Transnational Cooperation and the Christian Women’s Community in Canton, 1847–1951

From the True Light Seminary to the Young Women’s Christian Association

Wai Yin Christina Wong (黃慧賢)

Transnational Cooperation and the Christian Women's Community in Canton, 1847–1951 is a groundbreaking investigation into the work of missionary women during a transformational period in the history of China. Focused on women's work in Guangzhou (Canton) this book demonstrates the dynamic intercultural cooperation between Chinese Christian women and western missionaries. Significantly, it affirms that women missionaries and newly empowered Chinese Christian women created a common space that provided educational, social, and medical services in addition to the evangelizing work of the mission. This study demonstrates the multiple agencies within this women's network as women responded to changing US and Chinese societies.

ISBN

9781611463682

Year

2026

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Reviews

This volume is a tour de force of transnational history. Wong meticulously reconstructs the networks that developed between Chinese and American Presbyterian women in the missionary history of Canton. Focusing on mission schools, the YWCA, and ecumenical movements, Wong brings visibility to Chinese Christian women, revealing how they came to be prominent leaders in education, church, and society. This stellar book offers an ambitious, well-documented, and discerning study of women’s work in a global perspective.

—Dana L. Robert, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, Boston University

This illuminating study offers a rich, compelling, and nuanced narrative that seamlessly weaves institutional history with personal accounts of faith, resilience, and cross-cultural encounters. By bringing to light the experiences and voices of diverse groups of Christian women, it makes an incisive contribution to our understanding of Christianity and gender.

—Yun Zhou, Senior Lecturer, School of Culture, History and Language, The Australian National University

Lehigh University Press is grateful for the generous support of Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

Furthermore.org

Book cover for Transnational Cooperation and the Christian Women’s Community in Canton, 1847–1951: From the True Light Seminary to the Young Women’s Christian Association by Wai-Yin Christina Wong. The design features a dark center panel with the title and subtitle text, flanked by two historical black-and-white photographs: a top photo showing a long line of girls outdoors along a path, and a bottom photo showing a group portrait of Chinese and Western women posed in front of a brick building.

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