Cultures Colliding: American Missionaries, Chinese Resistance, and the Rise of Modern Institutions in China

As incredible as it may seem, the American missionaries who journeyed to China in 1860 planning solely to spread the Gospel ultimately reinvented their entire enterprise. By 1900, they were modernizing China with schools, colleges, hospitals, museums, and even YMCA chapters. In Cultures Colliding, John R. Haddad nimbly recounts this transformative institution-building—how and why it happened—and its consequences.

When missionaries first traveled to rural towns atop mules, they confronted po...