Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Remarkable for their military prowess, their receptivity to Christianity, and their intricate all-embracing kinship network, the Kachins are a hardy mountain people living in the remote hills of northern Burma and on the peripheries of India and China.<br/><br/> 'Kachin' is actually a Burmese word that does not exist in any of the local dialects. Each Kachin tribe has a different name for themselves and their neighbours, but no word to describe the whole group. There are the Jinghpaw (known as Jingpo in China and Singpho in India), the Maru, the Lashi, the Atsi (or Szi), the Lisu and the Rawang—but those represent linguistic groups rather than actual nationalities. Far more important bonds are formed by an intricate system of clans, which cuts across tribal barriers.<br/><br/> Every 'Kachin' belongs to one of five original families: Marip, Maran, Lahpai, N'Hkum and Lattaw. These clans are related in an all-embracing kinship network of extreme complexity. In practice, however, this system binds together the Kachins into a remarkably tight-knit society.
Aidan of Lindisfarne (died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindisfarne Priory, served as its first bishop, and travelled ceaselessly throughout the countryside, spreading the gospel to both the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the socially disenfranchised (including children and slaves).<br/><br/> He is known as the Apostle of Northumbria and is recognised as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others.
Aidan of Lindisfarne (died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindisfarne Priory, served as its first bishop, and travelled ceaselessly throughout the countryside, spreading the gospel to both the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the socially disenfranchised (including children and slaves).<br/><br/> He is known as the Apostle of Northumbria and is recognised as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others.
Aidan of Lindisfarne (died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindisfarne Priory, served as its first bishop, and travelled ceaselessly throughout the countryside, spreading the gospel to both the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the socially disenfranchised (including children and slaves).<br/><br/> He is known as the Apostle of Northumbria and is recognised as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others.
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as Boxer Uprising or Yihetuan Movement, was a proto-nationalist movement by the Righteous Harmony Society in China between 1898 and 1901, opposing foreign imperialism and Christianity.<br/><br/> The uprising took place in response to foreign spheres of influence in China, with grievances ranging from opium traders, political invasion, economic manipulation, to missionary evangelism. In China, popular sentiment remained resistant to foreign influences, and anger rose over the 'unequal treaties', which the weak Qing state could not resist.<br/><br/> Concerns grew that missionaries and Chinese Christians could use this decline to their advantage, appropriating lands and property of unwilling Chinese peasants to give to the church. This sentiment resulted in violent revolts against foreign interests.
Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. His account of his visit to China was an important source for the account of John Mandeville.<br/><br/> Many of the incredible reports in Mandeville have proven to be garbled versions of Odoric's eyewitness descriptions.<br/><br/> Seventy-three manuscripts of Odoric's narrative are known to exist in Latin, French and Italian: of these the most important, of about 1350, is in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.
Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. His account of his visit to China was an important source for the account of John Mandeville.<br/><br/> Many of the incredible reports in Mandeville have proven to be garbled versions of Odoric's eyewitness descriptions.<br/><br/> Seventy-three manuscripts of Odoric's narrative are known to exist in Latin, French and Italian: of these the most important, of about 1350, is in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.
Edward Bangs Drew (1843 - 1924) joined the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1864 after earning his BA degree from Harvard. In 1868, Drew was appointed a Commissioner of the Service, a position he held for decades.<br/><br/> During that time he collected photographs that document clothing, customs, and daily life in 19th century China, and of Drew's life and career, including family and social gatherings, public appearances, and events and ceremonies.
Tharangambadi, formerly Tranquebar, is a town in the Nagapattinam district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary of the Kaveri River.<br/><br/> It was a Danish colony from 1620 to 1845, and in Danish it is still known as Trankebar.
Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Chinese name Tang Ruowang (May 1, 1592 – August 15, 1666) was a German Jesuit and astronomer. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Joseph Marchand (August 17, 1803 – November 30, 1835) was a French missionary in Vietnam, and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.<br/><br/> Marchand was born in Passavant, in the Doubs department of France. In 1833, he joined the Lê Văn Khôi revolt by Lê Văn Khôi, son of the late governor of southern Vietnam Lê Văn Duyệt. Khoi and Marchand vowed to overthrow Emperor Minh Mạng and replace him with My Duong, the son of Minh Mạng's late elder brother Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, who were both Catholics. Marchand and Khoi appealed to the Catholics to join in overthrowing Minh Mạng and installing a Catholic emperor. They quickly seized the Citadel of Saigon and the uprising lasted two years.<br/><br/> He was arrested in 1835 in Saigon and martyred, by having his flesh pulled by tongs (the torture of the hundred wounds).
The practice of Christianity in Korea revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 million and 5.3 million members respectively. Roman Catholicism was first introduced during the late Joseon Dynasty period. In 1603, Yi Gwang-jeong, Korean diplomat, returned from Beijing carrying several theological books written by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China. He began disseminating the information in the books and the first seeds of Christianity were sown. In 1758 King Yeongjo of Joseon officially outlawed Catholicism as an evil practice. Roman Catholicism was again introduced in 1785 by Yi Seung-hun. Korean Christians were subject to persecution and hardship.<br/><br/>Many were martyred, especially during the Catholic Persecution of 1801 and later. The Joseon Dynasty saw the new religion as a subversive influence and persecuted its earliest followers in Korea, culminating in the Catholic Persecution of 1866, in which 8,000 Catholics across the country were killed, including 9 French missionaries. The opening of Korea to the outside world in the following years brought religious toleration for the remaining Catholics and also introduced Protestantism. The first Presbyterian missionary in Korea, Horace Newton Allen, arrived in 1884 and remained in Korea until 1890, by which time he had been joined by many others.
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand and for his books about China.<br/><br/> He was one of the first Protestant missionaries in China to dress like a Chinese. He gave himself a Chinese name, (pinyin: Guō Shìlì), but later on Guō Shílà became his official Chinese name. Gutzlaff Street in Hong Kong was named after him.
Leone Nani was an Italian Jesuit missionary and photographer who was active in and around Xi'an at the beginning of the 20th century
A Nestorian stele from one of the earliest natural history books about China, by an anonymous Jesuit Missionary author.
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand and for his books about China. He was one of the first Protestant missionaries in China to dress like a Chinese. He gave himself a Chinese name, (pinyin: Guō Shìlì), but later on Guō Shílà became his official Chinese name. Gutzlaff Street in Hong Kong was named after him.
In 1840, a group of four people (Walter Henry Medhurst, Charles Gutzlaff, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, and John Robert Morrison) cooperated to translate the Bible into Chinese. The translation of the Hebrew part was done mostly by Gutzlaff, with the exception that the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua were done by the group collectively. This translation, completed in 1847, is well-known due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader Hong Xiuquan of the Taipingtianguo movement (Taiping Rebellion) as some of the reputed early doctrines of the organization.
Nestorius developed his Christological views as an attempt to rationally explain and understand the incarnation of the divine Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity as the man Jesus Christ. He had studied at the School of Antioch where his mentor had been Theodore of Mopsuestia; Theodore and other Antioch theologians had long taught a literalist interpretation of the Bible and stressed the distinctiveness of the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius took his Antiochene leanings with him when he was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II in 428.<br/><br/> Nestorius' teachings became the root of controversy when he publicly challenged the long-used title Theotokos (Mother of God) for the Virgin Mary. He suggested that the title denied Christ's full humanity, arguing instead that Jesus had two loosely joined natures, the divine Logos and the human Jesus. As such he proposed Christotokos (Mother of Christ) as a more suitable title for Mary.<br/><br/> Nestorius' opponents found his teaching too close to the heresy of adoptionism – the idea that Christ had been born a man who had later been "adopted" as God's son. Nestorius was especially criticized by Cyril, Pope (Patriarch) of Alexandria, who argued that Nestorius' teachings undermined the unity of Christ's divine and human natures at the Incarnation. Nestorius himself always insisted that his views were orthodox, though they were deemed heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism, when churches supportive of Nestorius broke away from the rest of the Christian Church.
