Audrey Gladys Donnithorne (27 November 1922,

Santai County Santai County ( zh, t=三台縣, s=三台县, w=San1-t῾ai2 Hsien4, p=Sāntái Xiàn; Sichuanese romanization: ''San-t῾ai Shien''; formerly known as Tungchwanfu, Sichuanese romanization: Tongchuanfu) is a county under the administration of the ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

– 9 June 2020,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

) was a British-Chinese political economist and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, prominent in her efforts to rebuild the

Catholic Church in China The Catholic Church ( zh, p=Tiānzhǔ jiào, c=天主教, l=Religion of the Lord of Heaven, after the Chinese term for the Christian God) first appeared in China upon the arrival of John of Montecorvino in China proper during the Yuan dynasty ...

—particularly the

Catholic Church in Sichuan The presence of the Catholic Church in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan and city of Chongqing dates back to 1640, when two missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, through Jesuit missions in China, entered the provin ...

—after the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

Early life and education

The daughter of

evangelical Anglican Evangelical Anglicanism or Evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, a ...

missionaries Vyvyan Donnithorne and Gladys Emma Ingram, born in 1922 at a Quaker mission hospital in

Santai Santai County ( zh, t=三台縣, s=三台县, w=San1-t῾ai2 Hsien4, p=Sāntái Xiàn; Sichuanese romanization: ''San-t῾ai Shien''; formerly known as Tungchwanfu, Sichuanese romanization: Tongchuanfu) is a county under the administration of the ...

(formerly known as Tungchwan), Audrey grew up in

where she and her parents were kidnapped by bandits when she was two years old. They and six others were led into the mountains with their necks in a halter. In 1927, the family was forced to leave China as

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

forces pushed northwards. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, she headed from the UK, where she received education, to France and sailed to China to her family in 1940. Dissatisfied with the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

religious life on the campus of

West China Union University The West China Union University ( zh, t=華西協合大學), alternatively known as West China University or Huaxi University, was a private Christian university in Chengdu, Sichuan, western China. It was the product of the collective efforts of ...

, she came into contact with Eusebius Arnaiz, a member of the Spanish Redemptorist community active in the Apostolic Vicariate of Chengdu, and received some books from the latter. She converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1943, and was baptised at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu. She later travelled through Japanese-occupied Burma by plane in order to reach her home country. Back in the UK, Donnithorne worked for the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

. She then moved to

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

where she studied

philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

(PPE), meeting

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

who she succeeded as college secretary for the Conservative Party.

Career

Donnithorne then became a successful academic at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and in 1969 she moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to work at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

where she was head of the Contemporary China Center. Her

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

was ''China's Economic System''. She was in Israel when the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

broke out in 1973. In Australia she received

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

in her house. After her retirement in 1985 she moved to

. In 1997, the Chinese government expelled her from the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...

for her activities; she remained in contact with church leaders there. She worked with the

2008 Sichuan earthquake An earthquake occurred in the province of Sichuan, China at 14:28:01 China Standard Time on May 12, 2008. Measuring at 8.0 (7.9–8.3 ), the earthquake's epicenter was located boxing the compass, west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial ...

victimsestablishing a fund for the rebuilding of churches and Catholic facilities with the backing of Hong Kong cardinal

Joseph Zen Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, SDB (, born 13 January 1932) is a Chinese Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 and has been outspoken on issues regarding human rig ...

and with the Church in China. She also became an honorary member of the Centre of Asian Studies at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

. She later wrote memoirs, entitled ''China, In Life's Foreground''. The

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

awarded her the ''

Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' ("For Church and Pope" in Latin) is a decoration of the Holy See. It is currently conferred for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. History The medal was established by Leo XII ...

'' medal in 1993, and in 1995, she became an honorary member of the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

(MEP). She died in Hong Kong on 9 June 2020. Her funeral Mass was celebrated by Cardinal

John Tong Hon John Tong Hon (, born 31 July 1939) is a prelate of the Catholic Church from Hong Kong. A cardinal since 2012, he was auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong from 1996 to 2008, then coadjutor bishop of the diocese for a year, and Bishop of Hong Kon ...

and Cardinal Emeritus Joseph Zen on 26 June at

St. Joseph's Church, Hong Kong St. Joseph's Church () is a Catholic Church in Garden Road, Hong Kong, Garden Road on the Mid-levels, Victoria City, Hong Kong officiated and blessed on 20 November 1872. It was among the three remaining Catholic churches in the colony during t ...

. A memorial Mass was held in Sacred Heart Cathedral of Sichuan's Nanchong Diocese on 10 June, the day after her death, conducted by Bishop .

Selected works

*''China in Life's Foreground'', Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2019, *''Centre-Provincial Economic Relations in China'', Contemporary China Centre, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1981 *''The Budget and the Plan in China: Central-Local Economic Relations'', Australian National University Press, 1972 *''China's Economic System'', Praeger Publishers, 1967;Book review by Theodore Herman
/ref> Reprint edition (2016):

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

, *(with

George Cyril Allen George Cyril Allen (28 June 1900 – 31 July 1982), published as G. C. Allen, was a British economist and academic. He was Brunner Professor of Economic Science at the University of Liverpool from 1933 to 1947, and then Professor of Political E ...

) ''Western enterprise in Indonesia and Malaya: a study in economic development'', 1957; Reprint edition (2021): Creative Media Partners, *(with George Cyril Allen) ''Western enterprise in Far Eastern economic development: China and Japan'', 1954; Reprint edition (2015):

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnithorne, Audrey 1922 births 2020 deaths Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford 20th-century English women English Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Sichuan Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Recipients of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice People from Santai County British women economists 20th-century British economists Academics of University College London Academic staff of the Australian National University English expatriates in China English expatriates in Hong Kong Diocese of West Szechwan Roman Catholic Diocese of Chengdu

Early life and education

Career

Selected works

See also

References