A History of Christian Missions in China by Kenneth Scott LatouretteReview by: Lewis HodousThe American Historical Review, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Jul., 1929), pp. 848-849Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1836815 .

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848 Reviews of Books

The usefulness and success of the second, now well-known, work are attested by the fact that this is its fourth edition in six years. The author has now brought the narrative down to the close of I928, has added a chapter on language and literature, and has made a few other changes- the most of them minor ones. The book continues to be what it has been since its appearance, the best extensive one volume general work on China that has appeared in English within a decade.

K. S. LATOURETTE.

A History of Christian Missions in China. By KENNETH SCOTT

LATOURETTE, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and Oriental History in Yale University. (New York: Macmillan Company. 1929. PP. xiv, 930. $5.00.)

THE work of Professor Latourette is the fruit of a rich experience and a thorough research. After a brief introduction dealing with the religious background of the Chinese and the characteristics of Chris- tianity, the author sketches the Nestorian missions, which left little trace in China because they were chiefly concerned with a foreign community. Then follows an account of the revival of Nestorian activity and early Catholic missions under the Mongols. Both of these movements disap- peared with the Mongols.

The real missionary movement began with the work of the Jesuits during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under the leadership of Ricci and his colleagues. The account is replete with dramatic interest. The development of national monarchies, their rivalries in exploration, the religious and cultural revival are drawn with skill. The missionary work is intimately connected with the European background. Its early success and its final failure are to be found not so much in China as they were inherent in the conception of Christianity and the political situation in Europe. A short chapter describes the establishment of the Russian Church, which shared the defect of other efforts based on national and political aspirations.

The greater part of the book is devoted to the description of the mis- sionary enterprise in modern China. The subject is treated with a thoroughness which will make the book a mine of information for many years. The history of each missionary society at work in China is given in great detail. Mission methods and results are discussed critically, though sympathetically. The author does not hesitate to express his views on both Protestant and Catholic. Still his general conclusion recognizes the great value of the modern missionary movement to China.

The section on the T'ai Ping rebellion is based on recent studies which show that the real leader was not Hung Hsiu-Ch'iian, but a Hunanese, Chu Chiu-tao by name, who was the political organizer and brains behind the movement. The driving power behind this great rebellion was not Christianity, but was the rising nationalism of the Chinese. The re- semblances to Christianity were quite formal. The significance of the

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Commnissioners for Trade and Plantations 849

movement was in the fact that it opened up interior China to the mis- sionary and the modern world. Professor Latourette places the mission- ary movement in the stream of world history. The development of na- tionalism, the revival of learning, the industrial revolution, the rise and fall of dynasties, the rebellions in remote parts of China are all related to this religious expansion of the West.

The book is well documented. The bibliography represents only a partial list of the works consulted. The work is not a mere reproduction of sources, but gives a connected story of this important development.

The work is significarnt not merely because of its size and its ex- haustive character, but because it seems to mark the end of one epoch in the religious expansion of the West and the beginning of a new period. The period which it describes is that of propagation; the period which is just beginning may be called that of digestion and assimilation. Chris- tianity is now being acclimated and tested by the standards developed by the Chinese people in the course of their long history.

The concluding paragraph expresses the spirit of the whole work: "In conclusion, then, the historian does not cease to be impartial when he declares that the presence and the labors of the missionary were most fortunate for China. Defects the missionary enterprise undoubtedly had. Sometimes it did evil. On the whole, however, it was the one great agency whose primary function was to bring China into contact with the best in the Occident and to make the expansion of the West a means to the greater welfare of the Chinese people. If, when the Chinese have finally adjusted themselves and their culture to the new age, the revolution through which they shall have passed proves to have been more beneficial than harmful, it will be in no small degree because of the thousands of Christian apostles who counted not their own lives dear that to the Chinese might come more abundant life."

LEWIS HODOUS.

BOOKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations from Jan- uacry, I722/3, to December, I728; from January, I7V8/9, to De- cember, 1734, preserved in the Public Record Office. Two vol- umes. (London: H. M. Stationery Office. i928. Pp. 48I, 464. Li. ios. each.) THESE volumes contain the minutes of the Board of Trade from I723

to I734, a period of twelve years, during which, as is commonly stated, the board was entering upon a time of deterioration, due in part to the inferiority of the men who made up its working membership and in part to the " pernicious influence" of the Duke of Newcastle. Newcastle became one of the principal secretaries of state in 1724 and, according to the current view, began at once to draw over into his office the chief business of the board. We are interested, therefore, to discover from

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