George Leslie Mackay
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Dr. George Leslie Mackay (偕叡理 = Kai Sūi-lí or 馬偕 = Má-kai), the first modern missionary to northern Taiwan, was born in Zorra, Oxford County, Canada West (now Ontario), Canada, on 21 March 1844.
Mackay received his theological training at Knox College in Toronto, Princeton Seminary in the United States, and New College, Edinburgh in Scotland, all Presbyterian institutions. In 1871, he became the first missionary to be commissioned by the Canada Presbyterian Church (predecessor of both the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Church of Canada), arriving in Formosa (Taiwan) on New Year's Eve, 1871.
After consulting with Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell, Sr., a medical doctor serving as a Presbyterian Church of England missionary to southern Formosa (1865), Mackay arrived at Tamsui, northern Formosa in 1872, which remained his home until his death in 1901. Starting with a dentistry practice amongst the lowland aborigines, he later established churches, schools and a hospital practicing Western medicine. He married Tiuⁿ Chhang-miâ (known as "Minnie" in the West), a Taiwanese aborigine, and learned to speak the Taiwanese dialect fluently. Even today, some families in Taiwan trace their surname '偕' ('Kai' or 'Kay') to their family's conversion to Christianity by Mackay. The churches he planted later becoming the Northern Synod of the present Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. In 1896, after the establishment of Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, Mackay met with the Japanese Governor-General of Formosa, Maresuke Nogi.
In Canada, he was honoured during his two furloughs home by the Canadian Presbyterian Church. In 1880, Queen's College in Kingston, Ontario awarded him the Doctor of Divinity, presented by Principal George Monro Grant and Chancellor Sandford Fleming. Before departing again in 1881, he returned to Oxford County, where monies were raised to start Oxford College in Taiwan; a number of young people in the county were inspired to follow Mackay example and entered into missionary service with a number of Christian denominations.
In June 1894, at the General Assembly meeting in St. John, New Brunswick, Mackay was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the highest position in the church. He spent the following Moderatoral year travelling across Canada, as well as writing From Far Formosa, a memoir of his missionary experiences (published 1895).
Mackay died of throat cancer on June 2, 1901. He was buried near Oxford College (牛津學堂; now Aletheia University, 真理大學) in Tamsui, Taiwan. The major private Christian hospital Mackay founded in downtown Taipei was named Mackay Memorial Hospital in his honour. In recent years, Mackay has been rescued from obscurity as part of the rise of Taiwanese nationalism and the associated state projects of constructing a Taiwanese identity and Taiwan-centred histories.
On 2004-06-30, a large bust statue of George Leslie Mackay was dedicated outside the Oxford County offices in Woodstock, Ontario. There was a large delegation from Taiwan (including representatives from Aletheia University and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan), the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the United Church of Canada, local, regional, and national dignitaries, and a number of his descendants from across North America.
External links
- MacKay and Taiwan, in the website of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Canada (http://www.canada-taiwan.org/english/Mackay/)
- Full text of The Black-Bearded Barbarian: the life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1759) by Marian Keith, from Project Gutenberg
- "Aborigines Saved Yet Again: Settler Nationalism and Hero Narratives in a 2001 Exhibition of Taiwan Aboriginal Artefacts (http://web.uvic.ca/igov/research/Munsterhjelm%20MA%20Thesis.pdf)" by Mark Munsterhjelm, MA Thesis, Indigenous Governance Program, University of Victoria, Canada.
- "Tourism Oxford, (Oxford County, Ontario, Canada) Colourful Characters; Rev. George Leslie Mackay 1844-1901. (http://www.tourismoxford.com/indv_characters.cfm?id=67)"
- "Oxford County Public Library; Oxford County, Ontario Canada -- Reverend George Leslie Mackay 1844-1901 (http://www.ocl.net/twinning/mackay.shtml)"
- "Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (http://www.biographi.ca/EN/showBio.asp?BioId=40996)"
- To Taiwan With The Gospel - George Leslie Mackay (http://www.clevelandonline.org/English/biographies/mackay/mackay.htm)ja:馬偕