Robert Morrison (missionary)

Robert Morrison
Portrait of Morrison by John Wildman
Born	(1782-01-05)5 January 1782 Morpeth, Northumberland, England
Died	1 August 1834(1834-08-01) (aged 52) Canton, Guangdong, China
Title	D.D.
Spouse(s)	Mary Morrison (née Morton) Eliza Morrison (née Armstrong)
Parent(s)	James Morrison Hannah Nicholson

Robert Morrison, FRS (5 January 1782 – 1 August 1834), was an Anglo-ScottishProtestant missionary to Portuguese Macao, Qing-era Guangdong, and Dutch Malacca, who was also a pioneering sinologist, lexicographer, and translator.

After twenty-five years of work he translated the whole Bible into the Chinese language and baptized ten Chinese believers, including Cai Gao, Liang Fa, and Wat Ngong. Morrison pioneered the translation of the Bible into Chinese and planned for the distribution of the Scriptures as broadly as possible, unlike the previous Roman Catholic translation work that had never been published.

Morrison cooperated with such contemporary missionaries as Walter Henry Medhurst and William Milne (the printers), Samuel Dyer (Hudson Taylor's father-in-law), Karl Gutzlaff (the Prussian linguist), and Peter Parker (China's first medical missionary). He served for 27 years in China with one furlough home to England. The only missionary efforts in China were restricted to Guangzhou (Canton) and Macau at this time. They concentrated on literature distribution among members of the merchant class, gained a few converts, and laid the foundations for more educational and medical work that would significantly impact the culture and history of the most populous nation on earth. However, when Morrison was asked shortly after his arrival in China if he expected to have any spiritual impact on the Chinese, he answered, "No sir, but I expect God will!"