Salvation or Subjugation: Protestant Missionaries and Chinese Prostitution in Imperial Qing China

A study of how Protestant missionaries reshaped perceptions of prostitution in Qing China, reinforcing gender hierarchy through a fusion of Victorian and Confucian moral frameworks.

Abstract

During the 19th century, China's Qing Dynasty saw significant changes arising from the influx of European imperial influences, particularly the introduction of opium, which significantly transformed the landscape of China's sex industry. The Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 opened Chinese ports to Protestant missionaries, who later became vocal critics of Chinese social practices such as foot binding, opium smoking, and prostitution. While much scholarly attention has been given to the economic aspects of the sex industry during the Qing Dynasty, far less attention has been given to foreign perceptions and discourses surrounding the sex industry. By focusing on the work of Door of Hope Mission and examining its relationship to the later Jiliangsuo–a Chinese court refuge station for prostitutes–this essay explores how these perceptions forged a middle path between Victorian and Confucian approaches to prostitution; one that blended the "three obediences" of women under Confucianism with the Victorian ideal of female domesticity. Hence, instead of liberating prostitutes from bondage, I argue that missionaries, through their discourse on Chinese prostitution, evident in their critiques of Chinese prostitution, their authoritative control over prostitutes in the Mission, and through assertions of Christian supremacy, reinforced a system of hierarchy and female subordination. 

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