CO
THE STORY OF THE
CHURCH IN CHINA
FRQM THE LIBF^RX OF
COLLEGE
TO
:
V*
The Story of the
Church in China
By
ARTHUR R. GRAY
and
ARTHUR M. SHERMAN
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society
New York
9*3
136239
OCT 2 2 1991
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Preface ix
PART I
I The Beginnings 3
II The Beginnings at Shanghai 33
III Ebb and Flow 71
PART II
I Significant Development in Educational Work... 87
II The Struggle to Survive in Wuchang 99
III Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 109
IV Into New Fields 125
V Expanding Opportunities 141
VI Further Development of the Upriver W r ork 165
VII Forging Ahead 183
VIII The War With Japan and its Far Reaching
Effect Upon the China Mission 197
IX A Survey of the Work at the End of the Century 215
X The Boxer Movement and After 229
XI Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction.... 245
XII A Time of Harvest 265
XIII New Ventures of Faith 291
XIV Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 307
XV Wuhu The New Missionary District ; the Organ
ization of the Sheng Kung Hui 323
XVI The Revolution and the Outlook 331
APPENDICES
A List of Missionaries 341
B Chronology of the Mission 352
Index 363
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Chinese Summer Palace Near Peking Frontispiece
Girls of St. Agnes School, Anking, at the Wash
Tubs Page 142
The Orphanage, Shanghai " 142
The Creek Which Makes St. John s University
Campus a Peninsula " 112
The Main Entrance to the Mission Compound,
Wusih 112
A Confirmation Class at an Outstation " 62
An Outstation Chapel " 62
Chinese Presbyters Rev. Y. T. Fu; Rev. T. K. Hu " 189
The Church and Some of the Congregation at
Tai-Hu 236
Ingle Hall, Boone University, Wuchang " 236
An Elderly Christian in the District of Shanghai... " 219
A Great Gathering of Male Communicants from the
Shanghai District, Planning for Church Extension " 219
The Assembly Room, St. Mary s Hall, Shanghai... " 241
The School Chapel, Anking " 295
St. John s Pro-Cathedral, Shanghai " 295
A Group of Girls Day School Teachers " 313
A Typical Girls Day School " 313
The Shanghai Mission in Early Days, Hongkew " 33
A Chinese Christian Priest With Part of His Fam
ilyThe Rev. Lieo Yin Tsung, Hankow 78
The First Synod of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung
Hui, Shanghai, April, 1912 American, British,
Chinese and Canadian Delegates " 328
(1) Soldiers Bringing a Wounded Comrade to St.
Peter s Hospital, Wuchang " 120
(2) The Commonest Way of Bringing Patients to
the Hospital " 120
(3-4) Other Methods of Conveying Patients to the
Hospital Gate " 120
Slave Girls in St. Elizabeth s Hospital, Shanghai... " 269
Main Building, St. Luke s Hospital, Shanghai " 269
Altar of St. Peter s Church, Shanghai " 168
Wall Around St. Saviour s Chapel, Wuchang " 168
Preface
THE following story has been written to
meet a real demand. In Miss Richmond s
history the fads and figures are compre
hensively arrayed, and to it the reader is recom
mended to turn for details omitted in this volume.
The objecl: of this book is to provide the
general reader, who is not interested in dates and
data, with a sketch of such a nature as will hold
his or her attention.
The first-named Author is the Educational
Secretary of the Board of Missions and the
second a clerical member of the Hankow staff.
The Authors felt acutely their limitations to do
such a piece of work, but the call was clear and
they could not refuse, and they are at least happy
to say that, however imperfect the book may be,
it represents a labor of love and joy.
The Church in China is so desperately im
portant to her people s welfare in this time of
wide emergency, and the need for help is so
great, that we earnestly hope that some, at least,
who read this story will be inspired to do large
things and to pray large prayers for the prosperity
of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui.
ARTHUR R. GRAY
ARTHUR M. SHERMAN
The Story of
The Church in China
Part I
THE BEGINNINGS
CHAPTER I
JHE BEGINNINGS
The first part of this book will be very simple.
To be sure it deals with a big subject, but that
very self-same big thing had a most unpretentious
beginning, and therefore it would be out of place
to deal with it in any but a very simple way. How
true it is that the things which are most worth
while began in apparent insignificance. Was not
the beginning of the greatest thing in the world
the only eternal thing so small and silent that
none knew it had begun except a few poor shep
herds on the plains of Palestine?
Augustus Foster Lyde. The Church s work in
China had its origin in the heart of a student at the Gen
eral Seminary in New York just eighty years ago. His
name was Augustus Foster Lyde, and he had been born
one hundred years ago, on the 4th of February, in
Wilmington, North Carolina. Graduated with
highest honors from Washington (now Trinity)
College, in Hartford, Connecticut, he had entered
the New York Seminary in 1831. If there only had
been preserved some record of his life there, one
might be able to tell exactly when and how his
4 The Story of the Church in China
thoughts turned in the direction of the mighty and
mysterious land of Cathay that land whereof so
little was known.
Just how little China was known in those days
it is hard for us to realize. There had been a
time to be sure, before the Turks set up a bar
rier between the West and the East, when inter
communication between them had been compara
tively easy, but those days had gone and cara
vans no longer crossed the deserts with impunity.
In the early part of the last century, to reach the
Orient meant to round the Horn, and to do that
meant to journey for the fabulous year and a day.
As a result, the Europeans knew practically noth
ing about the land of the fabled Kublai Khan.
Whenever travellers managed to get there and back
their tales were listened to with incredulity. Be
yond the fact that the inhabitants were yellow,
and wore their hair long, and ate unmentionable
things beyond this, nothing was known of far
Cathay. If one looks through books upon China,
he will find that in 1830 there was not one of any
practical value. It would not be a very rash guess
to say that there was not a single book about
the land in the library of the Seminary when young
Lyde went there.
How, then, did he become interested in it? It
must have been in the first place through tales told
of the work done by that great pioneer Morrison,
who had gone out just six years before Lyde was
born. Many letters he had written home, and
The Beginnings 5
tales of his prodigious labors in translating and
in making a Chinese dictionary had doubtless come
to the ears of the Seminary student in New York.
And then again, Peter Parker had gone out from
Yale to be a missionary, and his fame had spread
throughout the land. Again, China s trouble with
the proud powers of Western Europe had begun,
so that it was beginning to be an item of impor
tance in the newspapers. These things, and the
new interest which had just been aroused in mis
sions by the organization of the Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society ten years before, had
turned the thoughts of young men to the possi
bility of serving their Lord outside the limits of
the United States.
Curiously enough, reversing the policy of St.
Paul and the Church at large in carrying the cross
westward, our Church had at first turned its eyes
eastward, and Liberia and Greece and Constanti
nople had been the first objects of its missionary
endeavors. Up until the year 1834 no one ap
parently had suggested that we endeavor to drive
the sway of ecclesiastical empire westward beyond
the broad Pacific.
In the discussions in the Missionary Society of
the General Seminary, however, the students had
brought this matter forward, and with such ear
nestness that results followed, the chief of which
was that in his senior year Lyde decided to offer
himself as a missionary to China. As we shall
see, his determination influenced his classmate,
6 The Story of the Church in China
Henry Lockwood, since the latter was destined to
be the pioneer. To Lyde, however, is due the fact
that the Foreign Committee of the then very primi
tive Board, determined to undertake the enterprise.
It came about in this way. The young man,
full of zeal, was travelling to Philadelphia in the
spring of 1834 and chanced to fall in with two
men whose counsels had great weight in the Mis
sionary Society: Dr. Milnor, the Secretary of the
Committee, and Mr. E. A. Newton. They were on
their way to a meeting of the Society, and learning
this, young Lyde poured out his heart, telling them
of his desire to go to China, and begging them to
make the land an object of the Board s endeavors..
So impressed were these gentlemen that at a meet
ing of the Society on the 13th of May, Dr. Milnor,
after Mr. Newton had opened up the subject, moved
and carried a resolution to the effect that the Board
undertake work for the conversion of the people
of Cathay.
In those days, however, money was very scarce,
the total income of the Board being but a few
thousand dollars and it was one thing to come
to a decision, and another to take action. To raise
enough money to send one man to China was an
undertaking quite as appalling as it would be for
us today to undertake to raise $200,000 for some
special fund. Still, they went to work, and, had
all gone well, young Lyde would have gone out as
our first missionary. But the seeds of the great
white plague had long been in him, and his un-
The Beginnings
remitting study had done the rest, so that he died
in Philadelphia on the 19th of November, 1834, and
lies buried in the Churchyard of St. Peter s. His
tombstone may be seen there to this day.
The death of this young man made no small im
pression upon the Church. Bishop Vail of Kan
sas wrote : "An event like this is a mystery too deep
to be fathomed by the plummet of human reason.
* * * The sun of his earthly existence arose with amaz
ing rapidity and brightness, but it has suddenly
sunk into the midnight of the grave."
Thus died the real founder of our work in China.
But the work itself went on, and Henry Lockwood
who, as we saw, had been Lyde s classmate in the
Seminary, came forward to take his place.
Lockwood and Hanson. It was not deemed wise,
however, in those days to send out one man alone, and
a search was accordingly begun for another volunteer.
For months the Foreign Committee sought in vain for
a man rash enough to cross the Pacific. It was
not till February, 1835, when the Reverend Francis
R. Hanson, Rector of Christ Church, Prince
George s County, Maryland, volunteered, that their
search was ended and the way made open. All be
ing ready therefore, on the last day in the month
of May, in St. Stephen s Church, Philadelphia, a
farewell meeting was held under the presidency of
Bishop White, at which the young volunteers were
subjected among other things to a long and ponder
ous sermon-letter of instructions. This over, they
journeyed to New York and attended another fare-
8 The Story of the Church in China
well meeting in St. Thomas Church on the 1st
of June, and on the next day, in the good ship
"Morrison," they sailed for Canton.
At this period the amount of the China Mission
Fund was only a little over $1,000, but as has hap
pened so often, certain individuals of large means
and charitable disposition promised to contribute
whatever extra amount was needed to meet the
expenses of the expedition for at least one year.
To add to their munitions of war, the American
Bible Society had given them three hundred Bibles
for distribution among the peoples whom they
sought to serve, and $1,000 in cash for the purchase
of copies of the Scriptures in Morrison s Chinese
version ; and from the Bible Society of Philadelphia
came $100 to be used for a similar purpose.
And so they sailed away, almost "for a year and a
day," to a land quite as mythical then to Americans
as is the one told of in the nursery rhyme "where the
bog tree grows." Fortunately for the adventurers,
the voyage was a pleasant one. No fabled anthro
pophagi or Chinese pirates, of which latter there
were many, disturbed the serenity of their journey,
and they reached Lintin, at the entrance to the
harbor of the only place where they could land in
those days, Canton, on the 4th of October, and
were warmly welcomed by the few resident Amer
icans. Let the story be continued in their own
words :
"Being obliged to wait here several days, before
going up to Canton, we availed ourselves of the
The Beginnings 9
opportunity to visit Mr. Gutzlaff at Macao. 1 He
received us very cordially, and kindly offered us all
the assistance and advice he could give."
From Lintin they proceeded up to Canton, from
where they write :
"We were welcomed in the most friendly manner
by Mr. Olyphant, as well as by Mr. Bridgman and
Dr. Parker, missionaries of the American Board.
Mr. O. very kindly had rooms prepared for us in
his establishment, and we were invited by Mr.
Bridgman, who has rooms in the same factory, to
remain at his table during our stay in Canton. We
take peculiar pleasure in acknowledging our obli
gations to the former gentleman, for the constant
friendly interest manifested in our behalf; and,
among the rest, could not fail to notice his having
taken upon himself the charge of our passage from
the ship to the city, the usual price of which is
15 for each passenger.
"Divine Service is conducted here by Mr. Bridg
man, once every Sunday, for the benefit of the For
eign residents. From thirty to fifty usually attend,
though the number here is generally more than
twice as large. For the last two Sundays we have,
Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff had been sent to Batavia
by the Netherland Missionary Society in 1826. In 1828, by
which time he had become proficient in the Chinese language,
he severed connection with his "home base" and went to
China on his own account, and after various adventures had
been appointed in 1834 successor to the great Protestant pio
neer, Morrison, as interpreter and secretary to the British
Ambassador to China. He was one of the great missionaries
of the early days.
io The Story of the Church in China
at the request of Mr. B., performed the service and
preached. We were pleased with the numerous
attendance, as well as the appearance of interest
exhibited. A large proportion of the gentlemen
here are English, and of course have a preference
for our service."
Knowing, as they did before they went out, that
it would not be possible for them to settle at first
among the people whom they intended to convert
knowing that two things would prevent this, first
their utter ignorance of the language, and second
the laws of the land which forbade foreigners
to reside anywhere outside a few English, Portu
guese and Dutch trading posts, realizing these
things before leaving America, the missionaries had
decided, from the few facts and bits of information
obtainable, that the best place for them to settle
till they could speak the language and learn the
ropes was Singapore. From Canton accordingly
they write :
"The reasons that induced us to regard Singapore
as the most eligible place for establishing ourselves,
at present, have all been confirmed since arriving
here. We have accordingly determined on going
there, and are now only waiting for a passage, which
we expect can be obtained in a few days. Its dis
tance from the main field of operations offered the
only objection to our minds, being about 1,500 miles
from this place. But even this can be of no great
consequence, as the communication between the two
places is constant and direct, and the passage (at
The Beginnings If
this season of the year) is generally performed in
less than ten days, which is considered in this part
of the world, but a small trip. Communications
from home may also reach us sooner by way of
Batavia, than at this place.
"Singapore is the nearest settlement to China,
which is under English control, and its advantages,
on this latter account, will be apparent. An estab
lishment at any of the Dutch or Spanish settlements
lying nearer would be out of the question, their sys
tem of exclusion being scarcely less strict than that
of the Chinese."
It seems that they could have remained on the
mainland and begun their work where they were,
but they feared that they would see but little of
the natives if they did so. They wrote on this
point :
"There is no positive obstacle in the way of our
remaining at Canton, as the residence of the Mis
sionaries here shows. Indeed, on some accounts,
we think it important that our Society should, if
possible, sustain a missionary here. But its advan
tages, in many respects, particularly such as arise
from unrestrained intercourse with the natives, are
limited compared with those at Singapore. Here
you are closely watched; even your servants are
spies ; and no one, even if he has a disposition, dares
to be on familiar terms with the fan Kidei (Foreign
devils) as we are called."
Batavia the First Station. The next we hear from
the Missionaries shows that despite their careful
12 The Story of the Church in China
reckonings they found it best to change their minds
about Singapore. Under date of February 29, they
wrote from Batavia:
"Our last communications to the Society were
forwarded from Singapore and contained informa
tion of our intention to come to this place. We
also sent some papers written by Mr. Medhurst,
showing the principal reasons that induced us to
change our purpose of remaining at Singapore.
We went on board a Dutch brig at that place on
Saturday the 12th of December, and arrived here
on the 22d of the same month.
"The situation of things we have found fully
as favorable to the prosecution of our objects as
has been represented. The field of Missionary labor
among the Chinese and Malay population is im
mense; and what is more, there are no important
obstacles in the way of its being improved. The
opportunities of intercourse with every sort of
people here are unlimited. You may go out at any
time of the day, and to almost any place, and find
multitudes of people to whom you may preach, dis
tribute books, or converse on any subject without fear
of interruption, and may be certain of being always
received with respect, if not with serious attention.
The Chinese here, are, to a great extent, free from
that national prejudice against foreigners, which, in
their own country, forms so strong a barrier against
all efforts to do them good."
This is followed by an account of their visit to
the Governor General, the which, because of the
The Beginnings 13
local color it provides, is well worth putting into
print again :
"As all persons who intend to remain here longer
than six weeks are obliged by law to ask permis
sion from the government to do so, we made a
visit to Bintenzorg, the residence of the Governor
General, a short time ago, for the purpose of pre
senting our petition. Our company consisted of
four besides ourselves, Mr. Medhurst, Mr. Arms,
lately arrived from the American Board, a Dutch
Missionary and a young man assisting Mr. Med
hurst, Mr. Young. We started in a post coach a
little after five o clock in the morning and performed
the journey in about four hours a distance of
thirty-six miles over a most excellent road, through
a charming country. From the inn we sent up a
note with our names to the Governor, requesting
an interview, and soon after received an invitation
to dine. We were received in a friendly manner,
and his Excellency appeared to take some interest
in our object, as well as in Missions generally. He
informed us, however, that as he is about to be
superseded in office and to return to Holland, our
petition would go before his successor; but that
it would undoubtedly be favorably received, and that
we should meet with no difficulty in pursuing our
objects. In the petition it was required to state
our names, profession and country; our purpose in
coming here, with a brief account of the Society
under whose direction we had come out, and our
wishes to remain. This was translated into Dutch
14 The Story of the Church in China
before being sent. We have not yet had a reply,
but expect it soon, for which a stamp duty of about
$40 each will be required."
When they had first made their plans, they
imagined that it would be possible for them to
become thoroughly acquainted with the language
and peoples and religions of China within a com
paratively short time. But their experience in
Batavia soon convinced them that they had mis
calculated. A task different from anything for
which they had prepared themselves confronted
them. Men going out today have all sorts of
things to help them, but Hanson and Lockwood
had no modern advantages. They had to grope
blindly, as it were, through the mists of an un
charted ocean. It did not take them long to decide
that the thing to do was to make the best of their
enforced captivity and to settle down. Aye more,
to preach the gospel there. Now since they could
not well preach in a language understanded of the
people, they did the next best perhaps the best
thing, and opened a school for boys. Thus it came
to pass that the first oriental work done under the
auspices of our Church was not in China but in
Batavia on the island of Java.
This was so unexpected a move that the con
scientious spenders of the Board s hard earned
money feared that the people at home might think
they were not doing their duty and so they wrote:
"The Society must not suppose that, because we
have deemed it expedient to retire for a time from
The Beginnings 15
China, we have forgotten our original destination,
or abandoned the hope or intention of preaching
the Gospel within that vast Empire. As soon as
we acquire the language of the Chinese we hope
to return, and trust we shall be privileged to con
tribute in some small degree to the overthrow of
superstition and vice in that land. But patience
must have her perfect work. It would be fanaticisn
of the worst kind to desire or anticipate the har
vest without having performed the labor previously
necessary. He who would preach the Gospel success
fully in China, must qualify himself for it in the
same way in which he would prepare himself to
preach the Gospel among civilized nations. He
must become acquainted with their philosophy,
modes of thought, and civil, religious, social and
domestic institutions. While knowledge continues
to be acquired only by slow and painful steps, this
will consume time. The Society must not, there
fore, expect much active labor from us for some
time. If in two or three years we acquire a suf
ficient knowledge of the language and customs of
the Chinese to justify our return to China, it will
be quite as much as can reasonably be anticipated,
and more, I fear, than will be realized."
But now an event happened over which the reader
of sentiment will rejoice. Mission work is lonely
work at best, and one of our heroes found it too
much so for him. Among their fellow workers
in Batavia were the Medhursts. The father of the
family was for many years a faithful servant of
16 The Story of the Church in China
his Lord under the direction of the London Mis
sionary Society. His daughter, Sarah Sophia, ap
pealed particularly to Mr. Lockwood, and he
apparently suited her, so they were married, and
great was the joy that came to the heart of the
lonely worker.
But alas! it was not to be that he should
remain happy. Tragedy soon darkened the door
of his house, for after but a few months Mrs. Lock-
wood died.
But why mention one whose connection with the
work was so painfully brief? Because she was our
first woman missionary in the Orient; and because
she was a woman of unusual ability and conse
cration ; and because, though her days as a Church-
woman were few, she became deeply devoted to
her newly adopted Church ; and because she was
the first of that long line of saintly women who, in
the service of our Board, have laid down their
lives for China.
The Situation at Home. But let us go in the im
agination back to the home land and see how things
were progressing there. A most interesting, and to
some of us familiar sight greets the eyes. Perhaps no
more fundamental question ever confronts mission
boards than this: What shall be done if more
people volunteer for the field than there is money
to provide for? We have been hearing somewhat
of this question lately, and when one investigates
the situation in the Board rooms in 1836 and 1837,
he finds the same problem staring the officers in
The Beginnings 17
the face. The letters from their representatives
had made the officers wonder whether they ought
not to send out more men. If the work were worth
being done at all, it was worth being well done.
Much debate had been carried on as to whether or
not the staff should be increased. But then the
spectre of poverty rose up and said: "Suppose
somebody else volunteers, what will you do?"
But little money was in hand. It was hard
enough to get the wherewithal to support Hanson
and Lockwood. Would it not be madness to at
tempt to send out a third missionary? To be sure,
money was coming in for Domestic work better
than it had. An editorial in The Spirit of Mis
sions for February, 1837, speaks with enthusiasm
of collections of $717 at St. Anne s, Brooklyn ; of
$1,002 at the Ascension in New York; and $800
at St. Thomas , New York. "These are believed,"
the editorial interestingly goes on, "to be the largest
plate collections which have ever been made by
any congregation of our communion to the Cause
of Missions."
In those days, it must be remembered, a strict
differentiation was preserved between Domestic and
Foreign work. Indeed, as is still the case in most
of the other Boards, secretaries were designated
as either Domestic or Foreign. Now the generous
collections just referred to were for Domestic work
for supporting workers in such then "remote" spots
as Florida or Louisiana. Foreign Missions were
receiving no such golden windfalls. The days had
i8 The Story of the Church in China
not passed when men said from their pulpits that
the Church had best confine her attentions to her
own front yard. China? What and where was
it? Beyond suggestions of tea and rice and mice
and junks, China meant nothing to the average
American, and, if it is hard now to awaken people
to the needs of that mammoth republic, what must
it have been in those days? No thousand dollar
collections were likely to be made for a mission
to an unknown land.
William J. Boone Appears Upon the Scene. And
yet at this juncture, when the question arose
as to whether they should reinforce Hanson and
Lockwood, the Board had faith and decided, as it
almost always has ever since, that oblivion were
better than failure to advance. Accordingly, when
the Reverend W. J. Boone from South Carolina
volunteered to join the workers in Batavia, he was
accepted. This happened at the Board meeting on
January 17th, 1837. Lest their supporters should
think them rash, and in order to establish the
principle that when men of unquestioned ability
volunteered they should be accepted, the editor
wrote in The Spirit of Missions that "the Board
having on the 18th of October passed a vote, imply
ing, in their view, the inexpediency of increasing
at present the number of Missionaries to China, they
are now induced to make an exception in favor of
the Reverend Mr. Boone, whose qualifications for
that field are of peculiar character, and whose long
and devoted self-consecration to the spread of the
The Beginnings 19
Gospel in China gives him a high claim to such
an appointment."
Thus the Church made a step forward, and a far
greater one than it realized, since it had yet to learn
how great a man Boone was; and thus it acted on
faith, believing that God would provide the means
wherewith to support this man and their faith,
one is glad to relate, was justified within a very
short time.
Relief came from Boone s own part of the world,
and in very substantial form, as will be evidenced
by the following letter received shortly after the
Committee had made the venture.
"Charleston, South Carolina.
"April 20th, 1837.
"Rev. and Dear Sir:
"It gives me great pleasure to inform you that
I am authorized by my congregation (St. Peter s)
to pledge to the Foreign Committee, in their be
half, the sum of one thousand dollars annually for
the salary of Reverend W. J. Boone, as Missionary
to China.
"With frequent and fervent prayers for the bless
ing of God upon this and all other efforts to ex
tend the kingdom of Christ, I am," etc.
Thus the reinforcement of the men at the front
was made possible, and, all being well, Mr. and
Mrs. Boone sailed from Boston on the 8th of July,
1837. It was not until the 22d of the succeeding Oc
tober that they reached Batavia. What a journey!
2O The Story of the Church in China
No wonder China was thought of as a land beyond
the uttermost seas.
Progress at Batavia. In the meantime Lockwood
and Hanson had been sending in encouraging reports.
The school with twenty Chinese boys and ten Chinese
girls was prospering famously. "They are taught,"
writes Mr. Lockwood, "by a native master to read
the Chinese classics, and also the New Testament
and a book containing simple lessons of Christian
truth, written by Mr. Medhurst. They assemble
at the house every Sunday afternoon, where we
hear them read a lesson and give them such oral
instructions as our knowledge of the language per
mits. By the assistance of Dr. Barrenstyne, a Ger
man Missionary, they are also learning to read the
Malay language in the Roman character, and to
sing devotional tunes, an employment of which they
seem very fond."
This sounds well, and shows that despite the fact
that they were not in China they were really ac
complishing something. And yet that something
was not to continue long. When men journey from
Maryland to Batavia one must expect something
to happen, and in this case what happened was the
breaking of Mr. Hanson s health. The climate
proved too much for him and to the regret of all
he was forced to come home in the beginning of
1838.
Disquietude at the Home Office. Even the best
men become impatient at times and this time impatience
seems to have seized the people at home. Batavia was
The Beginnings 21
not China, it was frankly no more than a stopping place
for preliminary study and examination. To be sure the
workers in the field felt this quite as much as did the
people at home, and yet the Executive Committee did
not realize it, in fact they asked Mr. Boone to make
a special investigation of the matter upon his ar
rival in the field, and to see to it that as soon
as convenient the Mission be put upon a permanent
basis which meant of course, in China proper.
This, however, was more easily ordered than
done. Strangers were not only not welcome, but
were forbidden to travel in China. It was the eve
of the first war with Great Britain, and a white
man s religion and politics not being distinguishable
were equally detested. Moreover, occidentals were
considered inferior beings ; their governments were
only recognized if recognized at all as tributary
to the Emperor of China. Lord Napier, for ex
ample, coming out at this time as British Ambassa
dor, had been absolutely unable to obtain an inter
view with any high official. Low officials were
considered good enough to deal with him.
The Opium War with England. The opium ques
tion was the burning one. To China s honor, be it said,
she was nearer in the right than was England. Her
leaders wished to prevent opium from being imported.
England, on the other hand, wanted a continuance of
the trade her trade between India and Canton in the
accursed drug. What then? Neither would give
way, and after a sort of Boston "tea party," in
which over twenty thousand chests of opium were
22 The Story of the Church in China
destroyed, the inevitable breach followed, and a
war ensued which lasted from 1840 to 1843.
This, be it noted, came later than the events
about which we are thinking, but reference to it
was necessary to illustrate the tension of the times.
The point to be borne in mind is that Boone s
arrival was at the moment when England was
trying to obtain commercial rights from the Chinese,
and when, despite all their efforts, her emissaries
failed to obtain so much as a dignified reception.
They were treated as tribute bearers from a sub
ject state, and it was this fact which was really
responsible for all that followed. The opium dis
pute was merely the occasion for the war it would
have come had there been no opium.
Boone s Arrival. At such a juncture then, Boone,
under special orders from the Board, came out seeking
for a place at which to establish permanent work on the
mainland of the great Continent. But though he
came full of confidence he found that it would not
be possible to proceed as rapidly as the people at
home had hoped. In fact, within a few weeks he
discovered that Lockwood s summing up of the
situation was correct; that obstacles political and
linguistic abounded, and wrote home shortly after
his arrival that they had best stay where they were
for the present. Among other things he said :
"I believe that an individual, with something more
than ordinary talent for acquiring languages, with
a good ear for distinguishing sounds, provided he
has been accustomed to study from early youth,
The Beginnings 23
and knows how to apply his mind, may be actively
and usefully employed among the Chinese in two
or three years; and that he will, from the first,
make such improvement as will encourage him to
persevere, with strong hope, by Divine blessing,
of finally mastering all opposing difficulties."
And so the future Bishop made up his mind to
follow the example of his predecessors and settle
in Batavia for two or three years. How little he
appreciated the uncertainties of the situation ! How
little did any one understand the uncertainties of
the Orient! Within a few weeks an event was
to happen which would set all his plans at nought.
This was the collapse of Mr. Lockwood. He had
long been ailing, as the old fashioned saying has
it, and in April 1839 he was forced to give up and
go back to America.
Thus it was that Boone, who had gone out in
the expectation of having fellow laborers, was left
alone. In his despair he wrote:
"A most painful opportunity of addressing you is
afforded by the departure of the last remaining
brother of the two who came out as the first mis
sionaries from our Church to the heathen.
"Mysterious indeed is the dispensation of God,
which has thus, in the short space of four years,
returned them both to the bosom of the Church
from which they came; but wise doubtless it is,
and we will say righteous art Thou, O God, in all
Thy ways, and blessed be Thy holy name/ *** Since
the impulse (given, as I firmly believe, by the Holy
24 The Story of the Church in China
Spirit) to the Church at the time of the coming
out of these brethren, scarce any who were not
debating then with themselves their duty to the
heathen, have offered their services to the Com
mittee. Soon after they sailed, or about that time,
if I am not mistaken, eight or ten candidates for
orders came forward, saying each man, here am
I, send me. But it is now a long time since we
have heard of any similar movement in the ranks
of our younger brethren. But should not the
return of these brethren from China speak in a
tenfold louder voice, to constrain all who are in
circumstances to do so, if it is not their duty to
come and fill up the gap, I desire to lift my feeble
voice on the occasion, and say to them, a great
breach has been made one of our outposts has
been almost entirely driven in, and it is not too
much to say that the advance of our whole por
tion of the Church militant may be much affected
by the promptitude and efficiency with which this
post is succored and sustained."
Despite the gloom into which he was thus cast,
the solitary Boone determined to stand by his guns.
In this very same letter he writes of high hopes
and new plans, and of a determination to continue
"for some years the present efforts," He can see
as yet no hope of entering China, and, therefore,
prepares to settle down. He has not yet learned
the lesson of the uncertainty of his position.
