Untold Journeys

Untold Journeys aims to advance the understanding of the contributions of Asian and Asian American individuals and their families at Furman University and in Greenville. Over a century ago, the first Asian student came to Furman through Southern Baptist missionary networks, and since then, many more members of the Asian community have shaped the cultures of the University and the Upstate. This project amplifies the stories of missionaries, students, professors, businesspeople, and refugees who journeyed between South Carolina and Asia from the late nineteenth through the twentieth century. These individuals impacted the communities in which they lived and cultivated places of belonging. Here are their stories.

The spread of Christianity led to contact between Europeans and cultures in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In 1836, the first Baptist missionaries reached China via the Portuguese colony of Macao on the country’s south coast. One decade later, the Southern Baptist Convention oversaw the establishment of its first two mission stations in Guangzhou (also known by the anglicized name, Canton) and Shanghai. ²  The first Baptist connected to Furman to conduct missionary work in China was Issachar Roberts. An 1828 graduate from the Furman Theological Institute and an ordained Baptist minister, Roberts journeyed to China in 1837 as an independent missionary using his profits from a real estate venture in Mississippi. During his mission in China, Roberts gained popular recognition for teaching Christian theology to Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Rebellion, a civil war fought between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka, an ethnic sub-group of the indigenous Han Chinese. ³  

What initially opened up the Qing dynasty to foreign missionaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the opium trade. The British Empire, exported opium from India to China, and British missionaries made the transoceanic journey to East Asia via opium ships. By the 1840s, the United States had joined the opium trade in China by obtaining the drug from the Ottoman Empire. While Westerners were interested in various Chinese commodities, there was little reciprocal demand for exported goods from Europe and North America. Thus, to make economic inroads in East Asia, Britain and the United States sought an attractive exported good for Chinese consumers. Opium was the answer.

The First (1839-1842) and Second (1856-1860) Opium Wars indicate the adverse effects that the opium trade had on China. Concerned about the harmful effects of opium, Qing dynasty authorities aimed to cease its trade by making the selling of the drug a crime. The Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 signaled the conclusion of the First Opium War and the restrictive trade regulations in Guangzhou, leading to the opening of five treaty ports. Two years later, Americans signed onto the treaty with the Qing government, which granted them “extraterritoriality,” or immunity within the Qing legal system, allowing foreigners like missionaries to work and live within the boundaries of the treaty ports. By 1870, Christian missionaries left the confines of the port cities and moved inland, seeking to convert communities in rural China. Without the support of the foreign consuls nearby, American missionaries working inland ignited tensions among the Chinese who were unwilling to convert to Christianity, prompting decades of anti-foreign and anti-Christian attacks that culminated in the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901). The anti-Qing government group called The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fist, referred to as the “Boxers” by English speakers because of the martial arts fighting technique that its members practiced, killed thousands of Chinese Christians and hundreds of foreign nationals, many of whom were missionaries. Following the foreign capture of Peking, the Boxer Protocol formally ended the rebellion in September 1901. ⁴ 

By the early twentieth century, more than six hundred southern Baptists had conducted religious service in China. Missionaries continued to work in China until their expulsion by Communist leadership after the party’s takeover in 1949. At its peak, Baptist membership in China peaked at 123,000, a tiny fraction of the population when you consider that there were approximately 540 million people in the country at mid-century. ⁵ 

A 1910 graduate from Furman University, Gordon Poteat traveled with his wife, Helen Anne Carruthers Poteat, to China as a missionary in 1915, one year after earning his theological degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Poteat and his wife worked for several years in Kaifeng, where they gave birth to their first child, and traveled to various locations across the country, such as Shanghai, Chinkiang [Zhenjiang], Nanking [Nanjing], Hsuchufu [Chuzhou ?], Chengchow [Zhengzhou], and Peking [Beijing]. ⁷  Gordon Poteat’s brother, E. M. Poteat Jr., joined them along with his wife in 1917, and the two would then relocate in 1921 to become professors at the University of Shanghai. It was there that they met up with their father, recently retired Furman President, Dr. Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr. All three Poteat men worked as professors at the University of Shanghai until they returned to the US in 1927. ⁸  

To learn more about Gordon Poteat's life, read more  here .

As pastor for several churches prior to becoming president of Furman from 1903 to 1918, Dr. Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr. had a passion for foreign missions and the study of other cultures and worldviews. ³¹  Several years after exiting Furman, and only a few months after the death of his wife, Poteat Sr. traveled to China in 1921 to teach ethics and philosophy at the University of Shanghai with his two sons, E. M. Poteat Jr. and Gordon Poteat. While there in 1925, he married his second wife, Herriet Brittingham, who was also working as a Baptist missionary. ³²  Two years later, Poteat Sr., his wife, and his two sons returned to the United States, bringing back with them a collection of Asian art objects and artifacts that would eventually be donated to Furman. ³³  Dr. Poteat Sr. returned to Furman once more in 1934 to teach philosophy before his death due to medical complications in 1937. ³⁴  

To learn more about Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr.'s life, read more  here .

