Figure 1.--Here we see Catholic nuns and a widow working with them caring for foundlings. Chinese people would leave babies they could not care for or that were ujnwanted at the mission gate. One of the nuns appears to be an American missiinary, the other is a CHinese convert. We do not know where the photograph was taken. It looks like it was taken in the1930s, perhaps before the Japanese invasion. We are not sure what became of the babies as they got older. That would require an orphanage and school. The photo was sent home to America. Clkick on the image to see the message on the back. Notice that the children mostly seem to be girls.
We know nothing about orphanages in China before the modern era. We know of no orphanages in China before the arrival of the Europeans. That does not mean they were none, but we do not know of any. The first missionaries were Catholic (16th century). Protestant missionaries did not arrive until later (19th century). We have information on Christian missionaries and schools in China, but not yet on orphanages. Many if not most of the Christian missions established in China took in orphans. We do not yet know of major orphanages established by the missionaries, but our information is very limited. The Imperial Government restructed missiionary activity. And the Taiping Rebellion did nmot imprive attitudes toward Christians, but the British Government as part of the Opium Wars forced the Imperial Government to accept both opium and missionaries -- quite a combination. the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and than the Japanese invasion (1937) all affected missionary activity. Still thouusands of foreign missionaries served in China. The Protestants were mostly Amrrivan and British. The Catholics were more varied. We do not know to what extent the Nationalist Government opened orphanages. After the Japanese invaded, theur resources were very limited (1937). After the Communist victory in the Civil War (1949), they did open orphanges, but we know very little about them. As far as we know, they still operate. The tradition of foster care for a child outside of family relatives is still not widely accepted in China.