Father Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He proved to the court of Kangxi Emperor that European astronomy was more accurate than Chinese astronomy.<br/><br/> He then corrected the Chinese calendar and was later asked to rebuild and re-equip the Beijing Ancient Observatory, being given the role of Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory.<br/><br/> Verbiest was the only Westerner in Chinese history to ever receive the honour of a posthumous name by the Emperor. He is buried in Beijing.
One of the earliest Western maps showing details of northern and central Vietnam appeared in Father Alexander de Rhodes' 'Histoire du royaume de Tunquin', published in Rome in 1650.<br/><br/> This map is from the French edition, published a year later in Lyon. Oriented with the north to the right, 'Regnu Annam' shows the extent of seventeenth-century Vietnam, then divided between two rival dynasties, one in the north and the other in central Vietnam. Remnants of the Cham kingdom, eventually destroyed by the Vietnamese, still exist in the south.<br/><br/> To the west, are the highlands occupied by 'Rumoi' (upland minority groups, later called "montagnards" by the French). The limited Western knowledge of the interior is illustrated by the large region labeled 'Solitudo'.
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Jesus walked past a lake and saw some fishermen at work. He called on them to follow him and be his disciples: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19.<br/><br/> This passage is generally taken to mean that Christ was calling on the fishermen to become missionaries, convert unbelievers, and spread his word. In 1614, Adriaen Van de Venne used the idea to illustrate the fierce battle for people’s souls that was taking place at the time between Protestants and Roman Catholics. In the lake we see Protestants dressed in black on the left fighting for souls against Catholics on the right led by a bishop.<br/><br/> This allegorical masterpiece was also a political statement: Spain and the Netherlands had signed an armistice in 1609 that would last until 1621 (the 12-year Truce), but not end the 80 Years War (1568-1648). The painter depicts the Protestants as members of the Dutch House of Orange bathed in light, while the Catholics are in cloudy darkness. The tree on the left is in full bloom while the Catholics’ tree is withered. In fact, Van de Venne did not paint any nude swimmers going to the Catholics’ boats in his original canvas. Those converts were painted in later.
Évariste Régis Huc, or Abbé Huc, (1813–1860) was a French missionary traveller, famous for his accounts of China, Tartary and Tibet. Shortly after receiving holy orders in 1839, Huc travelled to China. He spent some eighteen months in the Lazarist seminary in Macau preparing himself for the regular work of a missionary and learning the Chinese language. He modified his personal appearance and dress in accordance with Chinese taste, then started from Guangzhou (Canton).<br/><br/> He at first superintended a Christian mission in the southern provinces. Moving on to Beijing, Huc gained more knowledge of the Chinese language, then settled in the Valley of Black Waters or Hei Shui, 300 miles (480 km) north of Beijing and just within the borders of Mongolia. This work prepared him for his journey to Tibet in 1844 at the instigation of the vicar apostolic of Mongolia. After a difficult journey across snow-covered mountains, they entered Lhasa on January 29, 1846. Favourably received by the regent, they opened a little chapel.<br/><br/> They had begun to establish their mission when Qishan, the Chinese resident interceded. He expelled Gabet and Huc from Lhasa February 26, 1846 under guard. Following an official inquiry into their motives for being in Tibet, they were officially escorted to Canton in October, 1846. Huc died in Paris on March 31, 1860.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was set up in 1602 to gain a foothold in the East Indies (Indonesia) for the Dutch in the lucrative spice trade, which until that point was dominated by the Portuguese. It was a chartered company granted a monopoly by the Dutch government to carry out colonial activities in Asia, including establishing colonies in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India.<br/><br/> In 1658, the VOC sent Baldaeus from The Netherlands to Jaffna in northern Ceylon to work as a missionary.<br/><br/> In this painting, Baldaeus wears Mughal dress including a checked turban. The Sinhalese man wears a lungi and appears to be of the farming caste of Vellalas.
