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Ambition

Divergent Ambitions: The Door of Hope Mission in early twentieth-century Shanghai

Listen to Annika Aitken

‘These dolls offer a window into the experience of women during a turbulent period of foreign occupation.’
Annika Aitken

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Annika-Aitken-Divergent-Ambitions-mixed-v2.mp3
Divergent Ambitions: The Door of Hope Mission in early twentieth-century Shanghai

Cornelia Bonnell was feeling ambivalent as she disembarked her passenger ship in the port city of Shanghai on Christmas morning, 1899. An aspiring Protestant missionary from upstate New York, she had long felt God summoning her to China, a country she had never been to and knew little about.

Read She Persists essay

Collection

CHINESE THE DOOR OF HOPE MISSION, Shanghai (manufacturer)
Elderly man doll
(1902-1914)
CHINESE THE DOOR OF HOPE MISSION, Shanghai (manufacturer)
Elderly woman doll
(Lao tai tai bu ou 老太太布偶)
(1902-1914)
CHINESE THE DOOR OF HOPE MISSION, Shanghai (manufacturer)
Bride doll
(Xin Liang bu ou 新娘布偶)
(1902-1914)
CHINESE THE DOOR OF HOPE MISSION, Shanghai (manufacturer)
Monk doll
(1902-1914)
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The National Gallery of Victoria acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Melbourne
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