In the Province of the Dragon

This book provides a close-up account of a singular woman's life and work. Sophie Newton's desire to serve God led her to the forefront of missionary work in Southeast China from the last years of the Imperial Dynasty. She lived through the tumultuous events of the Boxer Rebellion, the Nationalist Revolution, the Warlord Conflicts, and the rise of the Communist Movement. Newton spent her life empowering females through establishing schools, training Bible-women, and adopting children as well as challenging infanticide, child marriage, foot-binding, and the opium trade. Drawing on a wide range of family journals, personal letters, archival records, newspaper reports, and personal interviews, this book tells her story: one that shows how personal conviction, selflessness, and single-minded compassion can make a real and lasting difference to people in a village, provincial city, capital, or province.