Tiun Chhang-Miâ (Minnie Mackay, 1860?-1925)

Explore the overlooked life of Tiun Chhang-miâ, the Taiwanese woman behind the nineteenth century's most accomplished missionary, George Leslie Mackay.

Tiun Chhang-miâ (1860?-1925), a Fujian-Taiwanese girl also known as Minnie Mackay, was a key figure in nineteenth century Canadian-Taiwanese relations and the first local woman to marry a Christian missionary, George Leslie Mackay. This biography tracks Tiun's history from being a child bride to a heroine devoted to education for women and the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church.

Mark Dodge delves into how Taiwanese lives were torn between harsh predicaments, and the example Tiun set as an imagined ideal of new womanhood in contested colonial space. The complex legacy left by Tiun continues, for better or worse, to be felt, in Taiwan and elsewhere, while that island nation fights for its own identity and existential rights during the twenty-first century.

A tale of resilience, this book is suitable reading for students of Taiwan, Asian Studies, Taiwanese history, the history of Christianity and missions, Asian women's history, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, and Colonial Studies.