Explore the overlooked life of Tiun Chhang-miâ, the Taiwanese woman behind the nineteenth century's most accomplished missionary, George Leslie Mackay.

Tiun Chhang-miâ (1860?-1925), a Fujian-Taiwanese girl also known as Minnie Mackay, was a key figure in nineteenth century Canadian-Taiwanese relations and the first local woman to marry a Christian missionary, George Leslie Mackay. This biography tracks Tiun’s history from being a child bride to a heroine devoted to education for women and the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church.

Mark Dodge delves into how Taiwanese lives were torn between harsh predicaments, and the example Tiun set as an imagined ideal of new womanhood in contested colonial space. The complex legacy left by Tiun continues, for better or worse, to be felt, in Taiwan and elsewhere, while that island nation fights for its own identity and existential rights during the twenty-first century.

A tale of resilience, this book is suitable reading for students of Taiwan, Asian Studies, Taiwanese history, the history of Christianity and missions, Asian women's history, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, and Colonial Studies.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Learning objectives
  • Christianity, gender, and democracy
• Introduction: Crafting the story of Taiwan
• 1 Taiwan: A contested colonial space
• 2 Womanhood in nineteenth-century Taiwan
• 3 From “Little Onion” to “Brilliant One”: Becoming the woman who made Mackay a superstar
• 4 The native mission’s gynocentric imaginary
• 5 Tiun’s first world-tour
• 6 The Sino-French War of 1884
• 7 A cooler homecoming
• 8 You cannot live here anymore
• 9 Quiet resignation
• Glossary
• Suggested Discussion Topics
• Further reading 1a
• Further reading 1b
• Further reading
• References
• Index

Mark Dodge PhD is an instructor of History at SUNY at Buffalo, a writing consultant at Mcmaster University, and a history teacher for the Halton Raakel School. He is the author of The Taiwanese Making of the Canada Presbyterian Mission (2020).