While serving as the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s fifth president from 1929-1942, Dr. John R. Sampey Sr. used his vacation time to travel to Brazil as a seasonal missionary in his 60s (1935) and then to China in his 70s (early 1940s). ³⁵  He died in retirement in 1946, ³⁶  and was survived by his son, Dr. John R. Sampey Jr., who from 1934 to 1949 acted as the head of Furman’s Chemistry Department. ³⁷  It was Sampey Jr. who gifted Furman two cloth fragments obtained during his father’s journey, both of which are now a part of the University's Asian Artifacts Collection.

It is our understanding that Poteat Sr. encouraged his sons to donate most, if not all, of what they each acquired while working in China to Furman. Their collection currently makes up the majority of Furman’s holdings of Asian objects. The few works not donated by the Poteats were given to Furman by Sampey Sr.’s son, Dr. John R. Sampey Jr., and his daughter, Jane Sampey, along with other individuals who had friends or relatives who worked as missionaries in China and Japan or who were born and raised there. Here are a few of such objects gifted to Furman.

During their time in China, Dr. Poteat and his sons acquired several children’s shoes. Multi-colored and embroidered with silk designs, these shoes take the form of zodiac animals, such as a pig and dragon (top two images). The other shoe was made for bound feet (bottom two images). Feet binding was a Chinese social practice that began sometime around the tenth century and fell out of fashion at the beginning of the twentieth century. It involves breaking a girl’s foot at a young age to keep the foot small, a sign of physical beauty and status, not dissimilar to our modern ideals of femininity, which include having a thin waist. ³⁸  Seeing as the act of gifting shoes is considered taboo in Chinese culture, these items were possibly bought for Gordon’s daughter, who was born while he and his wife were living in Kaifeng, to wear and were saved after she grew out of them.

Rank badges are embroidered textile squares worn on the front and back of an outer garment. They were used during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties to demonstrate the wearer’s official rank. These badges are decorated with diverse animals and patterns. Regulations established at the end of the fourteenth century required civil officials to wear badges with birds and military officials to don ones with animals, and specific species referred to a particular hierarchical stature. These two badges feature a bird at the center of a landscape populated by clouds and flowers. In both compositions, the bird flies toward an orange sun in the sky, a symbol for the emperor. Each rank badge serves as a visual manifestation of the official’s loyalty to the imperial court. 

Similar rank badges to those seen above can be found in the collection of the  Cleveland Museum of Art .

This Japanese bronze hand mirror with a bamboo-wrapped handle may have been purchased by Poteat and his family while traveling in Japan on their way to China. The front of this object has been polished to create a reflective surface (middle image) while the back is ornamented with an elaborate relief design (left image). Two cranes, one standing on the ground and the other flying, surround a flourishing pine tree and tall bamboo stalks. Near the bottom left, a tortoise leaves the shore by catching a wave into the sea. Cranes and bamboo plants represent good fortune and the tortoise and pine trees symbolize longevity. The Japanese inscription on the left side may be the artist’s signature. The mirror is encased in a painted wooden box (right image).

The collecting practices of the Poteats reflect the growing “Asiamania”–or craze for all things Asian in aesthetic–of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when foreigners in Asia purchased a range of utilitarian and decorative objects, including shoes, robes, and ceramics. Chinese and Japanese dress and decor were highly coveted at the time when the Poteats lived abroad because it was during this period when major American museums also began collecting Asian art. ³⁹  

The objects from the Poteats’ personal collection, now at Furman, were likely purchased at a market, such as the one pictured here, which is featured in Gordon’s scrapbook.

This red silk cloth was presented to Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr. and his second wife, Herriet Brittingham, at their wedding ceremony. Gifted to the Poteats in 1925 by the Yuecai Middle School, the characters, read from right to left and top to bottom, are written in traditional Chinese script and the content is notably poetic in style. The inscription describes how the two came to China as missionaries and fell in love, and also offers good wishes to the newly married couple. An English translation of the text appears below.

Respectfully eulogizing the glorious celebration of the wedding between Ms. Bai and Mr. Pu:  How great is the rise of beautiful culture that comes from the West and reaches the East. Civilization thus starts, and the world reaches great harmony. The woman is outstanding, who tours and studies in China. The gospel spreads afar, and success to Christ. Free love is the shared custom within China and abroad. When a relationship is predestined and perfectly satisfactory, the choice of a spouse is fair. The ideal son-in-law is like a dragon that rises; [the ideal wife] is like a phoenix that perches in a parasol tree. Mount Ji gains its hues, and Lake Jian reflects its rainbows. Her eyebrows are dotted with jade green and her pale complexion has a reddish hue. With a peacock screen an ingenious test is carried out, and man and wife respect each other. The firm and the soft join in virtue, and water and milk blend together. May this happy union of husband and wife last a century, we sing a song praying for many sons. 

Respectful congratulations from the entire Yuecai Middle School on an auspicious day in Christ’s calendar, June 1925. 

This translation is provided by Dr. Lane Harris, Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Furman University. 

A devout Christian and student of medicine, John Todd Anderson dreamed of working as a medical missionary in China. Born in 1887 in Woodruff, SC, at the age of 18, Anderson enrolled at Furman University in the fall of 1905, but his time there would be cut short. Soon after starting his first semester, Anderson received a telegram, notifying him of available work on a Georgia farm. Aware of his family's current financial hardship, after finishing his first year of college, Anderson left Greenville for Georgia to help support his parents.

The following fall Anderson returned to Furman. Inspired by his desire to help others and his commitment to faith, he volunteered as a campus nurse and an officer in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).

