关键词: 美国传教士, 中国人的特性, 书信传记

Abstract: With the mission to conquer the heathen world, the American missionaries were so immersed in the dualistic thinking mode that they attached to one dimensional sighting. China in their narration became the “Other”, or the spectacle of the “Other”. In the letters and journals from American missionaries’ biographies in 19th Century, the metaphor of purity was applied to the representation of Chinese characteristics to prove their morality inferior, which had caused their miserable lives, and their soul would not be saved without interference of Christian culture. The missionaries' writing on Chinese negative personality established a target to criticize the heathen culture, while the motive power behind such imagination eventually led to the historical distortion of the objective reality in China.

Key words: American missionaries, Chinese characteristics, letters and journals