Q&A with Reid Neilson, author of Unlocking the Chinese Realm April 24 2026

Greg Kofford Books recently talked with Reid L. Neilson about his new history book, Unlocking the Chinese Realm: Apostle David O. McKay and Latter-day Saint Encounters in East Asia, 1852-1921.

General Background and Motivation

Bridging the Gap

Q. You trace nearly seventy years of history from Brigham Young’s 1852 missionary call to David O. McKay’s 1921 prayer. What inspired you to bridge these two seemingly disparate eras into a single narrative of "unlocking" the Chinese realm?

A. I have been researching and writing on the Church’s episodic history with the Chinese since my graduate school days at BYU and UNC. There has not been any continuous effort there, at least not in the first 150 years of the Church’s history. I wish there was more material to write about and more sources to help tell that seven decade long history, but I did the best that I could do with what was available to historians. I see Elder McKay’s 1921 prayer as the fulfillment of the prayers and hopes offered up by Hosea Stout and his companions in 1853 as they traveled to China (Hong Kong) under President Brigham Young’s direction.

Defining the "Keys"

Q. The concept of "apostolic keys" and the ritual of "turning the key" are central to your book. How would you explain the theological significance of this ritual to a reader who is not familiar with Latter-day Saint doctrine?

A. Most Church members are not familiar with this priesthood ritual, let alone members of other faiths. So I did my best to carefully outline the theological underpinnings of the ritual and contextualize it with other types of prayers and ordinances that Latter-day Saints would be familiar with in that chapter. Outsiders who study Christianity are likely familiar with spiritual efforts to consecrate or make objects holy through prayer or priesthood authority. The senior leaders of the Church used to talk much more frequently and openly about the importance of these prayers over entire countries and even continents. Latter-day Saints have always celebrated these locations—just ask any longtime member or recent missionary where it was that their particular country was dedicated and they will likely be able to tell you the location and an interesting story or two. Many mission leaders take their new missionaries to these locations when they first arrive in country and read the dedicatory prayer on site.

Historical Figures and Early Missions

The 1853 Hong Kong Mission

Q. Hosea Stout, James Lewis, and Chapman Duncan faced immense challenges, including the Taiping Rebellion and extreme poverty. What do you believe is the most significant lesson modern historians can learn from their "unsuccessful" mission?

A. To paraphrase historian R. Lanier Britsch in a BYU devotional years ago, you can’t really suggest that they did anything but fail as missionaries in 1853 in Hong Kong, but you must give them incredible credit for trying their best with their limited resources. He called it the “nobility of failure,” which we all experience in our personal lives at some point. Perhaps as missionaries ourselves as young men and women in foreign lands. I think that what he is suggesting is that there is honor in doing very hard things, even if they don’t turn out the way you hope they would. That seems to be the lot of many prophets and apostles in ancient and modern times. But you keep at it despite the odds and outcome because the message is so important.

Alma O. Taylor’s Fact-Finding

Q. In Chapter 3, you discuss Alma O. Taylor’s 1910 journey through China, where he interviewed nearly sixty foreign residents and missionaries. How did his findings specifically shape the First Presidency’s later decision to send David O. McKay?

A. Yes, Alma Taylor was amazingly thorough. He talked to everyone he could who might have any information for him to glean from their accounts. He worked very hard to provide the First Presidency with an on the ground analysis of prospects for LDS missionary work in China in 1910. Ultimately, they determined not to send missionaries among the Chinese at that time. But I am not aware of any direct linkages between his 1910 report and Elder McKay’s 1920 assignment from the First Presidency to dedicate the Chinese realm in January 1921. President Joseph F. Smith, who received Taylor’s written report, had passed away several years earlier. I’m not sure if they dusted off his analysis for McKay, who never mentioned it or even Taylor’s name in his diary, correspondence, and final report more than a decade later.

David O. McKay’s 1921 Journey

The "Sacred Site" in Peking

Q. David O. McKay felt strongly about offering his dedicatory prayer under a specific tree with a "divided trunk" in the Forbidden City. Based on your research, why was this specific location and natural setting so significant to him?

