Why Adventism in China?The Seventh-day Adventist movement plays a not insignificant role in China's transition into modern nationhood particularly during the early parts of the 20th century. Existing accounts of the Adventist history in China tend to be piecemeal and fragmentary, or are told often from a single perspective (e.g. for the consumption of certain audience, or from the eyes of specific individuals or interest-groups). Thus it is difficult to get a complete or objective picture of what actually transpired during the course of history. The Adventism in China project attempts to develop a Wiki-site, based on the online collaborative model, to provide a set of more objective, systematic, and multi-perspective documentation.
Features These are the distinguishing features of the Adventism in China Wiki-site: - Multilingual presentation - initially the site will be in English; subsequently it is expected to be available also in both simplified and traditional Chinese.
- Multiple search capability - information on the site may be search by many different approaches: by name of individuals, church institutions, church chronology, political period/era, or geographical regions.
- Both expatriate and indigenous perspectives - Most of the Adventist history in China are recorded by expatriate missionaries. The French historian, Jean Charbonnier1 argued that no account of "Christianity in China" is complete unless it also includes meaningful accounts of the Chinese Christians themselves. Here we presents accounts of the works done by indigenous Chinese Adventists, often written by their descendants.
- Acknowledgement of significant contributions from women pioneers - Most existing historical accounts tends to focus on the works of the male members of patriarchs, often overlooking the fact that woman missionaries in fact out numbered men during the 19th and early 20th centuries2. This project aims to provide a more balanced account of the contributions from both genders.
- Inclusion of the stories of overseas Chinese Adventists - Past accounts focused on the Adventist churches in China mainland only, but overseas Chinese Adventists played and continue to play a significant role. We provide stories of the Chinese Adventists churches and workers in oversea countries, e.g. Southeast Asia, North America, Australia etc., where there are significant groups of Chinese Adventist believers.
- Availability of supporting resources - these additional resources are available to support research:
- Online Digital Image Repository of historical photos and artifacts
- Center for Chinese Adventist Heritage at Hong Kong Adventist College
- Hard copy Publications of selected aspects of Adventist history in "print"
- Adventist in China Research Network is a group of scholars and researchers engaging in scholarly research on this area.
References 1. Charbonnier,
Jean-Pierre (2002), Histoire des
Chretiens de Chine (Original French edition), Les Indes Savantes, Paris;
M.N.L. Couve de Murville (2007), English translator, Christians in China: A.D. 600 to 2000, Ignatius Press: San
Francisco, CA.
| People behind the Project Project Team Edward Allen, PhD Chin-Lee Chan, MS, MA, MDivEqv
Terence Chan, MD Bruce W Lo, PhD (Project Director)
Ruth S Lo, PhD
Shirley Mann
Lillian Ng
Sharon Sung, MD
Editorial CommitteeEdward Allen, PhD Samuel Chiu, DTh Daniel Chuah, PhD Robert Folkenberg Jr. DM, 傅博仁 Eugene Huang Bruce W Lo, PhD Sharon Sung, MD Dorothy Zane
Benson Shiu Chook Ying Wu Samuel Young
Contributing Authors For the names of the large number of peoples who have contributed to the writing of articles on this project, please click on this link:
For potential authors who wish to write articles for the AIC project, please consult this page for article format and guidelines:
To submit your article, please email your article in WORD format to the project director Bruce W. Lo at lobw@uwec.edu.
Research HistoriansFor the names of the research scholars who are engaging in historical research on the history of the Adventist movement in China, please click this link:
AIC Research Network.
Center for Chinese Adventist HeritageFor the names of people responsible for the CCAH (Center for Chinese Adventist Heritage), please consult this page:
HeritageCenter
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