| This study examines the organization of medical work by medical missionaries of two Canadian Protestant missions in China (West China Mission and South China Mission) before 1937. Data are based on missionary correspondence and reports collected in the United Church of Canada Archives in Toronto. The framework of change agent is used for data analysis, which consists of three parts: change strategy, change relations, and change agent success.; The strategy of medical missionary work is delineated into three dimensions: hospital/dispensary work (primary medical work), and medical education and public health (secondary medical work). Those missions which devoted little resources to secondary medical work are classified as local missions, whereas those with substantial involvements, cosmopolitan missions. The South China Mission is found to be a local mission, and the West China Mission, a cosmopolitan one.; Three change relations are examined. First, the relation between medical missionaries and the Foreign Mission Board of the home church was characterized by professional-bureaucrat conflicts. Second, between medical missionaries and Chinese patients, there were low degrees of homophily and empathy, but high degrees of credibility and reciprocity. Third, in the relation between medical missionaries and Chinese environment, medical missionary work was hindered by persistent socio-political instability of China and meagre financial contributions from the Chinese, but was facilitated by considerable official recognition and protection.; Lastly, the success of medical missionaries as change agent is assessed according to the criteria of effectiveness and extent of change. Effectiveness is measured by the goal approach and the system resources approach. Extent of change refers to the proportion of Chinese in the areas covered by the missions who had made use of missionary medicine. It is concluded that the medical missionaries had achieved a fairly high degree of effectiveness but very limited actual extent of change.; The implication of missionary medicine for the medical modernization of China is discussed. Missionary medicine had remained as the major source of modern health care in China until 1949. It was, however, crippled by the lack of cosmopolitan missions, low degrees of homophily and empathy between missionary doctors and the Chinese, and the failure to mobilize substantial financial support from the Chinese. |
