Overview

This book describes the adaptation of American women to cross-cultural situations in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1969. The Maryknoll Sisters were first American Catholic community of women founded for overseas missionary work, and were the first American sisters in Hong Kong. Maryknollers were independent, outgoing, and joyful women who were highly educated, and acted in professional capacities as teachers, social workers and medical personnel. The assertion of this book is that the mission provided Maryknollers what they had long desired - equal employment opportunities - which were only later emphasized in the women's liberation movement of the 1960s.

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9781403965868

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Reviews

Dr. Chu's volume is a richly documented, fair-minded, and illuminating account of the Maryknoll Sisters' experience in Hong Kong from their arrival in 1921 through the 1960s. She shows how that experience became significantly intertwined with the history of Hong Kong itself during those difficult, changeful decades as the Sisters responded to one pressing social need after another. The helping hand of the Maryknoll Sisters came at a time when the Hong Kong Government was understandably overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees that poured into the Crown Colony, especially during the 1950s. The story thus helps explain how Hong Kong managed to cope so remarkably well with some truly exceptional and formidable burdens in the mid-twentieth century, by utilizing, as it did, such fortuitously available, competent and relatively inexpensive volunteers. In turn, the selfless American Sisters were rewarded with a degree of acceptance and with conversion opportunities that, otherwise, might not as readily have been there. - Stephen Uhalley Jr., editor of China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future and author of A History of the Chinese Communist Party The book illuminates the lives of the Hong Kong people, whose work and industry is so often praised as a major element in Hong Kong's economic success. - Gillian Bickley, Sunday Morning Post

Dr. Chu's volume is a richly documented, fair-minded, and illuminating account of the Maryknoll Sisters' experience in Hong Kong from their arrival in 1921 through the 1960s. She shows how that experience became significantly intertwined with the history of Hong Kong itself during those difficult, changeful decades as the Sisters responded to one pressing social need after another. The helping hand of the Maryknoll Sisters came at a time when the Hong Kong Government was understandably overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees that poured into the Crown Colony, especially during the 1950s. The story thus helps explain how Hong Kong managed to cope so remarkably well with some truly exceptional and formidable burdens in the mid-twentieth century, by utilizing, as it did, such fortuitously available, competent and relatively inexpensive volunteers. In turn, the selfless American Sisters were rewarded with a degree of acceptance and with conversion opportunities that, otherwise, might not as readily have been there. --Stephen Uhalley Jr., editor of China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future and author of A History of the Chinese Communist Party The book illuminates the lives of the Hong Kong people, whose work and industry is so often praised as a major element in Hong Kong's economic success. --Gillian Bickley, Sunday Morning Post

Dr. Chu's volume is a richly documented, fair-minded, and illuminating account of the Maryknoll Sisters' experience in Hong Kong from their arrival in 1921 through the 1960s. She shows how that experience became significantly intertwined with the history of Hong Kong itself during those difficult, changeful decades as the Sisters responded to one pressing social need after another. The helping hand of the Maryknoll Sisters came at a time when the Hong Kong Government was understandably overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees that poured into the Crown Colony, especially during the 1950s. The story thus helps explain how Hong Kong managed to cope so remarkably well with some truly exceptional and formidable burdens in the mid-twentieth century, by utilizing, as it did, such fortuitously available, competent and relatively inexpensive volunteers. In turn, the selfless American Sisters were rewarded with a degree of acceptance and with conversion opportunities that, otherwise, might not as readily have been there. --Stephen Uhalley Jr., editor of China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future and author of A History of the Chinese Communist Party <br>

Author Information

Cindy Yik-yi Chu is a Professor in the Department of History at Hong Kong Baptist University.

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