Upstream Odyssey: An American in China, 1895-1944 by Daniel W. Crofts (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Upstream Odyssey: An American in China, 1895-1944 by Daniel W. Crofts Phillip A. Cantrell II Upstream Odyssey: An American in China, 1895-1944. By Daniel W. Crofts. (Norfolk, Conn.: Eastbridge, 2008. 253 pp. Paper $29.95, ISBN 978-1-59988-004-4.) Daniel W. Crofts offers a delightful account of the life of his grandfather, Daniel Webster Crofts (1866-1960), a Protestant missionary with the China Inland Mission (CIM) from 1895 until 1944. The book Upstream Odyssey: An American in China functions on two levels, and the author handles the balance with skill. First, it is a moving biographical account of the author's grandfather and of the ups and downs faced by a family descended from a man utterly committed to his mission. Second, and of more value to the historian, it offers insights into the travails and experiences of the Chinese people during a tumultuous time in their country's history. Drawing heavily on the elder Daniel Crofts's correspondence and family reminiscences, the book begins with the Crofts's roots in East Liverpool, Ohio. [End Page 148] The subject of the book grew up in a religious home and earned a degree at the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1894. There, he was evidently swept up by the missionary enthusiasm coming out of several Chicago schools in that era, when thousands of young Americans committed themselves to preaching the Christian Gospel overseas. The author speculates that in Chicago his grandfather likely encountered J. Hudson Taylor, founder of CIM. If so, the impression was deep and lasting, as Crofts departed for China in 1895 and spent his adult life with the organization in Guizhou Province in the southwest part of the country. The book alternates between chapters retelling the life story of the elder Crofts and its effects on his family and chapters connecting his life to contemporary historical circumstances. The personal chapters engagingly present a committed missionary who genuinely sought to immerse himself into his adopted culture and who nearly always put the welfare and advancement of the Chinese people first. They also tell of the death of two spouses and of the birth and coming of age of four children in China. The reader will not help but come away with respect for the personal depth of commitment held by such families. From a broader historical standpoint, the book is a worthy endeavor as well. The author also used Crofts's frequent contributions to the Shanghai North-China Herald, the primary English-language newspaper, to illustrate how his work as a missionary brought into daily contact with the struggles of the nao bai xing ("old hundred names"), or the common Chinese peasantry. One sees, for example, how the near constant conflict and war between Chiang Kaishek's Nationalists and the numerous warlords of the era generated great hardship and suffering, all of which presaged the communist victory a few years after Crofts was extracted from the country in the midst of World War II. As a skilled historian, the author demonstrates a keen eye for context and professionalism. Each chapter is followed by endnotes, and this reviewer was pleased to see the use of secondary sources by established scholars of Chinese history. In addition to offering ground-level insights into life in this period, the book illuminates the complex and at times imperial relationship between American missionaries and the Chinese people among whom they worked. While this reviewer wanted more commentary on how the Christian missionary effort informed the so-called China lobby in the United States, the book is nonetheless a very worthwhile read. Phillip A. Cantrell II Longwood University Copyright © 2013 The Kent State University Press