Throughout his student years at Furman, he ministered to the physical needs of fellow students. He was almost as much of a physician then as he was afterwards. And in all of these ministrations one felt that John Anderson was first a Christian, and second, a physician. ⁴¹ 

Although Anderson was engaged in campus life at Furman, he never ended up earning his degree there, and in the fall of 1910, he joined the medical class at Wake Forest College. After earning his B.S. degree from Wake Forest, he decided to continue his education and attended the University of Louisville Medical School. While studying at the University of Louisville, Anderson met a Chinese medical student, Kuei Chow from Yangzhou.

We have a Chinese here in the Sophomore Class who is an extra smart fellow. He is not a Christian, but we are trying to bring him across. He is a nobleman’s son and it will mean much to his people for him to go back as a Christian. [...] If I could win him to Christ, he would be worth two or more of my lives in Christianizing China. ⁴² 

Anderson befriended Chow, and over the next year, they became quite close. Chow even accompanied Anderson on a trip home to South Carolina for two weeks. During their visit, Anderson and Chow talked frequently about the meaning of a Christian life, ultimately inspiring Chow to convert to Christianity. And on a late Sunday afternoon in South Carolina, Chow was baptized by none other than Dr. Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr.

After completing his medical degree at the University of Louisville, Anderson interned at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington, KY for a couple of years before being selected by the China Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation as one of its first young medical missionaries. In the fall of 1916, Anderson and his new wife, Minnie Middleton Anderson, began their journey to Shanghai to fulfill their dreams of becoming foreign missionaries.

In 1921, a fountain was erected in Anderson’s honor on Furman’s downtown campus as a memorial to the deceased medical missionary. It was later moved to the site of Furman’s current campus, first installed outside of Furman Hall before being relocated by the cabin houses near the lake.

Two objects that the Andersons collected while in China have been gifted to Furman’s Special Collections. They include a silk embroidered hat and wallet.

This silk embroidered hat features flowers and a bird in pastel colors. It is similar in shape, materiality, and style to many  Miao hats  from the early twentieth century. Miao refers to an enthic group of Chinese who live in southern China and Southeast Asia. This hat is part of the traditional ethnic clothing of the Miao.

The embroidered wallet features a cauldron-like object at the top and a circular element with linear designs around its border at the bottom.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Furman welcomed its first Asian student to campus. Chu Jung from Canton [Guangzhou], China came to South Carolina through Baptist Missionary networks, first landing in Charleston before moving to Greenville to spend one year at Furman from 1898-1899. Although Chu’s time at Furman was short-lived, his legacy as a member of Furman’s international student body would be carried forth by dozens of other Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander students who attended the University throughout the twentieth century.

During the mid-twentieth century, when the United States was engaged in political and economic affairs in Asia, many colleges and universities established programs and departments devoted to the study of Asian history and culture. According to retired Furman Professor of History and Asian Studies, Dr. Jim Leavell, Furman’s interest in Asia was prompted by a desire to avoid repeating the failings of the Vietnam War (1955-1975). By the mid-1960s, there was growing public recognition that the United States was involved in a part of the world that it knew very little about, a consequence of which was disastrous military involvement in the region. To prevent future catastrophes in Asia, Furman faculty and administration understood there was a need to expose students to the societies living in that part of the globe. Subsequently, Professor of History and coordinator for the Non-Western Studies Program, Dr. Edward B. Jones and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean, Dr. John H. Crabtree designed the new Asian-African curriculum, which became a general education requirement in 1968, the same year when the first Asian faculty member joined Furman. Over the next couple of decades, the University made several faculty hires that brought Asianists and more faculty of Asian and Asian American heritage to campus. With growing enthusiasm for the study of Asian cultures, faculty adopted the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Major in 1988 and one year later established the Asian Studies Department. Today, Furman has one of the largest Asian Studies departments among liberal arts colleges in the region with over a dozen faculty with expertise in a number of disciplines.

At the same moment when the University was building its Asian-African studies program, Furman students began studying abroad. Study away opportunities were first limited to countries in Europe (England, France, and Austria), but gradually programs were established on other continents. Beginning the fall semester of 1973, Furman students could study in Japan at Kansai Gaidai University. The Kansai Gaidai program was also Furman’s first exchange program, enabling Furman students to go to Japan and Japanese students to come to Greenville. ⁴⁶  Since the founding of study away at Furman, students have experienced what it is like to live and learn in countries across the Asian continent, including in Japan, China, India, and the Middle East.

Furman’s records indicate that the first Asian student to study at Furman traces back to 1898 when Chu Jung, born on November 12, 1869 in Canton, China, came to the University via Baptist missionary networks. Chu is listed in the  1898-1899 Furman catalog as a student in the Furman Preparatory School , which prepares secondary school students to attend Furman after two years of coursework in math, English, and civil government. Under “ Sub-Freshmen” in the 1899-1900 catalog of officers and students , records indicate that he attended Furman for the entire 1898-1899 academic year. Chu is also briefly referenced in an article entitled, “Class-Room Life at Furman” in the November 17, 1898 issue of The Baptist Courier. Though his time at Furman was brief, Chu’s presence eventually set the groundwork for a future of international students at Furman.

