Bridging East-West, Guarding Memories-A Study On The British Missionary And Sinologist William Edward Soothill

Western Christian Missionaries and their activities during Late-Qing Dynasty were an important part in China’s modern history. The study on those missionaries, their activities and the interaction between them and the society of China opens up the new horizons and provides more historical facts and details for the research in China’s modern history study. It also contributes to the better understanding of China’s changes over Late-Qing Dynasty and the evolution of China’s image in the western world and brings new revelations for the solution to the cultural conflicts and effective communication between cultures. This dissertation takes William Edward Soothill (1861-1935), the British missionary and sinologist as a study case. Based on the study of the first-hand archive materials in the SO AS library of London University, Oxford University and other libraries in Britain and by adopting an interdisciplinary approach combining the research methods, perspectives and theoretical frameworks of history, culture study, sociology and inter-cultural communication, this dissertation presents a multi-dimensional and multi-angle narrative and analysis of the overall history of W.E. Soothill’s activities in Wenzhou during the Late-Qing Dynasty and discusses the impacts and significances these activities and events produced in the history of Sino-Western communication in Wenzhou. This dissertation also discusses W. E. Soothill’s contributions as a venerable sinologist and makes a detailed classification and introduction of his sinology works. With the analysis ofw.E. Soothill’s important works, the dissertation conveys W.E.Soothill’s academic ideas on China’s culture.W. E. Soothill served as Missionary of Methodist Church in China1882-1907, President of Shanxi Imperil University1907-1911. During his stay in Wenzhou, Soothill established Western-style schools and a hospital and played a proactive role in the developments of the educational, cultural and medical aspects of Wenzhou during the Late Qing Dynasty. As the Chinese Professor in Oxford University1918-1935, he devoted himself to the study and teaching of Chinese culture. W.E. Soothill had abundant experiences in cross-cultural transmission and cross-cultural communications and his whole life experience was a concretization of cross-cultural communication under particular circumstances which brings the academic and practical meanings to the study of W.E. Soothill. In terms of the academic meaning, this study is a pioneering academic work in China; in terms of the practical meaning, the study of W.E. Soothill will provide some revelations and lessons for the present intercultural communications in the era of globalization and fast-developing communication technology. Firstly, this dissertation describes W. E. Soothills’ experiences encountering Chinese’culture and his efforts to indigenize Christianity in Wenzhou to reveal the universal and special situations foreign missionaries were confronted with in a heterogeneous culture to discuss the features in cross-cultural transmission and cross-cultural interaction.The period of Soothill’s stay in China was the phase when the country was experiencing the unprecedented transmission in social-cultural aspects. This dissertation makes a detailed description of the history of the enterprises Soothill established to spread Western learning to China and discusses the profound connotations of missionary work, Western-style schools and hospitals in the sense of intercultural communication.Soothill’s observations and comments on Late-Qing Wenzhou is a source of historical materials for the study of the cities and folk customs in Late-Qing Dynasty. During their25-year stay in Wenzhou, Soothill and his wife walked into the lives of different people and places and had contacts with the various aspects of local people’s lives, experiencing Chinese culture on the spot and witnessing the transition China was thrown into from the traditional society to the world system of industrial modernization and development in the19th century. All these scene records and observations had been preserved in the notes and books by Soothill and his wife. Therefore, with the study on Soothill couple’s reports and unpublished notes, family letters and photographs on the descriptions and narratives on late-Qing Wenzhou, this dissertation also makes an analysis on Soothills’ comments on China and Chinese image from the perspective of the other culture, which offers a vivid presentation of the life scenes of Chinese people and a micro-observation on the socio-cultural context of Late-Qing Chinese society.This dissertation discusses Soothill’s contributions in European sinology with an introduction and corresponding evaluation on his works. The last chapter is dedicated to the study of Soothill’s works, i.e. the translation of The Analects of Confucius, The Three Religions of China and China and the West, which makes a profound probe into Soothill’s ideas on the sinology research and his interpretations of Chinese1culture, religions and history in the west world. The study of Soothill’s translation of The Analects of Confucius aims to make the pioneering work and widening the scope of the relevant research in China; the study of Three Religions of China elucidates Soothill’s interpretation of Chinese religion ideas and China and the West expounds Soothill’s understanding of China’s role and influences in the history of Sino-west relationships.From the analysis and exploration based on the abundant historical materials of translation, the dissertation arrives at the following conclusions:first, the achievements Soothill made were closely related to the historical opportunities the era provides him with, i.e., Britain’s colonic expansion during19th century supplied the historical opportunities; the Foreign Missionary Movement in thel9th century and early20th century in Europe and US presented a historical choice for many Christian young people; the particular circumstances of Late Qing Dynasty facilitated the accomplishment of his mission in China. Second, this dissertation on Soothill offers lessons and revelations for the present intercultural communication in the present era of globalization: the open attitude in acknowledging a heterogeneous culture is the first step to intercultural communication; the proper adjustment to and the identification with the target culture is the indispensable step to the breaking of cultural barriers and the path to the mutual understanding between cultures; the ideal state for intercultural communication will be reached with the intercultural transferring and cultural dialogues to build a bridge between the different cultures and facilitate the mutual advancements. Intercultural communication should never be one-sided; instead, mutual dialogues between cultures and diversity co-existence among cultures. This is what the relationship of different cultures should be and the basis for the harmony among cultures.