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Title: |
The Lady Named Thunder |
| Sub-title: |
A Biography of Dr. Ethel Margaret Phillips (1876–1951) |
Search Result:
| By (author): |
Clifford H. Phillips Foreword by: Brian L. Evans |
| ISBN10-13: |
0888644086 : 9780888644084 |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pages: |
436 |
| Weight: |
.775 Kg. |
| Published: |
The University of Alberta Press - October 2003 |
| List Price: |
38.99 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: |
Out of Print
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| Subjects: |
Biography: historical, political & military : Biography: religious & spiritual : Gender studies: women : China |
| Dr. Margaret Phillips (1876-1951) was a pioneering missionary who served in China at a time when women missionaries were usually dutiful wives, and certainly not unmarried "suffragist" medical doctors who founded teaching hospitals. One of the first women to be educated as a medical doctor at Manchester University, Dr. Margaret spent 43 years in China as a progressive with a special mission to improve the health and circumstances of women, fight tuberculosis, and heal sick children. Recognized for her will and her uncompromising vision she was honoured with the Chinese name "Thunder." Margaret Phillips gave her heart and spirit in a lifetime of service to the Chinese people. She learned Mandarin, acquiring the fluency to translate much needed medical texts into Chinese and to teach medicine to student doctors and nurses. Over her career Dr. Margaret established hospitals and clinics for the Society for Propagating the Gospel, the Church of England Mission, and the Canadian Church Mission. In her private practice as a doctor she became a prominent member of the expatriate Peking community. The life story of Margaret Phillips overlaps tumultuous times. She witnessed the collapse of the Empire, and the ensuing civil strife as warlords fought to control the shaky Republic. She was interned by the Japanese following their invasion and occupation of China. Reluctantly, she returned to England after the outbreak of the Communist revolution. The biography of Dr. Margaret Phillips is a personal reflection on the great events that transformed China in the first half of the twentieth century from the perspective of a courageous, caring woman. |
| Awards / Prizes: |
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Word Guild Writing Awards - Life Stories
2004
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Asia Pacific Accord of Canada - Asia Biennial Award
2004
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| Reviews: |
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"... the book provides a wealth of detail on Victorian society, women in mission service, and expatriate life in Beijing. As a testimony to one woman's personal legacy, Phillips's book is well worth reading and joins the growing body of literature on women's achievements during the first half of the twentieth century." -- Linda Benson, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 28, No. 4
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Recent winner of the first ever Asia Biennial Award, which was bestowed by the Asia Pacific Accord of Canada in a high-profile ceremony on August 27, 2004. Recognized in the Canadian Christian Writing Awards category of "Life Stories" by The Word Guild.
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"The author provides lively vignettes of many of Margaret's cases and her dealing with both the local population and the mission community, as well as her own bouts of serious illness. Later Margaret practised medicine in Beijing; it was during this time that she adopted a baby (the author) from the United States. She survived the Second World War in a Japanese internment camp but died a few years later in England. Margaret Phillips's life spanned a time of considerable political and social upheaval in China, and her daily involvement with patients provides a valuable window into the lives of poor and ordinary Chinese during these changes." - University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 1, Winter 2004/5
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"Warlords, famine, opium scandals, girl child abandonment, collapse of the old Empire, the cruelties of the Japanese occupation, she was there for it all, and raised her child Clifford (her biographer) in Peking. Unlike Canadian Dr. Bethune she did not stay for the communist takeover but her story covers the more interesting time in the history of that troubled mass of people. A bit of a gem for history buffs." Ron McIsaac, Island News
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"The Maoist regime in China immortalized the memory of Dr. Norman Bethune for his devotion, sacrifice, and properly leftist ideology, which was free of any religious context. Dr. Phillips worked just as devotedly with the Chinese people, as they struggled through decades of revolution, famine, and war. Her life's work and her own account of these years, recorded in her diaries and letters, and captured in this excellent biography, form a valuable record of a tumultuous half-century in the recent history of China." Merrill Distad (U of A), Bulletin of the Pacific Circle, October issue, No. 13, ISSN 1520-3581
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"This remarkable book celebrates the life achievements of a heretofore largely unknown heroine. Her life offers a window on conditions in China during the 20th century prior to the establishment of the People's Republic. She bested personal illness and major surgery, and somehow found the time and commitment to adopt a young boy when she was 45 years old. Readers should be grateful she did, for he has now told her extraordinary story to the world. This is an outstanding book. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; undergraduates through faculty; professionals." D. R. Shanklin, University of Chicago
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