Coming to South Carolina from Kaifeng, China, Charles Kilord Athen Wang was the first degree-seeking Asian student to attend Furman (he is listed as a student in the 1921  Greenville City Directory  under the name “Wang Chas”). Though he was the only student of color on campus at the time, Charles was undeterred by his status and became involved in several organizations, including the  Adelphian Literacy Society , YMCA, Education Club,  Other States Club , and International Relations Club. By the time of his graduation, he had also taken on numerous leadership roles in clubs like the  Student Volunteer Band  and the  Furman Tennis Team . In 1924, Charles, having flourished both academically and socially during his four years at Furman, graduated with a B.A degree with plans to return to China. He was the first Asian student to complete all four years at Furman and receive a Furman diploma.  

Yearbook photos from  1921 ,  1922 ,  1923 ,  1924 

According to his biography in the  1924 Furman Yearbook , Charles is described as the following:

The first Asian woman to come to Furman was a  Chinese student  named  Gilda Cheng  from  Canton [Guangzhou], China , who enrolled at Furman in 1950. During  her  time at Furman, she was involved in various clubs and organizations, such as the  Chapel Choir  and the  YWCA  (Young Women's Christian Association) cabinet. In her third year, Gilda was a Dean’s List student, and she graduated a year later in 1953 with a Bachelor's degree in social psychology. In the 1953 edition of the Furman yearbook, she is described as “always pleasant” and with dreams to “pursue a career in guidance of young people.” Even after her graduation, Gilda stayed in close contact with Furman as both a donor and an active alumna. In an edition of the 1955 Furman Magazine, Gilda reported that she has since married and plans to move to Chattanooga to attend graduate school at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. Several decades later, she was featured in the 2007 edition of the Furman Magazine after  reuniting with a former classmate . Despite having moved across the country to Vancouver, Washington, Gilda kept up with the Furman Magazine and read an account of a former classmate in one of the earlier editions. After reaching back out to Furman for assistance with locating her college classmate, the two friends met up in person for the first time in nearly 54 years.

Yearbook photos from  1950 ,  1951 ,  1952 ,  1953 

George Kunio Tanji arrived at Furman from  Honolulu  as a junior in 1951. His interests in international studies were reflected in his role as part of the  International Relations Club ,  Foreign Student Group , and the Cosmopolitan Club for which he served as the treasurer. Aside from these pursuits, he joined the fraternity,  Tau Kappa Epsilon , becoming the first Asian student to be inducted into a Greek organization at Furman. In his senior biography, he is noted to have “painted beautiful pictures of native islands” and worked faithfully in “chow hall.” In 1952, he graduated with his  Bachelor’s degree  with plans to work in business. According to the Autumn edition of the  1964 Furman Magazine , George found a job as an internal revenue officer with the International Revenue Service in Los Angeles, California. He lived in California for the rest of his life until he  died in 2005 .

Yearbook photos from  1951 ,  1952 

For many families, attending Furman has become somewhat of a tradition, and for a certain family from  Malaya,  this was no exception.  Beng Cheng Oon from Malaya  enrolled at Furman in 1951. Though she was the first girl in her family to attend Furman, two of her six brothers, Cheng Nan Wen and Seng Kok Oon, were also Furman students. Her older brother, Cheng Nan spent two years at Furman. He played  clarinet in the marching band  and graduated cum laude in 1952 with a  Bachelor’s degree , subsequently enrolling in graduate at Indiana University, where he earned his MBA. Wen was celebrated on  Scholarship Recognition Day in 1952  and was admitted to the  Hand and Torch  organization, an exclusive group of students who obtained the highest academic standing in their class. Beng Cheng’s other brother, Seng Kok, also attended Furman and graduated the same year as her. Like his siblings, Seng Kok was involved in several campus organizations, such as the  Cosmopolitan Club  and the  Tau Kappa Epsilon  fraternity. According to an interview with Beng Cheng from the September edition of the 1951 Furman Hornet, she felt extremely welcomed at Furman and has loved many elements of American culture, such as its clothing and food. Beng Cheng would flourish at Furman not only socially, but also academically. High achieving and driven, Beng Cheng was a natural leader on campus in various organizations, such as the  Chi Beta Phi  honors society,  Wesley Foundation  (a religious organization for Methodist students),  Cosmopolitan Club , and academic honor roll. In 1954, she was selected as one of the  Who’s Who Among Students  in American Universities and Colleges and was admitted into the  Hand and Torch  scholastic achievement organization. That same year, Beng Cheng graduated with a degree in biology as a pre-medical student, while Seng Kok graduated with a degree in mathematics, ultimately pursuing a career in  engineering . According to the 1954 yearbook, Beng Cheng is described as “definitely the studious type” and “has the grades to prove it,” and always “very sincere.” Both siblings would go on to enroll in prestigious graduate programs. Beng Cheng pursued graduate school at Radcliffe College, while Seng Kok studied civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Yearbook photos for Beng Cheng Oon from  1952 ,  1953 ,  1954 

Yearbook photos for Seng Kok Oon from  1952 ,  1953 ,  1954 

Yearbook photos for Cheng Nan Wen from  1951 ,  1952 

David Wei Kwo came to Furman as a  freshman in 1956 . While at Furman, he was one of five college presidents' sons at the University. David's father,  K. W. Kwo  was the president of Chung Yang College in Formosa (Taiwan). At Furman, David was an active member of the  Cosmopolitan Club , the Furman chapter of the  American Chemical Society , and the  Tau Kappa Epsilon  fraternity for which he played  intramural football . 

