A Force for Reform: The American Presbyterian Mission Press in China, 1836-1870
A Force for Reform: The American Presbyterian Mission Press in China, 1836-1870
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Date
1877
Authors
Dove, Kay Lee
Advisor
Folsom, Kenneth E.
Citation
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Abstract
The American Presbyterian Mission Press (PMP) was a
vital, if indirect, force in stimulating intellectual reform
in China. During its early years, 1836-1870, the PMP
developed technological innovations in the printing of the
Chinese language that led to the modernization of the
Chinese printing industry, which, in turn, provided textbooks
for modern education and periodical literature for the
development of public opinion. At the same time, the Press
trained a corps of Chinese in modern printing technology,
which was then able to apply this training in Chinese private
and governmental printing offices. The PMP worked with
Chinese printing establishments, selling them Chinese type
and assisting them to purchase printing presses and other
equipment which was necessary for use with metal movable
type.
Before the 19th century Chinese printing had become a
finely developed art, but by this time, printing technology
in Europe and America had modernized, and it was more
efficient and less expensive. Type founders and missionaries
in Europe and Asia reduced the 40,000-character Chinese
language to amanageable number by determining which characters were necessary for printing Christian literature.
Then they mass-produced them in metal movable type. The
PMP was the pioneer that succeeded in this effort, thereby
modernizing China's printing industry and promoting the
massive introduction of Western secular as well as religious
thought.
The modernization of China in general rests upon the
modernization of the printing industry, for this development
preceded and made possible the reforms which followed it.