If one may be permitted to moralize a moment, it
might be said that Boone s greatness, as well as
The Beginnings 25
the greatness of all missionaries, lay in his readiness
to feel settled wherever he was. The man or the
woman who does the best work is the one whose
mind is not dismayed by the possibilities of change
which lie ahead. Many an able man is prevented
from getting to the heart of things because he is
always wondering how long he will be in his present
station. Boone never lost time in this way. Though
he never knew what would turn up on the morrow,
he always worked as if things would continue as
they were, and thus he accomplished much and
laid large foundations.
As has been said the godly missionary had no
idea that his plans would soon be altered. Little
did he seem to dream that another year would see
the abandonment of the Batavia work. "We are
both well satisfied that * * * there is no other place
to which we can well go." He even went so far
as to ask that, if money could be found, a house
be built for them.
Batavia Abandoned. But, as has been seen, things
are no more certain in Batavia than they are elsewhere,
and the unexpected happened. As late as August 1840,
Boone wrote as if there were no chance of a change
for the present. He had been ill, and Mrs. Boone
had been suffering from the climate, but they were
content and believed that they were where God
meant them to be. And then suddenly the un
expected happened. It came as the result of ac
cumulated mishappenings, of which Dr. Boone s
26 The Story of the Church in China
health was the most prominent, and he was forced
to gather up his belongings and move.
Lockwood had written that the climate was not
so horrible, and yet in the same letter he had said
that the continued warmth (it got as low as 72
sometimes in winter) made it almost impossible
for one to recuperate after being ill. He illustrated
it by saying that a man felt just as if he were in
a "stuffy room" all the time. Dr. Boone had been
worn down, and to save his life it became neces
sary to get out of the "stuffy room" at once.
Accordingly he and Mrs. Boone left for a six
months holiday in Macao, intending to return at
the end of that time. He had not been long in
China, however, before he decided that, inasmuch
as others had managed to settle there, there was
no reason why he should not. Therefore he began
seeking for a place in which to lay the permanent
foundations of the mission.
Seeking a Permanent Place. Boone was a man of
large vision, but so far he had been handicapped by the
conditions under which he labored. He was trying to
build upon another man s foundation, which is just
about as hard a thing to do as to preach or speak from
another man s notes. One is inclined to think that
had he been the first to go out he would never
have started the work in Batavia, but would rather
have found lodgment somewhere on the mainland.
At all events, that is what he now undertook to do.
But what place should he select? Macao, the
Portuguese settlement, where life was almost Euro-
The Beginnings 27
pean, and where the comforts and luxuries and re
finements of an English watering-place could be
found? No, this would never do, or at least there
was another seaport, Amoy which offered greater
advantages.
To begin with, our missionary had learned the
Amoy dialect and could begin there without further
language study. And then, further, it offered bet
ter opportunities because it was not frequented by
soul-destroying European traders. Already the
Congregationalists, Presbyterians from the United
States and the London Missionary Society had be
gun work there and had found it fertile soil. These
and other reasons, among which loomed large a
better climate, seemed to him to close the question.
But he would not decide definitely until he had
made a trip to Amoy and investigated the situation. 1
This he did, and all turning out as he had expected,
he moved his family and effects there as soon as it
was convenient. It was on the 7th of August, 1842,
that they arrived at Ku-lang-su, a small island situ
ated half a mile from the island on which Amoy lay.
Let Boone s own story be given in abbreviated
form:
"At an expense of about $150 I have had a Chinese
house, that was injured, repaired and made com
fortable for my family; and here I trust, by God s
blessing, we shall be permitted to abide many days.
* * * The climate is milder than that of Macao and
1 There is a valuable summary of the Amoy work in The
Spirit of Missions, Vol. XII, page 24.
28 The Story of the Church in China
Mrs. B. and myself both rejoice that we have now,
after five years, got out of the torrid zone. Ku-lang-su
is very favorably situated for missionary operations ;
it is within half a mile of Amoy, * * * to which place
we can go in a boat for one cent. There are many
other towns and villages quite near, and all acces
sible by water, * * * these advantages cause us to
pray earnestly that we may be permitted to re
main at this place."
The war between England and China had now
begun to draw towards its close. The Chinese with
their junks had not been able to stand against the
British frigates. Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Woo-
sung and Shanghai had fallen after but feeble
resistance, and China had to come to terms. By
the new Treaty of August 24, 1842, among many
other stipulations, Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo
and Shanghai were opened to foreign trade,
and thus it was that the new point selected by
Dr. Boone became one in which he could labor
with comparative freedom.
It must, however, be borne in mind that it was
not necessarily an unmixed blessing for a messenger
of the Gospel to have his way made easy by the
guns of the foreigner s fleet. In fact the problem
which has confronted all missionaries to China has
been, how to appeal to a people while nominally
under the protection of soldiers, and when we
wonder about the progress, or lack of progress of
the Gospel in that land we should never forget that
The Beginnings 29
it was under the chaperonage of England s navy
that Boone went to work.
Thus a new station was established. Whether
Dr. Boone ever regarded this move as final it is
not possible to say. Apparently the Foreign Com
mittee at home did. References to Amoy at this
time in The Spirit of Missions speak of it as if it
were the long sought opening. But this was not
to be. As it turned out, Dr. Boone remained there
only a year, at the end of which time he left for
America, and when he returned, it was not to Amoy
that he went. But that is another story.
Boone on Furlough in America. Early in their
stay at Ku-lang-su Mrs. Boone died. The loss was
a great blow to the Mission. The calibre of the
woman can be guessed at by reading her dying
words :
"If there is a mercy in life for which I feel thank
ful it is that God has called me to be a missionary."
Perhaps to escape from unhappy reminders, and
perhaps because his sorrow made him restless,
Boone, shortly after his wife s death, moved the
Mission across to Amoy proper. But this was an
even more temporary arrangement, and, in 1843,
the lonely man returned to America. He did this
for two reasons. The first to carry out his wife s
wishes of taking their children home to be edu
cated ; the second to appeal personally for workers
and help.
With the return of Dr. Boone to America we
come to the end of the experimental stage of the
3O The Story of the Church in China
Church s work in China. And what a period of
trial it was, more specially to those at home! Ten
years of imploring an inappreciative Church ten
years of questioning as to whether the mission
should be continued or abandoned ten years of
close financiering and as a result, what? No sta
tion, no buildings, no property. The sum total of
it all was one man with an ability to speak the
Amoy dialect. And this at the cost of the lives
of two women and the health of two men. Was
it worth it all? Could the Church be persuaded
to take it up again? Did she not have the right
to assert that the whole adventure had been a wild
mistake? The sequel will answer these questions.
THE BEGINNINGS AT SHANGHAI
VI
1 3
W W
o- ^
in S
w t
<i g
r >
t" G
CHAPTER II
THE BEGINNINGS AT SHANGHAI
During the last year of his residence in the Orient
Dr. Boone had continually flung back to the Church
the question : "When shall I welcome my coad
jutors?" He saw that until there were more men
in the field little could be looked for. More signifi
cant than this, before Boone had gone out Lock-
wood had appealed for a Bishop, asserting that
nothing permanent could be done till the mission
had a head. As we now come to the events which
followed upon Dr. Boone s return to America, we
shall see how both of these demands were met.
And more, as we read of what follows, we shall
perhaps be set to wondering whether or not the
failure of the first attempt to establish work in
China was not due to the fact that the Church did
not begin in a large enough way. Little ventured,
little gained. The Church had been very timid.
Sometimes it is better to do nothing than to do
too little. And yet it is not fair for us to find fault
with our predecessors. God knows they did as
much in proportion to their means as we do in
proportion to ours.
Boone s Triumphal Tour. Boone arrived in
America some months before the General Con
vention which was to meet in Philadelphia in
33
34 The Story of the Church in China
1844. He had travelled about the States con
siderably, and wherever he went received enthu
siastic welcomes. Now this place would subscribe
$100, now that $200; now this man would enquire
as to the possibility of his going back with Boone,
and now that woman would take up the matter. He
wrote to the Foreign Committee in August, 1844:
"I have great cause for gratitude to God for the
interest manifested in the Mission to China at that
place [Beaufort, South Carolina], and indeed at
every place visited during the tour from which I
have just returned.
"The good people of Beaufort gave me for the
Mission, during the delightful week I was permitted
to spend with them, in cash, $551.25, and pledges for
$6,750; that is, they promise to support twenty-
seven children in our schools for ten years, at the
rate of $25 a year for each child, which is $675 per
annum for that length of time. I received a promise
for the support of four children from one family;
four persons pledge themselves for the support of
two children each ; the Sunday School supports two,
the boys a boy, and the girls a Chinese girl ; and the
remaining thirteen are to be supported by persons
who pledge themselves for $25 a year. When the
size of this parish is taken into the account, this
must be reckoned large-hearted Christian liberality
in behalf of the Heathen."
Added to these large outpourings of money from
the South and it must be said that no part of
the Church responded quite so heartily in proper-
The Beginnings at Shanghai 35
tion to its means as did the South there came a
splendid response from the North. In particular
from a steadfast friend came what was perhaps the
most needed of all promises a promise to furnish
one-half of the money needed to maintain three un
married missionaries in China for three years. What
a Te Deum the hard pressed Foreign Committee
must have sung when it received this intelligence,
and with what increased confidence they must have
gone forward seeking for volunteers. "We have the
means," they joyfully acclaimed, "and now may God
send us the men !"
New Volunteers. Boone meantime had not been
soliciting money only. He had been equally emphatic in
proclaiming the need for men. Seldom has the Church
seen a better man-beggar. As a result of his men
dicancy, three clergymen, Henry W. Woods, Richardson
Graham and Edward W. Syle, all of the Diocese
of Virginia, came forward saying they were ready
to go back with him. In addition to these, Miss
Gillett of New York (who has the honor of being
the first single woman ever appointed by any board
to China), Miss Jones of Mobile, and Miss Morse
of Boston volunteered and received along with
the clergy appointments to the China staff. All in
all, for both Woods and Graham were married men
and Dr. Boone had married again, this brought the
number up to ten. A goodly company this, and
those who had been praying for the enterprise must
indeed have felt that their prayers had been an
swered.
36 The Story of the Church in China
As yet, however, the Mission lacked the chief
requisite for success, the one for which Mr. Lock-
wood had appealed, a head. The Foreign Com
mittee realized this fully however, and in their
report of October 1st, 1844, had said : "The Com
mittee hopes that this Mission may not be permit
ted to depart without a Bishop at its head." These
gentlemen knew the futility of resolutions and ex
pressions of opinions and did not confine themselves
to this innocuous statement. They wrote letters
and plead their cause incessantly so that it came
to pass that the House of Bishops, which soon as
sembled, appointed Boone as Missionary Bishop
to China.
Election of Boone. The General Convention of
1844, and particularly the upper House, found itself
confronted by questions of large importance. Relatively
speaking they were in the same position that our gov
ernment was in a few years ago when it was compelled
to enter into the concert of European powers. Serene
national isolation had become a thing of the past. If
the Church was to act as those interested in China de
sired, they would have to do some most extraor
dinary things. Many were the questions and deep
the doubt as to whether it was right to make a
Bishop for territory outside the Union. Would it
not be jingo expansionism? After much heart-
searching and questionings as to whether the
Church should take so bold a step, it was decided
to cross the Rubicon. Missionary Bishops were
elected for the West Coast of Africa, for the "do-
The Beginnings at Shanghai 37
minions and dependencies of the Sultan of Turkey,"
and for "Amoy and other parts of the Chinese Em
pire as th^ Board of Missions may hereafter desig
nate." To these positions were elected Alexander
Glennie, Horatio Southgate and our Dr. Boone.
In these days it is hard to realize, impossible prob
ably, how great a commotion this act created. For
this young Church still in its infancy to send out
Bishops to lands not under the flag was indeed a
daring act. To be sure it had set the world an ex
ample some nine years before and reverted to the
Apostolic precedent by sending out Bishops to blaze
the way in the Western States and Territories,
but to send Bishops to foreign lands, that was in
deed a new thing. So perturbed and astounded at
their own audacity were the fathers in God that
they proceeded at once to send along with their
commission to Boone a lengthy, and to be honest
one must say in parts very prosy, letter of instruc
tions. In it the purpose of the Episcopate was duly
laid down, and with great care it was explained
exactly why this thing had been done.
One passage in these instructions is worthy of
quotation as it reveals the origin of that splendid
policy which has been pursued so closely by our
Church in foreign lands:
"So vast is the population of the Empire; so
great the difficulty of acquiring its language; so
small the number of Missionaries or teachers that
we can send out from this country; and so heavy
the expense at which they are to be maintained,
38 The Story of the Church in China
that there is an evident and imperative necessity
for taking immediate steps for rearing in the short
est space of time a band of Christian teachers for
schools; a body of able translators, and above all,
an efficient native ministry.
"The training of children will, therefore, form a
very important part of your labors, and is an object
well worthy the attention of all."
And again it is interesting to see that the fathers
in God fully realized the decisiveness of their act.
They wrote :
"We feel that our present undertaking will form
an important epoch in the Missionary history of the
Church of Christ. We are sending out the first com
pletely organized Mission to Heathen lands since
the early ages of the Church."
And so in this act our Church took upon its
shoulders the full weight of the Apostolic burden.
From this time forward hers it became to carry the
cares of many peoples. No longer was she to be
a local Church with a little outlook, but rather an
universal Church, whose prayers would arise in all
languages, and whose Bishops would minister to
all colors and kinds.
As has been said, Boone was elected for China.
This was, of course, the only thing to do, and sub
sequent experience more than justified the choice.
One fact of interest is that he was not elected Bishop
of Amoy specifically. At the beginning of the in
structions given him came this passage which re-
The Beginnings at Shanghai 39
vealed the fact that discussion had been carried on
in the Convention as to whether Amoy were really
the best place for the new mission to begin :
"After their arrival at that place [Canton], the
Missionary Bishop is requested to make arrange
ments for a passage to Amoy; or in case he shall
find it practicable and expedient after his arrival in
China, it is recommended to him to make Shanghai,
the most northern port in the Empire open to for
eigners, the station for present Missionary opera
tions."
Boone and His Party Sail. On the evening of Sun
day, December 8th, (when did that miserable prac
tice begin of relegating missionary services to the
evening,) a farewell service for the China band was
held in St. George s Church, New York. Though
many Bishops attended, one is inclined to conclude
that the same enthusiasm did not pervade this gathering
as did those attended by Boone in South Carolina
or Massachusetts, since the offering only amounted
to a little over $300. However that may be, it was
a whole-hearted send-off, and with tears many and
fears many and endless God-be-with-yous ringing
in their ears, the little company sailed on the 14th
in the good ship "Horatio/*
It was a long journey but a restful one. Several
letters were sent back by means of such vessels as
were passed at sea, (that being the custom of those
days when a ship was not afraid of losing a couple
of hours by stopping in midocean,) and these told
of some seasickness and much study of the Chinese
4O The Story of the Church in China
language. One wonders which was the worst for
the beginners. At length on the 24th of April
Hong Kong was reached, and after a short stay
there the party proceeded to Shanghai, the possi
bilities of which place had been vividly laid before
Boone by the Church Missionary Society agent,
Reverend G. Smith, who had made for his Society
an examination of all possible points.
Shanghai at Last. The 17th of June, 1845, should
be a red letter day in the history of our work in the
Valley of the Yangtse, for it was then that the small
party reached the city which has since been the
headquarters of our work, Shanghai.
What days of bewilderment must have followed !
The strange looking town, the babel of incompre
hensible tongues, the filthy streets, the unspeak
able smells, the utter strangeness of it all ! And
then along with this came the feeling that they
were to live in the midst of all this for perhaps
the rest of their lives.
It was a very different thing to take up residence
in China in those days from what it is now. No
steamships or cables or posts bound the mission
ary to the home land. Today if a Bishop needs to
he can communicate with the Board of Missions
and gret an answer within twenty-four hours. Then
it meant anywhere from five to seven months to
do this. Now, there are hospitals and doctors and
railroads, but then in illness or trouble there was
practically nobody or no thing to turn to. Surely
those first days in Shanghai must have been days
The Beginnings at Shanghai 41
of wonderment and consternation to the nine dis
ciples of the Lord. 1
It would be very dry reading if one proceeded
to narrate in their correct order the events which
followed ; if one told of all the comings and goings,
of the successes and failures, of the steps forward
and then backward. The tide was always on the
flood of course, but at times it looked as if it had
started to ebb. Men would come out full of en
thusiasm, and leave, for one reason or another, at
the end of a short time. Such, for example, as
the retirement of Mr. and Mrs. Woods, (of the
original party,) on account of ill health after only
eighteen months, or of the defection of Dr. Fish,
who came out in 55 to minister to the bodies of the
ignorant sufferers and then left in 56 to take secular
work in Shanghai.
As a matter of fact though, this coming and going
of the Missionaries was not so bad then as it is
now. The average length of service of one of our
missionaries in China between 35 and 85 was about
six and one-half years, while since 86 they have
only averaged three and one-half years. This is
due in the first place to the fact that many of late
years have broken down or died shortly after arrival,
and in the second place to the large increase in num
bers which always pulls down averages. Still, when
communication with America was so difficult, and
1 For a list of all the protestant mission stations in China at
this tirye see The Spirit of Missions, Vol. XII, page 319.
42 The Story of the Church in China
the numbers so small, it must have been trying in
deed to see one s brethren and sisters leave after
but a short stay. When workers are plenty one
can endure the loss of one or two every now and
then, but in those days there were perilously few,
and the few who were there had before them the
constant dread of such depletion as to compel the
abandonment of the work.
But all growth is of this kind, if it be sure. Things
that forge ahead at the beginning without ever
so much as a hitch seem always to come to an
untimely end. This gives us courage when we see
here at home the alarming rapidity with which
certain new sects have grown. We are never
alarmed by things which move inordinately fast.
Experience has taught us that imperishable things
grow slowly, that the law of life is per aspera ad
astra. Therefore, when we see the Church in China
moving with painful steps and slow we are not
concerned, recognizing in such progress the symp
toms and signs of enduring success.
Instead, then, of going minutely into the details
of the work it will be better to limit the narrative
to certain broad features as they center around
certain outstanding facts and personalities.
The City of Shanghai. The place chosen for the
first sowing of seed was a city as yet little known to
the occidental world. A traveller of those days
described his arrival there as follows :
"The entrance of the great river Yangtse is
rather difficult, especially to vessels drawing much
The Beginnings at Shanghai 43
water. So much earth is brought down by this
immense stream, and deposited in the sea, that the
water is quite shallow for many miles and a vessel
is in danger of running aground long before the land
is seen. The coasts of China in this latitude are
low, and perfectly level, and the land can scarcely
be seen more than ten miles off. The strength of
the tides is also very great, and several vessels have
already been lost on the sands and rocks off the
entrance of the river. Until lighthouses are erected,
and buoys properly placed, more than ordinary cau
tion will be required of the officers of vessels visiting
Shanghai.
"After entering the river, (only the southern bank
of which is seen, on account of its great width,) the
course is northwest to Woosung. Entering the
Woosung river, the course is southwest, about four
teen miles to Shanghai.
"The whole country for many miles around the
city is a perfect plain, having only sufficient eleva
tion and depression to carry off the water. There is
not a single hill within twenty miles of Shanghai,
which, of course, renders the appearance of the
country uninteresting. The soil, however, is rich
and productive, and, excepting the space occupied
by the graves, is in a high state of cultivation.
There are no stones, nor even small pebbles, for in
a trip of some twenty miles along the Woosung
river, not a stone was to be seen, except such as
had been brought from a distance. Farm-houses
and small villages dot the country in every direction,
44 The Story of the Church in China
and clumps of bamboos, with orchards of peaches
and plum trees, and willows by the water-courses,
relieve the sameness of the ground.
"The city of Shanghai is pleasantly situated at
the junction of the Woosung and Hwangpoo rivers.
It is of a circular form, surrounded by walls about
fifteen feet high, and nearly four miles in circumfer
ence. The suburbs near the rivers are thickly
inhabited, and the population is estimated at about
two hundred thousand inhabitants. * * * By the
Woosung river it is connected with the city of Soo-
chow, the capital of the province, and one of the
most luxurious and wealthy in the Empire and
also with the Grand Canal which reaches to Pekin.
Hence its situation is one of great importance, and
its trade is immense. Rows of junks are moored for
nearly two miles along the bank of the Hwangpoo,
on the east of the city, and vessels are constantly
arriving and departing. Already it is attracting a
large share of foreign commerce, and many suppose
that it will soon rival, if not surpass Canton, as a
place for foreign trade. Sixty-five foreign vessels
have already entered the port, though it is but a
year and a half since business commenced to be done
there. The great tea and silk districts of China are
nearer to Shanghai than to Canton, and if proper
encouragement be held out, a large part of those
articles which were formerly carried at great expense
to the latter place, will find their way either to
Shanghai or Ningpo."
First Impressions. The treatment experienced by
The Beginnings at Shanghai 45
the new arrivals was probably better than they would
have received in any other part of China at that time.
The inhabitants were, all things considered, rather well
disposed. Perhaps it was the "eye for business,"
which put a little "foreign sense" into their heads,
at all events the good Bishop and his flock were
apparently allowed to move about without danger.
One contemporary observer wrote :
"We walked quietly to the English Consulate in
the heart of the city, where Divine Service was
held, on the Sabbath, * * * and excepting a few dogs
which had not yet become reconciled to the pres
ence of foreigners (dogs always go by smell) none
moved his tongue against us."
The indifference of the natives to foreigners was
due to their lack of inquisitiveness. They were
sophisticated enough, but according to our workers
were unusually self contained and diffident. Our
workers were not the first strangers to invade their
domain. The Roman Catholics had already begun
work and obtained quite a foothold in Shanghai, and
several of their priests were stationed there. In
addition to these Italians, the London Missionary
Society had a station in the city presided over
by two missionaries, Dr. Lockhart, a physician,
whose presence meant much to the new comers,
and Dr. Medhurst, whom we remember as the
father-in-law of our Mr. Lockwood. It was, by the
way, due to the hospitality of these gentlemen that
our party was made comfortable on their arrival. Nor
were these the only foreigners. At least a hundred
46 The Story of the Church in China
English lived there and a splendid God-fearing lot
they seem to have been. One writer asserts that
Shanghai at this period could boast of being the
only Treaty port in the Orient where merchants
stopped work on Sunday.
The Shanghainese. An obvious question is:
What was the religious condition of these folk
whom Boone and his companions had come to aid.
A letter written at this time partially answers the
question :
"Wherever we walk through the city we meet
the priests of Buddha, and see spacious temples
dedicated to him, all, of course, supported by the
people; and yet they seem to care not a straw
either for priests, temples or idols. The most bitter
reproach they can bestow on an idle young man
is to tell him he is fit for nothing but to be a priest;
and when we have seen religious ceremonies per
formed, there was not the least semblance of de
votion in either priest or people. Their only ob
jects of reverence seem to be their ancestors and
dead friends, and these, certainly, have a very strong
hold upon them."
For some time the only church building in which
worship of the Anglican order was held was the
Consulate Chapel. Bishop Boone administered the
Communion and held services in his own room.
Dr. Medhurst built a chapel in the mid-forties but
our first church was not to be completed until Epiph
any, 1850. One can well imagine how the workers
looked forward to the day when they could hold
The Beginnings at Shanghai 47
Divine service without the nuisance of a preliminary
removal of tables and bric-a-brac in order to make
ready a room. Who ever really enjoyed services
in a sitting room?
As a matter of fact, not very much evangelistic
work could have been done as yet even had a
church been built, since none could speak the
language well enough to conduct a service. It was
not until 46 that the Bishop could, his first attempt
being at the Baptism of Wong Kong Chai, of
whom more presently. A long road had to be
travelled before any of the workers could be suffi
ciently versed in Chinese to do much active teaching
or preaching. A rather pitiable letter was written
home by one of them in reply to a request for
more vivid and attractive accounts of their doings.
He said that as yet they did little but study. One
might sum up his plea by paraphrasing Mark
Twain s description of the diary he kept as a boy,
in which "got up, dressed, went to bed" followed
monotonously from day to day. Our missionaries
diaries would have read "got up, dressed, studied
Chinese, went to bed."
Wong Kong Chai and the Evangelistic Problem.
And now about Wong Kong Chai. He was a
young man whom the Bishop had taken under his
wing in the Amoy days, and whom he had taken
with him (as "Exhibit A" one would suppose) on
his first trip home. The story of his conversion,
and of the length of time which it took, form an
48 The Story of the Church in China
excellent introduction to the subject of evangelistic
work in the days of Boone.
The Bishop, as has been said, had taken Wong
to America with him. They had been close com
panions for months, and Wong had come to idolize
the man of God. For three full years he was thus
with or near his ideal, and yet at the end of that
time, when circumstances compelled him to go
home to his family, he neither asked for baptism
nor gave any evidence of having been won away
from the belief of his forebears. Is not this extraor
dinary? And does it not reveal to us the prodigious
proportions of the task which confronted Boone
and his helpers? If years of effort and affection
had failed to win Wong, how could the turning of
the hearts of four hundred unknown millions be
accomplished?
W r hat, then, one wants to know is, why was
Wong Kong Chai so slow to hearken to the words
of Life? If this can be understood it will be less
hard to see why all Chinamen are slow to attend,
and why, after seventy years of effort, our con
verts are counted by the hundreds rather than by
the tens of thousands.
The explanation is to be found in the singular
conservatism of the Orientals, so well typified in
Wong. To have broken with China s past would
have been a fearfully serious act. Christians, with
their faces set always towards the future, believing
as they do in a Gospel of change on from glory
on to glory can alter their opinions on many mat-
The Beginnings at Shanghai 49
ters without violating their theory of life. Of the
Chinaman this cannot be said. Instead of viewing
life as a chance to make the world better to im
prove on the past he sees in it a chance to prevent
any change, to do all he can to prevent things
from becoming different from what they were in
the days of old. In fact, to him the whole trouble
with the world is that it has changed, and is no
longer what it was in the days of Yao and Shun.
The best that the individual can do is to oppose
any further change, and thus to keep the world
from going further down hill.
To Wong, then, the best had been. His whole
conception of values was one according to which
change in itself was harmful for the simple reason
that it would remove the already too much altered
world further away from the ideal condition in
which it once was. In connection with this one
can see how catastrophic the recent political revo
lution has been, and incidentally how incompatible
with the Confucian point of view a republic is,
since the very genius of a republic lies in its being
an arrangement whereby, through periodic changes
of laws and officers, a more and more satisfactory
government may finally be obtained. The great Shi
Huang Ti, China s first Emperor, who lived about
two hundred years before Christ, found that all his
plans were defeated by this same spirit of conser
vatism. He wanted to change things, and he did
change them in many ways. He built the Great Wall
and organized a new system of government, but at
50 The Story of the Church in China
every turn he found that the Confucian precepts
against change thwarted him. So incensed did he be
come with the change-nothing attitude of his people
that he tried to burn up all the books in which this
suffocating doctrine had been taught. But Shi
Huang Ti was not great enough to oust Confucius,
It has remained for The King of Glory to do this.
The story of the great Tsin conqueror is the most
suggestive one that can be found. It illustrates
right royally the inveterate conservatism of the
people.
Remembering this point of view, ground into
him by the teachings of ages, one can see the spirit
which dominated Wong and kept him from turn
ing to Christ. Had he been anything but a China
man one is led to believe he would have done so
long before he actually did. Further, it must be
remembered that it was this spirit of hyper-con
servatism which dominated his family and made
ostracism and persecution the inevitable outcome
of his making any important change in his life.
It is quite impossible for us to realize the signifi
cance of all this in the eyes of those to whom our
missionaries preached, and to understand how great
was the sacrifice which they asked converts to
make. It was no mere matter of being baptized.
It was a matter of giving up family and friends
and honor! Aye more, of outraging the feelings of
one s ancestors; of insulting China s incomparable
past!
The Beginnings at Shanghai 51
It was then a desperately serious matter to poor
Wong, this question of whether or not he should
adopt the faith of his friend and benefactor. One
cannot wonder that he did more than hesitate, that
he even left Dr. Boone shortly after his return from
America in order to return reluctantly to be sure
to his parents at Amoy.
His day of deliverance, however, was not long
in coming. His parents were gathered to their an
cestors during one of the numerous epidemics which
visited the land, and being left alone he went post
haste to Shanghai. There he joined the Boones,
and after some time, so greatly did he feel the call
of the Master, that, defying the customs and con
ventions of the centuries, he asked for holy bap
tism. This, as we have said, was administered in
Easter, 1846, a day of great moment in the history
of our work. Of his subsequent career we have
not the space to speak. Suffice it to say he was
ordained priest in 1863, and became an honored
leader in the Church.
The story of Wong Kong Chai has been related
at such length because it illustrates the problem
which confronted the youthful Church. Things
have changed in China since those days beyond
belief change is no longer anathema. The adop
tion, as has been pointed out, of a new form of
government, is in itself a change of such pro
portions, and does so definitely constitute a nega
tion of the whole Confucian theory, that lesser
changes such as a single individual s changing his
52 The Story of the Church in China
faith are insignificant. But in the forties, and up
until recent days, turning away from the faith of
one s fathers in China meant more than we can
realize.
Such was the task before the infant Church, and
bravely did it set to work. As has been said the
missionaries were content at first to worship at the
Consulate Chapel, and in their own rooms. "Parish
work" was, of course, impossible for the obvious
reason that there were no parishioners. How to get
this necessary item was the problem, and, heeding
the instructions given him by the Board, the Bishop
started out to teach the young.