Yearbook photos from  1956 ,  1957 ,  1958 

Tom Shim was a  Korean student  at Furman from 1967 to 1969. He is best known for his role as a  student assistant coach for the Furman soccer team . When he was not busy coaching soccer, Tom was involved in other aspects of campus life. During his senior year in November of 1968, he helped organize a choral event that brought the  Korean Children’s Choir to McAlister Auditorium  for a fundraiser benefiting Vietnamese orphans during the Vietnam War. 

Yearbook photos from  1968 ,  1969 

Claire Lijen Bien enrolled at Furman 1968 at the age of 16 due to her father, Dr. Paul Bien’s teaching position at the University. Despite her young age, she was an active member of the campus community. She participated in  Honor Court , ran for  student body secretary , and was part of the Sudent Advisory Council that talked with President Gordon Blackwell about dropping its membership from the State Student Legislature. She graduated from Furman with a degree in German and history and later became a research associate at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, author, and mental health advocate.

Yearbook photos from  1970 ,  1971 

Khalid N. Kiani was an international student from Karachi, Pakistan. He served as an editor for  The Echo , Furman’s literary magazine, and won the  Alfred S. Reid Memorial Award , which is given to a Furman student in the top 35% of their class who has demonstrated outstanding qualities of leadership in the campus community. He also was a member of the  Board of Student Communications  and the  International Students Association .

Yearbook photo from  1977 

Chihiro Nishino was an  international exchange student  from Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. She and fellow exchange student, Toshiko (“Riko”) Miyagawa, were interviewed for an article entitled, “ Riko and Chihiro Discuss Life in Japan ” in the February 10, 1989 edition of The Furman Paladin. In this interview, Chihiro reflects on some of the elements of American culture to which she had to become acclimated. For one, she was surprised to see that Americans were more conservative than some Japanese people, especially those living along the “Bible Belt,” but she also appreciated the hospitableness of Americans in the South. Unlike Riko, Chihiro stayed at Furman to finish out her degree in sociology, becoming the first exchange student from Kansai Gaidai to do so.

Yearbook photos from  1989 ,  1990 

Damanjit Sahni was an  international student  at Furman from Bihar, India. After hearing about Furman from her sister and earning a scholarship to attend college in the United States, she enrolled at the University in 1988. While attending Furman, Damanjit was outspoken about some of the differences she noticed between American and Indian culture, namely attitudes toward dating and politics. Despite these differences, Damanjit maintained that she has loved Furman because it opened her eyes to many similarities shared by the two countries and helped dispel some of the misconceptions she initially had about living in the United States. Her story is recorded in an article entitled, “ International Student Provides Insight Into India ” found in The Furman Paladin and the  1989 yearbook .

Yearbook photo from  1989 

For a comprehensive list of Asian and Asian American students who attended Furman between 1898-1995, click the button below.

Dr. Edward B. Jones graduated from Furman in 1954 and returned two years later as a professor in the History Department, teaching courses for the Non-Western Studies Program. One of his most notable achievements was serving as the faculty coordinator for the Asian-African studies curriculum, which he had a major hand in developing in 1968. Jones’s teaching in this area reflected his experiences and understanding of the world, inspired by his personal studies in India. Throughout his time at Furman, Jones was an active promoter of student learning abroad, especially in Asia. He regularly voiced the advantages of studying in China and promoted Chinese language courses and trips abroad. In the late 1970s, he worked alongside other Furman faculty like Dr. Lin Chen to develop foreign studies programs. 

Jones was appointed as the first Chair of the Asian Studies Department in 1989. This was a joint appointment between Asian Studies and other departments and programs at Furman (as it remains to this day). Dr. Jones retired from Furman in the mid-1990s and is remembered as one of the “founding fathers” of what would become one of the largest Asian Studies programs among liberal arts universities in the American South. 

Dr. Paul Bien from China was hired as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Furman in 1968, and he appears to have been the first Asian or Asian American professor to join the faculty. ⁴⁷  He was introduced to Furman in January of 1968 when he traveled to campus to attend a seminar. Impressed by the caliber of faculty and students who he felt had “the proper curiosity blended with an inquisitive and critical mind,” he ulimately accepted a position to teach at the University. ⁴⁸  

Bien earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Shanghai University and his doctorate in chemistry from Brown University in 1932. He fled Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1949, just one week before Chairman Mao Zedong’s troops entered the city for the Communist take-over (1949-1976). Anxiously searching for a way to leave Communist China, two of Bien’s closest friends from Brown helped him secure a postdoctoral position at Indiana University. ⁴⁹  Under the Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals (ARCI) program, any American-educated Chinese person was excluded from the quota established by the Asian Exclusion Act, which limited the number of Chinese immigrants to the US each year to one hundred. ⁵⁰  In August 1955, Bien and his wife along with their three daughters sailed to San Francisco. After his year-long postdoc at Indiana, Bien was offered an associate professorship at Youngstown State University in Ohio. Four years later, he took a job as a research scientist in the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. ⁵¹  

When Bien worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, there was a mandatory retirement age of 65. However, at the age of 65, Bien still had two daughters in college who he was supporting financially, so he returned to the job market and landed a three-year, post-retirement teaching position at Furman. In 1971, when his daughter, Claire was a junior at Furman, he officially retired for good. ⁵² 

Bien remained in Greenville after his retirement, until 1977, when at the age of 74, he died.