Pedrini was born in Fermo, Italy. He was the founder of the Xizhimen Church in Beijing. He was teacher of music of some Emperor Kangxi’s sons and co-author of the first treaty about Western Music theory ever written in Chinese. He left Europe for China in 1703, eventually arriving in Beijing in 1711. He died in Beijing in 1746 and is interred there. His funeral expenses were paid by the Qianlong Emperor.
Matteo Ricci, SJ (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610; simplified Chinese: Lì Mǎdòu; courtesy name: Xītài) was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission. Painted in 1610 by the Chinese brother Emmanuel Pereira (born Yu Wen-hui), who had learned his art from the Italian Jesuit, Giovanni Nicolao. The age is incorrect: Ricci died during his fifty-eighth year. The portrait was taken to Rome in 1616 and displayed at the Jesuit house together with paintings of Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. It still hangs there.
Samuel Dyer (20 February 1804 – 24 October 1843), arrived in Penang in 1827 and with his wife Maria, lived there until 1835. He and his family then moved to Malacca leaving for Singapore in 1842.<br/><br/>He was known as a typographer for creating a steel typeface of Chinese characters for printing to replace traditional wood blocks. Dyer's type was accurate, aesthetically pleasing, durable and practical.
Hulbert was born in New Haven, Vermont, in 1863 to Calvin and Mary Hulbert. He originally went to Korea in 1886 to teach English at the Royal English School. After the Japanese annexation began, he resigned his position as a teacher in the public middle school. He went as an emissary of the Korean King, protesting Japan's actions, to the United States in 1905 and 1906, and to the Hague in 1906 and 1907.<br/><br/> His 1906 book, 'The Passing of Korea', criticized Japanese rule. He was not so much theoretically opposed to colonialism as he was concerned that modernization under the secular Japanese was inferior to a Christian-inspired modernization. He was expelled by the Japanese resident-general for Korea on May 8, 1907.<br/><br/> He was reported to have been a close personal friend of Emperor Gojong. One of his young middle school students just after the turn of the century was the first President of Korea, Syngman Rhee, who invited him back to Korea in 1948. It was on this trip that Hulbert developed pneumonia and died. Hulbert's tombstone reads 'I would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey'. He is interred at Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery in Seoul.
Many villagers in Yerkalo were converted to Roman Catholicism by missionaries from Missions Etrangeres who settled in the area in 1864.
The practice of Christianity in Korea revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 million and 5.3 million members respectively. Roman Catholicism was first introduced during the late Joseon Dynasty period. In 1603, Yi Gwang-jeong, Korean diplomat, returned from Beijing carrying several theological books written by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China. He began disseminating the information in the books and the first seeds of Christianity were sown. In 1758 King Yeongjo of Joseon officially outlawed Catholicism as an evil practice. Roman Catholicism was again introduced in 1785 by Yi Seung-hun. Korean Christians were subject to persecution and hardship.<br/><br/>Many were martyred, especially during the Catholic Persecution of 1801 and later. The Joseon Dynasty saw the new religion as a subversive influence and persecuted its earliest followers in Korea, culminating in the Catholic Persecution of 1866, in which 8,000 Catholics across the country were killed, including 9 French missionaries. The opening of Korea to the outside world in the following years brought religious toleration for the remaining Catholics and also introduced Protestantism. The first Presbyterian missionary in Korea, Horace Newton Allen, arrived in 1884 and remained in Korea until 1890, by which time he had been joined by many others.