Educational Beginnings. One can not but feel
that the work in Shanghai was begun more scien
tifically than in many places here at home. How
sadly have we neglected the axiom that the Church
depends for its strength upon the training of the
young.
"I have determined," wrote Boone in 46, "to
place Sunday Schools first and children next." Fol
lowing up this determination he organized a boys
school. The ladies of course thought that he should
have started with a girls school. In how many of
the dioceses in America have there been heart
searchings over this dilemma? Which shall come
first, a boys school or a "female institute" as
they used ponderously to call them. At all events,
Boone believed in beginning with the boys, and
started to transform a warehouse at the back of
his dwelling into an institution of learning.
The Beginnings at Shanghai 53
In those days it was easier to get a school than
scholars, therefore the first problem confronting
our educator was that of how to corral students.
The people were afraid to leave their children for
the necessary length of time to the imagined severi
ties of foreign teachers. Who could tell what theyj
would do to their darlings? They might be taught
the wisdom of the West, but would that mean that
they would also abandon the superior wisdom of
the East?
The chief difficulty lay in the fact that Boone,
having profited by experience in Batavia, saw that
it was a waste of his time and the Church s money
to get boys for a short time, since, after giving
them a good start, he would lose them at the
very moment when it became possible to influence
their lives. Therefore he decided not to accept any
pupil until the parents had given satisfactory bond
to vouch for his remaining in the school for ten
full years.
Many were the disputes and debates which this
decision created. At times it looked as if it would
make the school an impossibility. But the Bishop
and the two Clergymen with him, Mr. Graham and
Mr. Syle, tactfully assisted by Miss Emma Jones
and Miss Mary Morse, finally persuaded the parents
who were really interested to take the risk and send
their boys.
After a daring few had taken the step China
men being in this just like Westerners many fell
into line, and soon there were more applications
54 The Story of the Church in China
than could be met. One incident, however, de
serves to be related since it illustrates the unex
pected problems which the workers were constantly
encountering. It was in connection with the case
of a man named Foukien, whose sons the School
wanted as pupils, but who had raised an unusual
number of objections. Finally, after much bicker
ing, when they thought that all had been arranged,
in walked Wong to the Bishop s study and pro
pounded this one last objection:
"Now that Foukien will write (". e. make the
bond) only one thing more he wants to know."
"What is that," asked the Bishop. "Why, he says that
his oldest boy is sixteen years old and is engaged
to be married when he is twenty. Therefore, be
fore his ten years have expired, he will have two
or three children. What will Bishop Boone do in
that case?" The Bishop promised that the progeny
would be cared for and the expectant grandfather,
with a most anxious heart, signed the dreaded
pledge.
Of another woman who had been with difficulty
persuaded to sign the ten-year bond for her son
one of the workers wrote:
"I have a waiting woman who is a widow, and
she had two little boys in the school. The poor
woman got her head filled with fears that her
children were to be transported to America, and
said she could not sign ; however, when the men
overcame their scruples, she came forward too, and,
The Beginnings at Shanghai 55
with the manner of a person who was signing a
death-warrant, made her mark on the paper."
Thus, in the spring of 1846, the Church s Educa
tional work began in China. It remains for a later
chapter to tell how it grew and grew until it has
reached the splendid proportions of St. John s
at Shanghai and Boone at Wuchang, together with
the preparatory schools scattered along the banks
of the Yangtse from its mouth to the trade school
at Ichang.
Miss Emma Jones and Schools for Girls. Two
names connected with this work should especially
be held in high regard and grateful memory.
Miss Emma G. Jones, who went out in 1845 and
remained until 1861, and Miss Lydia M. Fay, whose
service in the field lasted from 1851 till her death in
1878. Many others there were who rendered high
service, but to one who reads the records of those
days it would seem as if these two were the fore
most and wisest workers.
Miss Jones was one of the two teachers in the
original boys school, the opening of which has just
been described, and for the first five years she was
its superintendent. Time and again she pleaded for
relief so that she might open a girls school the
dream of her life, but it was not until Miss Morse
came back from a long furlough, bringing Miss
Lydia Fay with her, that Miss Jones was able to
do so.
It was in 1851 that educational work among girls
was begun, and Miss Jones was the pioneer. After
56 The Story of the Church in China
her departure in the years of depression which en
sued when our States went to war with one another
her work was closed down, but what she had estab
lished was not lost since after conditions had im
proved everything was re-established, and we can
think of Emma Jones as the founder of our work
for women in the Orient.
Miss Lydia Fay. The other woman referred to
was one of extraordinary calibre. Miss Jones was a
plodder and laid the heavy foundation stones. Miss
Fay was a brilliant originator and withal one of the
ablest missionaries we have ever sent out. Referring to
the Chinese language in his book on "China and the
Chinese," Dr. Giles, professor of Chinese in Cam
bridge University, says : "Speaking of women as
students of Chinese, there have been so far only
two who have really placed themselves in the front
rank. It gives me great pleasure to add that both
these ladies were natives of America, and that it
was rny privilege while in China to know them both.
In my early studies of Chinese I received much
advice and assistance from one of them, the late
Miss Lydia Fay."
For twenty-seven years this remarkable woman
spent herself in the Master s service in China. Only
one short vacation did she ever take, and that after
twenty years of work were behind her. Her faith
fulness, her skill as a teacher, her level head and
her zeal made of her one of the master builders of
the work in and around Shanghai. Her words
about prayer have been often quoted : "I went to
The Beginnings at Shanghai 57
China praying continually that God would make
me instrumental in leading one native youth to
the ministry of reconciliation," and she loved to give
it as an evidence of answered prayer that she lived
to see four of her pupils laboring as priests among
their own people, while, since her death in 1878, six
more have been ordained.
Chinese Children s Characteristics. And now a
few words about some of the mental characteristics
of the children who attended the schools, since one
can not know much about a school s problems until
one understands something of those who attend it.
The writer once heard an Oriental tell of a deep
religious conviction of a vision of the meaning
of life having come to him at the age of ten. It
seemed preposterous, and yet in some way or other
the child in China does seem to reflect more ser
iously than the child in America. They are typical
boys and girls to be sure, with all their pranks and
games, and yet, to many of them come moments of
more serious thought than, so far as the writer has
observed, come to our own children. Imagine, for
example, an American child of ten writing like this.
The words are taken from an essay sent home by
Miss Jones as a specimen of what her pupils were
capable of:
"The only hope which they cherish, is that China
may be enlightened, and turn to be a Christian
country, and that its people may share the blessings
which they themselves enjoy. Now this is the hope
that all Christians have, and shall we, who are the
58 The Story of the Church in China
objects of their hope, waste the money which they
subscribe in desiring merely that we may get a
fortune by means of the education which we receive
in this school, and make their ardent desire of no
effect? We ought to know better than that, after
being under the instruction of a Christian teacher
for years. It is our duty to learn to be good, and
then with all our power to do or to help others to
do good."
According to Miss Jones this was not an extraor
dinary case. There were others quite as remark
able. Whether it means that the Chinese mind ma
tures earlier than the American, one hardly dare
say. At all events, it shows us how different was
the task which confronted our pioneers from any
thing they had experienced before.
Of the other peculiarities of the children, such
as their great power of memory, their studying out
loud, their devotion to duty while engaged at it,
it is not practicable to speak here. What has been
said has been merely to introduce in some measure
the atmosphere of the school behind the Bishop s
dwelling.
Education in China. In those days it should be
borne in mind there were no schools in our use of the
word in the land of Sinim. It was so difficult to ac
quire the elements of learning, i. e. to learn the charac
ters well enough to read and write, that by the time
that accomplishment had been gained the students
felt good and ready to rest on their oars. Some
one has said that a Chinaman spends his youth
The Beginnings at Shanghai 59
learning the characters and the rest of his life trying
to remember them.
The demand, in those days, for Western schools,
was tremendous. It is perhaps not so great now.
The Chinese Giant has awakened and the whole
educational order has been changed, but in Boone s
days schools of practical value were unknown. This
is worth noting since it shows not only how great
a need the Church had undertaken to meet, but
likewise how violent a shock to the natives Miss
Jones and Miss Morse s modern methods must have
been. In fact when they undertook to teach ac
cording to Western methods they were doing some
thing quite as revolutionary and quite as opposed
to ancient custom as the clergy were attempting
when they preached Christ Crucified. This fact
should be borne in mind, since the recent revolution
was made possible by the introduction of Western
learning, and, therefore, we may say that in part
it had its beginning in the warehouse behind the
Bishop s residence. Miss Jones, Miss Mary Morse,
Miss Fay and their fellow laborers were among the
founders of the new Chinese Government!
Translating for the Mission. Educational work
was not the only side issue with the Bishop.
Cares and responsibilities of all kinds fell upon
him. Almost immediately after he left Shanghai
he realized that his force would be trying to
make bricks without straw until they possessed
a catechism, a form of service and a New Testament
in the Shanghai dialect. To these matters he ac-
60 The Story of the Church in China
cordingly devoted a considerable part of his time.
The catechism came out first, and next, the form
of service. It is a commentary upon the spirit of
the times in England and America that when the
good Bishop wrote to England asking the authori
ties of the "Prayer Book and Homiletical Society"
to enter into an agreement with him whereby the
American and Anglican workers (the latter being
represented by Mr. McClatchie and six others of
the Church Missionary Society) might be provided
with a uniform Chinese Prayer Book, he was told
in reply that such changes as would be necessary
to bring the English and American books into har
mony involved the sacrifice of "principle" ! *
Though not successful in this attempt, we can in
a way call this move of Boone s the first of many
subsequent ones towards the founding of the Chung
Hua Sheng Kung Hui. In fact he wrote in 1846 in
connection with this subject: "I suppose that all
Churchmen, both in England and America, will
sympathize with me in the wish, that when in the
Providence of God the time shall have arrived for
committing our work into the hands of native
Bishops, that all in China who may have been
gathered into the Christian fold by the Missionaries
from the Church of either country, may unite and
form one Church."
The demand for a revised translation of the
Scriptures was met in a very satisfactory way. A
1 See The Spirit of Missions, Vol. XII, pp. 225-268.
The Beginnings at Shanghai 61
committee composed of representatives from several
mission boards was appointed. Workers from
Hong Kong, Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Foo Chow and
Shanghai were among those included. To each was
given a different part of the New Testament to
render in Chinese.
A standard version was needed. There were al
ready three in existence, Morrison s, Gutzlaff s and
Medhurst s, but inasmuch as they gave different
renderings of important passages a new one was
needed to take their place and to be a general source
of reference for the representatives of different
Churches.
When one remembers how much the clergy re
ferred to the ipsissima verba in those days; how to
the English the English words of the English ver
sion had become veritable standards of orthodoxy,
he can see how vital a matter it was to the mis
sionaries at that time to have a standard version
of the Bible to which all could refer questions of
dispute. What for illustration would have hap
pened in England and America in the early 19th
Century if there had been several versions in cir
culation, each of which used a different word for
"God." In Chinese the idea of "Deity" could be
expressed in different ways. In fact the English,
American and Roman missionaries each used a
different term. Which should be taken as the
standard? This and other serious problems con
fronted the translating committee. The history of
its activities is long and involved and of interest
62 The Story of the Church in China
only to the specialist, but these bare facts should
be remembered in order that the reader may possess
some idea of one of the hardest problems which had
to be solved by our Bishop.
"Out-station" Beginnings. Or turn to another side
of the work. Take the matter of establishing out-
stations. Clearly the missionaries could not be content
to remain in Shanghai they had to extend the bounds
of the Kingdom. And yet to do so was not easy since
beyond the city gates was practically forbidden
ground. They were permitted by the government
to go on excursions, provided they were not absent
from Shanghai more than twenty-four hours, but
this was not enough to make practicable the found
ing of new out-stations.
The Reverend Edward W. Syle, who was in the
field from 1845-1861, and whose diary preserved in
The Spirit of Missions is the best record we have
of the times, gives us a good picture of what little
they could do.
"On invitation of Dr. Lockhart, (medical mission
ary from the London Society,) I accompanied him
in one of the frequent excursions, which he and Dr.
Medhurst are accustomed to make, for the purpose
of distributing books and tracts through the sur
rounding country. In order to comply with the
consular regulation, (which limits the time, during
which a foreigner may be absent from Shanghai,
for the purpose of travelling inland, to twenty-four
hours,) we got into a boat at about midnight, took
what rest we could, while the boatmen sculled
A CONFIRMATION CLASS AT AN OUTSTAT1ON
AN OUTSTATION CHAPEL
The Beginnings at Shanghai 63
steadily through the winding canals, towards our
point of destination, the city of Chingpoo, distant
about thirty miles. Nine o clock next morning
found us at the foot of a few hills which are the
only ones that break the monotony of flatness for
many a league, in this region. A walk of five miles
brought us to Chingpoo, and there we distributed
great numbers of tracts, etc., finding it difficult to
pass through the streets with sufficient rapidity to
prevent our being borne down by the crowd which
followed us. Our books were generally received
with great civility, nay, with an appearance of
courtesy, which afforded a striking illustration of
the general attention paid to the cultivation of good
manners. In a few cases they were taken with an
ungraciousness which reminded me of the manner
with which the tract-distributor in Christian lands
is sometimes greeted ; but in only two or three in
stances were they positively refused."
This is but a sample of the "out-station" begin
nings, but it at least reveals the limited extent to
which the workers could go in the early days be
yond a "treaty port." And yet it was from these
small beginnings that there has since emerged a
splendid Church throughout the Valley of the
Yangtse. The first permanent establishment of
work beyond the city limits was in 1857 at Sinza,
a suburb north of Shanghai. In the next year Zang-
Zok was taken on for a while and then Chefoo in 61.
Medical Beginnings. It took many years of patient
struggle to get medical work started. Time and again
64 The Story of the Church in China
appeals were written to the Foreign Committee, to
friends, to anybody who seemed hopeful, asking for
a doctor to start the ministry of healing. A little
taste of what could be done was had when the
Bishop s brother visited the mission. As a physician
he rendered no little help, and the poor people
flocked about him wherever he went begging for
help. After he had gone the missionaries were
not a little embarrassed by continued appeals from
people who could not understand why they could
not heal them just as well as Dr. Boone had.
This important phase of gospel propaganda was
not really begun until 1855, when Dr. Fish came
out, opened a dispensary and did great things for
awhile. But alas ! a civil offer tempted him and he
yielded. Then followed another period of sterility,
until the coming of Dr. Bunn in 74, who was the
real founder of our medical work in China. Strange
as it may seem, Dr. Bunn did not remain in Shang
hai where everything else had begun, but went up
the river and started in Wuchang, where he re
mained and labored gloriously for five years. Medi
cal work in Shanghai was curiously slow in get
ting started. Not until 1880, when Bishop Boone s
eldest son went out, were permanent foundations
laid.
Why is it so hard to get doctors to volunteer?
When we read the foregoing we perceive that of
all phases of work medical was the last to be es
tablished very much the last. Today, to a certain
extent, the same condition prevails. Our physicians
The Beginnings at Shanghai 65
work their hearts out waiting for help. It is not
as if the work were undesirable, for physicians
have enormous scientific opportunities and "sure
pay" for their labors. In no field does the attraction
seem greater. To a medical man, to the kind that
is not in it for the money, and there are many
such, to one who wants a chance to do thorough
and skillful experimentation, it is hard to imagine
a more alluring chance than is presented in oriental
lands. And yet volunteers do not come forward
today any more than they did in the forties and
fifties. Surely doctors are not more subject to nos
talgia than others!
The First Girls School. One last word about the
laying of foundations. Long and patiently did the
women workers have to wait for the days when they
could start a girls school. As was seen, their energies
were fully occupied with the boys school. Appeal after
appeal went out for some one to relieve Miss Jones and
Miss Fay so that they could take up work among
girls, but it was not till 48 that they found the
opportunity.
Mr. Syle in his diary tells thus of the arrival of
the happy moment: "Shanghai, May 8th. This
day we count an era in the progress of our efforts
here. A little girl has been bound to Miss Jones
for a term of years to be, as we trust, only the
first fruits of a numerous school. Besides this, the
ladies of the Mission paid a visit to the females of
the Wong family, who are our near neighbors, and
were received with much freedom and interest. This
66 The Story of the Church in China
day s events I regard as an effectual breaking
the ice in the matter of instructing girls and women
here."
Thus began that most occidental of all our ori
ental undertakings, educational work among wom
en. Confucius and the other wise men of the East
had made remarks to the effect that to educate
women would be to cast pearls among swine, so
that this phase of the undertaking was perhaps the
most revolutionary of all. Had it begun, as have
some of our modern American institutions of learn
ing, with an abundance of money and splendid
buildings, China would probably have been shocked
through and through, perhaps so much so that
what little welcome was extended would have been
withheld. As it was, the first schools for girls were
so insignificant that few realized their significance
or whereunto they would grow.
Sixty- five years have seen great changes in
China. Things that were once little have become
large, and things that were once insignificant have
now become signs of approaching dawn. Let us
remember those early days as days of little things;
as days when the workers were so few that the
arrival of one new man or woman was an event of
stupendous importance; as days when the death or
departure of one of the force made them wonder
whether or not they would be able to continue in
the Lord s garden. The days which were to follow
were to be such as always follow after the sowing
of seed in difficult soil. They were to be times of
The Beginnings at Shanghai 67
small returns, of anxiety, of depression and often
moments of despair, but in the end, as we know, all
turned out well, and of the happy ending we shall
hear in later chapters.
EBB AND FLOW
CHAPTER III
EBB AND FLOW
This chapter must be more or less statistical. It
deals with a period in which many things were
done, and many undone, and, all in all, covers the
least interesting period of the work.
The seed had been sown, and the years in which
returns were to be waited for had to be endured.
If the reader knows anything about fruit farming,
he knows that it takes time to get results. One
must wait till the trees become productive. Even
so in China they had to wait for the trees to grow
large enough to bear fruit.
To carry the metaphor further, just as in farm
ing, frosts and blights often occur, delaying beyond
ordinary expectation the process, so in China un
expected difficulties arose and tried mightily the
patience of the laborers. On some occasions so
serious were the difficulties that the missionaries
feared that all was lost that their fruit trees had
been utterly ruined. One thing would come up
after another. In 64, when the great Bishop died,
the very world seemed to have come to an end.
The Years of Trial. Consider, for example, this
series of events which lead up to the death of Boone.
Miss Morse had had to give up and go home in 52, and
was followed by Miss Wray in 55. Dr. Fish, upon
72 The Story of the Church in China
whom all the medical work depended, and Mr. Pointer
left in 56, and Mr. Liggins, a recruit of great promise,
went to Japan in 59. Mr. Yokum was the only
one to go in 60, but 61 was a disastrous year. Miss
Emma Jones, a pillar of strength, Mr. Syle, who
had become invaluable, Mr. Purden and two lay
volunteers named Doyen and Hubbell all went home,
and up in Chefoo, where the Bishop wanted to es
tablish an out-station, Mr. Parker received the
crown of martyrdom at the hands of a mob. In
62 two more deaths occurred, Mr. Keith s and Mrs.
Smith s and the latter s bewildered husband left
in 63.
To one who remembers that the staff was small
the news that these disasters resulted in nearly
shutting down the work should not be unexpected.
Constructive educational work was suspended; of
medical work there was none. All that remained
were the evangelistic laborings of two clergy, one an
American, Mr. Thomson, and one a native, our friend
Wong Kong Chai. Whenever one thinks about the
Church in China these two should be remembered.
They weathered a storm of surpassing violence,
they stood by the ship. To them and their cheerful
courage the American Mission owes more than it
can ever repay.
There were other heroes to be sure, but they
were not called on to endure what these two did.
Miss Fay had taken up work in the Church Mis
sionary Society School, and Mr. Schereschewsky
Ebb and Flow 73
had gone to Pekin, where he was busy translating
the Bible.
Causes of the Difficulties. A combination of cir
cumstances was responsible for these untoward hap
penings. The American Civil War gave the first serious
blow to the mission. As was pointed out, Southern
Churchmen, especially South Carolinians, had contrib
uted loyally and largely to the China work. Naturally,
now that the Church in those States became the Epis
copal Church of the Confederate States, whatever
moneys were collected in the South would go to
the Southern Board of Missions. Under the stress
of circumstances, as a matter of fact, they were
unable to inaugurate work in China but that is
another story.
All support therefore from below Mason and
Dixon s line was lost to the Board, and, strange as
it may seem, the Bishop in Shanghai whose sym
pathies were with his Southern brethren, was de
pendent upon their Northern adversaries for his
work. As an illustration of how serious this was,
it can be stated that almost half of the scholars in
his boys schools were directly supported by con
gregations south of Richmond.
In addition to this difficulty at their base of sup
plies, there were troubles in China. That queer
affair called the Tai Ping rebellion was convulsing
the land. A lowly born man by the name of Hung
Hsiu-chuan had had dreams and seen visions in the
which he was commanded by the Almighty to ex
terminate devil worship from the land. About the
74 The Story of the Church in China
same time he had happened upon some Christian
tracts. He put the two together and interpreted
the former in what he thought was the light of the
latter and forthwith formed a society, called the Shang
Ti Hui, or Society for the worship of the Almighty.
Backed by his followers he instituted a crusade,
much, one is ashamed to admit, like some of the
crusades of the Middle Ages.
Hung may have meant well when he began, but
from mere idol smashing his rapidly growing crew
turned to open political rebellion and, before they
were suppressed, set China aflame and caused the
death by fire or sword or famine of untold multi
tudes. 1 The province of Kiangsu, in which lies
Shanghai, in no way escaped from the horrors of
this reign of terror, (it lasted from 1850 to 1864,)
and as a result many things which might have been
attempted were left untouched. It might be men
tioned that it was at this time that the hero of
Khartoum acquired his soubriquet of "Chinese Gor
don," since he had much to do with putting an
end to the rebels and their government.
It may well be seen, then, how great were the
obstacles which thwarted the plans of the few mis
sionaries who had remained. It will also be seen
why the sixties were lean and lonely years, and
the seventies days of small things.
Bishop Williams. But the dark is not the only side
of any shield. Disappointments there were many, and
1 See for account of this Pott s "Sketch of Chinese History,"
Chapters XIX and XXI.
Ebb and Flow 75
the workers were few, and yet, to return to the meta
phor, one by one the fruit trees became sturdy and buds
appeared on their branches. Perhaps the best way in
which to understand how the work developed in
these two decades is to center it around certain
figures and institutions. To begin with, Bishop
Williams stands out so clearly that he provides a
focus from which to start.
Channing Moore Williams, a Virginian, had come
out in 56 and had shown himself at once to be an
adept in winning the hearts of the Chinese. He
never was a statesman, and as an executive he did
not shine. In fact the material side of things went
rather to rust under his administration in Japan. He
was, however, a great lover of humanity, one of
those gentle, humble souls whose very gentleness
commands attention. Some men are so aggressive
as to be quite insignificant. Williams lacked official
aggressiveness altogether and yet became a great
power for righteousness. As an illustration of his
humility there is still shown in Tokyo the room in
St. Paul s dormitory in which the old Bishop lived,
and which he wanted to exchange for a student s
much smaller room, because he felt the student
needed air and sunshine more than he.
After the death of Bishop Boone the Church in
China had been without a head for two years. Ru
mors of another change of base were in the air, due,
in the first place to a statement in a letter from a
worker in Canton that the majority of missionaries
felt, that given equal opportunities for doing good,
76 The Story of the Church in China
it was wiser to work in that climate which was
healthiest. And due, in the second place, to an edito
rial comment on this in The Spirit of Missions, which
said: "Bishop Boone was in favor of going north
ward and our two missionaries now in China, the
Reverend Messrs. Thomson and Schereschewsky
are in favor of making Pekin the headquarters of
our mission and the see of the successor to Bishop
Boone."
Fortunately nothing resulted from these murmur-
ings. The valley of the Yangtse has proven abun
dantly that it is the center of China in more ways
than the geographical, and moreover, another
change of base and another abandonment of work
would have come as a heavy blow to the supporters
at home who had often been disturbed by the ap
parent impermanence of the work.
At the Convention of 1865 Mr. Williams was
elected Bishop of China and Japan. This needs a
word of explanation. The new Bishop had gone
out to work in China and had spent his first years
there, but had been transferred to Japan in 59.
Thus he was cognizant of conditions in both lands,
and, inasmuch as the exchequer was not overflow
ing, it was decided to save money and make Will
iams bishop of both the Sunrise and Middle King
doms.
Obviously to be in two places so far apart as
China and Japan at once made heavy demands upon
the new apostle. To read of his endeavors to do
all that was expected of him is like reading about
Ebb and Flow 77
the journeyings of the first Apostle to the Gentiles.
Now in Tokyo, now in Soochow, now in Nagasaki,
now going all the way from Osaka to Wuchang to
spend a week there and then rush back thus this
modern St. Paul went about his work. Intensive
cultivation, so much of a fad in these days, was to
Williams quite out of the question. His only course
was to scatter seed as consistently as possible, and
never to lose an opportunity, whether on shipboard,
in a wagon or in the midst of his flock, of telling the
good news.
Such was the episcopate of Channing Moore Will
iams from 1866 until, at his request, he was relieved
of the oversight of the work in China in 77. He
had asked that this be done in 74, but no one could
be found brave enough to take even half of his bur
den till three years later.
During these years his chief helpers were Mr.
Thomson and Mr. Schereschewsky, whom we al
ready know, Reverend Robert Nelson, than whom
China never had a better friend, his ministry there
lasting thirty years, Augustus Hohing, the founder
of the Hankow work, Samuel R. J. Hoyt and Will
iam James Boone, who had been appointed at the
same time; Dr. Bunn, the founder of our medical
work, and last, but far from least, Miss Fay, who
continued her wonderful career until her death in
1878.
Beginnings at Hankow. Of the actual accomplish
ments of Williams episcopate the first place should be
given to the establishment of a station at Hankow. This
?8 The Story of the Church in China
was so great an event that a date should be given. June
22nd, 1868, was the exact time when the station,
whose very name now suggests such large things,
was opened. The incidents surrounding this event
were simple enough. The Bishop made up his mind
after laborious tours of inspection to many points,
that he could not afford to leave Hankow and Wu
chang unoccupied. There were many places where
work "just had to be started at once or a great
opportunity lost," (how familiar those words sound
to us!) there were lots of such places but Han
kow seemed to be the most important. How clear
was his vision ! Accordingly to Hankow he went,
and with him he took Mr. Hohing and Mr. Yen who
had just been made a deacon, and there they settled
down, and there they laid broad and deep the
foundations of the diocese of Hankow.
Yen. Of Mr. Yen one would like to speak at great
length. Probably no Chinese presbyter was ever
more venerated than he. Educated in the little
school at Shanghai and then at Kenyon College, he
had taken advantage of every opportunity and had
become in time a scholar of considerable ability.
Of his gentleness and dignity, of his learning and
zeal, all who knew him spoke enthusiastically. From
1868 to 1898 he ceased not to preach Christ and
Him crucified to his brethren in the great land of
Sinim. It is told of him that when first he applied
to be taken as a candidate for Orders the Bishop
had told him that he had no money wherewith to
help him. The story goes on to relate how he
Ebb and Flow 79
at once obtained a lucrative position as interpreter
at the British Consulate and remained there until
the Bishop could provide for him, and then, at
great monetary sacrifice, gave up his well-paid po
sition and accepted, as his Master had, poverty in
order that he might the better serve his fellow men.
Boone College. The two chief happenings at Han
kow were of course the beginning of medical work and
the founding of what has since become Boone College.
It was in September, 1871, that the latter took
place. Named after the great founder of the work,
the Bishop Boone Memorial School, situated in the
Wuchang compound, had begun propitiously with
three pupils the oriental as well as the occidental
loves that number. Its early days were, like those
of all unendowed schools whether in Wuchang or
elsewhere, days of struggling to survive. But cour
age was never lacking, and the fight was always
well maintained, and today it has become one of
the proudest offspring of the American Mission
but that is for a later chapter to relate.
In this connection mention at least must be made
of the Jane Bohlen Memorial School for girls, since,
though it was not begun as soon as the boys school,
it was projected at the same time, and its origin
should therefore be similarly dated.
Dr. Bunn. The other event of moment was the
coming of Dr. Bunn, our first medical missionary to
China. The first doctors under the Board went to Libe
ria in the mid-forties ; they were T. S. Savage, who was
also a priest, and George A. Perkins. Japan had re-
80 The Story of the Church in China
ceived her first physician from us in 1860, so in things
medical China was far behind her. Mr. Thomson
had, to be sure, opened a hospital at Shanghai ear
lier than this, and there had been the short service
of Dr. Fish, but to the upriver station belongs the
honor of having the first permanent missionary doc
tor, and China s medical missions cannot be said to
antedate 1874.
One naturally asks at once why Dr. Bunn did
not settle at the older station instead of going to the
scarcely settled inland point. The explanation is to
be found in the fact that there were several physi
cians already in Shanghai, while not a single one
was to be found in Hankow or Wuchang. That one
was badly wanted at the new station is evidenced by
the fact that or ever he had disembarked Dr. Bunn
was importuned by would-be patients, many of
whom had eagerly, and almost in tears, been
praying that nothing untoward might befall him
on the journey.
It has been the universal experience of medical
men that their methods are distrusted by foreigners.
