Foster Stockwell Explained

Foster Paul Stockwell (February 17, 1929 – October 12, 2023) was an American writer, historian and publishing consultant for Chinese publishers and authors.

Biography

Foster Paul Stockwell was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma on February 17, 1929. He was the son of Francis Olin and Esther Stockwell, two Methodist missionaries who went to Fuzhou, Fujian, in 1929 then to Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1939. Stockwell grew up and went to primary school in Chengdu, in southwestern China, in the 1940s.^{[1] [2]}

His father, Olin Stockwell, spent two years in prison in the town of Chongqing as a suspected spy just after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and wrote a book about it: With God in Red China.^[3]

Foster Stockwell attended several universities. He married on December 16, 1955 (his wife's name: Rhoda). They have one child, Norman.^[4]

Foster Stockwell was the author of books dealing with subjects as diverse as religion in China, information storage and retrieval, American communes, the exploration of China, genealogical research, misinterpretations of the Bible.^{[5] [6]}

Foster Stockwell visited China many times in the last decades.^[7]

Foster Stockwell was an editor for two major encyclopedias, a newspaper editor (Berrien County Record, Buchanan, Michigan, 1960–61),^[8] and a publishing consultant for Chinese publishers and authors. He lives in Des Moines, Washington.^{[9] [10]}

Foster Stockwell died in Burien, Washington on October 12, 2023, at the age of 94.^[11]

Works

• Boyang Zuo, Foster Stockwell (eds), Recent discoveries in Chinese archaeology: 28 articles by Chinese archaeologists describing their excavations, translated by Boyang Zuo, Foster Stockwell, Bowen Tang, Foreign Languages Press, 1984, 107 pages
• Jichuang Hu, Foster Stockwell, Shuhan Zhao, Chinese economic thought before the seventeenth century, Foreign Languages Press, 1984, 107 pages
• Mount Huashan, Famous Chinese mountains, Foreign Language Press, 1987, 120 pages
• Religion in China Today, New World Press, (original 1993, second revised edition 2007), 277 pages
• Foster Stockwell, Encyclopedia of American Communes, 1663–1963, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998, 267 pages
• Tibet - Myth and Reality, by American historian Foster Stockwell, original source: China Today, April 1998, vol. 47, issue 4
• A History of Information Storage and Retrieval, McFarland & Company, 2001, 208 pages
• Highlights in the History of Exploration and Trade in China, Foreign languages Press, 2002, 272 pages
• Westerners in China: A History of Exploration and Trade, Ancient Times Through the Present, McFarland, 2003, 187 pages (reviewed in China Information October 2003 vol. 17 no. 2 146-147)
• A Sourcebook for Genealogical Research: Resources Alphabetically by Type and Location, McFarland, 2004, 336 pages
• The Bible Says: History of Abuses Committed in the Name of the Biblical Text, Lulu Press, 2007, 236 pages

References

1. Ho Chi Sin, F. Olin and Esther Stockwell 1900 ~ 1992, in Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity.
2. Franklin J. Woo, Foster Stockwell's Recent Work Has More Cons Than Pros, Asian Week, October 21, 1994: "Being the son of pre-liberation Methodist China missionaries (F. Olin and Esther Stockwell), the author seems to have inherited his parents' empathy for the Chinese people."
3. Francis Olin Stockwell, With God in Red China: the story of two years in Chinese Communist prisons, Harper, 1953, 256 pages.
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20121106060306/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3414100275.html Stockwell, Foster (Paul) 1929-
5. http://www.fosterstockwell.com/religion.htm About the Author
6. https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786437723 About the author (2007)
7. Professor Bill Willmott, past president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society, in Tibet - Myth and Reality: "About the Author: Foster Stockwell is an American writer who grew up as the son of missionaries in southwestern China (Chengdu) near Tibet, and has visited China many times in recent years."
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20121106060306/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3414100275.html Stockwell, Foster (Paul) 1929-
9. https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786437723 About the author (2007)
10. http://www.fosterstockwell.com/religion.htm About the Author
11. Web site: Foster Paul Stockwell . Cady Cremation Services . 2 January 2024.