Charles Jones Soong (Song Jiashu, February 1863 – May 3, 1918), courtesy name Yaoru, hence his alternate name: Soong Yao-ju), was a Hainanese Chinese of Hakka extraction who first achieved prominence as a missionary and businessman in Shanghai. He was a close friend of Sun Yat-Sen and a key player in the events that led to the Xinhai Revolution in 1911.<br/><br/> His children became some of the most prominent people in the history of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. They include the 'Soong Sisters' Soong Ai-ling, Soong Ch'ing-ling and Soong May-ling, as well as the businessman T. V. Soong.
The Nestorian Stele of Xi'an in 1907, a short time before it was moved from this outdoor location to the Stele Forest (Beilin) Museum. The Nestorian Stele (also known as the Nestorian Stone, Nestorian Monument or Nestorian Tablet) is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of history of early Christianity in China. It is a 279-cm tall limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac, describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China. It reveals that the church had initially received recognition by the Tang Emperor Taizong, due to efforts of the Christian missionary Alopen in 635. Buried in 845, probably during religious suppression, the stele was not rediscovered until 1625.
Charles Jones Soong (Song Jiashu, February 1863 – May 3, 1918), courtesy name Yaoru, hence his alternate name: Soong Yao-ju), was a Hainanese Chinese of Hakka extraction who first achieved prominence as a missionary and businessman in Shanghai. He was a close friend of Sun Yat-Sen and a key player in the events that led to the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. His children became some of the most prominent people in the history of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. They include the 'Soong Sisters' Soong Ai-ling, Soong Ch'ing-ling and Soong May-ling, as well as the businessman T. V. Soong.
Pyongyang (평양, literally: 'Flat Land' or 'Peaceful Land'), is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country.<br/><br/>Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388.
Johannes Lepsius (15 December 1858, Potsdam, Germany – 3 February 1926, Meran, Italy) was a German Protestant missionary, Orientalist, and humanist.<br/><br/> During World War I he published his work 'Bericht über die Lage des armenischen Volkes in der Türkei' ('Report on the situation of the Armenian People in Turkey') in which he meticulously documented and condemned the Armenian Genocide. A second edition included an interview with Enver Pasha, one of the chief architects of the genocide.<br/><br/> Lepsius had to publish the report secretly because Turkey was an ally of the German Empire and the official military censorship soon forbade the publication because it feared that it would affront the strategically important Turkish ally. However Lepsius managed to distribute more than 20,000 copies of the report.<br/><br/> Today, the intellectual heritage of Johannes Lepsius was collected by the German church historian Hermann Goltz, who installed the 'Johannes Lepsius Archive' in Halle upon Saale with Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.
'Slow slicing' (pinyin: língchí, alternately transliterated Ling Chi or Leng T'che), also translated as the slow process, the lingering death, or death by a thousand cuts, was a form of execution used in China from roughly 900 CE until its abolition in 1905. In this form of execution, the condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time. The term língchí derives from a classical description of ascending a mountain slowly.<br/><br/> Lingchi was reserved for crimes viewed as especially severe, such as treason and killing one's parents. The process involved tying the person to be executed to a wooden frame, usually in a public place. The flesh was then cut from the body in multiple slices in a process that was not specified in detail in Chinese law and therefore most likely varied. In later times, opium was sometimes administered either as an act of mercy or as a way of preventing fainting. The punishment worked on three levels: as a form of public humiliation, as a slow and lingering death, and as a punishment after death. The latter as to be cut to pieces meant that the body of the victim would not be 'whole' in a spiritual life after death.
In February 1834, Parker traveled to Canton (now Guangzhou), where he had the distinction of being the first full-time Protestant medical missionary to China. In 1835, he opened the Ophthalmic Hospital, which later became the Guangzhou Boji Hospital (the Canton Hospital). Parker specialized in diseases of the eye, including cataracts, and also resected tumors. Parker also introduced Western anesthesia in the form of sulphuric ether.
