John H. Foster retired in 1972, and in his later years could still accurately remember every detail of his time as a missionary in Changsha, including the social conditions of China at that time, local customs, and his experiences working alongside Chinese and foreign doctors.
In 1974, Foster completed a document that contained the family tree of the Foster family, as well as the life stories of each family member. Through this, we can also see that many people in their family had been to China, and it offers a glimpse into this kind of heritage.
In 1980, Foster participated in a lengthy interview, in which he described in detail his years in Changsha — Changsha Memories. In the interview, he recalled various details, including traditional Chinese medicine and the unique Chinese attitudes toward death; and through detailed descriptions of the missionaries’ social life, daily routines, and the political situation of the time, he re-portrayed the customs and social landscape of early 20th century China.
Foster passed away on March 2, 1985, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1974, an article called Mission to China, Foster provided a review of the entire 150 years of missionary work in China as well as U.S. policy toward China, and based on this, he raised two questions:
1) Although Christianity in China today was far less influential than before, and could only maintain marginal activities on a small scale, what did the future hold for Christianity in China, and were the experiences and achievements of these missionaries could only rely on historians?
2) What would China’s future look like under leaders after Mao and Zhou? Or perhaps the present China is just one page in the thousands of years of long Chinese history.
Even though the missionary movement in China and Christian culture as a whole currently faced certain difficulties, John H. Foster remained optimistic, believing that, looking at the entire American missionary movement to China, it was not a failure but a success. The missionaries enabled China to experience a “renaissance.” The missionaries can be said to have “mission accomplished,” and they deserved a “well done.”
Source from: Colby Special Collection