South China Incoming Correspondence
Incoming correspondence from missionaries in the South China mission field to the London Missionary Society headquarters. Early correspondence comes from Macau [Macao] and Canton [Guangzhou] as well as places in Ultra Ganges [S E Asia]. Later the correspondence from Hong Kong predominates, though th...
| Order number: |
CWM/LMS/South China/Incoming correspondence/Box…etc.
[1803?]-1806 (Morrison folder) Box 1A*
1807-1817 Box 1B*
1818-1829 Box 2*
1830-1839 Box 3*
1840-1847 Box 4*
1848-1856 Box 5*
1857-1869 Box 6*
1870-1874 Box 7*
1875-1879 Box 8
1880-1883 Box 9
1884-1886 Box 10
1887-1892 Box 11
1893-1894 Box 12
1895-1897 Box 13
1898-1900 Box 14
1901-1903 Box 15
1904-1906 Box 16
1907-1908 Box 17
1909-1910 Box 18A
1911-1912 Box 18B
1913-1914 Box 19
1915-1917 Box 20
1918-1919 Box 21
1920-1922 Box 22
1923-1924 Box 23
1925-1927 Box 24 |
|---|---|
| Date(s) of creation: |
[1803?]-1927 |
| Level: |
Sub-series |
| Format: | Archive |
| URL: |
https://digital.soas.ac.uk/AA00001359/00026 |
| Order number: |
CWM/LMS/South China/Incoming correspondence/Box…etc.
[1803?]-1806 (Morrison folder) Box 1A*
1807-1817 Box 1B*
1818-1829 Box 2*
1830-1839 Box 3*
1840-1847 Box 4*
1848-1856 Box 5*
1857-1869 Box 6*
1870-1874 Box 7*
1875-1879 Box 8
1880-1883 Box 9
1884-1886 Box 10
1887-1892 Box 11
1893-1894 Box 12
1895-1897 Box 13
1898-1900 Box 14
1901-1903 Box 15
1904-1906 Box 16
1907-1908 Box 17
1909-1910 Box 18A
1911-1912 Box 18B
1913-1914 Box 19
1915-1917 Box 20
1918-1919 Box 21
1920-1922 Box 22
1923-1924 Box 23
1925-1927 Box 24 |
|---|---|
| Summary: |
Incoming correspondence from missionaries in the South China mission field to the London Missionary Society headquarters. Early correspondence comes from Macau [Macao] and Canton [Guangzhou] as well as places in Ultra Ganges [S E Asia]. Later the correspondence from Hong Kong predominates, though there is also, in almost every year, a separate series of letters originating in Canton.
What is significant about the South China letters is that they begin much earlier [1803?] than the formal and permitted establishment of missions. The painstaking work of Robert Morrison, Willliam Milne, Walter Medhurst and others (all except Robert Morrison having to remain outside China in the Ultra Ganges [South-East Asia] region) paved the way. They prepared the first protestant edition of the Bible in Chinese and an Anglo-Chinese dictionary as well as Christian literature in the form of printed tracts and, subsequently, books of biblical commentary and of scientific interest (including physiology and feng shui). Most of these were printed in Malacca, Canton or Hong Kong on presses run by the LMS using Chinese type faces which may have been prepared in their own foundry.
In addition to those already named, the principal early correspondents in the series are the Chinese minister whom Robert Morrison called Leangafa [spelling variations include Leang A Fa, Leang A-Fa, Leung A-Fa] (letters from 1826 to 1852) and missionaries, Elijah Bridgman, Dr William Lockhart, Dr Benjamin Hobson, William Charles Milne, James Legge, Dr Henri Hirschberg, John Chalmers, Frederick Turner and Ernest Eitel. |
| Extent: |
26 boxes |
| Arrangement: | Letters from the province of Fukien [Fujian] are held in a separate sequence. |
| Access status: |
Open |
| Language: | English |
| Finding aids: |
A detailed list of Incoming Correspondence for South China, 1807-1874 (G2), is available for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room, SOAS Library. A digitised copy of this list is available on SOAS Digital Collections - URL link in this catalogue record. |
| Format: | Archive |