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In the early 19th century, Western colonial expansion occurred at the same time as an evangelical revival (often called the Second Great Awakening) throughout the English-speaking world, leading to more overseas missionary activity. The nineteenth century became known as "The Great Century" of modern religious missions. Beginning with the English missionary Robert Morrison in 1807, thousands of Protestant men, their wives and children, and unmarried female missionaries would live and work in China in an extended encounter between Chinese and Western culture. Most missionaries represented and were supported by Protestant organizations or denominations in their home countries. They entered China at a time of growing power by the British East India Company, but were initially restricted from living and traveling in China except for the limited area of the Thirteen Factories in Canton, now known as Guangzhou, and Macau. In the 1842 treaty ending the First Opium War missionaries were granted the right to live and work in five coastal cities. In 1860, the treaties ending the Second Opium War with the French and British opened up the entire country to missionary activity. Protestant missionary activity exploded during the next few decades. From 50 missionaries in China in 1860, the number grew to 2,500 (counting wives and children) in 1900. Fourteen hundred of the missionaries were British, 1,000 were Americans, and 100 were from Europe, mostly Scandinavia.〔Thompson, Larry Clinton ''William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the Ideal Missionary'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing Company, 2009, p. 14; Hunter, Jane ''The Gospel of Gentility'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984, p. 6〕 Protestant missionary activity peaked in the 1920s and thereafter declined due to war and unrest in China. By 1953 all Protestant missionaries had been expelled by the communist government of China. ==Missionary activity (1807–1842)== In the early years, for Morrison and the missionaries who followed him, life in China consisted of being confined to Macau and the Thirteen Factories area of Guangzhou with only the reluctant support of the East India Company and confronting opposition from the Chinese government and Roman Catholics who had been established in China for more than a century. Morrison's early work mostly consisted of learning the Chinese language and translating the Bible into Chinese. A Chinese law titled "Wizards, Witches, and all Superstitions, prohibited." was revised in 1826 by the Daoguang Emperor to provide for sentencing Europeans to death for spreading Christianity among Han Chinese and Manchus (Tartars). Christian converts who would not repent their conversion were to be sent to Muslim cities in Xinjiang and given as slaves to Muslim leaders and beys. The first American missionary to China, Elijah Coleman Bridgman arrived in Guangzhou in 1830. He established a printing press for Christian literature. The first medical missionary to China was American Peter Parker who arrived in Guangzhou in 1835. He established a hospital which gained support from the Chinese, treating thousands of patients.〔"Elijah Coleman Bridgman" http://www.bdcconline.nt/en/stories/b/bridgman-elijah-coleman.php, "Peter Parker", http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/p/parker-peter.php, accessed 25 January 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Protestant missions in China 1807–1953」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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