Dr. Lin Chen from China was the first faculty member with a doctorate in an Asian specialty to join Furman. In 1973, Chen was hired as an Assistant Professor of Political Science with an expertise in Asian politics. Alongside Provost Francis Bonner, Dean John Crabtree, and Professor Edward Jones, Chen was instrumental in establishing a study away program for Furman students in China so that they could study Sino-American relations. Citing how in 1980, China was the second largest exporter of cotton textiles to the US, he knew for students in the textile-dependent state of South Carolina that study away opportunities in China would be a crucial step forward for younger generations to understand the political, economic, and historical ties between the US and China. ⁵³ 

A Texas-native and graduate of Baylor University, Dr. Jim Leavell was hired by Furman in 1974 to teach a variety of history-related courses. Before coming to Furman, he taught at Hong Kong Baptist College in China, and later established the exchange program at Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan. After his time in East Asia, Leavell returned to the US to get his PhD from Duke University. According to Dr. Ed Jones, Dr. Leavell, alongside Dr. David Shaner, is credited for successfully lobbying for an Asian language major–Chinese and Japanese–which was approved in 1987. With the support of former Dean John Crabtree, their efforts would ultimately culminate in the establishment of the Asian Studies Department in 1989, then composed of Dr. Lin Chen (Chinese and Asian Politics; Dr.  Kate Kaup 's predecessor), Dr. Long Xu (first Chinese Language Tenure-Track Assistant Professor hired in 1988), Dr. Jim Leavell (Japanese History and Art History), Dr. David Shaner (East Asian Philosophy), Dr. Edward Jones (Indian and Chinese History), and Dr. Shusuke Yagi (first Japanese Language Tenure-Track Assistant Professor hired in 1989). Following Dr. Jones’ retirement, Dr. Leavell became the Chair of the Asian Studies Department from 1995-98 (he was succeeded by Dr. Sam Britt) and eventually retired in 2006. Since then, he has returned many times to teach courses at Furman and still remains an active supporter of the Asian Studies Department and international studies initiatives and programming.

Dr. Shusuke Yagi was born in Japan and studied throughout Asia. He earned his PhD in New Religious Movements in Thailand and then went on to complete a teaching-research postdoctoral position at the University of Alberta in Canada. Following his time at the University of Alberta, Dr. Yagi was hired by Furman as the first Japanese foreign language professor in 1989. Chosen for his scholarly expertise in an Asian subject, Dr. Yagi joined Dr. Lin Chen, Dr. Long Xu, Dr. Jim Leavell, Dr. David Shaner, and Dr. Ed Jones as a founding member of the Asian Studies Department. His start at Furman was not without challenges, though. He experienced discrimination from students in the form of threatening phone calls asking about his immigration status.

From 1999 onward, Dr. Yagi transitioned from exclusively teaching Japanese language (being replaced by Professor Izumi Tokunaga) to offering courses on Asian culture more generally, including film, popular culture, and art history. Dr. Yagi was instrumental in establishing the study away exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, which began in 2013, in addition to maintaining Furman’s connections with Seinan Gakuin and Kansai Gaidai in Japan. From the foundation of Asian Studies at Furman, Dr. Yagi has been a pioneer in the expansion and growth of the department, which has included a number of new faculty hires and study away opportunities.

Dr. Kailash Khandke grew up in Mumbai, India and studied at Xavier’s College at the University of Bombay. Though he initially began his college career intending to major in physics, he quickly became interested in economics and ultimately graduated with a bachelor’s and later a master’s degree in economics. After earning his master’s, Dr. Khandke found the prospect of conducting original research in economics intriguing, prompting him to pursue his PhD at the University of California, Davis. His continued academic pursuits and experiences eventually led him to fall in love with teaching, especially at liberal arts institutions. After receiving his doctorate, he taught at Santa Clara University and Middlebury College before joining Furman as a member of the Economics Department in 1995, becoming the first South Asian professor in the University’s history. Although initially apprehensive about moving to the American South because of its controversial reputation regarding issues of race, soon after his arrival to Greenville, Dr. Khandke felt welcomed by his new community at Furman. Collaborating with Dr. Jim Leavell of the Asian Studies Department, Dr. Khandke developed and taught a class about the current Asian Crisis and Miracle of 1997, which brought financial strain to the economies of East and Southeast Asia. In the early 2000s, he was instrumental in organizing and leading Furman’s first study abroad program in India and later became the Dean for Study Away and International Education, a position he held from 2007-2015. His personal and academic contributions as both a professor and leader of one of Furman’s earliest diversity efforts have since paved the way for the campus community to continue to promote and prioritize intellectual curiosity about the world and inclusivity among its diverse members.

