Practical Christianity in Practice: Chinese Youth Culture and the Scouting Movement as Seen by British Missionaries at the Griffith John College, Hankou, 1915–1925

ABSTRACTThis article, which highlights the religious origin of early Chinese scouting, scrutinises the connections between scouting, Christianity, and cultural exchange in early twentieth-century China. It provides insight into the history of Chinese youth by examining how British missionary scoutmasters, highly critical of Chinese parenting, introduced an alternate model of adolescence with a ‘civilising’ mission at Griffith John College – a mission school founded by the London Missionary Society in Hankou for Chinese male adolescents. This article contends that Chinese scouting was initially designed as an effective means to practice Christianity in evangelical ministries which equipped Chinese scouts with ‘fine virtues’ – elements that shaped them to become ‘good citizens’ and help them ‘overcome’ superstitious social customs. Apart from studying the role of scouting in China, this article also examines the effects of Christian missions on Chinese society in the cultural exchange influenced by the ‘civilising’ perspective that upheld by missionary scoutmasters. The cultural imperialism inherent in scout training hindered the development of a thorough Chinese citizenship at the national level. But the ways foreign evangelists educated their boy scouts did bring some positive impacts on Chinese youth culture, enlarging the scope of Christian missions to different possibilities and creative potential in cultural interaction between the colonisers and the colonised.KEYWORDS: ScoutingparentingcitizenshipChristian missionscultural exchange AcknowledgmentI wish to sincerely thank Robert Bickers, Ning Jennifer Chang, Huei-min Sun, Albert Monshan Wu, Jonathan Henshaw, William Sima, James Fellows, Helena Lopes, Stig Thøgersen, and an anonymous reviewer for their kind assistance and valuable advice. I also want to convey my deepest gratitude to the Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History for its generous funding for my postdoctoral research project on missionary scoutmasters in Republican China. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my PhD supervisor Lars Laamann who gave me unfailing, unconditional support, including providing me with important primary materials during the time when the SOAS library had very limited access due to London's lockdown in 2021.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Stanley, The Bible and the Flag, 157.2 Sze-Hang, “The Scouts Movement,”1–50.3 Jin-lin, “Authority over the Body”; Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 241–42.4 Schillinger, The Body and Military Masculinity, 302; Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxvi–xxvii, xxxviii–xxix.5 Tillman, “The ‘Whole Child’ in Transition.”6 Culp, Articulating Citizenship, 188.7 Wang, “Bishop Frederik R. Graves and the Changing Context of China,” 46.8 Lutz, Chinese Politics and Christian Missions, 155–56.9 Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxii.10 Dunch, “Beyond Cultural Imperialism,” 325.11 Springhall, Youth, Empire, and Society, 53, 77–78; Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxii.12 Springhall, Youth, Empire, and Society, 54.13 Thomas Hughes, “Tom Brown at Oxford,” 113.14 Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 146–50.15 Hendershot, Shaking the World for Jesus, 226.16 MacKenzie, Propaganda and Empire, 248.17 Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys, 13, 36–37, 281–82.18 Ibid, 192, 281–2.19 MacKenzie, Propaganda and Empire, 248.20 Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxiii.21 Gordon, “The History of the Boys Scouts of Shanghai II,” 37; “China. Shanghai,” Boy Scouts’ Association Headquarters’ Gazette, July 1913: 234.22 Yen, “Zhongguo tongzi jun suyuan,” 317–20; “Boone University, Wuchang,” Educational Review 10, no. 1, (1918): 28.23 The Educational Directory of China 1918, 66.24 Kemp, “The Scout Movement in China,” 434.25 The Educational Directory of China 1917, 72–75.26 Bai, Shaping the Ideal Child, 70–71.27 Ibid.28 Ibid, 94.29 Sparham, “The Outlook,” 52–53.30 Graham, Folk Religion in Southwest China, 109–10.31 Ibid, 110.32 Hsiung, Tongnian yiwang Zhongguo haizi de lishi, 237–38.33 Boxer, “The Christian School.”34 Bai, Shaping the Ideal Child, 75; Hsiung, Tongnian yiwang Zhongguo haizi de lishi, 261–62.35 Bryson, Child Life in Chinese Homes, 44–45; Headland and Blanche, Haiti shidai liangge chuanjiao, 181–82.36 Bryson, Child Life in Chinese Homes, 42.37 Bai, Shaping the Ideal Child, 208–9.38 Ibid; Hsiung, A Tender Voyage, 256–58.39 Bai, Shaping the Ideal Child, 208.40 Boxer, “The Christian School,” 740.41 Ibid; Boxer, “The New Boy in China,” 126.42 Boxer, “The Christian School,” 741–42.43 Griffith John College Hankow, 5–6.44 Educational Directory of China 1917, 71–75; Educational Directory of China 1918, 10; Griffith John College Hankow, 5.45 Latourette, History of Christian Missions in China, 363.46 Griffith John College Hankow, 3–7; Hankou boxue shuyuan zhangcheng [Griffith John College Hankow. Prospectus] (Hankou: Boxue shuyuan, 1915), 5; “Griffith John College, Foundation Day,” The Central-China Post, 11 May 1914, CWM/LMS/Central China/Reports/Box 7, SOAS; Educational Directory of China 1918, 29.47 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Mr. Hertslet, District Scoutmaster of the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Boy Scouts Association,” 2 July 1916: 1, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell; Educational Directory of China 1918, 29.48 Bernard Upward, “Report for the year 1925 Griffith John College Hankow,” 11, “China India Etc Local Reports”, CWML A.3/2, SOAS; Arthur De C. Sowerry, “British influence in education in China,” The North China Herald, 24 October 