Abstract

This thesis focuses on three courageous Canadian women who served as United Church of Canada missionaries in China in the first half of the 20th century. Drawing principally on their diaries and letters, the thesis examines the China experiences and impressions of Margaret Helen Brown (1887-1978) who spent 39 years in China as an educator and editor, primarily in Henan and Shanghai; Mary Letitia Lamb (1879-1960) who spent 20 years in China as an educator and evangelist, primarily in Sichuan; and Victoria Cheung (1897-1966) who spent 43 years as a medical missionary in Guangdong. Each of the women was involved in a different sector of mission work, and together the three represent the types of missionary work undertaken by Canadian Protestant women missionaries in China. The three main chapters each focus on an individual woman. The first part of each chapter provides a biographical sketch of the woman. The second and third parts bring the voice of each woman to the reader, as she describes her experiences in China and her impressions of China. The fourth part is an analytical discussion of each woman's narration