The establishment of The West China Missionary News was one of the results of a Protestant conference held at Chongqing (Chungking) in January 1899.[5] The periodical was started as a platform of communication among various missionary workers.[6] It came to light in February 1899,[7] under the editorship of Mary Jane Davidson, with the assistance of her husband, Robert John Davidson, who were Quaker missionaries of the Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA). Joseph Beech, an American Methodist missionary, became assistant to the editor at the end of the year 1899; W. H. Aldis was one of the sub-editors.[8]
In 1900, with the help of some members of the FFMA, a small printing press was bought in London and brought to Sichuan by Mary Jane's brother-in-law, A. Warburton Davidson. The early volumes were large in size (8 × 10+1/2 inches), but A5 (5.8 × 8.3 inches) became the Missionary News standard since the publication of Volume 3 (1901), a size adapted to the new press.[8]
As an English newspaper "for the missionaries, about missionaries and written by the missionaries themselves", the positions of editor-in-chief and manager were almost held exclusively by Western missionaries, but local editors such as S. C. Yang (Yang Shao-chuan, a Quaker Christian) joined the editorial board later. Contributors included David Crockett Graham, George John Bond, Vyvyan Donnithorne, Thomas Torrance, Theo Sørensen, and Song Chʻeng-tsi, just to name a few. Although principally aimed at missionaries in West China, the WCMN had subscription services for worldwide readers in Los Angeles. Its highest circulation was around 450. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the WCMN lost its overseas subscribers and fund donations, it ceased publication after Volume 45 in 1943.[2]
Leslie Gifford Kilborn spoke highly of the Missionary News at the 1942 annual meeting of the West China Border Research Society, saying The News is "a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and scientific research. It not only connects missionaries of diverse denominations in West China, but also covers a wide range of topics including studies of local languages, customs, religion, economics, medicine, natural environment, and ethnic minorities, as well as translation of historical works concerning the Szechwan region. The News serves as a first-hand account of the 1911 Revolution and the various factions arose in Yunnan, Kweichow, and Szechwan during this period, which certainly provides valuable information for regional studies."[9]
^Löwenthal, Rudolf (1940). The Religious Periodical Press in China: With 7 Maps and 16 Charts. With the assistance of Ch'en Hung-shun, Ku T'ing-ch'ang, and William W. Y. Liang. Peking: The Synodal Commission in China. p. 108.
^Wallace, Edward Wilson (1903). The Heart of Sz-Chuan. Toronto: Methodist Young People's Forward Movement for Missions. p. 80.
^Davidson, Mary J. (February 1939). "The First Editorial—February 1899"(PDF). The West China Missionary News. Chengtu: West China Missions Advisory Board. p. 39. Retrieved 20 May 2023.