A. I don’t think that the “divided trunk” tree was particularly significant to Elder McKay. It was the secluded cypress grove that offered quiet and a sacred setting that we appealing to the apostle. The disfigured tree was just an easy landmark to mark the spot. The quiet grove was located just outside the Forbidden City next to a water moat that offered a memorable vantage point of the Chinese capital. Elder McKay and his traveling companion were new to the foreign city and did not know anyplace else to go to offer such a significant prayer that would require several minutes of privacy within one of the world’s busiest cities. It was a great choice and provided that sanctity for the occasion.

Western Attitudes vs. Spiritual Vision

Q. You mention that McKay’s reflections were often "critical of China" and reflected broader Western attitudes of the time. How did he balance his personal cultural biases with his spiritual conviction that the land was being "consecrated"?

A. We are all products of our times and cultures. Elder McKay merely echoed the thoughts and attitudes common to fellow Westerners, specifically Americans. As a Christian and an apostle, it is clear from his personal writings that he was heartbroken by the downtrodden China that he encountered in 1921 and desired the upliftment of the Chinese people. He wanted them to have access to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he felt would provide a leavening influence both spiritually and temporally. But he had little sympathy for the masses of professional beggars, for instance, whom he felt were trying to take advantage of him.

The Role of Hugh J. Cannon

Q. While McKay is the central figure, Hugh J. Cannon was his constant companion and chronicler. How does Cannon’s perspective, especially in his personal reports and journals, differ from or enhance McKay’s own records?

A. Hugh Cannon was the duo’s record keeper and sometimes it is difficult to separate Cannon’s feelings and writings from that of McKay. Not surprising, their two diaries are very similar, but Cannon also adds many of his own feelings to his own diary on a regular basis. Still, there is no question that he mediated McKay’s observations as he typed them up for the apostle. I have prepared a typescript of both diaries and would love to someday publish Cannon’s complete transcript, which would add to our understanding of McKay’s shared experiences. I published McKay’s diary as Pacific Apostle with the University of Illinois Press in 2020 with my co-editor Carson Teuscher.

Impact and Legacy

The "Echoes" of Prayer

Q. Your final chapter discusses the "echoes" of McKay’s prayer in subsequent church history. Can you point to a specific modern event or policy in East Asia that you believe is a direct result of the "key" McKay turned in 1921?

A. Yes, my final chapter is all about how Elder McKay, first as an apostle and then later as a member of the first Presidency and then Church President felt an obligation to do all that he could do to help fulfill his earlier prayer in 1921. In that chapter I detail the translation of scripture into Chinese, the opening and expansion of missionary work among the Chinese in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and to the overseas Chinese around the world as fruits of these labors. Moreover, I detail the construction of temples in those same countries, and throughout East Asia which seem to have transpired as a result of that apostolic prayer in Peking. Of course, the Church has not sent proselyting missionaries to mainland China yet, and will not do so until they are invited through the “front door” with government approval, but many other things have transpired in the century since McKay and Cannon toured mainland China on behalf of the First Presidency.

The Chinese Diaspora

Q. The book mentions McKay’s personal essay on "Ah Ching," a Chinese Latter-day Saint in Samoa. Why was it important for you to include the experiences of the Chinese diaspora alongside the history of the mainland mission?

A. This overseas Chinese church member, who was then living in Samoa with his family, was really the only Chinese Latter-day Saint that Elder McKay spent a good deal of time with on his around the world journey. I felt that it was significant that the apostle was so moved by their encounter and interpersonal interaction, that he wrote and published an entire article for a church magazine on this Chinese brother. It demonstrates Elder McKay’s interest in the Chinese people and his hopes for the future. Ah Ching becomes a model for what McKay hopes can transpire among the Chinese both at home in Asia and abroad, like in Samoa.

Unlocking the Chinese Realm: Apostle David O. McKay and Latter-day Saint Encounters in East Asia, 1852-1921 was published in paperback and as an ebook on March 17, 2026.