Popularly dubbed the “textile center of the world,” for centuries, Greenville was a prominent supplier of textile products in the region and abroad. The first cotton manufactory in Greenville County opened in the early decades of the nineteenth century. With the value of cotton at a historical high following the American Civil War (1861-1865), cotton manufacturing was the principal method for restoring the economy in America’s New South, ushering in the mill-building boom in the Upstate of South Carolina. ⁵⁴ 

Greenville’s most profitable textile manufacturers drew acclaim from across the region for their innovations in machinery and quality of product supply. In 1915, the Southern Textile Association held its first textile trade show in Greenville. The show was such a success that the Southern Textile Exposition decided that Greenville would serve as the site for the recurring exposition. As the number of exhibitors at the Greenville exposition grew, so did the number of attendees who journeyed from across the globe to see the best of Greenville’s textile industry. At the 1920 exposition, a group of Chinese financiers and manufacturers agreed to buy $50 million worth of machinery for factories in Shanghai. ⁵⁵  Throughout the twentieth century, Greenville’s reputation as a leader in the global textile industry continued to attract individuals and families from Asia who moved to the Upstate in search of economic opportunities and religious freedom.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the number of immigrants moving to South Carolina increased exponentially. In 1960, there was estimated to be around 11,000 foreign-born residents living in the state and that number increased by 220% by 1980 to just over 46,000. ⁵⁶ 

The changing state demographics led to noticeable growth in racial and ethnic diversity in Greenville, namely among the Asian communities, which manifested itself in more international businesses, grocery stores and restaurants, as well as church services offered in Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. ⁵⁸ 

Nestled between tall trees on a small hill adjacent to Furman’s Asia Garden is a humble Japanese Buddhist temple. Given the structure’s idyllic placement on the campus, you might not assume that the temple was intended for a different site. Known as the  Place of Peace , or Hei-Sei-Ji, this temple, formerly used for special occasions like birth celebrations and funerary rites, was originally built in 1984 at the home of the Tsuzuki family in Nagoya, Japan.

Although best known today by the Furman community for their generous gift to reconstruct the Place of Peace on campus, the Tsuzukis have been active members of the Greenville community for decades. Among the family’s most notable contributions to local civic life include donations to the Peace Center for the Performing Arts and the founding of Nippon Yagoto, the former Japanese cultural center in Greenville. The Tsuzukis began their life in the Upstate in the late 1960s when Kiyohiro and his wife, Chigusa moved to South Carolina to start their business, TNS (Tsuzuki New Spinning) Mills, a local supplier to the textile industry that produced cotton and synthetic fiber yarns.

The decision to gift the Place of Peace to Furman was the result of a close friendship between the Tzusukis and Professor of Philosophy and founding member of the Asian Studies Department, Dr. David Shaner. Dr. Shaner first met the Japanese family when he taught Chigusa a modern form of Japanese martial arts called Aikido. Then in 2004 when the Tzusukis decided to sell some of their property in Nagoya, they approached Furman about bringing their temple to its campus. The University enthusiastically accepted the once-in-a-lifetime gift and so began the four-year process of dismantling, transporting, and rebuilding the temple some 7000 miles from its original home. The temple’s 2,400 pieces made the transoceanic journey by ship from Japan via the Panama Canal before finally arriving at the Port of Charleston. From Charleston, the pieces were carefully driven in four large shipping containers to Gaffney, SC, where they remained until the Place of Peace was ready to be assembled on Furman’s campus by Japanese craftsmen specializing in the art of building Buddhist temples.

On September 5, 2008, the fully reconstructed temple was unveiled during an elaborate dedication ceremony. The Place of Peace stands as a symbol of both the Tzusukis’ gratitude to the Greenville community for its support of their family and Furman’s enduring commitment to fostering an appreciation and curiosity for Japanese history and culture.

Watch the dedication ceremony and hear Dr. David Shaner share more about the history and meaning of the Place of Peace.

Hong Kong-natives, Vivian and Thomas Wong represent the Asian immigrant success story. The newlywed couple was working at a Hong Kong hotel when they learned of the opportunity to move to South Carolina. Greenville businessman and inventor of the first commercial rotisserie oven, Robert G. Wilson sponsored the Wongs in relocating to the US in 1963, hiring them to staff his restaurant, Barbecue King. While working for Barbecue King, the couple dreamed of owning their own hotel business in the US, but they knew that starting their own restaurant was more feasible. In January of 1970 the Wongs opened Dragon Den, a Chinese restaurant located on Augusta Street. The success of Dragon Den led to the Wongs creating five other restaurants under the same franchise. ⁶⁰ 

While living and working in Greenville, Vivian and Thomas have defined what it means to be a true entrepreneur. After establishing their Chinese restaurant chain, they went on to run a silk flower business, became real estate investors, and donated frequently to local charities and institutions, including Greenville Technical College and  Prisma Health Children’s Hospital . More recently in 2016, Vivian started a new business venture called  BabyBlossom , which provides families across the globe, including those living in her native Hong Kong, with non-toxic, baby-safe products.

For her outstanding service and philanthropy to the Greenville community, in 2002, Vivian received the  Order of the Palmetto , the highest civilian honor that a South Carolinian can receive! She was also honored as one of the fifty most influential people in the region by  Greenville Business Magazine  in 2018.

