CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Sing Iak S Fok-Iung Su [The Four Gospels in romanized Shanghainese]. First edition, traced in two institutions only, designed to aid Christian missionaries preaching to China's 18 million Shanghainese speakers. Although unstated on the title page, this version was prepared by John Alfred Silsby, a presbyterian missionary eventually resident in the city for four decades.During the 19th century, Christian missionaries produced transliteration and romanization systems for over 20 Chinese dialects. The first romanized Shanghainese gospel was published in 1856 (Matthew, edited by Chao Yin Sung), and the first romanized New Testament appeared in 1870-1. Silsby (1858-1939) issued the Gospel of Matthew as a standalone work in 1895 and this edition of the gospels followed a decade later. In 1913, he completed his important reference, An English-Chinese Vocabulary of the Shanghai Dialect.This work was printed by the Presbyterian Mission Press on behalf of the American Bible Society. Copies are held by Cambridge University and National Taiwan University.

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