E. C. Bridgman and the coming of the Millennium: America's first missionary to China

Most historians today are well aware of the many significant contributions of the Jesuit missionaries of the seventeenth century to the West's early knowledge and understanding of Chinese civilization. Until recently, however, relatively little attention has been focused on the scholarship and activities of the first Protestant missionaries who began to arrive in China in the early decades of the nineteenth century.; Among the most important of these early Protestant missionaries was Elijah Coleman Bridgman (1801-1861), America's first missionary to China. In 1829, Bridgman was recruited by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to establish a missionary station in the Chinese port city of Canton. Assigned the task of preparing for the future expansion of missionary work in China by studying the Chinese language and culture, Bridgman laid the foundations for American sinology.; In the course of his thirty-year missionary career, Bridgman also labored to inform the Chinese about the history and culture of the West, contributing to the publication of several important works in Chinese, including the first history of America written in Chinese, Brief Account of the United States of America (Meilige Heshengguo Zhilue). In addition, Bridgman was the leading force behind the formation of such pioneer associations as the Morrison Educational Society, the Medical Missionary Society, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China. In 1844, he also served as one of the secretaries for Caleb Cushing's official legation to China and became directly involved in the formulation of America's first treaty with the Chinese government.; Bridgman's vision of a world won over to Christianity arose from a range of religious and political forces that were shaping American society at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He believed that the hand of Providence was preparing the world for the arrival of Christ's promised Millennium, during which an immense expansion of human knowledge would help to bring about a spiritual and intellectual redemption of humanity. This millenarian vision served to shape his missionary strategy and become the model upon which he endeavored to bring China into his idealized "family of nations."...