Protestant Missionaries, Chinese Intellectuals, and Children’s Literature

Abstract

This chapter introduces notions of childhood in the late Qing and early Republican era, provides an overview of what children were reading, and outlines the work of Protestant missionaries and Chinese reformers who produced children’s reading materials. It includes a literature review of previous scholarship on Chinese children’s literature, and argues for the need to address the gap in research to focus on this neglected period of Chinese literary history. The chapter also provides the methodology and theoretical framework for analyzing the texts and an overview of the chapters.