HONSINGER, Welthy. Beyond the Moon Gate. Being a Diary of ten years in the interior of the Middle Kingdom. New York and Cincinnati, The Abingdon Press, [1924].
8vo. Original cloth-backed illustrated boards, lettered in gilt; pp. 176, plates after photographs; two corners lightly rubbed, otherwise very good with contemporaty ownership inscription to front fly-leaf.
Very rare first edition. Welthy Honsinger Fisher was US American educationalist and ran international literacy campaigns right up to one year berfore her death at the age of 101 in 1980. 'Welthy Honsinger was born in Rome, New York, and grew up hoping to be an opera singer. But upon hearing a missionary speaker, Honsinger discarded her plan, completed her education as a teacher, and sailed to China in 1906. As headmistress of the Bao Lin school in Nanchang until 1917, she promoted higher academic standards and Chinese leadership [of the school]' (Missiology, online). She always promoted indeginous teachers and school leaders, which led to clashes with her Methodist superiors. In 1947, Gandhi asked her to work for India’s villages, which she did for many years. In this work she gives an initimate and sympathetic image of life in China, inbetween the old world of the Empire and the emerging republican, more Westernized China.
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