Just as the child dreads a doctor here at home and
trembles at the sight of his paraphernalia, so natives
in mission lands shrink from them. Dr. Bunn s
early experiences were no exception to this rule,
and many were the tales that spread about his infer
nal instruments of torture and his cutting up chil
dren to made medicine out of their quivering
remains. It took great patience and tact, and above
all entire willingness to let anybody and everybody
Ebb and Flow 8ii
inspect anything and everything he had or did to
assure his safety during the first months. How
ever, the people soon found that Bunn was no ogre
or child-killer, but rather a gentle, lovable friend,
and before many years had passed no man in the
neighborhood was more revered than he.
Naturally, the aspiring physician felt he must have a
hospital. Much of the work could be carried on with
out one, but something had to be provided for
those unfortunates who came to him and who had
no homes to which to return. To meet this neces
sity, at first a temporary building was put up in the
Compound, but in 78, just after his wife had died,
Dr. Bunn rented a house and opened a hospital for
women and children under the now familiar name
of the Elizabeth Bunn Memorial Hospital.
Progress at Shanghai. So began the two most im
portant phases of our institutional work "up the river"
in the days of Bishop Williams. In the meantime in the
neighborhood of Shanghai the Church was beginning
to recover from the depression which had made the
60s such dark days. It is only fair though to the fine
old soldier of Christ, Mr. Thomson, to say that even
when things looked to those at home darkest, he had
written cheerfully and protested vehemently against
any expressions of discouragement.
Miss Fay had reopened the boys school the
forerunner of the now proud St. John s, and a theo
logical department under the name of Duane Hall
and Divinity School was added. Thus the begin
nings of a university were laid down. In addition
82 The Story of the Church in China
to these educational activities Mr. Thomson s
embryo hospital had helped 15,000 sufferers in one
year, and last, and most important of all, the evan
gelistic work had been so pressed forward that sev
eral outstations were opened.
Bishop Schereschewsky. Before bringing this part
of the story to a close something must be told of the
other leader, Bishop Williams* greatest coadjutor and
ultimate successor, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschew
sky. As his name rather boisterously proclaims, this
good man was by birth a Russian Jew. After a
youth of hard study in Russia he had emigrated to
America and been well trained in a Presbyterian
Seminary in Pennsylvania, and subsequently in the
General Seminary in New York. In 59 he had
heard Bishop Boone appeal for men and had gone
to China with him. On arriving he quickly gave
evidence of remarkable linguistic gifts, setting to
work to learn the Language in a way that made
him a marked man. Frequently we are told he
would not go out-doors for a week, so engrossed
would he become in his studies.
From 1862-1875 he lived in Pekin, as has already
been pointed out, bringing all his native Jewish, and
his acquired Greek and Latin and English knowl
edge to bear upon the task of rendering the Bible in
China s official language, Mandarin.
On the resignation of Williams in 74 Scher
eschewsky was elected Bishop of China, but the
godly man sent back an honest nolo episcopari. He
felt that the scholar s life was the only one in which
Ebb and Flow 83
he could do well. A Mr. Orrick of Pennsylvania
was then called upon by the House of Bishops, but
he too felt that he was not fitted for the undertak
ing. Upon this the Electors fell back again upon
Schereschewsky in 77 and put the matter before
him in such a way that he could not decline.
Accordingly he was consecrated in Grace Church,
New York, since he was at home on furlough in
October of that year.
Inasmuch as the episcopate of Schereschewsky
falls within the scope of the next chapter, it had
best not be dealt with here. The student of China s
history, however, should have a generous picture of
this great man and it cannot be better procured than
by quoting an account of him given by the widow of
the second Bishop Boone:
"It was my very good fortune to meet both the
Bishop and Mrs. Schereschewsky in London in
1878, while they were en route to China and my hus
band and myself were coming home. We spent
about six weeks there and occupied ourselves in
sightseeing. I recall my gratification in having so
tremendously well informed a companion in our
rambles. It mattered not what we saw or where
we went, the Bishop knew all about everything.
"One s first visit to London always includes the
Zoo, and there I can see the Bishop now in mem
ory, enthusiastically expounding the habits of
snakes, pointing out their beautiful coloring ; and so
it was with everything historical, horticultural,
or artistic, he had real knowledge of all we saw, not
84 The Story of the Church in China
ostentatiously displayed, but naturally in an ordin
ary conversation.
"It was the year of the second Pan Anglican, and
the Archbishop of Canterbury was so impressed
with the deep learning of our Bishop, that he was
reported as remarking, that the Bishop of Shanghai
was one of six really learned men in the world.
There were many and great services during that
time, but the Bishop always avoided the procession,
and we used to get what sittings we could find
among the great congregation. However, he was
generally discovered and a verger sent to invite the
Bishop and his chaplain to come up higher. "
The Story of
The Church in China
Part II
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCA
TIONAL WORK
1878-1879
CHAPTER I
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCA
TIONAL WORK
1878-1879
Purchase of the Jessfield Property for St. John s
College. In 1878 Bishop Schereschewsky began a
work which was destined to grow into one of the
great forces for the regeneration of China. This
was the establishment of St. John s College. The
old mission property in Shanghai was situated in
Hongkew (the "American settlement"). This part
of the city was becoming the busy downtown of
trading Shanghai and while a splendid field for
medical work and, surrounded by a dense Chinese
population, for evangelistic work, it had become
unsuited for higher school work. The same causes
that had made it such a busy centre had however
greatly enhanced the value of the land.
It was decided to reserve part of the mission
property for the work of the station centering
around the Church of our Saviour and lease the
remainder for a term of years. With money bor
rowed upon the faith of these long leases thirteen
acres of ground in the suburbs of Shanghai were
purchased for the purpose of establishing a college
8?
88 The Story of the Church in China
which the workers saw was now an imperative
need for the proper development of the mission
work in the training up of native workers. This
splendid piece of property thus acquired is situated
five miles from the Bund, as the avenue in Shang
hai along the river was called, and had been the
country seat of a wealthy foreign merchant. It was
approached by the "Bubbling Well" Road, leading
out from Shanghai, on which were situated the
spacious residences of Shanghai merchants, but it
was itself quite out in the country and most suitable
as the seat of an educational institution. The Su-
chow creek winds around the compound making it a
perfect peninsula. A good sized house was already
there which was available for mission purposes and
plans were immediately drawn up for a larger
building to be erected for the college. In front of
the house was a fine large lawn which would have
been a credit to any American college. From the
point of view of the building up of the Church in
China the establishment of this Church college was
a momentous step forward, while from a purely
financial point of view it was a splendid investment
as was proven by the fact that the Bishop was
offered an advance of $4,500 on his purchase price
shortly after he had acquired it.
The nucleus of the college was already estab
lished. Baird Hall and Duane Hall, the two suc
cessful schools for boys in Shanghai which had
been in charge of the Rev. E. H. Thomson and Miss
Fay were combined to make the new college, so
Development in Educational Work 89
that it started out with a good quota of students.
For its equipment an appeal for $100,000 was sent
to the Church in America.
Wise Statesmanship. One cannot be too thank
ful for the wise Christian statemanship displayed
by Bishop Schereschewsky in his scheme for a
Christian college in Shanghai. He saw that the
future interests of the Mission and its work in
China demanded educated native leadership and
with far reaching vision and faith he planned for
the future. He builded wiser than he knew. He
felt, when called to the bishopric, that translating
the Bible was his special vocation he was to have,
in God s providence, many years reserved for that
later but in the meantime he was to be used as
the agent for laying broad and deep the foundations
of an institution which has sent out steady streams
of light and learning far and wide throughout China
and which was to play a very honorable part in
bringing in "China s New Day." Mr. William T.
Ellis says : "The International marvel of the decade
is the creation of the Chinese Republic. What is
the explanation? The answer is clear and unani
mous the Mission schools. If Christian schools
had not been taken to China that nation would still
be a mediaeval monarchy tied hand and foot to the
Confucian classics. A world service of first magni
tude has been done by the missionaries in trans
forming old China."
Laying of the Cornerstone. On Easter-Monday,
April 14, 1879, the cornerstone of the first building
90 The Story of the Church in China
of St. John s College was laid with appropriate cere
monies. It was a day of much rejoicing in the Mis
sion circle and a bright and happy company, as it
always is in China on the occasion of a new work
started, wended its way to the grounds from Shang
hai. In his address the Bishop called attention to
the importance of educating the youth of any nation
and especially to the importance of training the
youth of China in sound learning and Christian
truth. He struck the key-note of the policy of the
Mission in China when he said : "We want an
institution in which to train youth for the service
of Christ. I believe the true Apostles of China must
be natives."
Thus was St. John s College started on its noble
career. It was far from being a college yet in any
thing but name, but the vision and the hope were
there that some day, with hard work and much help,
a great school of Christian learning would be built
up. In the building first erected there were accom
modations for two hundred students, but it was evi
dent that the strong desire for Western learning
that was to sweep with such force over China
twenty years later had not yet begun to stir in the
youth of Shanghai, for there were only seventy-one
admissions. It was a matter of rejoicing to the
missionaries that they could give the Scholarships
to the sons of Christians, as it was found that
heathen parents greatly interfered with the religious
instruction of the school. Up to that time however
the Church had had no choice in the matter the
Development in Educational Work 91
pupils were heathen for the simple reason that there
was no Christian community to draw from. That
there were now Christian boys was also a matter of
great encouragement to the missionaries because
the first aim of St. John s was to provide for a native
ministry of a high order.
Importance of the Training of Native Workers.
It is very clear to a student of the Church s Mission
in China that the Church early realized its main
work to be the raising up and training of Chinese
evangelists, teachers and clergy, if the Church there
is to be indigenous, self-supporting, self-governing
and self-propagating. It has been the strength of
our work and now after all these years the wis
dom of this policy is apparent in its full value.
Other missions which have neglected this and which
used the foreign missionary almost entirely in
preaching to the heathen and then in acting as pas
tors to the native congregations gathered together
instead of training up natives in the Christian
ministry, realize now, after decades of such work,
that they have a very insufficient supply of trained
natives to care for and carry on the work they have
so patiently built up, and in spite of the number of
converts are not much further advanced in plant
ing the native Church than when they began. The
work in these cases has been dependent upon the
coming out of enough foreign missionaries to carry
on the work of caring for the Churches when the
older missionaries have been withdrawn. When new
workers failed to come not only has the work failed
92 The Story of the Church in China
to advance but they have been obliged sometimes
to close up large and promising fields. On the con
trary, although almost continuously undermanned
with foreign missionaries, our work has made steady
progress and important new fields have often been
occupied, not by a resident foreign missionary but
by the alert and consecrated native worker.
"I have always considered the education of
youths for the Holy Ministry, and for other depart
ments of missionary work, with a view to establish
stations in the interior towns and villages to be the
most important duty of the Church," wrote the
Rev. Yen Yun Kiung back in 1880. Apart also from
the work of educating divinity students it was
found necessary to have laymen for evangelistic
work if the field was to be at all covered. It was
not enough to select earnest Christian men and
women and send them forth untrained to evangel
ize. It was soon found that the untrained could not
be relied upon after the first warmth of earnestness
and zeal was chilled by the hard facts of evangel
izing a great heathen population, and the cold indif
ference or hateful opposition to message and mes
sengers. To this work of training native preachers
the missionaries seriously set themselves in St.
John s College and later in Boone College and then
in the training schools opened as time went on for
the special training of lay workers. A clever Chi
nese said to Miss Fay many years before this, after
the Boys Boarding School had been abandoned :
"If your Mission had been carried on as begun by
Development in Educational Work 93
Bishop Boone you would now have highly educated
men to send as teachers and preachers of your;
religion throughout the Empire." "I trust," said
Bishop Cotton of Calcutta, "that we English bishops
are only the foreign Augustines, to be followed
by a goodly succession of Stigands." Fired by this
great hope of the future our little group of mission
aries in China, insignificant in point of numbers,
have had for their goal the raising up of a native
ministry and a native Church.
So the dream of Bishop Schereschewsky had
come true at last and St. John s was an established
fact. The buildings and the scholars were there
and the missionaries were dividing the teaching
among themselves as best they could. They real
ized, however, that if St. John s was to fulfill their
best hopes for general usefulness it must have men
of special and scientific training. The next step was
to get a man trained as a teacher to have general
supervision of the college and to build up a scien
tific department. The aim was to make the college
Christian first and then as wide in its range as
would be consistent with thoroughness. It was no
mean conception of the part St. John s was to play
in bringing in a day of light and progress for China.
Bishop Schereschewsky writing to the Board of
Missions said: "There are yet in China very few
who know enough of Western literature and science
to seek what is offered to them. Let a change be
made in what is required in Government examina
tions and there will be a great demand for our
94 The Story of the Church in China
teachers and schools. Shall we not then patiently
abide our time and do what we can in preparing the
lads under our care for our own immediate work?"
The changes of later years have fully justified his
faith and expectation.
New Recruits. It was a time of high hopes for
the Shanghai Mission. Four new recruits, the
Rev. and Mrs. William S. Sayres and the Rev. and
Mrs. Daniel M. Bates, Jr., had recently been added
to the staff. Not only was the Shanghai city work
developing but the country work was improving
and hopeful. There was now a small chain of out-
stations with a native deacon or catechist resident
in each, when possible to provide one, and parochial
schools for the children. In this outstation work
the quickest results came from the places opened
because someone had heard the truth in some other
place and had asked the missionaries to open a
preaching hall in their native town or village. Such
an encouraging station was San Ting Ko where a
new chapel had been recently built and permanent
work established. The work started here was the
direct result of the activity of a man converted while
a patient in St. Luke s Hospital, Shanghai.
Day Schools. The day schools were always a
most valuable asset to Mission work. Mr. Yen
wrote of them as the "real nets of our Church to
catch the people." The Chinese reverence for learn
ing has always been second to no other nation and
although the old stories about the foreign mission
aries kidnapping little children to take out their
Development in Educational Work 95
eyes for the gloss for foreign photographs, and simi
lar wild tales prevailed, there were always some who
would run the risk and send their children to the
foreign school where instruction was free and thor
ough. Through these schools the Church was usu
ally introduced to a new neighborhood and adults
would be attracted through the children. So they
made a vital point of contact with the people. From
these parochial day schools the most promising boys
were selected for further instruction in Shanghai
and many of the most gifted and zealous workers
for Christ were men who had, as heathen lads, been
first brought in touch with the Church through the
little school room in some rented native house.
THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN
WUCHANG
1879-1881
CHAPTER II
THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN
WUCHANG
1879-1881
Dark Days Upriver. While" the work was
opening up thus brightly in Shanghai at the close of
the 70 s, the outlook was dark and unpromising at
the other foreign-manned station, Wuchang. In
Hankow there was no foreign missionary at St.
Paul s Chapel and the work was with difficulty kept
together. Across the river the work in Wuchang
was big with possibilities but the little staff of
laborers was dwindling. Dr. Albert C. Bunn and
his wife had, since 1874, been enthusiastically
identified with a rapidly growing medical work.
He won many friends for the Mission and this
branch of mission activity under his able care
was proving how very valuable it was as a
means of bringing the Message to bear upon the
masses who otherwise stood aloof from it. Some
one has said that China was opened at the point of
the lancet. Certainly the work of Dr. Bunn did
much to disarm prejudice and win a hearing for the
missionaries. It was therefore a great disappoint
ment when after the death of his wife he was
obliged to return to America with his very sick
99
ioo The Story of the Church in China
little son. His withdrawal followed close upon the
prolonged illnesses and retirement of Mrs. Hoyt
and the Rev. Mr. Boone. Again, after eleven years
service in Wuchang and Hankow, the Rev. Mr.
Yen had been transferred to the new work at St.
John s College for which he was specially qualified
and greatly needed at the time of its organization.
This left the Rev. S. R. J. Hoyt alone in Wuchang
and in a few months he would return to America.
He had been in China for several years before this
until he was obliged to retire from the field because
of his wife s ill-health there. But when Wuchang
was left without pastoral oversight, leaving his
invalided wife in America he bravely went back to
China to hold the fort for two years until someone
could be found to come out permanently. Now,
alone at his station, with no prospect of relief or of
anyone to take up the work which he would soon
be obliged to lay down, Mr. Hoyt wrote long
earnest letters to the Foreign Committee urging re
inforcements.
One wonders how the pathos of those letters
could have failed to arouse the Church at home,
All the missionaries in China recognized the
importance of the Wuchang-Hankow center. 1 Mr.
Hoyt in pressing its claims wrote: "Shanghai
and Hankow are alike great centers of commerce
1 It will be remembered that Wuchang and Hankow are twin
cities separated only by the Yangtse river, while just across
the narrower Han river is the city of Han Yang making
altogether one of the great centers of population in China.
This is now a strong center of our mission work.
The Struggle to Survive in Wuchang 101
and this is especially a center of native enterprise.
More native business is done at this point than at
any other and so, besides a million resident citi
zens, we have an immense floating population. Our
language is understood in all parts of the country
and an influence is, and is to be, exerted here equal
to none. Rather than be hesitating or doubtful
about sustaining her work here, our Church should
be pushing forward to make this, at an early day, a
Diocese with a Bishop and a sufficient staff of co-
workers of its own. Does our Church seek a larger
field in which to labor for her Lord? Here is one
ready for the harvesters; the implements are rust
ing for want of hands to use them."
It was pathetically true. There were, at Wuchang,
boarding and day schools for boys and girls, three
chapels, a hospital and a dispensary. In these last
the Rev. Mr. Hoyt was, with two native partly
trained assistants, keeping up medical work in addi
tion to his many other duties. All this bade fair to
be left idle and fallow with the fifty communicants
and four candidates for Holy Orders uncared for
unless the Church at home provided the means to
send out some of the men who stood ready to come.
There was no dearth of applicants at the time. At
a meeting of the Board of Missions a few months
before it was stated that there were fourteen candi
dates for foreign mission work, but with the limited
means at their disposal it was possible to make one
appointment only and that to Japan. The mission
aries at Wuchang had already waited eight years
102 The Story of the Church in China
for a church. It was impossible to enlarge the little
shanty which all that time had been a substitute for
one. No wonder Mr. Hoyt sent home the challenge :
"Our Church is losing grace by its lukewarmness."
It is as true of the Church as of an individual. No
man having put his hand to the plow and looking
back is fit for the Kingdom of God.
There is something heroic about the lonely figure
of Mr. Hoyt there at his post in a great heathen city
realizing the opportunities for great victories for the
Cross watching one by one his fellow workers
forced to lay down their arms of war at the call of
death or disease until it looked as if there was not
only to be no advance forward but as if the Church
must lose what little ground she had gained after
twelve years of earnest struggling service. But the
spirit of the man was shown in his letter to the Board
Secretary: "Do not think that I feel discouraged.
I shall not lose my faith in my Church until she has
proved herself callous. Even then, doubtless I
should be more disposed to question my own right
of judging. I believe God will answer the prayers
of those who are earnestly supplicating Him. Per
haps some of us are too prone to pray to the Church,
rather than to God, to supply our needs; but there
are, I am sure, in the Fold of Christ, many who pray
to God to breathe the breath of life into the body of
His creation and their prayer will be heard."
So hung the life of the Church in Central China
by a single thread. Almost wiped out as in other
The Struggle to Survive in Wuchang 103
parts of the world again and again, yet it could not
die, for unlike the other Chinese religions by which
it was surrounded, it held forth not doctrine alone
but Life.
Meanwhile the pleading call from the field was
for "a double team to pull the heavy load" at
Wuchang, and in response to the Church s appeal to
save Wuchang, the Woman s Auxiliary, to its great
honor be it said, raised the money to send out a new
worker.
Sayres Saves the Day. The Rev. Mr. Sayres, one
of the new men in Shanghai, went with his wife to
Wuchang in the summer of 1879 for a holiday trip
by steamer up the Yangtse. They were greatly
impressed by the urgency of the situation in view
of Mr. Hoyt s approaching departure, and by the
encouraging outlook in Wuchang and its possi
bility for development into a strong center. The
result was that at their own earnest request Mr.
and Mrs. Sayres were transferred to the upriver
station to work in company with an expected recruit
who had offered himself. In addition to these new
workers a consecrated communicant in America
had assumed the continuous support of a lady
teacher for the Jane Bohlen School for girls, so long
without a head. Miss Josephine Roberts of Brook
lyn, New York, (afterwards Mrs. F. R. Graves,)
who had been under appointment for some time
waiting the raising of the necessary funds, was sent
out to take charge of this neglected work for girls.
104 Tne Story of the Church in China
Brighter days seemed about to dawn for Wuchang.
Yet in spite of all the encouragements immediately
in prospect that important station had yet to
undergo many trials and discouragements and was
to wait eighteen years longer before it was ade
quately manned.
Mr. Hoyt Retires. It was with a sad heart that
Mr. Hoyt left Wuchang in March after ten years of
service at that center. "Dear old Wuchang," he
had written a few weeks before, "my heart is already
beginning to ache at the thought that I shall have
to leave it so soon." The Spirit of Missions in com
menting on it said : "Surely such devotion as Mr.
and Mrs. Hoyt have shown and the cause to which
in good faith they consecrated and would have given
their lives except for providential circumstances,
should never cease to be remembered and appre
ciated by this Church. Where, humanly speaking,
would this grand work have been had not the Rev.
Mr. Hoyt offered two years ago with the consent of
his devoted wife to leave her and all that he held
dear and go back to China to stand in the Gap/ "
Mr. Say res took vigorous hold of the work laid
on his willing shoulders. A heavy bereavement fell
upon him within two months after his reaching his
new station in the death of his wife, but he pressed
bravely onward. "Mr. Sayres feels that his life is
now more than ever consecrated to the work here,"
wrote Mr. Hoyt just before his departure. Fortu
nately there was a growing and encouraging work
to absorb him. His letters to America were full of
The Struggle to Survive in Wuchang 105
enthusiasm and consecration and his days were busy
and full. He writes: "At every communion we
have had twenty and forty communicants whereas
it is only six years ago that there were but seven
communicants." The Bishop came in March and
confirmed a class of forty-three and the Christians
seemed very much in earnest and zealous for Christ.
"The prosperity of the Mission at Wuchang," wrote
Mrs. Schereschewsky, "is said to be thriving greatly,
under God, due to the exertions of the converts them
selves to tell the good news to others." Mr. Sayres
tells of his own servant who every Sunday on his
time off went about the city to the temples, tea
houses and places of public resort, distributing tracts
which he had purchased from Shanghai with his own
small wages. "When he comes back toward even
ing," Mr. Sayres wrote, "he says not a word about
his doings unless I ask him, he evidently does not
do it for the sake of my approval but from a higher
motive. The next day he goes about his work in a
sober, matter of fact way and stays at it till the next
Sunday."
Character of the Converts. "This is one of the
evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit among the
people here. It is so blessed to be able to see the
miracles that the Holy Ghost is working every day,
in changing the hearts of these people, making a
new light to shine in their faces, and high aims, holy
works, and the fruits of the Spirit to be manifest in
the lives of these men who a short time ago were
idol worshippers or worse. It would convince the
106 The Story of the Church in China
most skeptical, I am sure, of the truth of religion if
they could be here and see these people, could watch
the change coming over them and the new life
breaking forth in them and then compare them with
the people still outside.
"Only the other day a man newly baptized came
to me to express his joy and his thankfulness. His
face was so happy and the tears were in his eyes
and his voice trenrbled while he told me, as he
pointed to his heart, that the Holy Spirit is true ; the
Holy Spirit is true. It is all true. "
CHANGING ATTITUDE TOWARDS
FOREIGNERS
1881-1884
CHAPTER III
CHANGING ATTITUDE TOWARDS
FOREIGNERS
1881-1884
Introduction of English in the Higher Schools.
A better feeling toward foreigners made the out
look brighter to the missionaries in the early 80 s.
It was still impossible to enter many places, such as
Tai Tsang in the Shanghai district which had been
selected as one of the new centers of dispensary and
evangelistic work under the Rev. Mr. Woo. Land
had been purchased there but the literati and others
raised such a disturbance over the advent of the
Church that the Mission was obliged to yield up
the land and retire. Missionaries were still freely
called "foreign devils" and "foreign hags" and were
to be accosted so in the streets for many years to
come, but in the older centers of work at least the
missionaries were conscious of a changing attitude
and an increasing use of articles of foreign manufac
ture such as cloth, clocks, lamps (to replace the
small cup of native oil with a wick stuck in it) was
evidenced by the number of natives selling these
things. There was also a universal desire springing
109
no The Story of the Church in China
up in places like Wuchang, Hankow and Shanghai
to learn the English language. The alert Chinese
in these places saw the opportunities a knowledge
of English would bring for business with the Eng
lish and American merchants resident in the for
eign concessions in the port cities. The Mission
was wise enough to see and use the opportunity of
making the teaching of the English language in St.
John s College and Boone School a point of contact
with the Chinese they wanted to reach. Accord
ingly a department of English was added to St.
John s. This was an important step to take. It has
always been a debated question in Mission circles
whether the introduction of English in the schools
is a wise thing or not. There were many things to
be said on both sides of the question. The principal
objection to its use was that it attracted boys to the
Mission simply for the sake of getting a language
enabling them to secure good positions in the busi
ness world and that the schools would fail to supply
native Christian workers as they would all be
diverted to money getting. There was this real
danger and again and again missionaries have been
greatly disappointed in having some promising
young candidate for the ministry go off to take a
position with larger pay in post office, government
or commercial employ because of his knowledge of
English. But, on the other hand, it brought a large
number of young men to the Mission institutions
many of whom became converted and some of whom
gave up cherished prospects of a business career in
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners III
order to serve the Church they had come to love,
although they had entered the school purposely to
fit themselves for a commercial life. Then again
the teaching of English opened up such a wider
reaching knowledge of the Western world to the
student and especially gave the candidate in theol
ogy and medicine the access to so many valuable
books that most of the Missions gradually have
come to the point of having English taught in their
higher schools, colleges and professional schools.
The training schools for evangelists and Bible
women however have still continued to use the
Chinese language only. With the introduction of
English teaching at St. John s College there arose
an eager demand on the part of prosperous Shang
hai merchants to have their sons educated there and
a paying department was added to the free scholar
ships in 1880. With this step St. John s larger
sphere of usefulness began.
A Movement Toward Reform. The desire for
English in China came some time in advance of the
later wonderful and widespread movement in favor
of the substitution of Western arts and sciences
for the old Chinese classics as the basis of the Chi
nese educational system. But a deeper movement
than simply the desire to know the English lan
guage was already beginning to make itself felt. As
a result of the defeats at the hands of the English
and French in the last two decades many of the
Chinese leaders were coming to see that there was
something for the nation to learn from foreigners.
112 The Story of the Church in China
The first lesson learned was that bows and arrows
and bamboo spears were not equal to foreign imple
ments of war, and that the old Chinese war junks
were powerless before a modern war vessel. Arse
nals and navy yards were supplied with machinery
from foreign countries and soldiers were drilled by
foreign military officers. With all this there was
gradually growing a desire for Western arts and
sciences. The movement was however to receive
many setbacks. Yung Wing, educated at a Mission
school in China and at Yale College, received in
1872 permission to take a hundred youths to the
United States for an American education. Before
long they were all recalled and many years after the
policy of reaction culminated in the coup d etat of
1898 by which the progressive young Emperor was
dethroned by the conservative Manchus, but in spite
of all these opposing influences the movement toward
reform in national life was gathering impetus all
the time.
At the time St. John s was established at Jess-
field there were already marked indications of an
intellectual Renaissance. There was a great demand
for the works on astronomy, geography, history,
medicine and international law, prepared by mis
sionaries. The educated Christian Chinese and for
eign missionaries were quick to catch the signifi
cance of this desire and the opportunity it pre
sented to the Christian Church and for this reason
Bishop Schereschewsky was most anxious to estab
lish a Science department at St. John s.
THE CREEK WHICH MAKES ST. JOHN S UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
A PENINSULA
THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE MISSION COMPOUND, WUSIH
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 113
St. Mary s School. Another step forward was the
opening of St. Mary s School for girls at Jessfield
near St. John s. It had been the Bishop s intention
from the time of opening the college to make the
new property a complete educational center by hav
ing a girls boarding school there also. This was
accomplished in 1881, by moving the Emma Jones
and the Bridgman Memorial Schools and combin
ing them under one roof in the new St. Mary s
under the efficient charge of Miss Wong (afterward
Mrs. F. L. H. Pott), daughter of the senior pres
byter of the Mission. The new building for this
combined school was remarkably well adapted for
its purpose and was in fact at that time the best
school building in the Mission.
Effect of Christian Education on Women and
Girls in China. Mrs. W. J. Boone writing home of
the bright and happy faces of the girls at St. Mary s
School told of their love for the School being such
that when the summer holidays came they wanted
to go home for a few days only and then return to
the school for the remainder of the vacation. She
continues : "One can have no conception of the dif
ference Christian education makes in the faces of
girls and women. The heathen women we see
around us have faces utterly devoid of expression,
at the same time not being the faces of idiots. It is
not so with the men, and so it can only be their lack
of knowledge that makes the difference. As a rule
the women know absolutely nothing. If poor they
work in the fields, if rich at embroidery, etc. Heath-
114 The Story of the Church in China
enism can never be destroyed until the women are
converted." a
Bishop Schereschewsky s Illness. Cheering news
came from home that two more faithful stewards of
their Master had each decided to make investments
for Him in China in the erection of churches where
His message might be proclaimed. One of these
churches was to be the College Chapel at St. John s
and another, given by a communicant of St. Peter s
Church, Germantown, was to meet a long felt
want by providing for the growing congregation at
Wuchang. Partly to look after the erection of this
building which he designed and partly to assist Mr.
