Women on the Frontlines: Gender and Christian Rural Reconstruction in Wartime Sichuan

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), Chinese Christian organizations expanded social service programs into rural areas of the wartime interior. This paper examines the gendered dynamics of these initiatives, focusing on women workers associated with the National Christian Council of China and related Christian institutions in wartime West China. It argues that gender structured the everyday practice of Christian rural service: while Protestant leaders promoted rural reconstruction as part of a broader project of “Christianizing society,” female teachers, nurses, and social workers carried these programs into village communities. Drawing on institutional records, field reports, and local sources, including village surveys and county-level materials, the paper reconstructs how women workers adapted reform initiatives to village conditions. In doing so, it highlights the central role of women’s labor in shaping Christian engagement with rural society during wartime.