Arthur Henderson Smith

Arthur Henderson Smith (July 18, 1845 – August 31, 1932) was an American missionary famous for spending 54 years as a missionary in China and writing several books based on his observations of the culture, such as "Chinese Characteristics", "Village Life in China " and "The Uplift of China". He served as a soldier in the Civil War before graduating from Beloit College in 1867 and heading to China with his wife to pursue missionary work in 1872, where he served for 54 years.

Famous Chinese author Lu Xun has written that he was influenced by Smith's "Chinese Characteristics", which was translated into Chinese, as well as Japanese and several European languages.

Works by Smith

*Arthur H. Smith, "Chinese Characteristics" (New York: Revell, 1894). Reprinted: EastBridge, D'Asia Vue, with a Preface by Lydia Liu, 2003. ISBN 1891936263.———. "Village Life in China; a Study in Sociology". New York, Chicago [etc.] : F. H. Revell Company, 1899. Various reprints.
* ___ "China in Convulsion". New York,: F. H. Revell Co., 1901.———. "Proverbs and Common Sayings from the Chinese, Together with Much Related and Unrelated Matter, Interspersed with Observations on Chinese Things in General". New York, 1914. Reprint, Paragon 1965.

References

* http://www.beloit.edu/~libhome/Archives/acoll/alum/ahsmith.html
* Theodore D. Pappas, “Arthur Henderson Smith and the American Mission in China,” "Wisconsin Magazine of History" 70.3 (Spring 1987): 163-186.
* Charles Hayford, “Chinese and American Characteristics: Arthur H. Smith and His China Book,' in S.W. Barnett, JK Fairbank, Ed., "Christianity in China: Early Protestant Missionary Writings" (Harvard 1985).
* Myron Cohen, Introduction to a paperback reprint, "Village Life in China" (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970).
* Lydia Liu,”Translating National Character: Lu Xun and Arthur Smith,” Ch 2, "Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity: China 1900-1937" (Stanford 1995). Shows how Chinese nationalists made use of Smith's Chinese Characteristics which had been quickly translated into Japanese, thence into Chinese.

Persondata
NAME=Smith, Arthur Henderson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=missionary in China
DATE OF BIRTH=July 18, 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH=U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=August 31, 1932
PLACE OF DEATH=