Sayres and Miss Roberts in this station, Bishop
Schereschewsky with his family moved to Wuchang
for the winter of 1880-81. The work of building
progressed very slowly and the Bishop found his
presence so greatly needed that he remained on
throughout the next spring and summer. It was
here on August 4th that there came the sunstroke
which paralyzed and crippled him for the remaining
years of his life and laid him aside from the active
duties of the Episcopate while it gave the Church
his translation of the entire Bible into easy Wenli,
the literary language of all China. His health had
been greatly impaired by overwork and anxiety
always the portion of our missionary bishops and
he was prostrated while attending to his duties in
Wuchang during its terrible August heat. For a
long time he was unable to move at all and only
1 Spirit of Missions- 1883, p. 51.
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 115
articulated with the greatest difficulty. He was
taken to specialists in Europe as soon as he could
travel with some degree of convenience, but while
he improved sufficiently to use his ringers on the
typewriter by which he performed his herculean
tasks, he never recovered.
The blow fell crushingly on the little band of
workers in Wuchang and Shanghai by whom the
Bishop was greatly beloved. A few months before
they had said good-bye to Dr. and Mrs. Nelson and
Miss Nelson, when, after thirty years of faithful ser
vice, Dr. Nelson was obliged to leave the Mission
on account of the serious illness of his wife, and to
Mr. and Mrs. Bates who were obliged to leave
China because of Mr. Bates complete break
down, and now the remaining few were suddenly
deprived of their leader.
Change in Requirements for Baptism. Shortly
before his illness the Bishop made an important
change in regard to candidates for Baptism. It
was found that in order to insure the sincerity
of the convert and to give time for due instruc
tion there should be a considerable lapse of time
between the first expression of his desire for
Baptism and the administration of the Sacrament.
The candidate was now required to be enrolled as
an enquirer for six months at the end of which time
he was, after the manner of the ancient Church,
formally admitted as a Catechumen. Then for six
months or a year (it finally became definitely fixed
as a year) he was under further instruction at the
Ii6 The Story of the Church in China
end of which time if he had been found faithful and
sincere and actuated by no unworthy motives, he
was admitted to Holy Baptism. 1
Consecration of Church of the Holy Nativity.
Christmas Day, 1881, was a red letter day for the
Christians at Hankow and Wuchang, for the beauti
ful new Church of the Nativity upon which Bishop
Schereschewsky had bestowed so much care was
formally opened and publicly used for the first time.
The new missionary, the Rev. F. R. Graves, whose
coming had so gladdened the hearts of the waiting
workers in Shanghai and Wuchang, was there for
the service and the procession of school boys and
candidates for Holy Orders could sing, with the
heartiness and happiness of the fulfillment of a long
deferred hope, "I was glad when they said unto me
Let us go into the house of the Lord." At the ser
vices that day twenty-five persons were baptized.
Extension of the Work. In the meantime (1881)
Mr. Sayres was lengthening the cords as well as
strengthening the stakes. The work across the
river in Hankow was being reinforced. The newly
ordained deacon, Mr. Yang, was placed in charge,
together with his son, a candidate for Holy Orders.
A day school was reopened and there were good
prospects of getting back the scattered little con-
x This system has been regularly carried out since in the
China Mission with certain exceptions, such as in case of seri
ous illness or of college students who have been long under
Christian instruction. Since the Revolution the period of
probation may be shortened at the discretion of examining
presbyters.
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 117
gregation. Two outstations were opened, the only
ones in the upriver district. In those days this was
not an easy undertaking as often great difficulty was
experienced in renting a house. And although the
foreigner kept in the background and a native evan
gelist was sent, the people were suspicious of their
own countryman from another part of the country
coming to preach doctrines they had never heard
of before. As Mr. Sayres wrote home of the station
at Lung Hwa Ngan: "The people are afraid that
the new religion may be one not permitted by law,
for professing which they may some day have to
suffer death or be subject to all sorts of annoyances
and persecutions at the hands of bad men of the
neighborhood who may make any affiliation with the
new religion a pretext for working out their own
designs." This attack on Christians by evilly dis
posed men has happened again and again in the
outstations. On the other hand the Christians in
these stations removed from the contaminating
influences of big cities and especially from the bad
examples of foreigners living vicious lives, often
made the heartiest and most sincere converts. So
in spite of the many discouragements there was
therefore a joy to the missionary in the country
work that he did not find in the port cities. The
work in the latter was more important but slower
and more discouraging. Often however those con
verted in the cities would return to their country
homes and be the first messengers of the Gospel in
a new region. Such a one was a convert of whom
n8 The Story of the Church in China
Mr. Sayres wrote in 1881 : "This remarkable
woman of some sixty years is of a respectable fam
ily, intelligent and during most of her life a believer
in one of the Buddhist sects. She was greatly
addicted to heathen rites, but she has left them all
now and without any hope of temporal gain goes
back to certain persecution in her country home." :
Growth of Boone School. The importance of
developing Boone School at Wuchang was being
more and more felt. In pursuance of the Mission s
general policy it was recognized to be the most
important institution in the upriver district, for in it
lay the hope of the future supply of native clergy
for Central China. Mr. Sayres in his plans for the
general development of the Wuchang-Hankow
work was appealing for its enlargement. There
were thirty boys in it when he first went to
Wuchang, but it was as easy to get three hundred
as thirty. The need was especially felt as the care
ful training of boys either for mission work or for
general usefulness in life was neglected by the other
missions and there was no really high grade mis
sion school in that part of China. This omission by
the other missions was purposely made as they did
not then believe in the practical utility of educa
tional institutions as an aid to the spread of the
Church. On the other hand it was the main reliance
of the Romanists and it was felt by our missionaries
in Wuchang that here was an open field of opportu
nity that the Church could ill afford to neglect.
* Spirit of Missions, 1881, p. 315.
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 119
In 1882, Mr. Herbert Sowerby and his wife joined
the Mission Staff. They had been previously con
nected with another mission and had a valuable
knowledge of the Chinese language and people and
were able to be of immediate service in the needy
field at Wuchang. Mr. Sowerby was placed in
charge of Boone School and under his able manage
ment the school improved greatly. The old build
ing was torn down and rebuilt and a brighter day
began to dawn for an institution which was to be
known later as Boone University, the finest educa
tional institution in Central China. But while the
outlook became thus more promising for Boone,
the Jane Bohlen School for girls was to suffer
another setback in its checkered career. The new
matron, Miss Boyd, died soon after reaching her
station and it was decided to close the school for
a time and transfer Miss Roberts to the work in
Jessfield. With the presence of two recruits in
Wuchang, Mr. Graves and Mr. Sowerby, Mr. Sayres
was able to return to his work in Shanghai.
Retirement of Bishop Schereschewsky. Bishop
Schereschewsky had been taken to Europe after his
serious illness in Wuchang but the hope to which
the Church clung that he might be able to return to
his work in vigor was doomed to a sad disappoint
ment. When at last the conviction deepened to
him that never again would he be able to sufficiently
regain the use of his limbs to engage in the active
duties of the Episcopate, he resigned his jurisdic
tion. He wished it distinctly understood that he
120 The Story of the Church in China
"did not resign as a missionary" and that he hoped
to return to China as a translator. For this work he
was unusually qualified, and he had already trans
lated the entire Old Testament and the Prayer Book
into Mandarin and the latter into easy Wenli as
well. His short episcopate had been marked by a
high sense of duty and of energetic effort for the
welfare of China and the Church, and had greatly
set forward the development of the policies of the
Mission work, but his name especially is associated
with the establishment of St. John s College.
St. Luke s Hospital. Another strong feature of
the Mission work, St. Luke s Hospital in Shanghai,
had been transferred from the small and incon
venient building in which it had been housed to new
and more commodious quarters. The development
of this splendid institution was chiefly the work of
one man, Dr. Henry W. Boone, who came out in
1881. The funds for enlargement were largely from
the Chinese raised especially through the energetic
assistance of the Rev. Mr. Woo. With this aid and
the gift of their property to the Mission by the
Trustees of the Gutzlaff Hospital in Shanghai, the
triangular block containing a good dwelling house
which became the Hospital was purchased and an
additional ward erected. Standing in the busy busi
ness section of the town near the police headquar
ters and the wharves it was in a position to receive
a great number of accident cases. Its fame soon
spread and drew patients from as far as two hun
dred miles. In addition, Dr. Boone was in charge
Changing Attitude Towards Foreigners 121
of dispensaries at Jessfield and outstations. In the
year 1884 the total number of cases treated in these
places was over forty-one thousand. Thus rapidly
did the work spread and the message of the Good
Samaritan diffuse itself from this great center.
General State of the Work. Dr. Boone writing
home of the general state of the mission work at
the time of the retirement of Bishop Schereschewsky
and speaking of the patient labors of his fellow
workers and their predecessors said:
"Their toil has not been unrewarded. If the Com
mittee could only come here and see the admirable
College, the perfection of Girls School, the earnest,
Christian native clergy and catechists, the numerous
schools and chapels, and the small but devout and
growing band of native converts, their hearts would
be cheered by the spectacle. One by one the gen
tlemen of other missions I have met have told me
that they have been greatly impressed with the
excellence of our work as a whole, and see much
to admire and imitate. It is my firm conviction
that there is no mission in China working on a
broader, stronger and firmer basis than ours, and
that none are getting better results. But alas ! some
other missions have double, treble and more than
treble the numbers in the field that we put there."
INTO NEW FIELDS
1884-1886
CHAPTER IV
INTO NEW FIELDS
1884-1886
Successor to Bishop Schereschewsky. The elec
tion of William Jones Boone, as Bishop in China,
was a cause of general rejoicing to the friends of the
China Mission. The son of the first noble Bishop,
born and brought up in the field, a missionary since
1870, a man of wisdom, experience and vision, he
was well qualified for the important work of plant
ing Christ s Church in China s vast dominions. He
was known to be in full sympathy with the policy
of the higher educational work which had been made
so prominent, while experienced in the more directly
evangelistic agencies. He was consecrated on Octo
ber 28, 1884, in Holy Trinity Church, Shanghai, the
city in which he had been born, baptized, confirmed
and ordained to the priesthood. The Consecrator
was the Right Reverend Channing Moore Will
iams, D.D., Missionary Bishop of Yeddo (Japan),
who had exercised Episcopal oversight of the field
during the absence of Bishop Schereschewsky,
assisted by Bishop Moule, Bishop of the Church of
England in Mid-China, and Bishop Scott of the same
Church in North China. There was thus united in
125
126 The Story of the Church in China
this function the two largest branches of the Angli
can Communion.
So again the name of Boone became associated
with the chief share in responsibility for the
Church s Mission in China. The second Bishop
Boone accepted the Bishopric in the same spirit of
service and self-sacrifice that he had accepted the
hard lonely years of missionary labor in Wuchang
and later the charge of the theological department
of St. John s College. In the land of his birth he
elected to live and labor while life s earthly day
lasted. "As in the case of the Selwyns in the Islands
of the Southern Seas," said Bishop Scott in the Con
secration Sermon, "so here in the Eastern parts of
Asia, the mantle has descended from the father, and
is today to fall on the shoulders of the son."
Extension Planned. The new Episcopate was to
see a pushing forward of the work. The workers
were looking toward the future and planning to
advance the Kingdom into new localities. The two
main stations strategically chosen, were six hun
dred miles apart, between them lay the vast unoccu
pied region of the valley of the Yangtse river which
had been apportioned as the missionary field in
China of the American Church. The Church of
England by mutual agreement with our Church was
in the North and South and we were responsible for
planting the Church in the fertile, populous plains
of Central China. Immense cities, Chinkiang, Nan
king, Wuhu, Anking, Kiukiang, between Shanghai
and Hankow, were beckoning and calling for help,
Into New Fields 127
while beyond there were the cities on the upper
Yangtse stretching all the way to the province of
Szchuen, an empire in itself. As yet our Mission
had made no attempt to reach these millions, but
the workers were longing and praying that more
laborers might be sent to enter this vast field com
mitted to the Church they represented.
This burning desire of the missionaries to enter
the needy fields beyond was expressed by the Rev.
Sydney C. Partridge, a new recruit, who while on a
trip to the Orient had seen the vast opportunities and
thrown in his lot with the Mission work. "We need
more men. I suppose this is an old story with you, and
you must be weary of this cry for help that con
tinually comes over the water, but we cannot help
it. When we see the possibilities and the needs we
must cry out. This is really the hardest thing we
have to bear. It is not the loneliness, it is not the
long separation from home, it is not the difficulty
and petty hardships of our work; it is to see and
feel the great need that is around us and to realize
that we can do so little to meet it. If there is any
spot on earth where the minister of Christ needs
patience it is here in China. If he can only live a
life of patience, he has the most intensely gratifying
work that man can have anywhere in the world.
* * *To preach the Gospel in a Christian community
at home is a great privilege and calling, but to be
permitted to live among a heathen people as the
representative and teacher of a higher religion than
theirs, to preach the great truths of the everlasting
128 The Story of the Church in China
Gospel to whom they are a new and not an old
story this is glorious, beyond anything else."
It required a great measure of faith for the mis
sionaries to take this attitude toward extension
There were, including the stations in the two centers
Shanghai and Wuchang, thirty-five outstations
where the Gospel was being preached and the
Church represented. The central stations where
foreigners must necessarily reside were under
manned and the Board of Managers was then as
now with difficulty securing contributions for the
existing work. But even with this shortage of men
and money it never has been the policy of the
Church to tarry at its first centers until the work
was perfected there.
Chinkiang Opened. The first important city on
the Yangtse river to be occupied was Chinkiang.
This was the nearest to Shanghai of the great river
cities, being distant about eighteen hours by steam
boat. Here was sent the zealous Mr. Sayres to re
side and be in charge of the new work, assisted by
the recently ordained deacon Kwei Mei Peng. Chin
kiang had a handful of resident foreigners engaged
in business and in consular offices, and an immense
native population. The Grand Canal that runs from
North China to Hangchow crosses the great river
at this point and made the city an important center
of trade. A house was rented for use as a preach
ing hall and in this as well as out on the busy street
itself, as opportunity offered, the missionaries set
forth the Saviour of men. "It appeals to me
Into New Fields 129
strongly," wrote Mr. Sayres from his new station,
"to see these thousands and thousands of heathen
who know nothing of God and the future life. To
save one of their souls ought to be reward great
enough to repay one for any suffering undergone for
that end. I cannot understand how it is that Chris
tians stay comfortably at home while the heathen
go to death unenlightened."
Evangelistic Work Strengthened. One of the
first acts of the new Bishop was to appoint the Rev.
E. H. Thomson, Archdeacon, and as such to have
charge of the directly evangelistic work in Shang
hai and vicinity. The educational part of the work
had been strongly stressed and in the hospitals in
Shanghai and Wuchang the medical work was
showing an encouraging development. With the
increasing number of native clergy and catechists
the direct preaching of the Gospel to the heathen
was receiving more attention. A large staff of dea
cons and catechists located at the various outsta-
tions worked under the direction of the Archdeacon.
These workers learned to vaccinate and often
secured their foothold in a new town by this popu
lar appeal to the people who brought their children
in great numbers to be vaccinated. Dispensaries
were also opened and by these means or without
them the missionaries indefatigably preached the
word to the informal congregations that would
gather around them day and night.
Outstation Medical Work. The native workers
availed themselves of every opportunity to reach their
130 The Story of the Church in China
countrymen. Some of them, such as the Rev. Mr.
Woo, possessed hospital experience and were able
to dispense remedies. In one of these outstations
lived a widow who became seriously ill. After Mr.
Woo s treatment she recovered. One day she said
to him, "Mr. Woo, my kitchen god recommended
you to be my physician. The other physicians were
of no benefit because my kitchen god did not approve
of them." Mr. Woo replied, "How is this? I am no
friend of kitchen gods for I always bid the people
not to honor them or sacrifice to them. I don t
think your kitchen god would recommend an
enemy!" The other visitors joined in the general
laugh and Mr. Woo asked her how she discovered
that the kitchen god approved of him. She said that
her son prayed and made an offering before the
bamboo sticks. Stick No. 1 which represented Mr.
Woo was a good one while those representing the
other "physicians" were not good. Thereupon Mr.
Woo spoke to them of the Gospel. "As I was leaving
the house," he related, "I was met by some female
neighbors who wanted to hear more on the kitchen
god subject. I did not lose so favorable an oppor
tunity of telling them of the uselessness of such gods
and advised them to trust their lives in the hands of
their Heavenly Father and invited them to attend
our services for fuller instruction."
Growing Necessity of Pastoral Work. With the
increase in the number of converts the foreign mis
sionaries and the Chinese clergy were more and
more occupied in shepherding and instructing them
Into New Fields 131
and the candidates for Baptism. The habits of
heathenism were still strong upon them ; they were
generally ignorant, superstitious and unspiritual.
They were socially ostracized, their motives were
misjudged and they were the objects of both petty
annoying persecutions and more bitter attacks. The
work of protecting and instructing and strengthen
ing these lambs of the flock was of the first import
ance to the native and foreign pastor the former
of whom lived in the station with them and the
latter of whom visited the stations in turn. But the
foreigner could never come as close to the Chinese
Christians as one of their own race, and as the native
clergy developed in spiritual power and knowledge
it has been the policy of the Mission to make the Chi
nese clergy the actual pastors of their flocks, encour
aging, sympathizing, comforting or rebuking the
Christians as the case might be. It was early seen
that the Chinese Christians would go much more
readily to their native pastor than to the foreign
missionary. And this was as it should be. As they
proved worthy of the trust, the direct pastoral work
has been more and more turned over to the Chinese
and the foreigner retires more and more into the
background as the general adviser, director, helper
and inspirer of the native clergy associated with
him. And although they were not all of equal spir
itual or mental power they were then and they are
now a splendid body of high-toned men, the great
est element of strength in the China Mission and
the surest ground of hope for its future as a living
132 The Story of the Church in China
branch of the Church of Christ. Speaking of three
of the early native clergymen of the Church and
their views, Mr. Partridge wrote home of them soon
after his arrival, "I hold that one such man as Mr.
Yen and one such woman as Mrs. Yen are worth
twenty years of labor here, nay more, fifty. And
what shall I say of Mr. and Mrs. Woo, and the
Wongs? I can only say that the earth is hardly
worthy of such people ; they have given all that they
have, at a cost that we know little of, for Christ and
His Church." At the time that Bishop Boone began
his Episcopate there had been sixteen Chinese
ordained to the Sacred Ministry since the founding
of the Mission and there were eleven others pre
paring for Holy Orders. Since then the number of
ordained native leaders has increased until there
were forty-two living in 1912 in the three dioceses.
All honor to the missionaries who have called and
trained these men and filled them with the wisdom
and spiritual power with which they give their
lives to the spread of Christ s Kingdom. These
native workers and the greater number of many
catechists and teachers working with them, though
they have had much less opportunities for develop
ment than the ordained men have had, are daily wit
nessing to that which the power of Christ can do for
the Chinese race. What He has done for them He
can do for all. They are the first fruits for Christ
in China. The Rev. Dr. Arthur H. Smith in his
admirable book, "Chinese Characteristics/ has said
that if the old religions of China : Buddhism, Con-
Into New Fields 133
fucianism, Taoism, had been able to produce one
such character as Mrs. Charles Kingsley portrays
her husband to have been in her biography of him,
it would be a moral miracle greater than any or all
that are recorded in the books of Taoist fables. But
what these forces have been unable to accomplish
Christianity is doing." The lives of these native
pastors are lives of single hearted devotion to the
cause of Christ.
An "Evidence of Christianity." One of the most
striking "Evidences of Christianity" occurred at a
meeting of the English "Shanghai Literary and
Debating Club" in March, 1885, in a public meeting
at which several able gentlemen were advertised to
speak against Christian miracles. A spectator pres
ent that night thus describes it. "The large hall
was rilled with people and probably three quarters
of them were unbelievers, drawn there because they
thought it would be a good chance "to go for the
missionaries" as the phrase is here. The assault
was lamentably weak. After several speeches had
been made, the Rev. Mr. Yen, who had modestly
occupied a seat by the door, rose and moved toward
the platform. As this tall and fine looking Chinese
in a gentlemanly and dignified way began his
remarks a profound silence fell on the audience. He
made the speech of the evening and I wish all our
people at home who question the utility of our work
could have been there and heard him. He began
with the ethical element* and showed how Chris
tianity differed from and was superior to all the sys-
134 The Story of the Church in China
terns of the East, and then proceeded with the
miraculous element 5 as a necessary part of the
great religion. He was interrupted by frequent
expressions of approval and finally closed amid long
and prolonged applause. Had I not come from St.
John s College with him I would have risen and
said, Ladies and Gentlemen, what more striking
and convincing argument for Christian miracles
could you possibly have than what you have
just seen and heard? Of course I could not
say that, but I had the satisfaction of knowing
that many present felt just as I did. It was
a tremendous crusher* for our unbelieving foreign
ers to be met and answered on their own ground and
in their own tongue 1 by a Chinese missionary."
Making Hankow a Central Station. The work at
Hankow had been superintended by the mission
aries from Wuchang. In 1883, the Rev. Arthur H.
Locke and his wife had joined the staff, going first
to Wuchang and early in 1885 when Mr. Locke had
some familiarity with the language he was trans
ferred across the river to the greatest city in Cen
tral China, the thriving tea port of Hankow. It
was one of the treaty-ports opened for the residence
and trade of foreigners and situated as it is at the
junction of the Han and Yangtse rivers it was the
distributing point for all the Western and North
western parts of the Empire. Hankow has aptly been
called the Chicago of China and the Chinese called
J Mr. Yen was one of the very few Chinese clergymen who
received his education in the United States.
Into New Fields 135
it "the mart of nine provinces." It is situated in
the center of the granary of the Empire and its
importance was early recognized by foreigners. This
city was the first point selected for a concession
under Lord Elgin s Treaty of 1858. At the time of
Mr. Locke s removal there as our resident mission
ary he reported it as second only to Shanghai for
foreign commerce, and that Canton alone surpassed
it in the extent of its internal trade. "It seems to
me," he wrote from his new station, "that all work
in the interior, at least for many years, must center
at this terminus. It must and will serve as a base of
operations, and the only question is whether this
base is to be weak and neglected or strong and
invigorating the whole work."
Here the West was touching the East, but its touch
was too often materialistic. Here the West was
teaching the East but its teaching was too frequently of
Western vices. The representatives of the West in
oriental cities often throw aside all the moral
restraints of Christian lands and live lives that do
anything but commend Christianity to the Chinese
mind. To them all foreigners were Christians and
the religion that resulted in the evil lives the Chi
nese saw was naturally not one to appeal to them as
superior to theirs. So it was all the more necessary
that in these treaty ports of China the Christian
Church should establish itself and proclaim the
Gospel. The work in these places was far more
difficult and discouraging than in places further
away from foreign display of wealth and the low
136 The Story of the Church in China
tone of foreign morals, but it must be done all the
more energetically for these very reasons.
Advantages of the Port Cities. There were advan
tages as well as disadvantages for work in these
big centers of life and trade. Mr. Froude tells us
that great reforms first take hold of large cities, and
that the broadness of mind and susceptibility of
change which is found there is necessary for their
spread. In thus locating the strong centers of the
Church s life in the strong centers of the nation s
life our missionaries in China were following an
Apostolic principle.
Says a late Margaret Professor at Cambridge:
"There is something very striking in the choice
made by the first heralds of the Gospel of strong
positions. Obscure as they were themselves, they
were not content with taking up obscure ground.
They did not secrete themselves in rural and seques
tered neighborhoods, and trust to emerge by
degrees, as their new principle should creep through
the country, without observation : they boldly fixed
their headquarters, by preference, in the most con
spicuous and flourishing towns, Jerusalem, Antioch,
Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, being all of them sites the
most commanding; cities populous, busy, alive,
intelligent, pre-eminently set on a hill; serving in
addition to their general aptitude for the purposes
contemplated by the Apostles, to convince mankind
that humble teachers of the Gospel who planted
their standards so bravely must be confident in their
cause, must feel their strength, were ready to chai-
Into New Fields 137
lenge inquiry, and were convinced that their efforts
would make an impression on the world/
Hankow was such a strategic center. Many of
its residents were men from other places near and
far who from time to time returned home or moved
about the Empire for trade. In this way many were
able to carry the newly found message far and wide.
One of the Hankow converts later a vestryman of
St. Peter s Chapel was a merchant who used to
travel across Siberia toward Russia in the days
before the railroad, and the journey used to take him
nine months. Others came from the large country
districts around Hankow, especially from the town
of Hwang Pi and so the Gospel radiated from this
center in ever increasing power and volume. Mr.
Locke found the congregations at St. Paul s
Chapel good from the start. The chapel was
thronged with country folk and visitors whom the
missionary might see once only. But the little leaven
carried away was all part of the influence that was
quietly yet powerfully working toward a new China.
"No itinerant Evangelist could reach a greater num
ber than the preachers in our Chapel," wrote Mr.
Locke. "Our work here is growing rapidly. I have
thirty-five in training for Baptism. Thirteen boys
from our day-school are preparing for Baptism. We
have not been able to secure any candidates from
day-schools before this year. Our new Bible woman
has a day-school for twenty-five girls and some
women under instruction/
The two Rev. Mr. Yangs father and son had
138 The Story of the Church in China
been successively in charge of the Station. There
were twenty-two communicants and two day-
schools. It seems a day of very small things com
pared with the present development of the Hankow
work, but it was a promising beginning and in
charge of a worker quick to see and use the wide
opportunities offered.
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES
1886-1891
CHAPTER V
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES
1886-1891
Beginnings of St. Mary s Orphanage, Shanghai.
An orphanage had grown up naturally in connection
with St. Mary s Hall. A few abandoned and other
wise neglected girl babies had been rescued and
were being lovingly cared for by Miss Wong and
her assistants. But they were crowding the school
for older girls and it was decided to put up an inex
pensive building where this work could grow. Miss
Wong and her pupils earned part of the money for
this building and generous friends in America sup
plied the remainder. Here the workers were able
to receive into their arms a larger number of
despised and perishing little heathen babies and
transform them into bright, intelligent Christian
children. Had there been a sufficient number of
workers and more gifts of money the orphanage
could have grown into a much greater institution
such as the Roman Catholic Orphanage at Hankow
with its six hundred Chinese girls being trained in
the church, but St. Mary s was not thus able and
perhaps after all it was better to do thoroughly well
what was done rather than undertake a greater task
and do it less thoroughly. The best use that the
141
142 The Story of the Church in China
orphanage was put to was to provide students for
St. Mary s Hall who had thus been from early
infancy in a Christian atmosphere and were not to
be married to heathen after leaving the school, as
the girls often were betrothed before entering the
school at the ages of six or eight. So the Orphan
age insured the best possible use of the School
course, for the orphanage girls were children of the
Mission and could be used as missionary workers
or be betrothed to educated Christian young men
as the lady missionaries in charge might decide.
Bishop Boone opened the Orphanage on October
1st, 1885. It started very humbly, with four rooms
only, but they were soon crowded out of these and six
more were added. The success of the new venture
was, as is always the case, the opening of the doors
to larger opportunities and greater responsibilities.
No wonder the workers at St. John s College felt
the need of such a work of loving mercy, when one
of them wrote home that a mother in the neighbor
ing village had killed all four daughters as soon as
they were born, being too poor to bring up girls.
Girls in China have always been considered as
belonging to the family of the future husband, and
therefore the blood relatives have been much more
unwilling to invest money in a child when all the
returns would be for someone else. "It is," said
Dr. Arthur H. Smith, "as if one were to put a gold
chain around the neck of a dog. The dog might be
whistled off by your neighbor at any moment and
then where is your chain?" So the poor girl in
GIRLS OF ST. AGNES SCHOOL, ANKING, AT THE WASH TUBS
THE ORPHANAGE, SHANGHAI
Expanding Opportunities 143
China has always been the neglected and abused
member of the household if indeed she were allowed
to live at all. There would be probably no limit to
the amount of girls any Christian mission might
receive and train into Christian womanhood if there
were the funds and the workers available for such a
noble work. Would that some of the money that
Christian people are spending in lavish entertain
ment or self-indulgence were spent in rescuing these
perishing little lambs of heathenism. Enough is
often wasted in the frivolity of a single night in any
one of some of our Christian homes in America to pro
vide for a thousand of these neglected little ones, so
precious to Christ, for a whole year. Our ears are
so deaf we cannot hear Him saying to us, "Inas
much as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye
did it unto me." And He is pointing to the despised
little ones of China. But small as our efforts are
these institutions are standing as models to a vast
people of what they should and of what they will
do in the new great Christian China that is coming.
First Ordinations in Central China. On the Feast
of the Epiphany, 1885, the first ordination service at
the upriver stations, as Hankow and Wuchang were
called, was held in the old St. Paul s Chapel, Han
kow. The candidates were all for work in Central
China in the Mandarin speaking district and these
ordinations marked a distinct advance. Yeh Tsang
Fa, Tsun I Fu, Fung Tsen Seng, Hwang Min Kao
and Wang Swun-I, were the candidates and all had
been students in Boone School, its first fruits into
144 The Story of the Church in China
the Ministry of the Church. Some of them had gone
later to St. John s College and all of them had been
working as Catechists in the Mission. Mr. Wang,
the youngest candidate, who was to have such a
long and useful career in the Church in China, had
come to the Mission School when he was a boy of
seven and had been known as the baby of the
School. This ordination was an occasion of special
joy to Bishop Boone for his early mission work had
been all among the Chinese in Central China. With
a full and grateful heart he wrote to the Church at
home:
"For sixteen years I have known them and watched
their growth in stature and moral character, as well
as their advancement in knowledge. To me, on the
eve of the eighteenth anniversary of my landing as
a missionary in this land of my birth, it was a deep
joy to be the Lord s servant to impart to them this
added seal and gift of grace for the work of a deacon
in the Church of God. May I be spared to see their
numbers added to and the fruit of their ministry
in the gathering in of many souls from the harvest
fields around us." 1
Removal of Divinity School to Wuchang. It was
at this time that the Bishop decided that it would
1 These deacons were used to strengthen the stations already
opened. Han Yang, the third large city of the triple group
made by Hankow and Wuchang, was occupied at this time as
a sub-station of St. Paul s Hankow and the Rev. Mr. Hwang
was put in charge. There were five other candidates for
Orders, but it was to be two years more before Lieo Ying
Tsung the more advanced of them was to be ready for
ordination.
