Beyond the City’s Boundaries: Nathan Dunn, George Smith and Their Relationship with Haichuang Buddhist Priest Jinglin in the 1830s-1840s

• In Event: Alternative Alliances: The Haichuang Temple in Guangzhou as a Local, Regional, and Transnational Platform of Cultural Exchange, 1650-1850

Abstract

In 1795, the Qing government designated Haichuang Temple, a Buddhist temple also known as Honam/Honan Joss-House and featuring large and attractive grounds, one of the few tourist and recreational sites open to Westerners in Canton (Guangzhou). During the next half century, a new generation of Buddhist priests with Christian knowledge developed in the temple through their frequent contacts with Westerners. That development is exemplified by Jinglin, once the temple’s chief priest, who expressed his desire to spread Christianity throughout China and overseas in the mid- to late-1840s. My previous research on Haichuang Temple investigated how missionaries such as Robert Morrison (1782-1834) and Samuel W. Bonney (1815-1864) established connections with Jinglin, as well as their possible influences on him. This paper is a continuation of that research but with a new focus on Jinglin’s friendship with Nathan Dunn (1782-1844) and George Smith (1815-1871). Dunn was an American businessman famous for his vast Chinese collection, and it was Jinglin who participated actively in the “Chinese Museums” that Dunn opened in Philadelphia in 1838 and in London in 1842. Smith was a missionary with the Church Missionary Society in Canton (and later the Anglican Bishop of Victoria [Hong Kong] from 1849-1865). As his Mandarin teacher, Jinglin provided opportunities for Christian-Buddhist exchanges inside and outside the temple. It is believed that the Dunn-Smith-Jinglin story can provide us with a clearer picture of the role played by Haichuang Temple in furthering China-West contacts, Christian-Buddhist exchanges in particular, in the 1830s-1840s.

Author

• Man Shun Yeung, The University of Hong Kong