On June 2, 1901, George Leslie Mackay died of throat cancer in Tamsui after nearly 30 years in Taiwan. During this time, he made important contributions as a missionary, a doctor, and most importantly, as an educator. He is Taiwan's best known Canadian, his name familiar to all Taiwanese through the Mackay Memorial Hospital (馬偕紀念醫院), one of Taiwan's foremost medical facilities.
Mackay first came to Taiwan as a member of the Canadian Presbyterian Church in 1872 and was one of the first westerners to establish a presence in the then relatively undeveloped northern part of Taiwan. To help preach his Christian message, Mackay provided local inhabitants, including Han and Hakka Chinese and Aboriginal people with much needed medical services, not least the extraction of teeth and the treatment of malaria.
The Mackay Clinic (偕醫館), which he founded in 1880, still stands, a memorial to his work.
In commemoration of Mackay's achievement for the betterment of physical and spiritual life in Taiwan, the Canadian Trade Office has organized a series of lectures to be held between Feb. 20-24. The lectures will be given by three visiting scholars, Michael Stainton and Alvyn Austin from York University and A. Hamish Ion, professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada. This lecture series is the first in a number of events to commemorate Mackay to be held this year.
In recognition of Mackay's achievements as an armature ethnologist, the Royal Ontario Museum will be loaning Mackay's collection of Aboriginal artifacts, the most extensive pre-Japanese-era collection of such artifacts. The exhibition will be opening at Taipei's Sung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines (順益台灣原住民博物館) on June 2.
Lecture information:
What:
1.Mackay and Bethune as "hero" symbols in the state historical narrative
2.Our wild colonial boy: Mackay as a Canadian missionary in Taiwan
3.Other than St George: Canadian Presbyterian missionaries and Taiwan, 1872-1941
When and where:
Tomorrow: 2:30pm - 5pm
Academia Sinica, Institute of Taiwan History Preparatory Office, 2F conference room, (中央研究院台灣歷史研究所籌備處) 130 Yuanchiuyuan Rd., Sec. 2, Nankang, Taipei (北市研究院路二段130號)
Feb. 21: 2pm-4pm
Tamsui High School (
Feb. 23: 9:30am - noon
National Science and Technology Museum (國立科學工藝博物館720號 ), Technology Education Center Rm. S103. 797 Chiuju 1st Rd., Kaohsiung (高雄市九如一路797號)
Feb 23: 2:30pm - 4:30pm
James Maxwell Memorial Church. 6 Kungyuan Rd., Tainan (台南市公園路6號)
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