American missions, Chinese realities: An historical analysis of the cross-cultural influences on the development of North China Union Women's College/Yenching Women's College, 1905-1943.

摘要

The history of North China Union Women's College/Yenching Women's College (NCUWC/YWC) unfolded in Peking from 1905 until 1943. Throughout NCUWC/YWC's existence, the missionary educators refined and reconfigured the content and practice of Christian higher education for Chinese women, in response to the changing character of women's lives and the shifts in China's political circumstances. While the American missionary women educators adapted the goals, emphases, and policies of the American missionary movement and women's higher education in the United States to their work, the situation in China proved significant in shaping the college's direction.; The story of NCUWC/YWC involved the life's work of four American women--Eliza Gillett Bridgman, Luella Miner, Alice Browne Frame, and Margaret Bailey Speer. As participants in the era of missionary enthusiasm, these women set forth to change the world or, at least, the lives of Chinese women. The processes of change, however, altered their own lives, faith, and awareness.