Examines the rise of anti-Catholic hostility in early 19th-century Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty. Focusing on - but not limited to - the Cochinchina region, this study explores grassroots experiences of the religion and the conflict between the Nguyen court and missionaries of the Missions Etrangeres de Paris.

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION'S JOHN K. FAIRBANK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE 2017 'This is the finest single-volume history of Vietnam in English. It challenges myths, and raises questions about the socialist republic's political future' Guardian 'Powerful and compelling. Vietnam will be of growing importance in the twenty-first-century world, particularly as China and the US rethink their roles in Asia. Christopher Goscha's book is a brilliant account of that country's history.' - Rana Mitter 'A vigorous, eye-opening account of a country of great importance to the world, past and future' - Kirkus Reviews Over the centuries the Vietnamese have beenboth colonizers themselves and the victims of colonization by others. Their country expanded, shrunk, split and sometimes disappeared, often under circumstances far beyond their control. Despite these often overwhelming pressures, Vietnam has survived as one of Asia's most striking and complex cultures. As more and more visitors come to this extraordinary country, there has been for some years a need for a major history - a book which allows the outsider to understand the many layers left by earlier emperors, rebels, priests and colonizers. Christopher Goscha's new work amply fills this role. Drawing on a lifetime of thinking about Indo-China, he has created a narrative which is consistently seen from 'inside' Vietnam but never loses sight of the connections to the 'outside'. As wave after wave of invaders - whether Chinese, French, Japanese or American - have been ultimately expelled, we see the terrible cost to the Vietnamese themselves. Vietnam's role in one of the Cold War's longest conflicts has meant that its past has been endlessly abused for propaganda purposes and it is perhaps only now that the events which created the modern state can be seen from a truly historical perspective. Christopher Goscha draws on the latest research and discoveries in Vietnamese, French and English. His book is a major achievement, describing both the grand narrative of Vietnam's story but also the byways, curiosities, differences, cultures and peoples that have done so much over the centuries to define the many versions of Vietnam.

Keith explores the complex position of the Catholic Church in modern Vietnamese history. Much like the revolutionary ideologies and struggles in the name of the Vietnamese nation the revolution in Vietnamese Catholic life polarized the place of the new Church in post-colonial Vietnamese politics and society.

The definitive history of modern Vietnam and its diverse and divided past

This sweeping survey is the first complete account of nearly 150 years of Protestant missions in Shanxi Province, China. Beginning with the arrival of the Protestant missionaries during the 1878 North China Famine and the fiery test of the 1900 Boxer Uprising and subsequent martyrdom of hundreds of Shanxi Christians, this important book brings together the historical accounts of the spread of Christianity in the province all the way up to the present. From the personal papers and contemporary records of the missionaries, Kaiser draws a vivid picture of the women and men who devoted their lives to advancing the cause of the gospel in Shanxi. He weaves the stories of bold local Christians like Pastor Hsi and such notable missionaries as Gladys Aylward, Timothy Richard, Hudson Taylor, and the Cambridge Seven into the broader tapestry of China missions, tracing the birth and development of a thriving and dynamic Shanxi church. Drawing on mission archives, academic studies, and firsthand knowledge, this fusion of scholarly inquiry with missionary biography aims to both inspire and inform, making the lessons of the missionary past available to a new generation of readers.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1845.

This history of the Catholic Church in Asia and the Pacific illuminates the processes of globalization Since the sixteenth century, Catholicism has contributed significantly to global connectivity. Except for the Philippines and Timor-Leste, Catholicism in Asia is, and is likely to remain, a minority religion. For this reason, it can serve as a unique prism through which to look at the processes of globalization in Asia. Asian Pacific Catholicism and Globalization demonstrates to scholars and students of Catholic history that the development of Catholicism in Asia and later in the Oceania-Pacific region is closely associated with three different phases of globalization. This book approaches the historical processes of globalization not as structural agencies or causal forces, but rather as the historical contexts that condition possibilities for human action and reaction in the world. The editors identify three distinct phases in the development of Catholicism in Asia and Oceania: early modern (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries), modern Western hegemony (1780s–1960s), and the contemporary (1960s–present). The book’s contributors discuss the development of Catholicism in all the major countries of the region, including China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Australia.