Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff, anglicized as Charles Gutzlaff, (8 July 1803 - 9 August 1851) was a German missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, and for his books about China.

Born at Pyritz, Pomerania, he was apprenticed to a saddler in Stettin, but was able to secure admission to Padagogium in Halle, and associated himself with the Janike institute in Berlin.

The Netherlands Missionary Society sent him to Java in 1826, where he learned Chinese. Gutzlaff left the society in 1828, and went first to Singapore, then to Bangkok with Jacob Tomlin of the London Missionary Society , where he worked on a translation of the Bible into Thai. He made a brief trip to Singapore in December 1829, where he married the English Maria Newell ; returning in February 1830, they worked on a dictionary of Cambodian and Lao, but she died in August (or February?) 1831, before it was completed.

Soon after Gutzlaff went to Macao, and then to Hong Kong, where he worked on a Chinese translation of the Bible, published a Chinese-language magazine, and wrote Chinese-language books on practical subjects. In 1834 he published Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832 and 1833.

Gutzlaff assisted in negotiations during the Opium War of 1840-42. In response to the Chinese government's unwillingness to allow foreigners into the interior, he founded a school for missionaries in 1844 and trained nearly fifty Chinese during its first four years. He died at Hong Kong in 1851.

Works

• Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832 and 1833, with notices of Siam, Corea, and the Loo-Choo Islands (London, 1934)
• A Sketch of Chinese History, Ancient and Modern (London, 1834, German version in 1847)
• China Opened (1838)
• Life of Tao Kwang (1851)

Reference

• Herman Schlyter, Der China-Missionar Karl Gützlaff und seine Heimatbasis: Studien über das Interesse des Abendlandes an der Mission des China-Pioniers Karl Gützlaff und über seinen Einsatz als Missionserwecker (Lund: LiberLäromedel/Gleerup, 1976) ISBN

9-14-004373-8

External links

• Article about Gutzlaff being duped by Chinese converts
• Scanned version of the Journal at Singapore
• University of Hong Kong library page about book and Gutzlaff