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War (1955-1975), thousands of Vietnamese families have sought refuge, religious freedom, and economic opportunity in Greenville. Many adults who escaped the Southeast Asian nation held posts in the South Vietnamese government during the war, and were subsequently persecuted by the Communist regime after its take-over. Following the Fall of Saigon in April of 1975, a former officer in the South Vietnamese army, Chi Tran, was shipped off to a “re-education camp” in Hanoi where he spent five years imprisoned under brutal conditions. Chi and his wife, four sons, and one daughter were forced to work at a communal farm. The labor conditions were so horrific that his fifteen year-old daughter died at the camp. ⁶² 

The Tran family was among nearly 40,000 Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the United States in 1995. Like the Trans, most Vietnamese fled by boat from Southeast Asia to the West Coast of the United States. From there many moved to large metropolitan cities across the country. Yet, the Tran family decided to settle in Greenville, a city where they were told they could find steady work. ⁶³  Several of the sewing plants based in Travelers Rest–a city that borders Greenville to the north–hired a large number of Vietnamese refugees living in the area. According to Joe Nettles, then-manager of Designer Ensembles in Travelers Rest, approximately 80% of the 480 employees at the plant were Vietnamese. One such worker was Chan Nguyen, who at the age of 35 worked as a product manager at Designer Ensembles. Chan escaped Vietnam in 1980 in a 14-foot wooden boat with 65 other refugees. He came to Greenvilla via Portland, Oregon, where he earned a degree in industrial drafting. Hearing from a Vietnamese friend already in Greenville that Designer Ensembles was employing immigrants, Chan decided to move across the country in search of a more financially-secure future. He began his employment at Designer Ensembles as a machine operator but in due time he impressed his superiors with his work ethic and talent, and was promoted to the position of product manager. According to Nettles, back in 1995, the average wage at the plant was $7.50/hour, but due to the high productivity rate of many of the Vietnamese workers, they typically earned a much higher salary. ⁶⁴ 

In addition to finding steady employment in Greenville, many Vietnamese refugees cultivated a community in which they feel safe to embrace and practice their faith. In the 1990s, Thai Nguyen served as one of three Vietnamese clerics at various Greenville churches who ministered to the growing Vietnamese population in the area. Under the Communist government in Vietnam, Thai was given an eight-year prison sentence for his work as a chaplain in the South Vietnamese army. After convincing government officials that he was not a threat, Thai was eventually released from prison and he made his way to South Carolina. In his role as a church cleric, Thai has helped as many as one thousand Vietnamese in Greenville find work and a place to worship in their native language. ⁶⁵ 

 Vietnamese Blessing Baptist Church,  located on Poinsett Highway in Greenville is one organization that provides the local Southeast Asian community with a place to come together in prayer. Other churches include the Vietnamese Alliance Church on Rutherford Road, Greenville Vietnamese Baptist Church on Eisenhower Drive, and Faith Church on Ivydale Drive.

This project would not have been possible without the help of numerous individuals. Our work on Untold Journeys has been generously supported by the Office of Undergraduate Research at Furman University. We conducted much of our research at Furman’s Special Collections and Archives and are grateful to the library staff, especially Nashieli Marcano, Jeffrey Makala, and Julia Cowart, for making numerous archival documents and the Asian Artifacts Collection available to us. Research for this project also took place at the South Carolina Room of the Greenville Public Library. We thank the library staff there for assisting us with viewing their holdings.

Other individuals connected with Furman University deserve our thanks. Dr. Jim Leavell, who was involved in spearheading the formation of the Asian Studies Department, has been a fount of knowledge for learning about the history of the department at Furman. Furman History Professor, Dr. Lane Harris read the first version of this project with a critical eye and offered valuable suggestions for improving our section on the history of Baptist missionaries in China. Dr. David Shaner has provided a number of helpful resources about the Place of Peace, which are included above. We also extend our gratitude to Prof. Kevin Kao along with Dr. Shusake Yagi, Dr. Alexander Francis-Ratte, Prof. Qiaosi Yuan, and other members of the Asian Studies Department for their support and answers to our questions. Finally, we are grateful to Sam Hayes and Catherine Lippert for sharing their expertise of ArcGIS StoryMaps so we could share our research with the public in an accessible and interactive way.

Eli Kibler is an English-Writing and Asian Studies double major and Film Studies minor at Furman University. Dabbling a bit in nearly every academic subject offered at Furman before finally settling on these three, Eli has always had a thirst for knowledge. His spirited passion for writing and studying all things related to Asia is what ultimately led him to take part in the investigation, research, composition, and publication of Untold Journeys. Eli hopes that this project will enlighten the greater Furman community just as much as it has enlightened him.

Eva Kiser is a senior Anthropology and Asian Studies double major at Furman University. As an Asian American student herself, she seeks to understand and showcase Asian students and their stories. For her, Untold Journeys is a chance to not only retell a more accurate and inclusive history of Furman, but also to acknowledge and celebrate the stories of students and community members who have been otherwise hidden from the public. Eva recognizes that the experience and skills that she has gained through working on this project will equip her with knowledge and perspectives to help her in her future endeavors.   

Kylie Fisher is Assistant Professor of Art History at Furman University. A huge supporter of the Digital and Public Humanities, Kylie is enthusiastic about engaging diverse audiences in reflecting upon cultural heritage and history. Working on Untold Journeys has allowed Kylie to combine her fascination with travel accounts, all types of printed matter, and objects of various media with her goal of making known the stories of underrepresented cultures and peoples. As a woman of mixed heritage, including Japanese American, Kylie is proud to produce this project in collaboration with her students.