Expanding Opportunities 145
be wise to move the Divinity School from St. John s
College to Wuchang. It was a simpler atmosphere,
removed from the distractions of a city very much
foreignized and nearer the home of the majority
of the students. With the removal of the Divinity
School the Bishop also moved to Hankow in order
that he might assist in this work and in the general
development of the upriver stations.
Chinkiang Closed Wuhu Opened. Not long
after the work in Chinkiang had been opened it was
decided to change the location of the station to
Wuhu, some three hundred and fifty miles from the
sea on the Yangtse river. The new station was
more centrally located and gave easier access to
the regions behind in which it was hoped to open
outstations. Then too it was a needier field than
Chinkiang in which several Christian missions were
at work. The Rev. Mr. Kwei was sent to take
charge at Wuhu (Grassy Lake) assisted by a cate-
chist. A native house was rented and the large
room fronting on the street was used as a preaching
hall. Here for many years the seed was patiently
sown and without any resident foreign missionary,
preaching was going on daily and the prayers of the
little band of workers were ascending. Listeners
were always present, some interested, some simply
idly curious.
In 1888, Bishop Boone purchased a piece of property
outside the city as a basis for a central mission station
which he hoped to establish there with a foreign
missionary in charge. But help was slow in coming,
146 The Story of the Church in China
more than ten years were to go by, and the Bishop
was to lay down his work for another to take up
before the "lone hill top" of Wuhu was to have any
signs of permanent missionary activity.
Opening of Shasi and Ichang. With the trans
fer of Messrs. Graves and Partridge to Wuchang,
Mr. Sowerby gave up the settled work in Wuchang
where he had done such excellent service in the
parish and in Boone School and pushed further
upriver to develop the new station in the city of
Shasi and to open another at Ichang. Shasi is situ
ated about three hundred miles beyond Hankow and
Ichang is a hundred miles beyond that. Both were
busy trading places and points of advantage for mis
sion work. Mr. Sowerby from his experience in the
China Inland Mission was well qualified for the
difficult work of opening new stations and he found
it an advantage to live in Ichang, the further sta
tion, from whence he could drop down by native
boat to Shasi and return by foreign steamer.
There had been reports of hostile feelings toward
foreigners before the new station at Shasi was
opened in 1886, but a proclamation had been issued
a short time before giving permission to the natives
to enter the Christian Church if they pleased and
forbidding them to hurt or insult either mission
aries or their converts as "the said Churches taught
the people to be good and the missionaries only came
to do good." The result was that in a city that had
an established reputation for the rude treatment
of foreigners, Mr. Sowerby found that in no place
Expanding Opportunities 147
out of the five provinces he had visited in China
had he a quieter three days than when he first
entered Shasi to make arrangements for opening
work there.
Hopeful Outlook Generally. It was in fact a time
of hopeful outlook for mission work generally. In
addition to the edict of toleration referred to above,
the Board of Foreign Affairs at Pekin took two
important steps in 1887 either of which would have
made the Chinese of the previous generation think
that the end of all things was at hand. One was
the appointment of a corps of officials with inter
preters to travel in Western countries and study
their civilization and the second sanctioned the
introduction of mathematics and Western sciences
into the government competition examinations for
public office. These were some of the entering
wedges that were in time to bring the mighty men
tal conversion of the Empire. Three hundred years
before Christ Mencius had said "I have heard of
the outer barbarians learning from the Middle
Kingdom but I have never heard of the Middle
Kingdom learning from the outer barbarian." This
pride lasted right up to the end of the 19th Cen
tury but already was beginning to weaken until
the time came when the self-satisfaction of centuries
was to yield to the eager pursuit of the learning, meth
ods and religion of the Western world so long
despised. These changes, added to the sanction
given to the introduction of railways, made the year
1887 an annus mirabilis in the history of the country.
148 The Story of the Church in China
In the light of later events it was but a shadow of
things to come, but the change of attitude was very
welcome to the missionaries as they watched for
signs of the coming day. The great inert mass of
Chinese civilization had begun to move.
Time to Strengthen the Forces. It was a time
for the Church to strengthen her forces and push
harder the fight when the enemy showed the signs
of weakness and flight. "Foreign capitalists realize
what a magnificent empire China is to invest their
money in" ran an editorial in the January Spirit of
Missions in 1888 "and how immense will be the
returns; and so American, English, French and
German syndicates keep their representatives there
to offer money and men wherewith to work the
mines, increase the means of communication and
travel and labor otherwise for the material pros
perity of the country. Would that those whose
duty it is to promote the spiritual and eternal weal
of the many millions in this vast realm, realized as
fully the magnitude of the field and the certainty
of glorious results from Christian enterprise and
missionary zeal !"
Anti-Foreign Feeling. These edicts from Pekin
came at a most opportune time as a spirit of per
secution was abroad in China in 1886, beginning in
the Western province of Szchuen. In the city of
Chungking the outbreak against foreigners had be
come so violent that all the buildings of the Ameri
can Methodist, the China Inland and the Roman
Catholic Missions had been destroyed. Many native
Expanding Opportunities 149
Christians, especially Roman Catholics, were killed.
This uprising had been precipitated by the news
of outrages against Chinese in the United States.
Between twenty and thirty of them had been killed
by American mobs in the West, and feeling ran
high against Americans and all foreigners. The
friendly natives came to the missionaries and said,
"The people on the streets say that your people
mob and kill our people there. Is it true?" It was a
hard time for the missionaries and it was with great
thankfulness that they saw the incipient spirit of
persecution and retaliation stopped by the decided
official stand expressed in the edicts commanding
the people to live at peace with Christian mission
aries and converts.
Work at Jessfield. Meanwhile, with the expand
ing opportunities for training the future leaders of
China, Bishop Schereschewsky s expectation of
means for the purpose of equipping and developing
St. John s had not been realized. American men
of business were ready to invest millions in the
development of commercial interests in China but
as yet few American Christians of this Church were
willing to invest the money, of which they were
stewards, for its moral and spiritual renovation.
The workers felt the need keenly and were sad
dened at the failure of their own Church as they
saw in 1888 the Presbyterians raise and send out
$100,000 to found a college in connection with their
work. St. John s in the meantime was losing valu
able opportunities to train up young men and had
150 The Story of the Church in China
to let them go to secular schools or to some other
mission, if happily they might do so, for the educa
tion they were demanding. One asset it received
was however of far greater value than gifts of
money, much as they were and still are needed, in
the coming of F. L. H. Pott under whose foster
ing care St. John s was to expand into its present
commanding place in China. Dr. Pott came to
the mission a deacon in 1886 and has given twenty-
seven years continuously to this work for which
he is so eminently qualified. Another notable
accession to the mission ranks in 1888 was a new
worker for St. Mary s School and Orphanage,
Miss Stepha I,. Dodson. Miss Dodson s long ser
vice for these institutions was to mean much the
same for them that Mr. Pott s coming was to mean
to the work for young men. Long, continuous
services carrying out definite policies under wise,
patient and capable leadership have been the most
notable factor in developing our work in China.
It has suffered so much from short term workers,
many of whom have had to lay down their work
because of serious illness or death. Such institu
tions as St. John s and St. Mary s show us what
uninterrupted work can do.
St. Mary s School. Miss Wong s work at the
School and Orphanage is beyond all praise and
when she turned it over to her successors, at the
time of her marriage to Mr. Pott in 1888, she was
still by her close interest and experience and prox
imity to be of the greatest service in the many
Expanding Opportunities 151
problems that arose, though no longer the actual
head. Bishop Boone wrote of St. Mary s Hall in
1887 "The Christian atmosphere of the School
has been such and Miss Wong s influence so marked
on all under her care, and the many instructions
through years in Church and class have been so
blessed, that sooner or later, all who have gradu
ated, so far, have been brought to the glad use of
the Church s means of grace as helps to lead a godly
life. They go forth to make happy homes, and, as
we trust, in the light of past examples, to diffuse
blessings on others, among whom they witness for
Christ and the Church that has nurtured and fos
tered them."
"And," he adds significantly, "there is no mis
sionary Bishop in the South or West who will not and
does not testify to the worth of these centers of light
which radiate out to the homes of his scattered peo
ple. If that is so on the borders of a Christian
civilization, what must it be here in a heathen mass
of people and among those who have yet to learn in
any proper way the holy and spiritual worth of those
who are handmaids of the Lord, some even mothers
in our Israel."
Losses in the Ranks. While the missionaries
were rejoicing in the new recruits 1 that were
coming they were saddened by the losses that
were keeping the total number still far below what
1 Among them was a lady doctor at last for Wuchang, Dr.
Haslep, and, soon after, Mr. and Mrs. Smalley for the busi
ness side of mission work.
152 The Story of the Church in China
was urgently needed. The additions barely enabled
them to hold their own. Dr. Griffiths, whose coming
in 1885 had strengthened the medical work and made
the Medical School at St. Luke s an immediate pos
sibility was obliged to retire in 1888 because of ill
health. Miss Purple, who had come out in 1888 to
help in the educational work in Shanghai and had
been a faithful and devoted worker, was obliged to
retire in 1887 because of failing health and died on
the steamer in the Mediterranean Sea where her
body was committed to the deep. Most notable of
all Mrs. Elliot D. Thomson after thirty-four years
of loving earnest service was obliged to retire from
the field in 1888 suffering with an incurable disease.
Her name is one of the most honored in our small
band of workers in the China Mission. In the fall
of 1889 the news came to her old friends in the China
Mission that she too had entered into rest. Miss
Annette B. Richmond in "The American Episcopal
Church in China" says of her : "There was no work
of girls and women in which she had not borne a
part, a woman of strong will, fervent piety, and great
practical energy, her house was a home to all her
fellow workers. She was like a mother to the
younger members of the staff, and not only her
foreign fellow workers, but all the Chinese who
knew her, felt for her the greatest affection and
esteem/
Mrs. Thomson s Retrospect. She herself had
written on October 4th, 1886, the anniversary of her
appointment to the China Mission in 1853 : "It
Expanding Opportunities 153
is with great gratitude that I remember the
mercies I have received during these years
and the unvarying kindness and consideration I
have met with from all the officers at our Mission
Rooms in New York. To God be all the praise.
How many changes I have seen take place, how
many have I passed through in my own experience !
Of those who were here on my arrival in April, 1854,
not one is living, with Dr. Nelson the last one passed
away. I was then the youngest missionary on the
coast of China. At that time there were no Prot
estant missionaries north or west of Shanghai. Now
I am far up among the oldest ones and can say I
knew those who knew the first Protestant mission
ary, Dr. Morrison. I was present at the semi
centennial of his arrival in 1857. Nearly all who
participated in the celebration of that event have
passed on to their heavenly home. We a little
longer wait."
More Signs of Awakening. One of the signs of a
new day of material prosperity for China was the
opening in 1888 of the first railway built, owned and
controlled by the Chinese themselves. Any tokens
of the walls of conservatism breaking down as this
was were always encouraging to the missionaries to
whom it meant a more sympathetic attitude toward
Western lands. But they realized that railroads
and steamboats did not necessarily bring Christian
ity. Experience was to prove in Japan and is
threatening to prove the same in China that the
East can become thoroughly Westernized and
154 The Story of the Church in China
modernized without the contact becoming spiritual
ized. Mr. Partridge writing of this in 1888, says:
"Not long ago I took a trip down the Yangtse
on a steamer commanded by a Chinese captain.
He has every token of foreign civilization about his
vessel, but at the same time had his shrine of idols
in the main salon ! A more striking illustration
than this, however, of how people can adopt our
modern ways and leave our religion out was given
last year in Shanghai, when at a great idolatrous
feast the entire temple was illuminated by the elec
tric arc and people worshipped their gods of wood
and stone by light furnished from American dyna
mos run by foreign engineers. Certainly, then, in
China, Christianity and civilization are no synony
mous terms."
The work of turning China to Christ as a whole,
however, was advancing. Between the years 1878
and 1888 the number of converts had doubled but
the part that our own Church had taken in this great
enterprise was lamentably small and unworthy of it.
To our little brave band of workers who saw
especially their own needy and poorly supplied field
the progress seemed very slow and at times almost
hopeless. The part of China, in which this Church
had been at work and for which it was responsible
to give the Gospel as it had received it, contained a
population equal to that of the whole Roman
Empire at the time of Augustus and in it we had
five foreign clergymen only at work. Fifty years
had elapsed since the beginning of our work in
Expanding Opportunities 155
China and to the missionaries at least, the results
seemed meagre and unsatisfactory.
Inadequate Support From Home Base. The fault
lay not with the workers although no one realized
more than they their need of a greater endowment
with power from on high, but it was due to a lack
of lively missionary spirit throughout the home
Church. The missionaries might long to be mod
ern St. Pauls, but St. Paul was the product of an
ideal missionary Church which made the labors and
the man possible. The Church in America as a
whole had never undertaken the problem of the
evangelizing of Central China seriously. The Rev.
Mr. Locke, stirred by the vastness of the field and
the pressing needs, wrote to the home Church an
oft repeated challenge. "Has the Church ever
expected to succeed in China, or are we merely
seeking to quit ourselves decorously, but as cheaply
as possible, of an undeniable obligation? Has the
Church even thought of providing adequately for
the needs of that vast jurisdiction which she so
generously and so properly assumed? Does she
expect to accomplish this with the present force
and the present methods? It is with the Church that
the real responsibility for the Mission rests, and it
is the Church which should see to the conscientious
performance of the most sacred of all its duties.
The missionary committees, the Bishop and the
Board are only agents. The mission is Christ s trust
to His Church."
The Stations in 1890. There were three central
156 The Story of the Church in China
ones where foreign missionaries resided, Shanghai,
Wuchang and Hankow. To these had been added
the newly opened work at Ichang with the Rev.
Herbert Sowerby resident. There were the stations
at the two river ports Wuhu and Shasi, and a num
ber of outstations in the vicinity of the longer es
tablished work in Shanghai. Not only were these
main stations few but they were hundreds of miles
apart. Between Shanghai and Ichang the river
Yangtse stretches out, one thousand miles, and com
pelled a journey of eight days by steamer to pass
from one city to the other. No wonder the burden
of the responsibility of so great a field so inade
quately provided for bore heavily upon our Bishops
and has broken down one and another. In his re
port of 1890, a year before his death, Bishop Boone
wrote :
"This is the sum of our stations, and I never go
on my visitations, or change from place to place to
fill a gap, without having borne in upon me more
and more what a shame and I might say sin it
is that we, who are so few, are thus left by the
Church to till and overtake so vast a field. Surely,
if the Church looks for results such as all could
wish for, she must call mightily and often upon
the Lord, who alone can send laborers into these
teeming fields, and make our weakness strength.
Lacking constant recruits how shall we not toil all
the long night perhaps for naught and only find
rest as we fail in health, or lie down early in our
harness for the sleep of the grave. The appeal
Expanding Opportunities 157
that the evident needs of our work make, goes so
long unheeded, that we almost lose hope, not in the
workers here or in what they are doing, or in the
results as God shall bless a feeble flock; but in the
Church as to her real hold upon the Foreign Mis
sionary Enterprise. Who shall rouse her? Our
seminaries East and West and North and South
send out classes not one of whose members comes
abroad. Here for fifty years pioneers have waited
for the coming of those who could adequately do
such a work as still lies before us to be done. God
hasten this in His wisdom."
The Darkness Before The Dawn. It was the
dark hour before the dawn and it was to be darker
yet when death claimed this eager young leader.
We who look back today from the standpoint of an
awakening Church at home, from the standpoint
of the new China with its warm, sympathetic atti
tude toward Christianity, and its growing Church,
with the splendid development of St. John s Uni
versity and Boone University, with our three dio
ceses and staff of workers, the results in a large
measure of the patience and perseverance of our
early missionaries, thank God for their labors,
thank God for the foundations they laid though they
built in weariness and tears. Lonely, isolated at
times, feeling deserted by the Church that sent
them forth, far from the praise and blame of men
they held on in divine patience and heroism for they
"endured as seeing Him who is invisible."
158 The Story of the Church in China
"The bravely dumb that did their deed,
And scorned to blot it with a name.
Who prized heaven s silence more than fame."
We stand on the threshold of China s glorious
new day with the triumph of Christ s cause in sight
if the Church rises to this responsibility and privi
lege of giving Christ to-day to an eager China but
many of these "having obtained a good report
through faith received not the promises," but
bravely dying greeted them afar off.
Work Among the Poor. The work in those days
was still largely among the poor. As in the time
of the Roman Empire and as in India and Korea it
was those who had little to hope for in this world
who turned gladly to the message from another
world. "Not many mighty, not many wise are called."
It was among the lowly that the leaven began to
work that was to leaven the whole lump. The
proud scholar and the haughty official had little or
no use for a religion whose basis is humility and
honesty. "Where do these pupils come from ?" was
asked of our native Deacon in one of the day-
schools. "From the back alleys and slums," was
his answer; "you do not suppose any respectable
man would send his children to a Christian school,
do you?" That tells the story of the attitude of
China toward Christian education twenty years ago.
It was the history of the Early Church repeating
itself. "As we stand in the chancel of our native
Expanding Opportunities 159
Church here and look at the faces of those who are
gathered together in His name, we do not see the
proud brow of the scholar, the haughty brow of
the modern Pharisee, or the hardened, sensual vis
age of the Pontius Pilates or the Herods of China,"
wrote Mr. Partridge from Wuchang, "but we see
those who bear the burden and heat of the day
the sunburnt coolie, the patient laborer, the car
penter, the mason, the blacksmith, the cobbler, the
peddler, the petty farmer, the seller of flowers
these are the souls to whom it is our blessed privi
lege to minister." But a light had begun to shine
in a dark place that before long was to illumine one-
third of the human race. How little the workers
in those days dreamed that twenty-five years hence
China would have turned from her idols and
temples and appealed to the despised Christian
churches for prayer! How far beyond their most
daring hopes the reality has been when the chief
executive of China has said that the new China
must be built upon the foundation of Christianity
as the old China was built upon the foundation of
Confucianism !
Guest Room Work in Ichang and Shasi. Mr.
Sowerby began the work in Ichang in 1889. He
was living in a native house and on Chinese food.
Seven adults had been instructed and baptized and
the work well started when he was taken sick and
obliged to leave for a time, but on his return he
began training Boone School students as evangel
ists and preparing enquirers for Baptism.
160 The Story of the Church in China
Guest Room Methods. He was also in charge O L "
the station at Shasi. Here he tried the policy later
quite widely adopted in the Mission of opening a
guest room or street reception room for Gospel
conversations rather than the usual plan of a street
chapel. The street chapel often consisted, in new
stations, of a shop on a main street which was hired
by the missionary for this purpose and fitted up
with benches. Here the passers by, attracted by the
assembly or sound of preaching, would saunter in
and out staying as long as they pleased. Feeling
that much energy and time might be more fruitfully
employed with quicker results from the seed sow
ing, Mr. Sowerby rented a comfortable private
Chinese dwelling in which the native deacon or
evangelist lived and the guest room of which, at
the front, was used to receive enquirers after
Christian truth. This room was neatly furnished
in Chinese style and here scholars, tradesmen and
others came, read the papers and tracts, and en
tered into conversation with the evangelist who
was on duty at the time. This method has become
widely prevalent in the China Mission and is used
more frequently than the street chapel preaching
method. In this way much more direct and satis
factory results have often been obtained. It is the
individual method whereas the other is often dealing
with a restless, passing congregation. And where
the converts are zealous and faithful in seeking
enquirers among their friends and neighbors and
bringing them to the guest hall it is the more pro-
Expanding Opportunities 161
ductive form of evangelizing if the right man is on
hand to instruct the enquirers.
Death of One of the First Converts in Shasi. In
1890, four years after the opening of the work in
Shasi, Mr. Sowerby while on a visit there was called
upon to visit one of the first Church members who
lived some three or four miles out in the country
and was very ill. In a letter to the Spirit of Missions
he wrote the following touching account of it.
"This old man has never failed to come to divine
worship or Bible-class except when ill, walking the
whole distance and back. I found that he knew he
was dying, but was so full of faith, joy, hope and
peace, that I could speak freely to him of the great
change he would so shortly undergo. The subject
of death is one much shunned by the Chinese, many
thinking that the mere word will bring trouble on
them; but he has for some few years been a most
earnest reader of the whole Bible and had truly
found the Saviour for himself. I mean that he knew
Christ, and the power and comfort of prayer and
the Word of God as a personal experience. Many
of the family he had induced to become Christian,
and he was well known by all around to be a
Christian.
"I have stood by many a death-bed, but never saw
a truer witness to the Saviour s presence in the
shadow of death. I felt that much as I should miss
him when I should visit Shasi, for he always, if he
could, came to the steamer to meet me, I could not
but thank God and rejoice to think that the first
162 The Story of the Church in China
adult convert taken from us by death was so true
a witness to the saving power of Christ. I felt
him to be a kind of earnest, being the first fruits in
this place to God. If those at home who take an
interest in the Mission could have known this old
man, and seen his happy death-bed for he said in
spite of his pain that he was full of joy ; no doctor,
no nurse, nor anything that we should call comforts
or necessities, but yet so really happy in the
Saviour s love they with me would feel that all
we have done or spent was well worth it to have
brought the knowledge of Christ to him of whom
we may well say, it was not death but victory, or
in his own words, when I asked him if he was
afraid, No indeed ! It is not death, but life, I am
going to enter/ "
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE UP-
RIVER WORK
1889-1893
CHAPTER VI
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE UP-
RIVER WORK
1889-1893
Training Catechists in Hankow. An important
development begun by Mr. Locke and further
carried out under Bishops Ingle and Roots was
the gathering of some of the most promising of the
converts and training them as workers. At first it
was a very rudimentary training and lasted for six
months only. Upon Mr. Locke s return to Hankow
from furlough in 1889 he started this work again
and had seven evangelists in training. These lay
workers at this time were men of the plain people
mostly though the standard of scholarship was
considerably raised as the number of applicants
increased. The advantages of such workers was
evident from the start and had had several years
of practical trial under the famous Presbyterian
missionary, the Rev. Dr. Nevius, in North China.
These lay workers were to be the lieutenants in
the army, to be in charge of advance posts, to seek
and teach the heathen and prepare them for Bap
tism. With such helpers one foreigner could be in
charge of a chain of small stations. The policy was
i66 The Story of the Church in China
to send these trained workers as far as possible to
localities where they were well known and would
not be suspected of being anti-Manchu agents or
foreign emissaries. They could succeed where the
foreign missionary would fail and won the friend
ship and sympathy of the people of a new neigh
borhood to the Church long before they saw the
curious looking foreigner from over the seas.
The Riot Year 1891. The storm that broke out
in 1891, one of the periodic outbreaks against
foreigners under the old Manchu regime, had its
premonitory warning several months before. In
Wuchang during the spring of 1890 a strong anti-
foreign feeling was evident. Anonymous placards
and scurrilous posters suddenly appeared on walls
all over the city attacking foreigners and their
religion in a most shocking and vile manner. The
people were urged in these notices to rise against
the foreigners and drive them out. The movement
had its origin in Changsha, the capital of the long
closed and bitterly anti-foreign province of Hunan,
next to Hupeh. No missionaries (or foreigners of
any kind) had ever been allowed to enter this city
of Changsha, and it was not considered safe for a
foreigner even to pass through the province. This
feeling against foreigners was worked up by the
literati of Changsha assisted by financial and official
help. It became a regular movement spreading to
neighboring provinces and cities. The plan fol
lowed was to secure some large private residence
in a city as headquarters. To these substations
Development of the Upriver Work 167
were sent large quantities of the printed matter and
obscene and blasphemous anti-Christian colored
cartoons and from these centers agents worked in
distributing this matter, working up and inflaming
the neighborhood. During the night worthless
characters went about with glue pots and pasted
up the placards throughout the city and gave out
song books and hand bills during the day-time.
When this crusade reached Wuchang the mis
sionaries there had considerable difficulty in getting
it stopped. The work of pasting and distributing
went on for five days before the foreign consuls
in Hankow could take action in the matter. They
sent a strong remonstrance to the Viceroy. Before
his answer came the city magistrate put up a small
notice ordering the posting of anti-foreign placards
to cease. When the missionaries came to examine
this notice however they found it far from satis
factory. It was hardly less insulting than the pla
cards themselves and showed how sympathetically
officialdom looked upon the movement and how
forced was their condemnation of it. It read, "You
cannot clear the water by stirring up the mud or
purify the air by scattering the heaps of dust,"
which interpreted meant, as Mr. Partridge reported,
"Although this filthy mess of the foreigner and
his religion is in the midst of us, we cannot help
matters at all by irritating them ; leave them alone
and they will sink together to the bottom of the
pure waters of China/
After the delay of a week the Viceroy replied by
i68 The Story of the Church in China
ordering the arrest and prosecution of all parties
concerned and other severe measures. The result
was a general quieting down for a while and the
threatening trouble was temporarily averted. In the
meantime however the fire of hatred and antagon
ism was not extinguished but was smoldering and
spreading.
A Larger Center of Population. One of the most
impressive sights in all China is the view from Han
Yang Hill. It is not remarkable for the beauty of
its scenery although the low stretching hills, the
chain of lakes and the winding Han flowing into the
rushing yellow waters of the mighty Yangtse River
at this point 1 present an impressive panorama to the
visitor. But the Hill is so situated that a birdseye
view of the three neighboring cities is given from
its summit. Here at one glance is seen one of the
largest centers of human life and activity in all
Asia. Immediately at one s feet rise the great chim
neys and flame forth the furnaces of the iron works
of Han Yang, the Pittsburgh of China. Across the
narrow Han stretches the long flat city of Hankow,
the great mart of trade. To the right beyond the
broad Yangtse, perhaps three-quarters of a mile
wide, is the proud conservative provincial capital,
Wuchang. On the waters of the two rivers lie
countless Chinese craft and on the latter go to and
fro the great foreign river and ocean steamers and
men-of-war. To the missionary the scene is a chal
lenge for here is the opportunity to plant in a great
1 Hankow means Han Mouth.
ALTAR OF ST. PETER S CHURCH, SHANGHAI
WALL AROUND ST. SAVIOUR S CHAPEL, WUCHANG
This is native built property, purchased and adapted for church uses
Development of the Up river Work 169
center influences that will reach far and wide to
all parts of the vast nation.
Development and Growth in the City of Hankow.
One of the striking features of the years 1890-1891,
was the growth of the evangelistic work at Hankow.
For a period of twelve months Mr. Locke reported
"We have in one year brought into the Church nearly
as many persons as the entire Mission in fifty years
and a larger work is in preparation for next year. 7
He had baptized three hundred and seventy-nine
adults in eleven months and in four stations under
his charge there were one hundred more preparing
for Baptism. He had prepared fourteen native
evangelists and had a class of ten more in prepara
tion, all of whom were recognized as scholars. In
St. Bartholomew s Church House (given by St.
Bartholomew s Church, New York City) sixty
opium cases had been cured and hundreds of other
patients had been treated in the dispensary. There
were three hundred day pupils under his charge, of
whom during the year one hundred were baptized.
This large work was made possible by the wide
use of the native evangelists that had been trained.
"We use no indirect methods," wrote Mr. Locke in
The Churchman. "We try only to win souls, and
to build them up in the most direct and personal
way possible. Distribution of tracts and Bibles, giv
ing away drugs, general hortatory preaching in hos
pital, school and street have all been abandoned.
Personal conversational work in the guest-room,
according to Chinese usage, has been substituted for
I/O The Story of the Church in China
these things, and the daily offices of the Church are
used in the school and in the Hospital. The five
guest-rooms in Hankow are open four or five even
ings a week, gathering an average of one hundred
persons for religious conversation every night. The
only efficient evangelists for Chinese people are Chi
nese evangelists and lay evangelization is rendered
necessary by the magnitude of the field and the
scantiness of the means supplied for the work."
This larger increase in the number of converts in
Hankow brought freshened interest and new hope
to the home friends of the China Mission but it was
questioned by some of the other missionaries
whether it was wise to baptize so many after the
short time of preparation required then in Han
kow. It was feared that opium eaters and other
persons addicted to vicious habits were led by
unworthy motives in seeking and finding admission
to the Church.
Of course it was impossible for one man although
he had two good native deacons assisting him to
give as much careful attention as he would like to
the preparation and examination of such a large
number of converts. Many of the newcomers fell
away in after years, but there can be no doubt
that the present strong position of the Mission in
Hankow with its five Churches and accompanying
parish work strategically placed is largely due to
the untiring energy and zealous work of the one
missionary stationed there alone in a day of big
opportunity.
Development of the Upriver Work 171
Bishop Boone Plans to Move to Hankow. Bishop
Boone was much encouraged by the growth in Han
kow and planned to move there permanently where
he might share the heavy burden borne by Mr.
