The Humble Origins of the Door of Hope Mission Dolls in China
The beginnings of the Door of Hope Mission Dolls date back to the 1900s, when missionaries in China were outraged and horrified by the use of women as slaves and prostitutes, the binding of their feet, and even the murder of babies. not wanted. Missionaries in China suffered a setback during the “Boxer Rebellion” when Chinese authorities launched a war against foreign entities trying to access their resources. Because of this, the missionaries in the area were killed along with the Chinese who converted to Christianity.
Undeterred by these events, a group of missionary women from various Christian backgrounds established a home for these young women in Shanghai. In 1901, the Door of Hope Mission was opened and the group was funded largely by charities such as the American Women’s Club and donations from caring people in Shanghai. In this new home, the young refugees were taught to read, write and sew. They were taught to create traditional Chinese clothing and shoes made from cloth. The young women were then paid to create dresses for carved wooden dolls that were sculpted by local artisans. The heads of these dolls were made of pear wood and are attached to doll bodies made of cloth. He had no hands or shoes until around 1915.
The dolls measure around 6 to 12 inches, depending on the type of character represented. Most of the dolls depicted Chinese people dressed in elaborate clothing according to their gender, age, and status in society. There were also doll collections that have the full characters of people at a traditional Chinese wedding. They also wear colorful dresses that symbolize luck, wealth, and happiness. The older characters are around 12 inches, while the younger characters, such as children, are around 8 inches.
Other characters seen in the Puerta de la Esperanza Mission dolls are Amah (also known as the nanny), who is a working-class woman with a baby on her back, a farmer who works in the rice fields, priests or monks Buddhists, mourners, widows, policemen. , and elaborately dressed Manchurian women. These dolls are dressed in silk fabric with intricate embroidery. Their faces are smoothly carved and painted with eyes and lips. A total of 25 characters were made for the collection and these were distributed in America by returning missionaries, Elsie Clark Krug and Kimport Imports.
However, the production of these dolls ended around 1937 when the Japanese occupied Shanghai. Historians believe that between 30,000 and 50,000 dolls were made between 1902 and 1937. The dolls were made for export to raise funds, and some were shipped to different parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, South Africa, and America. These dolls are hard to find today and a single doll can fetch as much as $400 on some auction sites.