His Dominion and the Yellow Peril: Protestant Missions to Chinese Immigrants in Canada, 1859-1967

by Jiwu Wang

A history of Chinese immigrants encounter with Canadian Protestant missionaries, “His Dominion” and the “Yellow Peril”: Protestant Missions to Chinese Immigrants in Canada, 1859-1967, analyzes the evangelizing activities of missionaries and the role of religion in helping Chinese immigrants affirm their ethnic identity in a climate of cultural conflict.

Jiwu Wang argues that, by working toward a vision of Canada that espoused Anglo-Saxon Protestant values, missionaries inevitably reinforced popular cultural stereotypes about the Chinese and widened the gap between Chinese and Canadian communities. Those immigrants who did embrace the Christian faith felt isolated from their community and their old way of life, but they were still not accepted by mainstream society. Although the missionaries' goal was to assimilate the Chinese into Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture, it was Chinese religion and cultural values that helped the immigrants maintain their identity and served to protect them from the intrusion of the Protestant missions.

Wang documents the methods used by the missionaries and the responses from the Chinese community, noting the shift in approach that took place in the 1920s, when the clergy began to preach respect for Chinese ways and sought to welcome them into Protestant-Canadian life. Although in the early days of the missions, Chinese Canadians rejected the evangelizing to take what education they could from the missionaries, as time went on and prejudice lessened, they embraced the Christian faith as a way to gain acceptance as Canadians.

Hardcover

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lindsay Mak]

Jiwu wang provides a very in depth historical analysis in Chinese missions in Canada and clearly explores the various intersecting themes at play. He notably dedicates majority of the book exploring this history from the perspective of the missions, dividing the chapters by chronological periods. Throughout the chapters he repeatedly brings up the same themes and factors that Influenced Anglo-Saxon mission work among the Chinese. I would have been interested exploring more of the history of Chinese-led Christian churches in contrast with these white missions but wang only mentions it occasionally. Overall a very well written book on interesting and important history for Chinese Canadians.

[Joel Smith]

Jiwu Wang does an excellent job of presenting the different goals and intentions of the Government of Canada, the clergy of the different churches, the missionaries, and the Chinese immigrants in Canada. He makes sure he is not oversimplifying one side as merely racist or another as merely a group. He does a good job of presenting the complicated history of Canadian missionaries evangelizing to Chinese immigrants throughout the first half of the Dominion of Canada. I think that this book could be more biographical in certain places since it is about missionary work and conversion. All the same, I understand that the perspective was meant to be as historical and sociological as possible. I think this book is an interesting piece of history in the way that Canada has viewed itself and its purpose over the years.