1925, 175.49 Wang, “Ji Hankou boxue shuyuan,” 156.50 Griffith John College Hankow, 5–6.51 Wang, “Ji Hankou boxue shuyuan,” 156.52 Bernard Upward, “1920,” 13, “China India Etc Local Reports”, CWML A.3/2, SOAS.53 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Mr. Hertslet,” 2.54 Upward, “1920,” “China India Etc Local Reports,” 14; “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Mr. Hertslet,” 2–3.55 Ibid, 3.56 Ibid, 2; Boxer, Hankow Weather Guide Being an Analysis of Hankow Weather, 1–3; “A Hankow Meteorological Survey,” The North-China Herald, 15 March 1919, 729.57 Boxer, “The Boy Scouts and the League of Nations,” 107–8.58 Educational Directory of China 1917, 45; Griffith John College Hankow, 8; The Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association: Policy, Organization and Rules, 1.59 Ibid.60 Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxvi–xxvii.61 Educational Directory of China 1917, 45.62 Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 38; Schillinger, The Body and Military Masculinity, 298–99.63 Shichor, “Betar China.”64 “A letter from C. Heape to Robert Baden-Powell,” 16 January 1915, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell.65 Boxer, “The Christian School,” 742–43.66 Scott, “The Origins of the Scout Law.”67 Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association, 4–5. A reporter of the North China Daily News pointed out to the readers that the provisional regulations of the CBSA’s Policy, Organization and Rules were modelled on those stated in British and American books. “Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association,” The North China Daily News, 2 October 1915, 8.68 Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association, 1–5; Kemp, “The Boy Scouts in China,” 200.69 “A letter from Robert Baden-Powell to James West,” 16 February 1916, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell; Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association, 27–30.70 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to L. C. Healey, Honorary Secretary of the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Boy Scouts Association,” 21 November 1915, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell.71 Freeman, “‘You Can’t be an Atheist Here’,” 74.72 “Scouting in China,” Boy Scouts’ Association Headquarters’ Gazette, December 1916, 327.73 Ibid.74 Boxer, “The New Boy in China,” 126.75 Ibid.76 Ibid.77 “Scouting in China,” 327.78 Boehmer, “Introduction,” xix; Robert Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys, 26–28.79 Xi, “Tiyan renqun shenghuo de zhendi,” 45; Adoo, “Examination for Promotion to Rank of Scoutmaster,” 1.80 Educational Directory of China 1917, 44–45; Chinese Boy Scouts’ Association, 1–11.81 “Zhihui dui cici shijian zhi yian [The Branch’s Comments in Response to This Motion].” In Shanghai tongzi jun shi [The History of the Boys Scouts in Shanghai], edited by Zheng Haozhang. Shanghai: Zhongguo tongzi jun lianhuanshe, 1933, 69–70; “Shanghai shangjie bashi zhi dier ri [The Second Day After the Boycott Organised by the Business Circles in Shanghai].” Shenbao [The Shanghai Times], 7 June 1919, 9; Robinson, “Zong siling Luo Binsheng jun duiyu cici bashi fengchao zhi guannian.”.82 Upward, “Report for the year 1925,” 2–6.83 Ibid.84 Warren, “Citizens of the Empire,” 250–51.85 Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys, 351–52.86 Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China, 47.87 Dikötter, Sex, Culture, and Modernity in China, 165–68.88 Puk, “Shouyin dacheng wenti,” 243–44.89 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Robert Baden-Powell,” 19 November 1916, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell.90 Ibid.91 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Robert Baden-Powell,” 19 November 1916.92 Ibid.93 Stanley Boxer witnessed a retrieval of a drowned man who was brought under the bow of a boat with a canopy rigged over the body. To avoid the water demon “getting into” the boat, the boatman put the feet of the body in the water. See “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Robert Baden-Powell”, 2 July 1916, TC/50, founder’s files, British Scout Association Archive, Gilwell.94 Graham, Folk Religion in Southwest China, 123–24.95 It was also believed that water demons might lay in ambush for people to pull into the water and might make these victims replace them. See Jordan, Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors, 57.96 Graham, Folk Religion in Southwest China, 123–24.97 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Mr. Hertslet.”98 Ibid.99 Ibid.100 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Robert Baden-Powell,” 2 July 1916.101 “A letter from Stanley Boxer to Mr. Hertslet.”102 Boxer, Story of a Chinese Scout, 94–97.103 “A promising college,” The North-China Herald, 1 June 1918, 516.104 Boxer, Story of a Chinese Scout, 52.105 Ibid, 60.106 Ibid, 123.107 Ibid, 123–24.108 Ibid, 104–5.109 Boxer, “The Boy Scouts and the League of Nations,” 107–8.110 Ibid.111 Upward, “1920,” 11–13.112 Wang, “Ji Hankou boxue shuyuan,” 156.113 Cai Xianmin, “Kule wode jianbang”, 61.114 Ibid.115 “Scouting in China,” 327.116 Du, “Xuesheng shidai,” 48.117 Du, “Xiao laohu”, 37.118 Du, “Xuesheng shidai,” 48–49.119 Du, “Xiao laohu”, 37.120 Xi, “Tiyan renqun shenghuo de zhendi,” 10–11.121 Culp, “Zhongguo tongzi jun nanjing,” 17–61; Sze-Hang, “The Scouts Movement,” 1–50.122 MacKenzie, Propaganda and Empire, 247–49.123 Stanley, Bible and the Flag, 184.124 Schillinger, The Body and Military Masculinity, 302; Sze-Hang, “The Scouts Movement,” 128–29.125 Boehmer, “Introduction,” xxix–xxx.126 Dunch, “Beyond Cultural Imperialism,” 325.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Institute of Modern History of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan between December 2020 and January 2022.