Document Type
Article
Abstract
This is the first study of the Chinese YWCA’s rural work. The decision to “go to the countryside” in part grew out of a critique by Chinese YWCA women of its Westerninfluenced agenda. That critique led the YWCA national committee to establish rural work as a first step toward a China-centered agenda. Key aspects of that agenda were the empowerment of rural secretaries in the field and the inclusion of rural women as members. The empowerment of rural secretaries contributed to the democratization of professional relationships within the association. The inclusion of rural women as members allowed the YWCA to move beyond its initial middleclass identity. Finally, the YWCA’s focus on programs for rural women contributed to the wider effort by Christian missionaries and Chinese reformers at rural reform and reconstruction. Because of these factors the YWCA’s rural work became one of the association’s most consequential programs.
Citation Information
Littell-Lamb, Elizabeth PhD. "The YWCA Goes to the Countryside: The Rural Work of the Chinese Young Women’s Christian Association, 1926-1947." Asia Pacific Perspectives 19, No. 2 (2026)