Dedicated to Taiwan
【Other Contributions】
Dr. Mackay, who loved Taiwan deeply, made great contributions to Taiwan in his lifetime. The first and most memorable is the spread of the gospel. As a missionary, Mackay is believed to be quite successful of his mission.
▲ Mackay's missionary team／Source：The Research center for Digital Humanities
Secondly, Mackay helped the people by curing diseases and extracting teeth and other deeds were also clichés that were well-known. But Mackay’s dedication was not limited to only this. For example, Dr. Mackay introduced foreign plant varieties, vegetables and fruits such as cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, beet roots, tomatoes, etc to Taiwan. And other tree plant seeds were given to the public for free. These contributed to the agricultural development of Taiwan and improved the lifes of Taiwanese people. Additionally, it has to be mentioned that the contribution to education, religion, and medical care, are all listed as the great deeds achieved by Mackay.
In addition to preaching, Mackay often gave lectures. First, it was only his own disciples that listened to it. But he later established schools and advocated teaching concepts. He set up the Oxford College and the Tamsui Girls' SchooI in Taiwan. (For more details on both, please refer to the other sections of this website)
▲ the Tamsui Girls' SchooI／Source：He, Yao-Cheng
At that time, Mackay introduced a Western-style education. Unlike the Chinese traditional education methods, he taught with a more modern method of theology, science, society, nature and so on. In addition, Dr.Mackay also emphasizes great importance to women's right to be educated. At that time, Mackay found that under the immersion of thousands of years of Han Chinese culture in Taiwan, the concept of "women who lack talents is virtuous” had taken roots deeply in the society. And "male superiority over female inferiority" made women at that time have no right to be educated, let alone received God's grace.
Mackay began his work of equal rights fight for women, and he married Ms. Chang Tsung Ming, a Taiwanese woman, to help promote the idea of opposing bad habits such as female foot binding and child brides. (Ms. Chang Tsung Ming was also a child bridesmaid). Mackay’s efforts enabled many women in Taiwan to get out of plight. And the Tamsui Girls' School founded by Mackay also cultivated many countless excellent women.