In 1894, the American missionary Arthur Henderson Smith (1845-1932) published Chinese Characteristics , a book which was to become very influential, for it was not only one of the most popular works about China written by a Western author, but it also inspired the father of contemporary Chinese literature, Lu Xun. Smith, who spent 54 years in China, shaped the way Western audiences perceived the Middle Kingdom in the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Today he is probably best remembered for his book China in Convulsion (1901), one of the most interesting contemporary sources on the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, which Smith survived miraculously. [ note ] In Chinese Characteristics , Smith introduced to Western audiences the peculiar meaning that the word "face" has in Chinese society: In a great range of cases constantly occurring in Chinese social relations, " face" is not synonymous with honour, much less with reputation, but it