Alexander Williamson

Alexander Williamson (Chinese name Wei Lianchen, 韦廉臣; 5 December 1829 – 28 August 1890) was a Scottish missionary to China. He was first sent to China by the London Missionary Society and is known for his scholarship, his translation work and his founding of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese (同文书会). He was the predecessor of Timothy Richard (李提摩太).

Missionary Work in China

Williamson was born on 5 December 1829 in Falkirk, Scotland, the eldest of seven brothers. As a young man he worked for a large commercial firm; later, in order to go to China as a missionary, he entered the University of Glasgow. After earning degrees in law and theology he was ordained a minister by the London Missionary Society in 1855 and, accepting the Society’s appointment, set out for China with his wife Isabelle. On 24 September 1855 they reached Shanghai. From 1863 he was based at Yantai in Shandong, one of the early Protestant missionaries there.

The Williamsons bought 13 mu of land at Tongshen village west of Yantai and built an English-style church and a residence. Besides pioneering evangelism, they set up one hospital in Yantai city and another in Tongshen and opened a school, which marked the beginning of modern medical and cultural work in Yantai. Williamson often rode on horseback to preach in the towns and villages around Yantai, and because of his full beard everyone called him “Big-Beard Wei” (韦大胡子). Mrs Williamson opened a school in Yantai for poor girls, enrolling more than 30 pupils, with board and lodging provided by the church. She loved these girls as her own; she was also very kind-hearted, always helping the poor whenever she met them and always lending a hand to orphans and widows. Church members and her pupils therefore all regarded her as a loving mother. The couple had only one child, a daughter named Maggie (麦琪).

Williamson spent about 3 years in missionary work in China, studying Chinese and travelling. His health suffered, and in 1858–1863 he returned to Scotland to recover.

In 1863 Williamson returned to China as the representative of the National Bible Society of Scotland. Based at Yantai in Shandong, he travelled widely (including to Beijing, Mongolia and Manchuria), distributing Chinese Bibles. In 1866 he sailed from Yantai, landed at Niuzhuang in the Northeast (now Yingkou, Liaoning), and travelled by way of Fengtian (Mukden) and other places to Beijing.

In the autumn of 1867 Williamson went again to southern Manchuria, as far as the border between Northeast China and Korea, “the gate of Korea,” and sold Christian books to Korean merchants at the border. In the spring of 1868 he made a third journey to the Northeast and travelled north, reaching in turn, around May, Shuangcheng (now Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang), Ashihe (now Acheng) and Sanxing (now Yilan County), among other places, to preach; he is believed to have been the first Protestant missionary to reach this region.

In August 1869 his younger brother and assistant James Williamson (a London Missionary Society missionary) was killed near Tianjin. The same year Williamson returned to Britain.

In 1870, while in Britain, Williamson published Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia; in 1871 the University of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

From 1871 to 1883 he was back in Yantai with the National Bible Society of Scotland, and in 1874 he also joined the Scottish Presbyterian church. After the signing of the Chefoo Convention (烟台条约) in 1876, Williamson went to Jinan as a missionary of the National Bible Society of Scotland to sell Scriptures, thereby becoming the first Protestant missionary to enter Jinan.

In 1883 he returned to Scotland for health reasons. He founded the “Book and Tract Society for China”; in 1887 the Society for Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese (同文书会) was founded in Shanghai. Its Chinese name was later changed to Guangxuehui (广学会), and in 1906 its English name became the Christian Literature Society for China.

In 1886 Williamson returned to China and was stationed in Shanghai; his wife died.

Death

From 7 to 20 May 1890 Williamson attended the second General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in China, held in Shanghai. Just over three months later, on 28 August 1890, he died of illness at Yantai in Shandong, aged 61. He was buried with his wife in the foreign cemetery at Yuhuangding, Yantai.

The London Missionary Society Press

The London Missionary Society Press (墨海书馆) was founded in Shanghai in 1843 by the British London Missionary Society missionary Walter Henry Medhurst (麦都思) and was the first translation and publishing house in China. Its original task was to publish Bibles and gospel tracts for the church. From 1850 the Press began translating, publishing and printing Western scientific and technical books in mathematics, geometry, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, zoology, botany and other fields. Its reputation and influence grew, and some of its books were even taken to Japan, where they had a positive influence on the Japanese Restoration movement. The Press operated for 20 years, from its founding in 1843 until it closed in 1863.

Williamson took part in the Press’s translation work in 1856–57, for about two years.

