It's September and I have just returned from the Gothenburg Book Fair, where many courageous persons gather every year. I write courageous as it has become increasingly challenging to put yourself and your thoughts out there in the public sphere. This made me think of another brave woman, born on the cusp of the new... Continue Reading →
I have written about the political unrest in China before, and how my great-grandparents often encountered different warlords, bandits and military forces during their time in China. In 1927, the situation was very serious, especially for foreigners. Olga and Nils thus decided to listen to the advice from the mission and start the journey back... Continue Reading →
When Protestant and Catholic missionaries returned to China during the 19th century, they did not arrive in a spiritual vacuum. For many of them, one discovery was very important. The Nestorian Stele in Xi’an was a nearly three-meter-high stone monument erected in 781 during the Tang dynasty. Today the stele is displayed at the Beilin... Continue Reading →
Looking through the box of books and documents that fellow researcher Karin Stålhammar Hansson sent me in December, I came across a carefully wrapped Bible in Chinese. On the title page is the name “Mina Stålhammar,” Karin’s grandmother. The cover is somewhat worn, but all the pages are intact, and a bookmark, depicting the mission... Continue Reading →
On New Year’s Eve 1927, 98 years ago, Robert and Dagny’s eldest, and only surviving, daughter, Dagny-Edla, finally set foot in China again, this time as a missionary in her own right. She had been sent home from China to study in Sweden in 1907 and had longed to return ever since. During her years... Continue Reading →
Every September, one of Sweden’s biggest cultural events takes place – the Gothenburg Book Fair. There’s always a certain energy in the air when the fair opens its doors - a mix of excitement, ink, and ideas. For me, it’s both work and inspiration. But this year felt especially meaningful, because I knew I would... Continue Reading →
Whenever I travel somewhere, I make it a habit to see if there is some place along the way, or close to my destination, that is connected to family history. This summer, we headed towards southern Sweden and I as I know my great grandfather Nils is from the Småland region, I thought it would... Continue Reading →
One of the most difficult things to come to terms with on a personal level, when diving into missionary history in China, is the fact that my great-grandparents had to send their children back to Sweden by the age of seven. In practice, this meant they could only be present in their children’s lives during... Continue Reading →
In May, I was invited to speak about my research into my family history in China by the Evangelical East Asia Mission (EÖM) the organization that used to be called the Swedish Mission in China, which is the very mission my ancestors were part of. Today, the mission organization consists of many people who have... Continue Reading →
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Mr. Liu Hong, a passionate researcher of Swedish missionaries in China. He shared with me a passage about my great-grandfather Robert’s challenges in establishing a mission station in Hancheng, Shaanxi. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was incredibly difficult for foreigners to... Continue Reading →
Throughout my research, one particularly important source has helped me make sense of the adventures my great-grandparents experienced during their time as missionaries in China. The Swedish missionary magazine in China - Sinims Land - first published in 1896, is filled with articles from Robert, Dagny, Nils and Olga. Aside from their contributions, I can... Continue Reading →
It's the last day of 2024 and it just struck me that I started this blog 10 years ago - in 2014. Back then I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with this space. That is also quite obvious when I look back at the posts I wrote over... Continue Reading →
This Christmas, I received two handwritten Christmas cards in the mail. The number of Christmas cards has steadily decreased in recent years. I used to write a lot of cards myself, but like so many others, I don’t write them anymore. I was very, very happy to receive the two cards, though. There is something... Continue Reading →
My small library with books related to missionary history is slowly growing. The books are particularly concentrating on the Swedish Mission to China, its missionaries and publications. I love physical books, and regularly search online antiquarian bookstores to see if they have any of my relatives' books, or works by their friends and missionary colleagues.... Continue Reading →
As a parent, it has often been tough to leave my children behind for work trips to other countries. Since I had a job that required frequent travel, there were plenty of times I missed my kids when they were little. What brought me comfort was knowing that they had a dad at home taking... Continue Reading →
Spending a couple of weeks in Scotland for the first time, I have tried to walk in my great grandmother's shoes. At the turn of the last century, Olga lived in Glasgow for around 5 years. Her greatest desire was to become a missionary in China, and to achieve that, she understood that she would... Continue Reading →
Time has come for the Mystery Man to be properly named and put in context. Thanks to Haifeng, a Chinese blogreader and avid researcher, the mystery man from my grandmother's old glass cabinet has now been identified! If you have followed my blog, you know that I have written about this man and tried to... Continue Reading →
Those of you who follow this blog know that my relatives spent much of their lives in China, a country so different from Sweden that life there must have seemed like something out of a novel, or a parallel universe. To live there, in a foreign culture and a foreign language, they had to adapt... Continue Reading →
When I was little, the stories I loved to hear the most, were the stories my grandmother Edna told me about her childhood in China. She used to tell about her dangerous escape from the Swedish school on the mountain of Kikungshan, when foreigners were persecuted in China, and how she and her best friend... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, I visited one of my late father’s cousins - Kurt. He is a wonderful man, full of energy and memories, approaching his 88th year. He was kind enough to show me photographs and letters that he had kept from his parents' time in China. Kurt’s dad was my grandfather’s brother, Martin.... Continue Reading →
