Afterword: James Legge and the missionary tradition in British sinology

This Afterword places James Legge in a tradition of contributions by Protestant missionaries or former missionaries to the development of sinology as a discipline in Britain. It takes note of his predecessor and teacher, Samuel Kidd, and offers a summary evaluation of Legge’s enduring scholarly achievement. It then discusses the sinological scholarship of the Methodist W. E. Soothill, the Anglican A. C. Moule, the Congregationalists G. S. Owen and W. H. Rees, the Baptist J. P. Bruce, and finally of Evangeline D. Edwards, a former Manchuria missionary of the United Free Church of Scotland who became professor of Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. The Afterword offers the conclusion that modern sinology remains indebted to the pioneering scholarship of James Legge and other leading figures in the brief period of Protestant missionary involvement in China.