Audrey Donnithorne | |||||||||
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 Audrey Donnithorne in 1958 | |||||||||
| Born | (1922-11-27)27 November 1922 | ||||||||
| Died | 9 June 2020(2020-06-09) (aged 97) | ||||||||
| Alma mater | Somerville College, Oxford | ||||||||
| Occupation(s) | political economist, missionary | ||||||||
| Notable work | China's Economic System China, In Life's Foreground | ||||||||
| Parents |
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 董育德 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 董育德 | ||||||||
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Audrey Gladys Donnithorne (27 November 1922,Santai County,[1]Sichuan,Republic of China – 9 June 2020,Hong Kong) was a British-Chinese political economist andmissionary, prominent in her efforts to rebuild theCatholic Church in China—particularly theCatholic Church in Sichuan—after theCultural Revolution.
The daughter ofevangelical Anglican missionariesVyvyan Donnithorne and Gladys Emma Ingram, born in 1922 at aQuaker mission hospital inSantai (formerly known as Tungchwan),[2] Audrey grew up inSichuan where she and her parents were kidnapped by bandits when she was two years old. They and six others were led into the mountains with their necks in a halter. In 1927, the family was forced to leave China asKuomintang forces pushed northwards.[3][4]
WhenWorld War II broke out, she headed from the UK, where she received education, to France and sailed to China to her family in 1940. Dissatisfied with theProtestant religious life on the campus ofWest China Union University, she came into contact with Eusebius Arnaiz, a member of theSpanish Redemptorist community active in theApostolic Vicariate of Chengdu, and received some books from the latter.[5] She converted toCatholicism in 1943,[4][6] and was baptised at theCathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu.[7] She later travelled throughJapanese-occupied Burma by plane in order to reach her home country. Back in the UK, Donnithorne worked for theWar Office. She then moved toSomerville College, Oxford where she studiedphilosophy, politics and economics (PPE), meetingMargaret Thatcher who she succeeded as college secretary for theConservative Party.[3]
Donnithorne then became a successful academic atUniversity College London and in 1969 she moved toAustralia to work at theAustralian National University where she was head of the Contemporary China Center.[3][8] Hermagnum opus wasChina's Economic System. She was in Israel when theYom Kippur War broke out in 1973. In Australia she receivedVietnamese boat people in her house. After her retirement in 1985 she moved toHong Kong. In 1997, the Chinese government expelled her from themainland for her activities; she remained in contact with church leaders there. She worked with the2008 Sichuan earthquake victims – establishing a fund for the rebuilding of churches and Catholic facilities with the backing of Hong Kong cardinalJoseph Zen[9] – and with theChurch in China. She also became an honorary member of the Centre of Asian Studies at theUniversity of Hong Kong.[8] She later wrote memoirs, entitledChina, In Life's Foreground.[3]
TheVatican awarded her thePro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal in 1993, and in 1995, she became an honorary member of theParis Foreign Missions Society (MEP). She died in Hong Kong on 9 June 2020.[4] Her funeral Mass was celebrated by CardinalJohn Tong Hon and Cardinal Emeritus Joseph Zen on 26 June atSt. Joseph's Church, Hong Kong.[10] A memorial Mass was held inSacred Heart Cathedral of Sichuan'sNanchong Diocese on 10 June, the day after her death, conducted by BishopJoseph Chen Gong'ao [zh].[10][7]
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