Elements of Botany

Together with the noted Chinese scholar Li Shanlan (李善兰), Williamson translated Elements of Botany by the English botanist John Lindley. It was published by the London Missionary Society Press in 1859 under the Chinese title Zhiwuxue (植物学, “Botany”). This was the earliest translated work on botany in modern China. It gave a fairly systematic introduction to Western botanical knowledge and had a certain influence on the formation and development of modern botany in China; many technical terms, such as “zhiwuxue” (botany) and “ke” (family), were established through it. After publication Zhiwuxue was well received by scholars and was considered the best introductory book for understanding Western botany. Chinese botanists hold that modern Western general biology only truly arrived in China with the appearance of this book. Many Chinese intellectuals of the time read it. Liang Qichao (梁启超) said: “Zoology and botany: traced to their origins, they allow one to examine the traces of how species vary; in their application, they provide the means for agriculture and animal husbandry. Of all the natural sciences they are the most immediate and useful. Zhiwuxue and Zhiwu Tushuo (植物图说) are the finest of them.” Not long after publication Zhiwuxue was taken to Japan; in 1875 Japanese scholars translated it into Japanese from the Chinese version, and it was soon regarded by Japanese botanists as an important document in the history of modern botany.

Liuhe Congtan

Liuhe Congtan (六合丛谈, Shanghae Serial) was a monthly general-interest magazine issued by the London Missionary Society Press. It was launched on 26 January 1857 with Alexander Wylie (伟烈亚力) as editor. Its content included a great deal of scientific knowledge as well as literature, news and religion, and it became the first general-interest magazine in modern Shanghai.

Williamson was one of the contributors to Liuhe Congtan and wrote a number of articles on science and Christian faith. Soon after arriving in China he realized that simply and directly spreading the Christian faith would hardly win acceptance among the Chinese, so he spread the gospel of Christ while spreading science. For example, in his serialized Zhendao Shizheng (真道实证, Evidences of the True Way) in Liuhe Congtan, Williamson introduced the concept of chemical elements and the laws of their composition, and discussed the structure of organic compounds. The chemical elements he introduced at that time already numbered 64; his aim was to show the wonder of God’s creation of all things and so lead the Chinese to believe in the existence of God.

The School and Textbook Series Committee

In May 1877 the Protestant missionaries in China held in Shanghai their first missionary conference in the 70 years since Protestant Christianity entered China. At this conference the missionaries reflected on and discussed mission-school education with great energy. Whatever their denomination, they found themselves facing common problems in their cultural and educational work, the most pressing being the standardization of the school system, the writing of textbooks and the fixing of translated terms for the new learning, all of which needed to be considered together. Williamson proposed setting up a permanent body in Shanghai devoted to the writing and publishing of textbooks. The conference adopted his proposal and set up the School and Textbook Series Committee, with the Chinese name Yizhi Shuhui (益智书会). The committee consisted of 7 missionaries, including Williamson, W. A. P. Martin (丁韪良), Calvin Wilson Mateer (狄考文) and John Fryer (傅兰雅).

In the original aims of the committee, Christian faith ranked above science, and science was spread for the sake of the gospel; Williamson laid particular stress on this. He stated plainly: “Separating science from God would be a great calamity for China.” If they were separated, students would “believe neither in God nor in the sages and ancestors,” which would bring China to collapse; only by combining Christian faith with science could China be saved.

Alongside compiling and translating textbooks, the committee later also made great efforts to standardize scientific and technical terminology, including terms in mathematics, astronomy and mechanics, the names of the stars, and terms in scientific geography and history; it also covered the personal and place names used in the literary (Wenli) translation of the Old and New Testaments, as well as Daoist and Buddhist terms and set phrases. Although its achievements were limited, it was nevertheless an important step toward standardizing translated terminology.

The textbooks and translated scientific works published by the committee had a very wide influence on late-Qing society and education, and these books played a significant part in developing the Chinese ability to write their own textbooks. Chinese-compiled modern textbooks appeared more than 20 years later than those of the committee, and in many respects drew useful elements from its work.

At the national missionary conference held in 1890, it was resolved to reorganize the School and Textbook Series Committee as the Educational Association of China (中华教育会), extending its influence beyond the church to cover the whole of “Chinese education.” Williamson proposed attracting and shaping China’s young people through Christian faith. He said: “The hope of China lies in her young people; the future China depends on how they build it. Our efforts should therefore be directed mainly toward them. The young are our hope; if we lose them, we lose everything. … If we neglect, or fail, to teach them the wonderful facts revealed in the existence and attributes of God, to touch their consciences, and to purify and elevate their souls, we shall lose everything.”

Founding the Christian Literature Society

In 1883 Williamson returned to Scotland for health reasons. In 1884 he organized in Britain the Book and Tract Society for China (中华圣教书会), later called the Society for Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese (同文书会; literally “a society for spreading Christian and general knowledge among the Chinese”), which was formally founded in Shanghai in November 1887; its Chinese name was later changed to Guangxuehui (广学会), and in 1906 its English name became the Christian Literature Society for China.

On the purpose of the society, Williamson wrote in the founding prospectus he drafted for the Society for Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge: “The aims of this society can be summed up in two: first, to supply books of a higher grade for the more intelligent classes of China to read; second, to supply books with coloured pictures for Chinese families to read.” Williamson’s purpose in founding the society, then, was to publish higher-grade books suited to Chinese literati, scholars and officials, and through them to influence their families and friends and ultimately the Chinese people at large, so that China would accept the Christian faith and Western science and culture.

