the "
Shantung Road Hospital" and the "
Lester Chinese Hospital". The
Taiping Rebellion interrupted the progress of medical missions until 1865, when mission hospitals and medical schools began to be established and organized more permanently. The
Tung Wah Hospital was established at Hong Kong, and the medical services of the Chinese Maritime Customs with their valuable medical reports began during this period. The Customs Medical Service's doctors did not normally treat native patients.
Sir Patrick Menson was on the staff of the "Amoy Missionary Hospital". He discovered
Paragonimiasis during his service there. In 1866 the Revs. Hong Neok Woo and E. H. Thompson, D.D., of the
American Episcopal Church Mission, founded the early St. Luke's Hospital. In 1871 Dr. James Gait of the
Church Missionary Society arrived in Hangzhou to found a hospital, later known as the Kwang-Chi Hospital, which was greatly developed under the later Dr. David Durean Main, and before World War II, with its associated
leprosarium and
tuberculosis sanatorium, had a total of 459 beds. In 1875,
Sigourney Trask
Sigourney Trask (June 14, 1849 - March 20, 1936) was an American physician and missionary. She is remembered as being the first woman physician at Fuzhou, China sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church missionaries.
Biography
Trask was born June 14 ...
received funding from the
Methodist Episcopal Church mission to build a woman's hospital in
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 ...
, which had 1,208 registered patients by the end of its first year. Trask taught a local
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 ...
nese student
Hü King Eng
Hü King Eng (, Foochow Romanized: Hṳ̄ Gĭnghŏng) was a physician, and the second ethnic Chinese woman to attend university in the United States, after King You Mé. (Contrast:-Dr King You Me ameiwas adopted and brought up by an American m ...
, who she later arranged for to study medicine in the
US. Hü then returned to practise in
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 ...
in 1895 and trained local Chinese women in western medicine.
In 1880 the London Missionary Society constructed the
Tientsin Mission Hospital and Dispensary, under the direction of
Dr. John Kenneth Mackenzie.
Dr. Fred C. Roberts brought succeeded Mackenzie and brought the hospital to regional prominence.
Another notable medical missionary to China during this period was
Hudson Taylor MRCS, founder of the
China Inland Mission
OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...
, who was trained at the
Royal London Hospital. Although initially the CIM had few trained physicians, it later brought in numbers of highly trained missionaries such as
R. Harold A. Schofield
Robert Harold Ainsworth Schofield (1851–1883), known as Harold Schofield, was a British medical missionary in China. Before travelling there, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in hospitals and clinics. He died during his mission to China ...
and
A. J. Broomhall.
In north Eastern China (Manchuria) a hospital (now known, again, as the
Sheng Jing Hospital was founded in 1883 by
Dugald Christie. Christie later founded the adjacent and closely connected
Mukden Medical College
Mukden Medical College (also spelt Moukden Medical College) was a medical school in Mukden (now Shenyang), China, founded in 1892 as the Sheng Jing Medical School (this was primarily an 'apprentice' school teaching medical assistants).
The Mukden ...
in 1912.
Taiwan
Medical mission work in
Taiwan was begun by the Dr.
James Laidlaw Maxwell in 1865. Maxwell was the father of two notable medical missionaries to China, Profs.
James Preston Maxwell and
James Laidlaw Maxwell, Junior. Preston worked as professor of
gynecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
at the
Peking Union Medical College, and James Junior worked in the former
China Medical Association
In China, the practice of medicine is a mixture of government, charitable, and private institutions, while many people rely on traditional medicine. Until reforms in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, physicians were quasi-governm ...
and as Far East Secretary of the Mission to Lepers. James Junior finally returned to China early in 1949 to serve as a leprosy specialist at Hangzhou, as well as acting as professor of medicine in the Zhejiang Medical College. He died there in 1951, and had earned the respect of the Government of the People's Republic, which was represented at his funeral. The "Maxwell Memorial Centre" at Hay Ling Chau, Hong Kong, is named after him.
20th century
Cecil Frederick Robertson , an English
Baptist missionary and a fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England, arrived in China in 1909. He helped to operate the
Xi'an Hospital in
Shaanxi and was known for his treatment of civilians and rebel soldiers in the
Chinese Revolution of 1911
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a ...
, as well as his work toward the establishment of a Red Cross League and a Hospital for Disabled Soldiers in Shaanxi.
Of the 500 hospitals in China in 1931, 235 were run by Protestant missions and 10 by Catholic missions. The mission hospitals accounted for 61 percent of Western trained doctors, 32 percent of nurses and 50 percent of medical schools. Already by 1923 China had half of the world's missionary hospital beds and half the world's missionary doctors.
By 1937 there were 254 mission hospitals in China, but more than half of these were eventually destroyed by
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese bombing during
World War II or otherwise due to the
Second Sino-Japanese War or the
Chinese Civil War. After World War II most of these hospitals were at least partially rehabilitated, and eventually passed to the control of the Government of the
People's Republic of China, but are still functioning as hospitals.
See also
*
Christianity in China
*
List of Christian Hospitals in China In 1910 126 Church Hospitals supplied data for the China Medical Journal for vol 25 no. 5. There were 175 Medical Missionaries in those hospitals. The report states that there were a total of 415 Medical Missionaries in China at the time.
As of 1 ...
*
L. Nelson Bell
Lemuel Nelson Bell (July 30, 1894 – August 2, 1973) was a medical missionary in China and the father-in-law of famous evangelist Billy Graham. Few people had more influence on Billy Graham than Bell.
Life and work
Bell was born in Longdale, Vi ...
*
Medical missions
Medical missions is the term used for Christian missionary endeavors that involve the administration of medical treatment. As has been common among missionary efforts from the 18th to 20th centuries, medical missions often involves residents of th ...
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Kaiyi Chen. ''Seeds from the West: St. John's Medical School, Shanghai, 1880–1952''. Chicago: Imprint Publications, 2001. .
* G. H. Choa. ''"Heal the Sick" Was Their Motto : The Protestant Medical Missionaries in China''. Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1990.
* Kathleen L. Lodwick. ''Crusaders against Opium : Protestant Missionaries in China, 1874–1917.'' Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1995. .
* Karen Minden. ''Bamboo Stone: The Evolution of a Chinese Medical Elite''. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1994. .
* Guangqiu Xu. ''American Doctors in Canton: Modernization in China, 1835–1935''. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2011. .
*Austin, Alvyn J. ''Saving China: Canadian missionaries in the middle kingdom 1888–1959''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986.
*Crawford, David S James Watson, MD, LRCSE - an Edinburgh-trained physician and surgeon in northeastern China 1865–1884
Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh v.36:4. December 2006. pp. 362-365
* Fulton, Austin. ''Through Earthquake, Wind and Fire - Church and Mission in Manchuria 1867-1950''. Edinburgh: St Andrew Press, 1967.
{{Protestant missions to China
Medical missions
Christian missions in China
Protestant missionaries in China
Christian medical missionaries
19th century in China
Medical and health organizations based in China