Locke. Writing home of it he reported : "Time
must test all things ; but very earnest work at vari
ous points by better trained workers led and inspired
by the zeal of Mr. Locke, with God s blessing, are
fully enough to justify such gains. Other missions
flourish in Hankow, and go slowly in an official cen
ter like Wuchang, so that so far we share the same
fortunes. The training up of good evangelists to
extend and build up this growing work is the key
to success/
Anti-Foreign Riots. The disturbances of 1890
which had emanated from Hunan broke out again
in full force in the spring of 1891. Many of the mis
sion stations were put in great peril by the wide
spread outbreaks. The main cause of the riots
was an insurrection against the Manchu dynasty.
The revolutionists thought that by attacking for
eigners at various points they could involve the
Manchu government in trouble with foreign powers
and so make opportunities where they could strike
a successful blow. There were other and minor
motives, such as the general antipathy to foreigners
and animosity to the Roman Catholic Mission
because of its tendency to interfere in local politics
and law suits in favor of its converts, but the main
motive was so to embroil the government with for-
The Story of the Church in China
eign nations that an opportunity for civil rebellion
might be found.
There was a riot in Wuhu but our Mission
escaped. At Wusueh, on the Yangtse between
Hankow and Kiukiang, two foreigners were killed,
a missionary and a customs officer, and the English
Wesleyan Mission House was burned. A riot was
threatened in Wuchang but after many anxious
days the storm passed over the city. In Shanghai
the ladies out at Jessfield were brought into the set
tlement and the schools were dismissed for a few
days, but quiet was soon restored.
Destruction of the Mission Property at Ichang.
It was the newly opened station at Ichang which was
destined to suffer most from the outbreak. The riot
there broke out on September the 3rd and our mis
sion property was first attacked. Mrs. Sowerby
wrote of it some weeks afterwards as follows : "In
regard to the riot there was no notice of any rising
going to take place. In the morning there was a
rumor that the Roman sisters had stolen a child. A
child had been given them, (for the orphanage,) but
they found it was a boy instead of a girl ; so it was
sent back at once and all seemed quiet. At twelve
o clock the riot commenced without any warning.
They got into our place by breaking down the gates
with large boulder stones, so as to get into the con
vent at the back, as they could not get in through
their front entrance. They then made an attack on
Mr. Sowerby himself, throwing large boulders at
him ; but as they had to take two hands to lift them,
Development of the Upriver Work 173
their aim was not sure. Some of our own people tried
to protect him, but got hurt themselves ; and seeing
how things were going to turn begged him to run
for his life. This he had to do, with the mob chas
ing him, some of the stones hitting him, and being
stunned for some little time, but getting up again
and again falling, and the last time he fell, seeing
some of these savages standing over him with a
large stone to crush him, and at the same time hear
ing the mob call out to grab him. This seemed to
give him new life and he staggered on to the Con
sulate. The man, having missed his mark in hitting
him, and rinding the cottagers coming in to protect
Mr. Sowerby, turned back. Mr. Sowerby just stag
gered into the Consulate, and fell on the sofa, as,
besides his sprained ankle, his cuts and bruises, he
had a touch of the sun, as the first stone knocked
his sunhat off, and the thermometer was 102 degrees
in the shade. In response to Mr. Sowerby s appeal
"to send for the Sisters they are being murdered,"
the consul went outside and saw the flames ascend
ing from our house and the Convent. They had set
fire to our place with paraffin which was in bottles
up their jacket sleeves, and gun powder. The sis
ters ran out of their front entrance, down to the
river and were badly bruised and cut, the Mother
Superior s head being opened to the bone. One of
the fathers protected them as much as he could, and
he was badly cut too. Some of the sisters had their
clothes torn off their backs and they were thrown
down the embankment to the river/ The priest
174 The Story of the Church in China
and sisters were saved by foreigners, armed with
revolvers who put off in a boat from a steamer in
the river. Many of the houses of the foreigners
were burned at the same time and the Sowerbys
lost all that they possessed."
Death of Bishop Boone. In the midst of the tense
situation in China the Mission and Church at home
were startled and saddened by the news of the sud
den death of Bishop Boone in Hankow on October
5th, 1891, from typhoid fever. His burdens had
been too great for man to bear long and in vain
he had appealed to the home Church for help ; the
needs of China, the needs of the Mission and the
present anxiety for the safety of the work and work
ers lay heavily on his heart. Following the long
strain that had been put upon him came a short
illness of three days and then came the call of a
merciful Master : "Come ye apart and rest
awhile." During the summer previous to his
death he had fainted away several times and he
remained with Mr. Graves in Wuchang to pro
tect the converts and property long after all felt
that it was not safe, on account of the threatened
riots. He was taken ill on the very day they had
decided to leave.
The Name of Boone. The Church may well be
proud of and gratefully cherish the name of Boone.
As the elder Bishop had been a pioneer in the
establishment of the Mission in China so the
younger was one of the pioneers in the work in Cen
tral China. Once before in Wuchang his health had
Development of the Upriver Work 175
given way and he had retired to America, but return
ing health soon found him back in China again. The
Rev. Mr. Bunn who was associated with him in
Wuchang in the seventies thus wrote of him :
"His policy was the wise one his father inaugur
ated the educational policy. He was a devout man
and a strong Churchman. In most ways he was not
much like the other Bishops of Shanghai. His father
was a leader of men ; he was rather a shepherd. He
was thoughtful of every one, even in small matters.
His latest letters are full of this spirit. He was
conservative of all his own friendships, and aimed
to make peace and promote good fellowship in his
flock. He rejoiced in spirit when his Chinese Chris
tians developed in grace or told him of their suc
cessful work. This I think to be his eminence, that
he was a good shepherd. He has given his life for
the sheep."
Opening of the Year 1892. The death of a Bishop
always brings a peculiar sense of desolation and
pause to the China Mission. So much depends upon
him all the new policies and work seek his
approval and encouragement before they are
launched. It seems in the foreign mission field far
more than in a more settled work that the head of
the house is gone when the Bishop dies and, although
the workers push along as best they can, the mov
ing, energizing, directing authority is lacking.
So the year 1892 opened upon a saddened though
still hopeful little group in the China Mission. They
were looking toward the future and the glad hour
176 The Story of the Church in China
when the Church would do greater things for China
and when what was done would receive a greater
welcome in China. Dr. Merrins, a valuable recruit,
had joined the Wuchang staff and was to take up
again the medical work in Wuchang which had been
interrupted by the resignation in 1890 of Dr. Deas
because of ill-health. Two young men, Rev. J. A.
Ingle and Rev. Robert K. Massie had applied
to the Board in 1891 for the China field and had been
told there were no funds to send them. In fact in
February, 1891, the General Secretary of the Board
of Missions, the Rev. Dr. Langford, had announced
that there were several applications for China before
the Board and that it had repeatedly been necessary
to discourage those who wished to apply for
missionary appointment because of lack of funds ;
while at the same time the work was in need
of reinforcement. The harvest was white the
laborers stood ready to go but means there were
none. So determined were Mr. Ingle and Mr. Mas
sie to go out that they set about to raise their sup
port themselves, and in a month special contribu
tions made their appointment possible. Both of
these new workers were sent to Shanghai, but soon
Mr. Ingle, moved by the splendid opportunity for
evangelistic work in Hankow and Mr. Locke s
urgent need of help, moved, with the consent of the
standing committee, to this station.
The Hankow Church Opened. The growing
work in Hankow called for a larger central Church
to accommodate the congregation. The old St.
Development of the Upriver Work 177
Paul s Chapel in the native city was far too small
and inconvenient. Bishop Boone and Mr. Locke
had been keeping this need before the home Church,
and the Board of Missions had authorized an
expenditure to $10,000 provided the money could
be raised by special contributions. After a long
time of waiting part of the money came in and the
work was started. To the erection of this Church
Mr. Locke gave the most careful supervision and
it v/as a day of great rejoicing for the Hankow flock
and staff when the new Church was opened for its
first service on January 24th, 1892. It was the
largest Church in Central China and has accommo
dated at one special evangelistic service as many as
fourteen hundred men. When Hankow became a
separate missionary jurisdiction it was selected by
Bishop Ingle as the Cathedral and has been the
scene of many large and inspiring services.
Changes at Boone School, Wuchang. Owing to
the attitude of the progressively minded Viceroy
Chang Tsz Tung and his commercial and educa
tional operations in the Wu-Han (Wuchang, Han
kow and Han Yang) center there had begun to be
an increased demand for English. A School oi
Chemistry had been opened, a large cotton mill
erected by the Viceroy in Wuchang, and important
iron works started in Han Yang. As soon as these
enterprises were operating the Chinese saw that a
knowledge of the English language would be
useful and that a further education than that
afforded by the Chinese classics would be neces-
178 The Story of the Church in China
sary. Seeing the trend of things Mr. Partridge
added an English pay department to Boone School.
At first the new students were asked to pay for
books and food only but gradually the cost of
tuition was added. The experiment was success
ful from the start. Forty pupils applied, sons of
scholars and of merchants. From that time, 1892,
Boone began to move steadily toward self-support
and its present position as Boone University.
Visit of Bishop Hare. In 1891, Bishop Hare of
South Dakota was making his second visit to Japan
in the absence of a Bishop over that Jurisdiction.
Upon the death of Bishop Boone the Board of Mis
sions requested him as its agent to extend his visit
to China. Some of his report to the Board is of per
manent interest and value :
"I am very favorably impressed with the char
acter and ability of the Mission force and think that
here, as in Japan, the wise method of work is not the
sending of many workers, of whom not a few will
of course be persons of small gifts and little force,
but the careful selection of a picked few who have
ability and training sufficient to enable them to
occupy important points of central influence,
whether institutional, evangelistic or pastoral, and
to work in them and out from them by means of
native helpers. The expense of each such head and
his native staff as compared with the expense of
the same number of foreign workers would be about
one-third ; the loss from physical prostration, break
down, and returns home almost nothing; and the
Development of the Upriver Work 179
efficiency incomparably greater. * * * I trust that
the Church has learned the lesson that only care
fully selected persons, just the persons whom every
body wants to keep at home are those who should
be sent out to such foreign fields as China and Japan.
The missionaries from home should have the gifts
and training which will fit them to act as leaders in
their several spheres and teachers of natives who
shall first be their assistants and eventually succeed
to their places." These words are as true to-day as
they were twenty-two years ago.
Speaking of St. John s College he said : "Chinese
youth here assumed to me a new aspect and I felt
that I could draw them to me in a paternal embrace,
a feeling I must confess I never experienced before,
however much the Chinese may have excited my
benevolent feelings."
In reference to the large growth in the number of
converts in Hankow he said: "I reached the con
clusion, after considerable questioning of Mr. Locke
and his three deacons, that a real religious influ
ence had been awakened, that this interest was on
a low plane and had little spirituality in it, but on a
plane much higher than the subjects of the move
ment had ever known before, that the persons con
cerned had actually enlisted themselves as pupils
in the school of Christ and were ready to be taught
and led; that considerable enthusiasm and esprit
du corps and the cheery confidence which comes
from feeling that one is connected with a successful
work had been aroused ; and that if the work can be
i8o The Story of the Church in China
maintained and the converts kept in hand, a large
number of them would become established Chris
tians.
"Let the Church buildings be so constructed that
there should be a distinct part set aside for the
faithful and another part for the catechumens ; let
there be a service for the reception of catechumens
and then seat them in the Church in the part
reserved. Fellowship would thus be given them
and they would seem to themselves to have com
mitted themselves to the Church, and the Church
to have committed itself to them. Such a practice
prevailed in the early Church, and has been used
with advantage in some parts of the mission field
in the present day/
Seating in the Church. This course prevailed
and has been developed and widely used in
Central China by Mr. Ingle and his successors.
In fact it has become the Mission custom. The
churches, however, are not specially constructed.
The seating is arranged as follows : A certain num
ber of pews in front are reserved for the confirmed
and baptized. Behind them sit the catechumens and
behind them still, the enquirers. 1 The women and
men are separated and sit on opposite sides of the
middle aisle.
*To the side at first was a bench known as the penitent s
bench where Christians under discipline, if any, were seated.
FORGING AHEAD
1893-1895
CHAPTER VII
FORGING AHEAD
1893-1895
The New Bishop. Early in March, 1893, the good
news was sent to the Mission in China that the
House of Bishops had chosen a leader for them
from among their own number. The Rev. F. R.
Graves had gone to China ten years before and so
brought a ripe experience to his new duties as mis
sionary Bishop. In company with the Rev. Dr.
John McKim, the Bishop Elect of Yeddo, Japan,
he was consecrated in St. Thomas Church, New
York City, on June 14th, 1893. The election of
Bishop Graves brought confidence and renewed
hope to the workers in China. "We are sure," wrote
the Standing Committee in their report,"that Bishop
Graves will be the right man in the right place. His
acquaintance with the Chinese language and litera
ture will give him prominence and influence, and
his knowledge of the sentiments of the Church will
incline him to a liberal policy while his firmness of
character and impartiality of judgment qualify him
to rule well the affairs of the Missions both eccle
siastic and secular."
Arranging the Work. The Bishop arranged his
183
184 The Story of the Church in China
little band of workers as best he could but it was
an impossible task to make them "go around/ The
Rev. Mr. Locke was impelled to leave China to make
some provision for the care of his children and later
resigned from the Mission. This left the Rev. Mr.
Ingle, with but a few months experience in China,
in charge of the important work at Hankow. There
was another riot at Ichang and it was deemed inad
visable for Mr. Sowerby to return there. He was,
accordingly, placed in charge of Boone School,
Wuchang, with oversight of the outstations in
Ichang and Shasi, but this work in his impaired
state of health he was not able to carry very long.
The Rev. Mr. Partridge was given charge of the
Theological School and the parish church of the
Holy Nativity in Wuchang. A trained nurse, Miss
Florence McRae, had joined the staff at Wuchang
and Dr. Merrins in charge of the medical work was
pleading for a proper men s hospital on the Mission
compound to take the place of the native buildings
near the Fu Kai (Happiness Street) where Dr. Deas
had conducted the medical work. A new recruit
destined for Wuhu, the Rev. H. C. Collins, was liv
ing in Hankow learning the language and Bishop
Graves had also decided to live there.
Development at St. John s. St. John s had devel
oped under efficient leadership into a college with
a four years preparatory department and a collegi
ate course of three years. In fact it was now a young
university, as a theological department had been
recently added and there was a medical school in
Forging Ahead 185
Hongkew under Dr. Boone. The college had out
grown and one might say outworn the modest
buildings in which Bishop Schereschewsky had
begun St. John s School in 1879. Mr. Pott had pre
sented the need for new buildings to the home
Church while on furlough in 1892-93 and had
secured about $20,000 for the erection of a suitable
structure. With this was erected the first of the
group of the present St. John s, a dignified center
around which is growing a good equipment.
Woman s Auxiliary Organized. A happy event
of the year 1893 was the visit of Mrs. Twing, the
Honorary Secretary of the Woman s Auxiliary to
Shanghai. While there she organized the first Chi
nese branch of the- Society. Writing of the meeting
she said : "I think I may safely say that I never
had a happier hour than this afternoon when Mr.
Graves walked into the church, as I was explaining
to a large congregation of Christian women and girls
that almost filled it, about the Woman s Auxiliary,
Mr. Thomson interpreting. The sun was shining in
at the open doors and windows, the birds were sing
ing delightfully, the Chapel was fresh and lovely,
all the women and girls were in their best, and look
ing so interested and intelligent, and it seemed a
charming welcome to their new Bishop-elect and a
promise of future help in his work from his own
people, that could not but have been most cheering
and encouraging. He spoke beautifully to them
afterwards and so did Mr. Thomson, and the ser
vice was so nice and hearty, and the singing so
1 86 The Story of the Church in China
good. Indeed, in every way it was as good a meet
ing as I ever went to in the Auxiliary."
Services for Foreigners in Hankow. Our mis
sionaries had long realized the spiritual needs of
their own countrymen in China who were there for
business or in Customs service. Dr. Nelson had
ministered for many years in this work at the Church
of our Saviour, Shanghai, but upriver the force of
workers had been too scanty to do much English
work. The Rev. Mr. Ingle early showed his special
interest in his own people in Hankow and on his
first Easter there (1893) arranged an evening ser
vice for them in the new St. Paul s Chinese Church,
which was continued every Sunday evening until
the Mission assumed full charge of all Church of
England services for foreigners in St. John s Eng
lish Church.
The service was made as bright and attractive as
possible and the English residents responded well to
this effort for them. Writing home of this new
departure Mr. Ingle said : "No one at home has any
conception of the temptations to careless and
ungodly living to which foreigners here are exposed,
and while we fully realize, that we, as missionaries,
come to preach the Gospel to the heathen, we are
unwilling to lose an opportunity of stretching out a
helping hand to those of our own blood. So we try
to make this service an attractive one, that we may
win souls to Christ."
Nowhere do the people of our own race need
Christian sympathy, ministry and help more than in
Forging Ahead 187
the port cities of the East. In those cities the worst
of the West and the worst of East meet and the condi
tions often justify the description given them of
"hell on earth." Even in the smaller, interior ports
there is a subtle yet marked retrogression in life
and character. A missionary in India once said that
there is more religion to the square yard on the
banks of the Suez Canal than on any other equal
area in the world, because so many Western Chris
tians take off their religion there and take it up again
on their way home. Religious work among the
foreigners in China is much more difficult and dis
couraging than work among the Chinese, but it is
very necessary not only for the sake of our brothers
themselves but for the sake of their example before
the Chinese.
Thus began in the upriver district a work that
was to be continued without interruption and which
was gradually to become an important part of the
Mission activities not only in Hankow but in all the
ports where foreigners, many of whom were affili
ated with the Church of England, were resident.
The First Mission Conference. In February, 1894,
Bishop Graves called together all the foreign work
ers in the mission for consultation. A number of
vexed questions were settled at this time and the
widely scattered missionaries came to feel more
strongly than before the oneness of their work. The
need of reinforcements was uppermost in every
mind. Several of the mission institutions were
closed because of the lack of workers to man them.
i88 The Story of the Church in China
There were almost no women to oversee and develop
the work among women. The male converts were
increasing but there were very few women converts.
In the churches and chapels out of deference to
Church custom the women sat on one side of the
Church and the men on the other. At that time
there was also in the interior stations a series of
screens dividing the two parts of the congregation.
At service time the men s side was well filled but
the woman s side was practically empty. The work
ers realized that there would not be a Christian
China until there were Christian homes, and that
there would not be Christian homes until there were
Christian mothers, and that there would not be
Christian mothers until there were women workers
from home in whose hearts was the love of Christ
to give themselves for this work. And now even
the evangelistic work among men had come to a
standstill. It could proceed no further. "We have
ceased to educate more theological students," wrote
the new Bishop, "for want of American clergymen
to oversee them efficiently in their evangelistic
work. We do not intend to evangelize China by
foreign missionaries alone, but through our native
ministry. What we ask of the Church is enough
men to oversee them in their work." Ten workers
were asked for immediately by the Conference. This
did not provide for enlargement but simply for the
efficient carrying on of work that has already been
begun.
The Work of Training. The work in Boone
REV. Y. T. FU REV. T. K. HU
CHINESE PRESBYTERS
Forging Ahead 189
School and the Divinity School had gone quietly
and steadily forward. Mr. Partridge drew a true
picture of it. "Only those who really know what
the problem is here, appreciate the work of hours
and hours, days and days, weeks and months, spent
in a Chinese class-room instructing a few catechists
and deacons and attempting to develop and
strengthen character. It is the all-essential foundation
work, which does not show much on the surface,
and which is hard and slow and discouraging to
those engaged in it; but we struggle steadily on in
faith, for we know that the superstructure must
eventually rest upon what we are accomplishing
now, and quality is far more essential than quan
tity at this stage of the Church s progress in
China/ *
Ordinations in 1896. Three candidates for Holy
Orders, Li, Hu and Tsen, were ordained on the
Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude in 1896. The abundant
promise that they gave nearly twenty years ago has
been more than fulfilled and years of wise and fruit
ful labor have been the result. One of them is now
the priest in charge of the Church s outpost Shihnan
in Western Hupeh (a station ten days distant from
Ichang), another is the Chinese rector of All Saints
Training School for Catechists at Hankow, and the
1 The splendid native clergymen we have now in China
who were trained at this time give ample evidence of the
spirit in which that work of training was done. It is difficult
to see how any better work could have been done for the
Church in China than the training of these men by Bishops
Graves and Partridge.
190 The Story of the Church in China
third is still doing telling work in the city of Wuhu
to which he was assigned at the time of his ordina
tion. One rejoices in these men and others like
them in the native ministry in China. They are the
hope of the Church in China, the foundations upon
which humanly speaking the building not made
with hands must rest. They are a promise of the
future of the Chinese race when it shall be Chris
tianized. When one who knows them thinks of
their spiritual power, their ability as preachers and
as administrators he feels the hope warranted that
when China is won for Christ it is to be the great
est Christian nation, not only in point of numbers
but in point of Christian activity and power for
Christ, in the world.
The First Training School for Bible Women. At
the Mission Conference in 1894 Miss Dodson read
a paper on the need of trained native Bible women.
She thus forcibly stated the situation : "In the first
place, no one has come out for this special work of
training Bible women, and those who have taken
it up have not been free to give their whole and un
divided time to it. We have gone on from year to
year, hoping something could be done in the future
to strengthen our woman s work, until now half
a century has gone by, and very little done. Shall
we quietly wait another half century? I say no.
But if we wait for the command to go forward to
come from the home land, it may never come.
The present state of our girls day-schools and
Bible women is sad and hopeless. It is a failure,
Forging Ahead 191
that is, when you look at it from a forty-nine years
old standpoint. We have good and worthy
women in our native Church, women that we are
proud of, but our Bible women and teachers do not
understand their business. The eight widows
employed as teachers of day schools and as Bible
women in the Shanghai branch of our Mission are
far from giving satisfaction/
As the result of Miss Dodson s appeal which
was published in America the Woman s Auxiliary
raised part of the funds for a training school in
Shanghai and the remainder was raised by Bishop
Graves. So a new and important department to
the Mission work was organized. The School when
completed was placed in charge of a new worker,
Miss Lillis Crummer, who showed then the promise,
and for many years the fulfilled reality, of splendid
qualifications for the important work of training.
The new work was opened in September 1897.
The first class was a test class composed of four
resident women and one day student. "It is
hardly necessary to say," wrote Miss Crummer,
"that these women are all widows, for it has been
so often stated that only widows are eligible to a
school of this kind, as they only are able to
command the respect of the people when they go
out to do Bible women s work. Married women,
of course, could do the same, but they are not free
to leave their home ties and devote themselves to
such training and practical work." In addition
to those in training some outside women came in
192 The Story of the Church in China
for instruction. "We will see," Miss Crummer con
tinued, "whether they will be profited by it and
made better Churchwomen with a zeal for gather
ing in others for the harvest and not be like one
old Christian p o p o (old lady) I knew not long
ago, who was the only Christian in her village, and
was anxious to keep the honor all to herself!"
We admit that this convert was not very far
advanced in the Christian life but she had advanced
as far as her more favored but equally exclusive
sister in America who once asked her Bishop if
some rule could not be made whereby people who
had not been born in the Episcopal Church could
be kept out of it.
The mornings in the Training School were spent
in study of the Bible and Church doctrines. The
women did the work in the house, except the cook
ing. A cook was provided so that the meals might
be served on time. "This," said Miss Crummer, "to
the Western mind, is the most natural way to serve
them, but it is not Chinese, for they seem to cook
and eat at all times of the day and night." The
afternoons were spent in getting practical experi
ence visting the patients at the woman s hospital,
at the dispensary, in classes for teaching the
heathen and, when weather permitted, the surround
ing villages.
At the end of six months both Miss Crummer
and Bishop Graves were pleased with the result.
The conduct and progress of the women were satis
factory and it was proven that women of mature
Forging Ahead 193
years were capable of successful training and that
women of Shanghai and upriver districts could be
trained together. The Bishop said of it at the end of
this period, "The institution has run like clockwork
since it was started. It has now passed the stage of
experiment, and may be said to have solved the
question of the training of women for this Mission/
Power of the Teacher s Example. And Miss
Crummer in her bright, characteristic, capable way
which so endeared her to her many friends wrote
of the experiment after describing the course of
study, etc. : "Thus I have tried so far in a poor
way to tell you what lessons they have learned in
these six months. Now I want to tell you what
great lesson / have learned. It is this, that the
power of example is to be one of the strongest fac
tors in developing these women into useful and
efficient helpers in the Mission field. I have noticed
that as I have been earnest and industrious so have
they been earnest and industrious. As I have been
prompt and regular at all the services, so have
they been. As I have allowed other things to
interfere with my work, or have become lax for
a time on account of the trying climate, I have im
mediately noticed a laxity on their part. Although
advanced in years they are still children, and must
be led and taught as such. I have also learned that
women of their age can live together in harmony,
which was a mooted question at first. I think the
secret is keeping them busy and a little tired, so
that they have not the inclination to gossip and
194 The Story of the Church in China
discuss one another. Of course the whole scheme
so far is a trial, but after six months I am pleased,
and I am sure, if we do our duty, blessings will
fall on the work, and the Church Training School
for Women will prosper."
It has now long passed the stage of experiment
and for sixteen years has been making work among
Chinese women by Chinese women under foreign
oversight possible and fruitful.
THE WAR WITH JAPAN AND ITS FAR
REACHING EFFECT UPON THE
CHINA MISSION
1895-1898
CHAPTER VIII
THE WAR WITH JAPAN AND ITS FAR
REACHING EFFECT UPON THE
CHINA MISSION
1895-1898
In 1895 occurred one of the most momentous
events in the long history of China. For eighty
years missionaries had been trying to spread
Christianity in the Empire. For an even longer
period foreign nations had been knocking at the
doors of China. The nation was asleep occasion
ally there were evidences that the slumber of cen
turies was being disturbed but after each disturbance
there was the inclination to take another nap. The
war with Japan was the sharp, sudden blow on the
head that forever awakened the sleeping giant.
Before that China had moved on her way self-satisfied,
proud, disdainful of the nations of the West, ignor
ant, cruel, oppressed by corrupt rulers, Christian
mission work like every other form of foreign inter
course was like butting the head against a stone
wall. It was rather hard on the head but it made
very little impression on the wall.
But the forces were at work to make the new
China. The spread of the Truth that was to make
>97
198 The Story of the Church in China
men free, the comparative view of the world that
Chinese students abroad were getting the touch
of foreign diplomacy and commerce was making an
impression on China and already the seeds were
being sown in many a mission school (as in the
Anglican Mission School in Honolulu in which the
Sun Yat Sen was a student) which were later to
germinate and bring forth much and mighty fruit
but the process was slow and needed just such a
hurrying up as the disastrous war with Japan
involved.
Then it was, in the fight over Korea, that China,
the proud mistress of races, as she had thought
herself to be, was ignominiously defeated by her
despised little island neighbor. Here the Goliath
of the Orient was laid low by the stripling from the
Eastern Sea. It was a bitter blow but it was a
saving one for China. It did not take some of the
bright younger men of China long to see that
Japan s victory was due to her adoption of Western
methods. Japan had been going to school to the
despised foreigner and Japan s contact with Europe
and America and her careful study of their arts and
sciences and especially of their military ways had
made her strong with a strength against which the
old Chinese army could not cope. To be sure the
umbrella, fan, bow and arrows of the old Chinese
soldier had been replaced by modern ( ?) German
weapons of warfare, but the most of the money for
the purchase of modern equipment given the army
department had gone into the purses of the officials
The War With Japan 199
and useless antiquated weapons and ammunition
for a low price had been purchased instead.
"All the world," said a writer in the North China
Herald after the war, "knows that China, though
huge, is very weak; that she is weak because she
feeds her mandarins and people upon falsehood
instead of truth, on ignorance instead of know
ledge, on hatred to all outside China instead of good
will, on opposition and misrepresentation of all
Christian philanthropists instead of gratitude and
friendship.
"What then is the remedy? Let China ask her
self how it is that a country one-tenth her size has
almost paralyzed her trade and forced her prac
tically to give up Korea? The method adopted by
Japan must take the place of the haphazard govern
ment now in vogue ; foreign inventions and power
must be taken into consideration, friendly relation
ship with civilized powers must be cultivated and
information must be allowed to take the place of
the terrible ignorance that lies like a pall on
China."
Fortunately for China her own leaders were be
ginning to realize what the writer in the English
newspaper in Shanghai referred to above and what
all alert foreigners in China had seen. They
realized her weakness and saw that their country
was in imminent danger of being sliced up like Poland
among foreign powers. Clearheaded, thoughtful men
among them saw that China could not go along in
the old ways, that if ruin and anarchy were to be
2oo The Story of the Church in China
averted something must be done. Thereupon
arose a widespread cry for reform and the bigoted,
intolerant literati were doomed with the old regime.
The conservatives were in power again from the
time of the coup d etat of 1898 and the deposition
of the young Emperor Kwang Su until the failure
of the Boxer Movement in 1900, but from the time
of the Japanese War their power began to wane.
Progress and reform were in the air.
The War and Missions. Terrible as were the
evils of war the missionaries felt that the reforms
that it was bound to bring about would more than
compensate its ills. The evils which daily beset
the Chinese people were far worse than the horrors
of the battle-field. The latter must have an end,
but famines, dire poverty, injustice and oppression
had never ceased through long centuries of misrule
and official corruption. Any war that could help
sweep away China s terrible sorrows would be a
blessing. The friends of China hoped that the
humiliation of her pride might bring in a better day.