With money he had raised in Britain, Williamson bought printing machinery and set up a works in Shanghai to print Chinese books. He brought together Robert Hart (赫德), the Inspector General of Customs, Young John Allen (林乐知), William Muirhead (慕维廉) and others, and in November 1887 founded in Shanghai the society later known as the Christian Literature Society (广学会), only three years before his death. Its members were mainly Western missionaries in China; Hart served as president, and Williamson as associate director and secretary, responsible for day-to-day work. In practice he was the society’s real decision-maker.

The society set up a distribution centre for books and periodicals in Shanghai. On the one hand it used all kinds of connections and channels to give books to central and local government officials; on the other it set up sales agencies in the provincial capitals and major cities. Whenever the imperial examinations (the county, provincial and metropolitan examinations) were held, it sent people to hand out books outside the examination halls, and from time to time it held essay competitions with prizes to attract the scholar-official class.

Williamson led the Christian Literature Society until his death from illness in August 1890. His successor, the British missionary Timothy Richard, brought the society to its height.

The Globe Magazine (Wanguo Gongbao)

Wanguo Gongbao (万国公报) was the official organ of the Christian Literature Society, published monthly. Its predecessor was the Jiaohui Xinbao (教会新报, Church News), founded in September 1868 and edited by Young John Allen. Its original aim was to link churches and build up believers, and its content focused mainly on the gospel. From its third year, church and doctrinal content declined sharply, while secular news and science and technology rose markedly. In September 1874 the Jiaohui Xinbao was renamed Wanguo Gongbao (Globe Magazine); in July 1883 it was suspended for a time.

From the founding of the Christian Literature Society, Williamson had wanted to launch a periodical, so in February 1889 he, Allen and others decided to revive Wanguo Gongbao, again with Allen as editor. From then on it became the society’s official organ, its mouthpiece and its platform for public opinion. Besides Allen as editor, the missionaries Williamson, William Muirhead, Joseph Edkins (艾约瑟) and Ernst Faber (花之安) held various posts, making Wanguo Gongbao an important magazine for bringing Western learning and Western political thought to modern China.

Williamson wrote prolifically, and most of his works were published in Wanguo Gongbao, both before its suspension and after its revival. Even after his death, many of his unpublished manuscripts continued to appear in it.

Dongyang Zaibi (1874)

Dongyang Zaibi (东洋载笔, Notes on Japan) was published in 1874 in the Jiaohui Xinbao. In it Williamson gave particular attention to Japan’s education system. Japan had long been deeply influenced by Chinese culture, and its education system had largely followed China’s. From the 1860s onward, the Meiji government of Japan pursued vigorous reform in culture and education: under the slogan of “civilization and enlightenment” it “sought knowledge throughout the world,” abolished the feudal education centred on traditional Confucian learning, set up a capitalist education system and introduced universal education. Williamson had been to Japan twice and saw this transformation of the Japanese education system with his own eyes. After returning to China he wrote down what he had seen and heard in Japan and collected it as Dongyang Zaibi, published in 1874 in the Jiaohui Xinbao. This may have been the earliest writing in modern China to describe the educational reforms of Meiji Japan. Unfortunately, once it was introduced in China, it attracted no attention at all.

Gewu Tanyuan (1874–1876)

Gewu Tanyuan (格物探原, Natural Science Traced to Its Source) was serialized in 1874–1876 in the Jiaohui Xinbao and Wanguo Gongbao. It introduced knowledge of astronomy, geography, geology, biology, human anatomy and other subjects, with many fine illustrations. Williamson wove Christian theology and faith into scientific knowledge, using natural science to show the omnipotence and omniscience of God and the superiority of Christianity, and the whole book is pervaded by boundless reverence for God’s wisdom. He presented scientific knowledge in order to show readers the exquisite works of God’s creation, God’s loving heart, and God’s wisdom and greatness. He traced almost all the scientific knowledge presented in Gewu Tanyuan ultimately to God’s ordering; many passages directly exalt God, proclaim the gospel, urge people to believe in God and exhort them to do good by the standard of the Bible. Overall, Gewu Tanyuan takes Christian faith as its substance and scientific knowledge as its application. “Gewu” means natural science; “tanyuan” (tracing the source) means attributing everything to God. Another distinctive feature of the book is that secular readers could read it as a science book, while Christians could read it as a religious book.

Of all Williamson’s articles in Wanguo Gongbao, Gewu Tanyuan had the greatest influence and best represents his principle of giving equal weight to spreading science and spreading Christian faith. In 1876 the American Presbyterian Mission Press (美华书局) in Shanghai published it as a separate volume; a six-volume edition appeared in 1889. The book was printed in large numbers and circulated widely, and was valued not only in modern China but also in Japan, where, by special permission of the Japanese emperor, it went through several editions.

Zhiguo Yaowu Lun

Williamson paid close attention to Chinese education in Wanguo Gongbao. In his article Zhiguo Yaowu Lun (治国要务论, On the Essentials of Governing a Nation) he stressed the importance of women’s education for national development.

Works

• Natural Theology
• Journeys in North China, 1870