The authors start with a prologue 'The Story of a Stone' which covers its discovery, the century of kircher, 18th-century problems and controversies and the return of the missionaries, and finish with an epilogue 'The Da Qin Temple'.

Contributors include: K. Biggerstaff, H. Dubs, J.K. Fairbank, Fang Chao-ying, L.C.Goodrich, Hu Shih, T.Numata, E. Swisher, Teng Ssu-yu, C.M. Wilbur, H. Wilhelm. Hummel’s biographical dictionary remains the single indispensable reference tool for Chinese history since 1644. It was first published in 1943–44. ‘The best history of China of the last 300 years’ – Hu Shih.

This book, first published in 1982, collects together a wide range of Western reportage on this major revolt in nineteenth century China. The extracts are contemporary, from eyewitnesses, and come from diplomatic and missionary reports, from books, newspapers, private journals, travel accounts and diaries. They provide a good overview of the response to this major crisis of Chinese society over a twenty-year period and the Western presence in mid-nineteenth century China.

The story of Christianity in the West has often been told, but the history of Christianity in the East is not as well known. The seed was the same: the good news of Jesus Christ for the whole world, which Christians call "the gospel." But it was sown by different sowers; it was planted in different soil; it grew with a different flavor; and it was gathered by different reapers. It is too often forgotten that the faith moved east across Asia as early as it moved west into Europe. Western church history tends to follow Paul to Philippi and to Rome and on across Europe to the conversion of Constantine and the barbarians. With some outstanding exceptions, only intermittently has the West looked beyond Constantinople as its center. It was a Christianity that has for centuries remained unashamedly Asian. A History of Christianity in Asia makes available immense amounts of research on religious pluralism of Asia and how Christianity spread long before the modern missionary movement went forth in the shelter of Western military might. Invaluable for historians of Asia and scholars of mission, it is stimulating for all readers interested in Christian history. --