Johannes Lepsius (15 December 1858, Potsdam, Germany – 3 February 1926, Meran, Italy) was a German Protestant missionary, Orientalist, and humanist.<br/><br/> During World War I he published his work 'Bericht über die Lage des armenischen Volkes in der Türkei' ('Report on the situation of the Armenian People in Turkey') in which he meticulously documented and condemned the Armenian Genocide. A second edition included an interview with Enver Pasha, one of the chief architects of the genocide.<br/><br/> Lepsius had to publish the report secretly because Turkey was an ally of the German Empire and the official military censorship soon forbade the publication because it feared that it would affront the strategically important Turkish ally. However Lepsius managed to distribute more than 20,000 copies of the report.<br/><br/> Today, the intellectual heritage of Johannes Lepsius was collected by the German church historian Hermann Goltz, who installed the 'Johannes Lepsius Archive' in Halle upon Saale with Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in Flanders, later part of the modern state of Belgium. He was known as Nan Huairen (南懷仁) in Chinese.<br/><br/> He was an accomplished mathematician and astronomer and proved to the court of the Kangxi Emperor that European astronomy was more accurate than Chinese astronomy. He then corrected the Chinese calendar and was later asked to rebuild and re-equip the Beijing Ancient Observatory, being given the role of Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory.<br/><br/> He became close friends with the Kangxi Emperor, who frequently requested his teaching, in geometry, philosophy and music. Verbiest worked as a diplomat and cartographer, and also as a translator, because he spoke Latin, German, Dutch, Spanish, Hebrew, and Italian. He wrote more than thirty books.
Matteo Ricci, SJ (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610; simplified Chinese: Lì Mǎdòu; courtesy name: Xītài) was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission.<br/><br/> Xu Guangqi (simplified Chinese: 徐光启; traditional Chinese: 徐光啟; pinyin: Xú Guāngqǐ; April 24, 1562 – November 8, 1633), who later adopted the baptismal name Paul (simplified Chinese: 保禄; traditional Chinese: 保祿), was a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty.
Alice Mildred Cable 蓋群英 (21 February 1878-30 April 1952) was born in Guildford, she was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China, serving with the China Inland Mission.<br/><br/> Francesca Law French 馮貴石 (alternative name: Feng Guishi 馮貴石), (12 December 1871-2 August 1960) was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China. She served with the China Inland Mission.<br/><br/> Evangeline Frances 'Eva' French 馮貴珠 (Alternative name: Feng Guizhu 馮貴珠) (1869-8 July 1960) was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China. She served with the China Inland Mission (CIM)
Saint Helena (Latin: Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta) also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople (ca. 246/50 – 18 August 330) was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I. She is traditionally credited with finding the relics of the True Cross, with which she is invariably represented in Christian iconography.<br/><br/> Constantine the Great (Latin: Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus; c. 27 February 272[2] – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, along with co-Emperor Licinius, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all religions throughout the empire.
The Nestorian Stele (also known as the Nestorian Stone, Nestorian Monument or Nestorian Tablet) is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of history of early Christianity in China. It is a 279-cm tall limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac, describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China. It reveals that the church had initially received recognition by the Tang Emperor Taizong, due to efforts of the Christian missionary Alopen in 635. Buried in 845, probably during religious suppression, the stele was not rediscovered until 1625.
Alexander de Rhodes was born in Avignon, France. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Rome on 24 April 1612 to dedicate his life to missionary work. He arrived in Indochina about 1619. A Jesuit mission had been established in Hanoi in 1615; Rhodes arrived there in 1620. He spent ten years in and around the Court at Hanoi during the rule of Trịnh Tùng and Trịnh Tráng.<br/><br/> While he was in Vietnam, he wrote the first Vietnamese Catechism and he published the first Portuguese-Latin-Vietnamese dictionary. This dictionary was later used widely by many Vietnamese scholars to create the new Vietnamese writing system, largely using the Roman alphabet - still used today and now called Quốc Ngữ (national language).
Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau , commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine, also Pierre Pigneaux and Bá Đa Lộc, was a French Catholic priest best known for his role in assisting Nguyễn Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) to establish the Nguyễn Dynasty in Vietnam after the Tây Sơn rebellion.
Born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Pallu was recruited by Alexander de Rhodes as a secular clergy volunteer, assigned to become a missionary in Asia. In 1658 Mgr Pallu became Bishop of Heliopolis, Vicar apostolic of Tonkin, Laos, and five provinces of southwest China.<br/><br/> After considerable difficulties and several years delay, Pallu co-founded in 1665-66 the general seminary in Ayutthaya, Siam. From 1667 to 1673 Pallu was in France, where he published an account of the French missions in Southeast Asia. He returned to Siam in 1673.<br/><br/> In 1674, Mgr Pallu was sailing to his archdiocese in Tonkin, but met with a storm and had to land in Manila. He was imprisoned by the Spanish and put on a ship to Acapulco and from there to Spain to be judged. He was finally freed through the intervention of Pope Innocent XI and Louis XIV. After this involuntary trip around the world, he was only able to return to Siam in July 1682.<br/><br/> In 1684, Pallu arrived in China, where he took charge of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Fuzhou. He died in the same year in Muyang, Jiangsu.
Born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Pallu was recruited by Alexander de Rhodes as a secular clergy volunteer, assigned to become a missionary in Asia. In 1658 Mgr Pallu became Bishop of Heliopolis, Vicar apostolic of Tonkin, Laos, and five provinces of southwest China.<br/><br/> After considerable difficulties and several years delay, Pallu co-founded in 1665-66 the general seminary in Ayutthaya, Siam. From 1667 to 1673 Pallu was in France, where he published an account of the French missions in Southeast Asia. He returned to Siam in 1673.<br/><br/> In 1674, Mgr Pallu was sailing to his archdiocese in Tonkin, but met with a storm and had to land in Manila. He was imprisoned by the Spanish and put on a ship to Acapulco and from there to Spain to be judged. He was finally freed through the intervention of Pope Innocent XI and Louis XIV. After this involuntary trip around the world, he was only able to return to Siam in July 1682.<br/><br/> In 1684, Pallu arrived in China, where he took charge of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Fuzhou. He died in the same year in Muyang, Jiangsu.
Joseph Marie Amiot was born at Toulon. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1737 and was sent in 1750 as a missionary to China. He soon won the confidence of the Qianlong Emperor and spent the remainder of his life at Beijing. He was a correspondent of the Académie des Sciences, official translator of Western languages for Emperor Qianlong, and the spiritual leader of the French mission in Peking. He died in Peking in 1793, two days after the departure of the British Macartney Embassy. He could not meet Lord Macartney, but exhorted him to patience in two letters, explaining that 'this world is the reverse of our own'. He used the Chinese name Qian Deming while he was in China.
Johannes Lepsius (15 December 1858, Potsdam, Germany – 3 February 1926, Meran, Italy) was a German Protestant missionary, Orientalist, and humanist.<br/><br/> During World War I he published his work 'Bericht über die Lage des armenischen Volkes in der Türkei' ('Report on the situation of the Armenian People in Turkey') in which he meticulously documented and condemned the Armenian Genocide. A second edition included an interview with Enver Pasha, one of the chief architects of the genocide.<br/><br/> Lepsius had to publish the report secretly because Turkey was an ally of the German Empire and the official military censorship soon forbade the publication because it feared that it would affront the strategically important Turkish ally. However Lepsius managed to distribute more than 20,000 copies of the report.<br/><br/> Today, the intellectual heritage of Johannes Lepsius was collected by the German church historian Hermann Goltz, who installed the 'Johannes Lepsius Archive' in Halle upon Saale with Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.