HE is little-known in his home country of Scotland but is revered in China for the unique cultural contribution he made there during his decades of missionary work.
The Reverend Thomas Torrance has been honoured with an exhibition in his name at the prestigious Sichuan University Museum, in Chengdu, displaying the thousands of artefacts he collected during four decades living in the area.
It is believed that he is only the second Christian missionary whose contribution to China has been officially recognised and highlighted by the authorities, following the dedication of a memorial to the famous Scottish runner Eric Liddell.
Born into a farming family in North Lanarkshire in 1871, Rev Torrance studied theology at Hulme Cliff College, in Sheffield.
He later trained at Livingstone College, in London, before sailing to China in 1895.
After learning the language, he was sent as a missionary to Chengdu, 1,200 miles inland.
Once there, he immersed himself in Chinese culture.
In 1910, he accepted an invitation to be the American Bible Society’s superintendent for western China and served for 25 years, later as the superintendent for west China of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
In that time, he collected more than 5,000 cultural objects ranging from the Han dynasty to China’s republican period.
These included picture bricks, pottery, bronze ware and coins.
He also worked to learn more about the culture of the local Chi’ang people and introduced the West to their history and their customs by translating Chinese texts.
The exhibition in Sichuan University Museum, formerly the West China Union University Museum of Antiquities, celebrates “120 years since the arrival of Thomas Torrance”.
A book, entitled Selected Works of Thomas Torrance, has also been published to coincide with its launch.
In the preface, Professor Huo Wei, head of the museum and professor of archaeology, expresses his appreciation of Rev Torrance’s “distinguished contribution with regard to research into Chinese traditional culture and the local culture of Sichuan”.
Rev Torrance’s son David, himself a retired Church of Scotland minister, said that his family were “astonished” by the gesture.
He added: “It is really quite amazing that they still think so highly of him, and very pleasing.
“At one point he was on the Communists’ blacklist and he was hunted by the authorities.
“But now things have gone completely the other way and he is being honoured.”
The 92-year-old said that his daughter Grace Lennox, Rev Torrance’s granddaughter, had attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition as the guest of honour.
She reported that three storeys of the museum were devoted to his father’s collection.
David Torrance said that his father often talked about his time in China, and that he was just as interested in the Chinese people as he was in the overall culture of the region.
He said: “My father came from a farming family and he would visit with the Chi’ang people in their hilltop farms and talk to them about ways of working the land.
“He introduced things like turnips and carrots and Western chickens to their fields – and even managed to get them four bulls.
“I have no idea how he got them over there because he would never tell me, but the people were hugely grateful.
“He heard that one of them lived for 12 years, before it died by falling off a cliff.”
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