{"id":1678,"date":"2026-04-22T22:01:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/?post_type=exhibit&#038;p=1678"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:27:56","slug":"missionary-life-and-community-interaction","status":"publish","type":"exhibit","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/exhibits\/john-m-foster-1877\/missionary-life-and-community-interaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Missionary Life and Community Interaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"876\" height=\"651\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/8dd930ef-90ab-4187-8c25-c34d79d149e2-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1827\" style=\"width:678px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/8dd930ef-90ab-4187-8c25-c34d79d149e2-1.png 876w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/8dd930ef-90ab-4187-8c25-c34d79d149e2-1-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/8dd930ef-90ab-4187-8c25-c34d79d149e2-1-768x571.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">View looking west up the river from the Ashmore House, a key residence of the Swatow Baptist Mission. Kakchieh (hidden by trees to the left) was one of the nearby villages served by the mission in the late 19th and early 20th centuries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"597\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-153135.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-153135.png 597w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-153135-300x217.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Missionaries in native Chinese dress. To foster trust and build community, missionaries like John M. Foster and his colleagues immersed themselves in local customs and daily life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"461\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-161408-edited.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1907\" style=\"width:283px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-161408-edited.png 461w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-161408-edited-231x300.png 231w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Missionaries\u2019 Home in Kakchieh (now G\u0101oqi\u01ceo), near Swatow. Buildings like this were a hub for missionary life, offering residence, fellowship, and support for John M. Foster and his colleagues as they served the community<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"907\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-162315.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1911\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-162315.png 907w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-162315-300x129.png 300w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/files\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-162315-768x331.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 907px) 100vw, 907px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Local Chinese court scene, Swatow region, late Qing dynasty. Missionaries like John M. Foster regularly interacted with local judges and officials, both for legal matters and to build peaceful relations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":346,"menu_order":4,"template":"","institution":[],"place":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/1678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/exhibit"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1913,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/1678\/revisions\/1913"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"place","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place?post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}