Protestant Medical Missionary Experience and Dilemma Under the Japanese in Occupied China

Chatterton, Jocelyn

Abstract

Life was challenging enough for missionaries as Third-Party Nationals in Japanese occupied China but medical missionaries had to face additional dilemmas and tensions. For example: Did operating on a Japanese officer's wife support Japan's war effort? Was it fair to coerce Chinese staff to assist when they regarded the operation as an act of collaboration bearing in mind Chiang Kaishek had publicly stated there was no grey area; his people were either with him or with the Japanese? Was it ethical to use an internment camp's limited medical supplies (donated by the British Residents' Association and the International Red Cross of China ) upon a Chinese worker employed by the Japanese? It was dilemmas such as these that placed apolitical medical missionaries at odds with their Hippocratic Oath and their sympathy for the Chinese people.

Citation

Chatterton, J. (2013, March). Protestant Medical Missionary Experience and Dilemma Under the Japanese in Occupied China. Paper presented at Missionaries at War: The Impact of Global Conflict on Christian Missions in the Twentieth Century, German Historical Institute, London

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Missionaries at War: The Impact of Global Conflict on Christian Missions in the Twentieth Century
• Start Date: Mar 9, 2013
• End Date: Mar 9, 2013
• Deposit Date: Aug 22, 2013
• Keywords: China History, Missionaries in China, history of medicine, Christianity, War of Resistance, Sino-Japanese conflict
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