Wen Huilian

Wen Huilian (1811-1864), whose original name was William Jones Boone, was one of the earliest American missionaries to China, and the founder and first bishop of the Anglican-Episcopal Church China branch.

He majored in law in an American university in his early years and was baptized in 1833. The Anglican-Episcopal Church was founded in 1835 and planned to set up a branch in China. Wen Huilian applied to go to China and his application was approved. In 1836 he got the priest qualification and one year later he came to Southeast Asia to begin his missionary work. He was appointed as the bishop of the Anglican-Episcopal Church China branch. In 1846 he founded a school in Shanghai. Later he attended a meeting on translation of the Bible and he collaborated with other missionaries to translate the Old Testament. He died in Shanghai in 1864. Many of his works were written in Shanghai dialect and the most influential one was Congregation Pray.