Mission to Shanghai; The Life of Medical Service of Dr. Josiah C. McCracken

Josiah C. McCracken was a physician, a husband and father, and a college and Olympic athlete. From the plains of Kansas to the fields of the University of Pennsylvania and the teeming cities of China, "Mission to Shanghai" introduces you to Joe McCracken, a man of singular compassion, strength, and devotion to his God, his family, and to medical service. Supported by the Christian Association of the University of Pennsylvania, Joe began his service in China in Canton in 1907. However, he was drawn by the excitement and need for doctors in Shanghai, and served as a leader at the Medical School of St. John's University from 1914 to 1942.

For Joe and his lifetime partner, Helen Newpher McCracken, living in the Far East was like living through a moving picture of the revolutionary history of China and her people. Their life was filled with excitement and drama, from the joys of family excursions to the struggles to keep the medical school and hospital open during the Japanese invasion and occupation. "Mission to Shanghai" is their absorbing tale of love, dedication, and service, told largely in their own words as they struggle to maintain family ties and meet the medical needs of the Chinese people.

Repatriated to the U. S. during World War II, Joe returned to China after the war, helping in the monumental task of revitalizing the medical department of St. John's, coping with wartime devastation, shortages of money, fuel, food, supplies, and the vagaries of a communist government. After his return to the U. S. in 1947, he continued to help the many Chinese students who came to practice in the United States.

"Mission to Shanghai" offers an array of intriguing themes, from the constant endeavors to establish a pioneering effort in modern medicine in China to the challenges of everyday life in a different and changing cultural and political scene. Paralleling the story of sustaining the Pennsylvania Medical School of St. John's University is the story of the family life of Joe and Helen. Together they raised eight children in this far-off land, sending each of them to the United States for college and then loving and supporting them from half a world away while missing graduations and weddings in order to sustain medical training in China.

Woven through their lives is the compelling and especially poignant story of Mary Elizabeth McCracken, the third of the McCracken's children. Stricken with infantile paralysis as a child and unable to walk, her indomitable spirit ultimately led to her graduation from the Pennsylvania Medical School of St. John's University in Shanghai, and later to her service in Shanghai as a pediatrician during the trying years leading into World War II.

Based on archival records of Joe's speeches, annual reports to supporters and the Christian Association of the University of Pennsylvania, and on a wealth of family correspondence, Mission to Shanghai provides absorbing insight into China and into the heart and mind of this devoted Christian physician: "If I could I would like to make a great telescope, big enough so that all Americans could look through it and see the exact conditions in China at the present time. I would be willing to spend the rest of my life building that one telescope, because I confidently feel that if the people of America could see the actual conditions in China hundreds and thousand of lives would be saved. Yet, that is impossible, and we must be willing to spend our lives, and we do spend them, in trying in the ordinary way to make known the needs of that worthy people."

In this book, Helen McCracken Fulcher provides you a window into life in the most exciting of Chinese cities during one of its most turbulent and complex periods. Helen is the eldest daughter of Joe and Helen, and her research and memories of China from 1907 to 1949 provide a perspective to the story that adds to the richness of the portrayal of family life, medical service, and Chinese history.

Helen McCracken Fulcher was born in Canton, China (now Guangzhou) in 1908, the eldest daughter of Dr. Josiah C. McCracken and his wife Helen Newpher. This story about her parents and their service in China was completed just before she died on February 3, 1995 at the age of 87. The final publishing tasks were accomplished by Martha, the youngest daughter, and her son Michael MacCracken and his wife.