They hoped too that China s leaders might see, as
the rest of the world saw, that China s failure was
not only a military and administrative one, but a
moral failure, that what was needed was a new
moral force and that this would be found only in
the Christian religion.
"We are looking forward to glorious opportuni
ties for extending missionary work as the result of
this war," Archdeacon Wolfe of South China wrote
to England. "I consider this war as the best thing
The War With Japan 201
imaginable for China and the Chinese people
ultimately. War is, no doubt, in the abstract, and
in every way, in fact, a terrible calamity; but God
overrules these great evils for good, and it requires
some terrible upheaving and force to shake this
country out of its old ways and cleanse it of its
corruption and want of common justice."
Massacre and Riots in Szchuen. While the ulti
mate effect of the war was to be thus favorable to
the spread of Christianity its immediate effect was
to inflame the masses of people for a time all the
more against all foreigners as the supposed cause
of the trouble. Humiliated and sullen the officials
in Western China led by the Viceroy of Szchuen
vented their ill will in another terrible massacre.
In Kucheng, the Church of England missionaries
were torn from their beds and foully murdered.
Other missions suffered terribly in loss of property.
Hospitals, orphanages, churches, the agencies
which held within them the power of a new life for
China, were swept away. While this movement did
not spread to any of the stations of our own Mis
sion it was a time of anxiety, for in China, in the old
days of the Empire, one never knew just how much
any such movement was local and how much
national.
Friendly Attitude Toward Missionaries. After
this movement to drive out Christianity and West
ern civilization had failed there came a revulsion
of feeling and the prominent lesson of the war
began to make itself felt. The officials began to
2O2 The Story of the Church in China
see in the missionary the messenger of a new and
better civilization. There came a strong desire for
the learning that had made Western nations and
Japan so strong and prosperous. The despised
Mission school took on an entirely different aspect
to the erstwhile Chinese scoffer. It was the day
of opportunity for Mission schools and the mis
sionaries realized it.
St. John s College. "The demands upon us are
becoming greater," wrote Dr. Pott early in 1897,
"and our desire is to put ourselves in a position to
meet them. Many signs of a general overturn in
the old crystallized state of affairs in China are evi
dent, and in whatever way it may be brought about,
a new order of things is sure to come." The fees
for tuition were raised and the number of appli
cants for admission were so great that many had to
be refused. A new Science Hall was deemed a
necessity for the enlargement of the college and
some large sums were contributed for it by wealthy
Chinese merchants and officials who had at last
come to realize the value of St. John s.
Growth in Shanghai. In 1897 Bishop Graves com
ments especially on the great commercial develop
ment of Shanghai since the close of the China-Japan
War. The growth of the place was phenomenal and
on all sides were springing up cotton factories, silk
filatures and other important manufacturing estab
lishments. While the growth of a big city brought
new problems to the mission work "the situation is
now without a great promise for the future, for it
The War With Japan 203
means that as Shanghai grows so does our opportu
nity for doing good, and the greater is the position
of influence that will be occupied by any mission
located here. Moreover, it means that the old dead,
anti-progressive spirit will of necessity give place
to another."
Development Upriver. The experience at Boone
School in Wuchang was similar to that at St. John s
College. There was the same increased demand for
foreign education. It had not been easy to obtain
paying pupils before but now the applicants were so
numerous that Mr. Partridge had difficulty in choos
ing out those who applied. He himself raised the
funds and purchased a piece of land adjoining the
Mission, for enlargement. The son of the Taotai of
Hankow entered the school ; the first son of an offi
cial to enter Boone. Viceroy Chang Tsz Tung 1 sent
his secretary to express his appreciation of the
school, and to offer (unsolicited) to furnish the
new building needed, or build an addition to
Williams Hall, or in fact extend any financial help
needed provided that the usual attendance at
Divine worship be made not compulsory. "It is
a rather trying temptation," wrote Mr. Partridge
of the offer, "to one when the building is appeal
ing so strongly for funds, but of course I have
been obliged to decline his Excellency s offer.
Position of Mission Schools. Throughout the
1 Chang Tsz Tung, one of China s greatest and best rulers
who about this time wrote the book "Learn China s Only
Hope," which had a large circulation and widespread influence.
2O4 The Story of the Church in China
land the Christian schools became the cynosure of
all eyes. When the newly established government
college at Tientsin started to secure the most promis
ing students, Li Hung Chang told the American
president of the institution to secure all he could
from Christian schools as there he would find the
best material. The foreign office in Pekin made a
recommendation to the government to establish a
university in each of the eighteen provinces with
smaller schools in the chief cities, where the Chinese
could study English, chemistry, physics and meta
physics, and an edict to that effect was issued.
"Some of the governors received these orders
with alacrity," wrote Dr. Boone, "some conserva
tives did not like the new regime. The powerful
governor of the great province of Shantung replied
to the imperial rulers that he would comply with
the order, but as no one wanted the college nothing
could be done. The reply came : We gave the order
because so many influential people in your province
want it. The governor replied : I have no place
suitable for this college. The answer was : Take
one of the many temples in your city, empty it, and
get it ready for this work/ Further objections
brought the imperial retort : Obey orders or we will
dismiss you from office and install someone who
will carry out our new policy/ The governor had
to submit to the inevitable and get ready for the new
order of things. He even had to go to the mission
aries living in his city whom he had opposed for
years and ask them to lend a hand in getting the
The War With Japan 205
new college started and finding suitable instructors
for it." All these were evidences that the young
Emperor himself had broken away from the
Empress Dowager, his conservative but strong-
minded aunt, and had been won over to the side
of reform.
Conference of Anglican Bishops. In the mean
time two events had occurred in the Mission both
of which were important works of preparation for
the door of greater opportunity which was opening
wide before the Church. One was the first Confer
ence, in Shanghai in 1897, of all the Anglican
Bishops working in China.
It had been felt for some time that there ought to
be a closer bond of union between the Church of
England and American Episcopal Missions and con
sultation together for the good of the Church. At
this first conference, at which the four English Bish
ops and the one American Bishop were present with
attending presbyters, various subjects were dis
cussed, such as religious terms in the Chinese lan
guage, the name of the Church in Chinese, sub
divisions of dioceses and a common classical revi
sion of the Book of Common Prayer. All felt that
the Church had made an important step forward and
it was agreed to meet again in 1899. These confer
ences were destined under the blessing of God to
eventuate in the formation in 1912 of the one Church
for all of China, the Sheng Kung Hui, comprising
English, American, Chinese and Canadian members
of the Anglican Church in China.
2o6 The Story of the Church in China
Revision of the Prayer Book. The other import
ant piece of work was the revision of the Prayer
Book in 1895 by a committee appointed by Bishop
Graves consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Thomson,
Partridge, Pott and Ingle. The Mission already had
a beautiful translation in the literary language
made by the scholarly Bishop Schereschewsky. But
in the meantime the American book had been revised
and enriched and it became necessary to go care
fully over it again altering it so as to correspond with
the one used at home and correcting minor defects
that frequent use had made noticeable. This
revision kept the book in the Wenli language. It
was afterward put into the Mandarin and the
Shanghai colloquial.
Further Development of the Upriver Evangel
istic Work. In spite of wars and rumors of war the
work in outstations was being pushed forward. An
advance was made when a new station was opened
by a native evangelist in the large town of Han-
chuan, some sixty miles up the Han River from
its mouth at Hankow. After the native preacher
had been at work there for several months Mr. Ingle
visited the new station in 1894 and baptized seventy-
one converts, "good and genuine people." "If more
men would offer themselves," wrote Bishop Graves,
"we might go on extending our work in this way. 3 *
With the coming of the Rev. D. T. Huntington to
Hankow in 1895 and the Rev. L. H. Roots in 1896,
it was possible gradually to extend and develop the
otitstation work with a chain of country stations,
The War With Japan 207
manned by native evangelists, between several of
the large cities in which a native or foreign clergy
man resided.
Hanchuan is a good example of an outstation in the
China Mission. This town is in the central point
of a large country district. Around it have gradu
ally been opened preaching points in several vil
lages. In Hanchuan a native clergyman resides,
while in the more important neighboring village
catechists are stationed. It was never intended to
have a foreign missionary resident there with the
equipment of a hospital or large boarding school
needed in the big cities and provincial capitals, but
it was planned that it should be developed, as in
time the Mission hopes to develop hundreds of simi
lar cities into a strong center for the Chinese
Church in the district around it. 1
Anking. Anking, on the Yangtse River, midway
between the cities of Wuhu and Kiukiang is one of
the strategic points in the conquest of China for
Christ, being the capital of the province of Anhui.
Here, early in 1894, in spite of the paucity of work
ers at the time, a start had been made with a native
deacon in charge. It was difficult to rent property
for the use of a Christian mission, but an old
"haunted house" which no one else wanted was
finally obtained. There was no foreigner to place
there until 1896, when Dr. Mackay of Wuchang,
*Of the 1900 counties into which China is divided about
1200 are still without settled mission work.
208 The Story of the Church in China
although not a member of the Mission, relieved
Dr. Merrins at Wuchang who with Mrs. Merrins
removed to Anking to make an opening by medical
work for the Gospel in that great heathen strong
hold.
Other Upriver Outstations. Another new out-
station opened about 1895 was the city of Hsinti
about one hundred miles up the Yangtse River
from Hankow. Here also it was not intended
to have a foreigner resident. It was first man
ned by native catechists one of whom proved a
scoundrel and made much trouble for the Mission
with the Roman Catholic Mission which he joined
after being dismissed by the Church for dishonesty.
Afterwards a native clergyman was sent to take
charge of this work which has made good progress
in spite of its stormy drawbacks. Here in May,
1896, Mr. Ingle visited the station, the first for
eigner to enter the city or to travel over most of
the road from Hanchuan there. This journey, from
Hankow to Hanchuan sixty miles by native boat
and from Hanchuan a point sixty miles further
up the Han River where Mr. Ingle thought of open
ing a station and from thence to Hsinti across coun
try and from the latter place back to Hankow was
the longest journey yet recorded of any member of
our Mission into the interior of the province of
Hupeh. It was a journey of exploration, and the
traveller came back with a new sense of the vast-
ness of the work yet to be done and the need of
branching out by means of native helpers from the
The War With Japan 209
big cities in which the Mission first had wisely
determined to settle and make strong centers for
radiating activity.
Work at Shasi. The work at Shasi was put on a
permanent basis in 1896 by the purchase of land and
the erection of a chapel and house for the native
pastor, the Rev. Mr. Kwei, who was in charge of
this station until his death in 1911. This addition
was made possible by the generous gift of the
missionary in charge, the Rev. Mr. Huntington. The
work here as at Hanchuan and Hsinti was done by
natives under the supervision of the foreign worker,
and that the plan worked well has been a great tes
timony to the efficiency of the native staff.
These stations were then all supervised from
Hankow as a center. In the latter city itself the
evangelistic work was spreading and new congre
gations being organized. St. Peter s congregation
was housed in a native house. 1 Mr. Huntington tell
ing of a baptism service at the old St. Peter s thus
describes the Chapel : "We first went up a very crazy
tenement-house sort of stairs to the Deacon s study.
At three o clock we went down. I never saw such a
ehapel. Sheldon Street Mission room is a Westmin
ster Abbey compared to it, though this is larger.
Whitewashed (but not very recently) floor partly
Stones and partly boards with holes in them and
thoroughly rotten, and the seats board benches with
1 Bishop Graves wrote home at one time that any hayloft
at home was preferable to sleep in to any Chinese house he
knew.
2io The Story of the Church in China
no backs to them. Just in front of the chancel,
over what, by courtesy, we will call the choir, was
a sort of well through which came nearly all the
light for the building. I could see the edges of sev
eral roofs, but there was nothing to keep the rain
out, and the altar looked as if it had suffered ship
wreck and been in the deep, a night and a day/
"When you add that, besides being open to the
weather, there is no means at all for warming the
place, and that the thermometer registered four
below zero in Hankow on December 15th, you
will readily conclude that it is not the luxuries of
Christianity which have made the converts. 1
"This is one of the most successful stations and
they need very much a decent chapel and good
guest-room (reception room) for enquirers to come
and talk with the missionaries."
This appeal was not without its effect. In 1897
through the generous gift of Mrs. Bedell, widow of
the late Bishop of Ohio, the present neat and sub
stantial St. Peter s Chapel was erected in Hankow.
Neglect by the Home Church. The missionaries
sorely needed such evidences of the interest of the
home Church in the work it had sent them to do.
In fact it almost seemed at times as if they were
not only to do this work in China for the Church
but to furnish the means of doing it. Mr. Ingle
wrote at the end of 1896 from Hankow:
1 The above description will give a general picture of many
of the newer stations in China to-day.
The War With Japan 211
"You ask for my general impressions of the work
of the Church. I hesitate to touch the subject, for
I feel very keenly the neglect of our work by the
Church at home, and I cannot speak of results and
methods here without touching on causes at home.
Our work in China is small, though perhaps as
large as could be expected under the circumstances.
Almost from the beginning of the mission we have
been undermanned and neglected. Under such cir
cumstances no policy can be carried out and little
lasting result accomplished. Our workers are above
the average in ability but pitifully few. We feel
that we are barely tolerated by a rich and growing
Church, which could easily quadruple our force if it
chose, but prefers the very unbusiness-like plan of
employing one man to do the work of three or four,
and then actually expects to see growth, whereas
there are not enough workers properly to supervise
already existing work, much less extend it. Do you
wonder we here on the outposts think our lot hard
and blush for our Church s indifference? It would
be better if she were to renounce the profession of
work among the heathen, and leave us to seek help
and sympathy from, perhaps, the English Church,
than to trifle thus with so solemn a commission as
our Lord s parting mandate to her."
Strong and burning words, but were they not
justified when we contemplate the paucity of the
regular offerings from the whole Church for the
extension of Christ s Kingdom abroad that year? A
little over $200,000, perhaps a trifle more than half
212 The Story of the Church in China
a cent a week for each communicant, given by the
richest body of individuals in the United States for
the work of winning one half the world for Christ !
One worker only added in 1897 and he not an Ameri
can but an Englishman ! Can we wonder that the
workers in the field felt as did Mr. Ingle? The
Church at home was as fast asleep as China had
been.
We have made a big step forward since the
devoted young priest wrote his above complaint,
but we are still only on the threshold of doing big
things in China. A work commensurate with our
Apostolic Claims and present power and member
ship at home still waits to be done. And it must
be done quickly for the day of opportunity in the
new China is passing quickly. We can be proud of
our workers in China and the quality of their work,
but we cannot yet be proud of the response of the
home Church to Christ s appeal for China.
A SURVEY OF THE WORK AT THE END OF
THE CENTURY.
1898-1900
CHAPTER IX
A SURVEY OF THE WORK AT THE END OF
THE CENTURY.
1898-1900
In Due Season Ye Shall Reap. The year 1898
was a memorable one in the history of the Mis
sion. It may be said to mark a turning point in the
Church s Work in China. The faithful, patient work
of years was beginning to tell. The educational
work and opportunities it afforded had never been
so promising. There were exciting times in Pekin
that year and the Emperor, aflame with zeal for
reform, was quietly deposed by the now thoroughly
alarmed Empress Dowager. A strong reactionary
movement set in, which culminated two years later
in the horrors of the Boxer Movement and the
attempt to drive the foreigner and everything that
he had brought forever out of China, but even these
two years of reaction could not suppress the eager
desire that had been stirred throughout the country
for the advantages of Western civilization. Conse
quently the schools were full. The directly evan
gelistic work, especially in the upriver district,
was equally promising and encouraging. Late
in 1897 Bishop Graves, in company with Messrs.
Ingle and Roots, made an outstation visitation from
216 The Story of the Church in China
Hankow. In writing of this trip the Bishop
reported that the advance in the work was so great
thai he himself was surprised at the progress he
found in certain localities, the reports of which had
previously seemed to him to he exaggerated. He
also said: "In describing the hare outline of the
events of this visitation, the impression of the rapid
growth of the work in the upriver districts must
even in a hi icf statement he plain. 1 rejoice that I
can say that not only is our work stronger in num
bers, but there is a more solid growth in stability
which 1 see on each visit * * *
"Young men and girls are applying to us to be
taught, enquirers and catechumens are corning to
us not by ones and twos, bill by hundreds, to be
instructed in the Christian f;iitli and prepared for
Baptism, New workers, both men and women, are
urgently needed and the ( Imrch should allow
nothing to hinder her sending them out at once. 1
can only solemnly warn the Church that now is
her opportunity in China."
Would the Church hear? The appeal had gone
home again and again before and leaders had died
with it unanswered. Many valuable years in which
far reaching work might have been done had been
lost. Enough workers had been sent out to keep
the scanty and scattered work going only without
providing for increase. Was it to be so still?
Many New Recruits. Thank Cod no. Klcven
new workers were sent to China in 1X98, the largest
number in one year in the history of the Mission.
A Survey of the Work 217
What joy it brought to the little band of workers
in that far away laud, so long hoping aud praying
for helpers to come and light by their sides, and
not only take their places when they fell and hold
what had been gained, but push further into the
camp of the enemy! Best of all the increase was not
a temporary one. The next year nine new workers
were sent out and from that time on until the pres
ent a small but continuous supply of reinforcements
has been sent by the home Church. A new spirit
seemed to have fallen upon the Church, due largely
to the earnest, solemn appeals of the Bishop of
Shanghai by letter and in person while in America,
and the confidence of the Church in him, and to a
new policy adopted by the Board of Missions a
policy of greater faith in Cod and trust in the Church
to supply the means necessary to send out into a
field of great need any thoroughly qualified man or
woman whom God had really called. The General
Theological Seminary, which had not sent a man
to China since Mr. Pott in 1886, now after twelve
years sent five men in two years, two of them,
Messrs. Lund and Lindstrom, being candidates
whom Bishop Graves had accepted in China and
sent to America for further training in preparation
for reception into our ministry. The Virginia Semi
nary had long held the honor of being the chief
source oi missionary supply, but the spirit was
spreading and Berkeley and Philadelphia Divinity
School were coming to the fore and Cambridge had
just sent out one ot her most earnest sons.
218 The Story of the Church in China
A Survey of the Field. Let us attach ourselves
to a group of these new workers and with them pass
to China, in the year 1899, and survey the field and
the points of light started by this Mission and shin
ing in the midst of widespreading and dense dark
ness.
We disembark in Shanghai not far from the
wharf is our oldest station in China, the Church of
our Saviour, Hongkew. The Rev. Yen Yung Kiung
for so many years its pastor one of the most noted
and valuable of our missionaries in China has but
recently died. He was among the first graduates of
St. John s College, and "he might have been," as
Bishop Graves said of him, "with his abilities and
opportunities, one of the wealthiest and most promi
nent men in China, but he turned his back upon all
worldly honor and devoted himself to the service of
the Church."
Leaving Hongkew we pass over to the native city
of Shanghai with streets narrow, dirty, crowded and
ill smelling a striking contrast to the imposing,
modern, foreign Shanghai. Here is Grace Church,
for many of our fellow Christians live inside the
West Gate. Then passing over into a busy suburb,
fast becoming a part of the city, we come to another
station in Sinza. Here again the generosity of Mrs.
Bedell is bringing blessing to heathendom and St.
Peter s, like her previous gift providing St. Peter s
Church at Hankow, is rising to strengthen the work
in Shanghai. Then catching further glimpses of the
city and its immediate environs we drive behind one
AN ELDERLY CHRISTIAN IN THE DISTRICT OF SHANGHAI
A GREAT GATHERING OF MALE COMMUNICANTS FROM THE
SHANGHAI DISTRICT, PLANNING FOR CHURCH EXTENSION
A Survey ot the Work 219
of the strong, jerky Chinese ponies, known in a few
of the larger ports of China, four more miles to
Jessfield. Here is St. John s College, so long a dis
tant friend only, now at last actually before us, doing
its splendid work for the young men of China. Here
is the fine new Science Hall completed in September,
1899, and ready for a long career of useful service.
Here too is the Training School for Bible Women
which in 1898 had graduated its first class, and St.
Mary s School and Orphanage, year after year trans
forming unwanted depised girls into noble Chris
tian womanhood. In the beautiful St. John s Church
there is scarcely room for us as we enter for Even
song, so full is it of the students from all the insti
tutions on the compound.
Every one is charmed by the first view of the
work that Shanghai affords and by the cordial wel
come of the missionaries. The rapidly growing,
active city, the fine buildings of foreign firms and
banks, the gay shops with their many goods exposed
to full view of the tourist rolling by in his jinrick
shaw, the varied costumes of many nationalities, the
hum of the very cosmopolitan life of the foreign set
tlement where all the nations of the West and the
East seem to meet, is all very exciting and strange.
But it is not China proper, where the greater part
of the Mission work is done, so leaving Shanghai we
pass through the three provinces of Kiangsu, Anhui
and Hupeh, in which the Church is at work. In the
former we find twenty-five stations and outstations
including preaching points. The evangelistic work,
22O The Story of the Church in China
though the stations are greater in number, has not
yet had the same success as in Hupeh in Central
China in which Wuchang and Hankow are situated.
The Bishop tells us that "This is partly due to the
character of the people who are slow and lacking in
energy, and partly no doubt to the fact that this
branch of our work has not been so completely
organized here as it has in Hupeh." But the same
system which has had such good results in the Han
kow outstations has been introduced now in the
Shanghai district and better results have steadily
followed.
We do not stop to visit the outstations but pass on by
the main artery of travel, the Yangtse River, up to our
most inland points. Adjoining the province of Kiangsu
is the province of Anhui and in two of its river cities,
Wuhu and Anking, we have centers of work. The
former has made very little progress since it was
opened many years ago and the lonely hilltop Bishop
Boone had purchased, in the hope that soon the station
might have a resident foreign missionary to develop
the work, still stands out lonely and unoccupied.
But the Bishop has placed Mr. Lund here and
although a new member of our Mission he has had
much experience in another Mission and knows the
language, so is able to push ahead rapidly. He has
opened a boarding school for boys and there are three
outstations. The headquarters of the Mission is still
a rented house in the native city where Mr. Lund
lives, but a road has been constructed to the hill
A Survey of the Work 221
outside the city and plans are under way for build
ing there.
Passing on up the river, in about twelve hours we
come to Anking where Mr. Lindstrom has recently
assumed charge. Who could have foreseen then the
wonderful growth that was to take place there
within twelve years, when its fine schools, cathedral,
church, and hospital were to arise, and the large
group of foreign and native workers and chain of
outstations would evidence its activities. A school
of ragged looking boys, a handful of members, many
of whom turned out to be unworthy of the name.
Such is the beginning of the work in Anking as we
visit it in 1899.
We have no work yet in the next province of
Kiangsi so we pass by Kiukiang, its principal river-
port, and up the next day to Hupeh, landing at Han
kow and Wuchang. In Hankow, in addition to the
work at St. Paul s and the new St. Peter s, another
large lot in a distant part of the city has been pur
chased through the energy of the Rev. Mr. Hunting-
ton, and the rapidly growing congregation of St.
John s (sixty have recently been baptized on one
Sunday) is about to exchange its squalid home in
the loft of a Chinese house for a more dignified
place of worship.
Then we go by small native rowboat, called the
sampan, over the Yangtse to the provincial capital,
Wuchang. After a not very dignified landing and
a scramble up a muddy river bank we make our way
222 The Story of the Church in China
through the city wall by the Grassy Lake Gate,
winding in and out of the narrow streets, for the
comparatively wide, straight "College" street was
then unknown, and we see at last the little round
clock tower of Boone School and pass in to what is
both physically and spiritually like an oasis in a
desert. All around is the noisy, smelly city within
is quiet; green grass, fine old shade trees, and the
sound of a church bell. It is a blessed relief and a
promise of the China that is to be. "Within is quiet,"
but not when the new worker first arrived. The
boys of Boone are drawn up in line on both sides the
hilly entrance and long strings of fire crackers
sound forth their rapid noisy greeting. Then you
pass on to the center of it all, the beautiful Church
of the Holy Nativity, and the boys from Boone and
the girls from St. Hilda s gather with you for even
ing prayers. St. Hilda s is new to you but after
all it is an old friend under a new name, for it is the
old Jane Bohlen School for girls after a long check
ered career of openings and closings now in a new
substantial brick home under Miss Pauline Osgood,
one of the new recruits. For two years it had been
closed again when after nearly three years of ser
vice Miss Ward died leaving the school orphaned.
It too has started on a new life and now, not to be
closed again for lack of workers, it begins its rapidly
growing work. Boone has also had an addition,
Williams Hall, built by money Mr. Partridge him
self had raised. It has furnished increased accom
modation but this has been speedily taken up and
A Survey of the Work 223
hundreds of applicants for admission must now
be turned from its doors.
St. Paul s Divinity School is another new build
ing made possible by the legacy of Miss Lily F.
Ward who died in 1898 after a short period of lov
ing earnest service for Christ in China. In this are
the three divinity students and the Associate Mis
sion comprised of the Rev. Messrs. Wood, Littell
and Sherman who have come out from America for
evangelistic work in and around Wuchang.
Not far away are the buildings of the hospitals for
men and women both getting ready for a new period
of usefulness made possible by the coming of Dr.
Borland and Dr. Mary V. Glenton.
Again another steamer and we pass on to Ichang,
four hundred miles up the Yangtse from Hankow.
But before we reach this our remotest station if we
stop en route at the river cities of Shinti and Shasi
we find much to encourage us, especially in the re
ports from inland outstations reached from these
cities, where the Gospel is now being preached and
converts made. The progress is truly remarkable.
What was especially noticeable in the work at these
outstations, begun by an application from the peo
ple in the village of Chiao Wei that someone be sent
to teach them, was the fact that it was almost en
tirely self-supporting from the start, the house or
chapel in Chiao Wei being paid for by the people
themselves who also furnish the travelling expenses
of the catechist sent to instruct them. The catechu
mens are already numbered by the hundreds and it
224 The Story of the Church in China
is with great difficulty that provision is made for
teaching them. We also learn that all around the
station at Hanchuan the conditions are encouraging
and the harvest everywhere is great while the labor
ers are few. There are now fourteen stations and out-
stations in the upriver district and the training
school for catechists in Hankow is sending forth
catechists as fast as the one or two instructors avail
able can train them.
Reaching Ichang we find the Rev. Dr. Collins and
the Rev. Tsz Tsen Fang and a steadily growing
work.
So we finish our survey of the work as it was in the
year 1899. With increased equipment and staff it was
standing on the threshold of its greatest development.
The Church in America was at last beginning to take
firm hold of its work in China and the future was full
of promise and hope, when there occurred in the sum
mer of 1900 that awful cataclysm known as the
Boxer Movement. During those terrible months it
swept over North China destroying practically all
Mission property nearly two hundred missionaries
and thousands of native Christians and threaten
ing for several weeks to do the same in the Yangtse
valley and central China.
Departure of Mr. Partridge. Before we go on,
however, to speak of that far-reaching event we
must note the removal of Mr. Partridge from Wu
chang. He was elected the first Bishop of the dis
trict of Kyoto by the General Convention in 1899
and left Wuchang en the day after Christmas in the
A Survey of the Work 225
same year. His work in China had greatly endeared
him to Chinese and foreign workers and native
Christians and he left accompanied by a flood of re
grets, heartfelt appreciation and good wishes. His
name is especially associated with the training of
native clergy and the development of Boone School.
When he took charge of this latter in 1887 he found
twenty-eight boys and three small one-story houses.
When he left the school was equipped with two
substantial two-story buildings with provision for
one hundred boys. Under his administration the
School became so widely known and so popular that
it had already a waiting list. But best of all were
the inner results in changed lives and new ideals
for country and for self that had been effected.
Some of the most promising boys had been baptized,
others who were afraid to become Christians openly
were so in sympathy, while in many other cases
the seed patiently sown was to bring forth its fruits
long after. One of the immediate effects of Mr.
Partridge s leaving was the desire of the boys in
Boone to know something of the Church s work in
Japan, which resulted in the founding of the
Students Missionary Society.
THE BOXER MOVEMENT AND AFTER
1900-1901
CHAPTER X
THE BOXER MOVEMENT AND AFTER
1900-1901
A Time of Intense Anxiety. Looking back upon
the Boxer movement now we can see how God
brought peace and progress out of all its awful tur
moil and disaster, but at the time, while the issue
was still uncertain, the Church was filled with ap
prehension and the gravest anxiety for the safety
of our workers, our native Christians and our insti
tutions. 1
1 "The organization known as the Boxers is a secret society
organized two years ago under the name of I Ho Ch uan
(righteous harmony and fists).
Apparently athletic exercise is one of the ostensible features
for which the society exists The leaders, however, by working
upon the credulity and prejudices of its members, have created
a strong anti-foreign sentiment. The society has increased
greatly in numbers and importance, spreading rapidly from
village to village. Its first acts of violence were directed
against the Roman missionaries. Gradually its feeling has
become anti-Christian and is now anti-foreign. Its attitude
may be better understood from the sentiments expressed in
one of its placards, which has been widely circulated. It
reads : The Universal Boxers Society. You are personally
invited to meet on the seventh day of the ninth moon. Elevate
the Manchus. Kill the foreigners. Unless this summons is
obeyed you will lose your heads. The leaders have promised
their followers that their bodies shall be spiritually protected
from bullets and sword-cuts." Editorial, Spirit of Missions,
June, 1900.
229
230 The Story of the Church in China
The Boxers were at first tolerated by the Manchu
government, then used by them to exterminate for
eigners and Christianity.
The Christian Martyrs. The summer of 1900 is
one which those who lived in it can never forget.
In the north the martyrs were beheaded, buried
alive, dismembered limb by limb. They went to
their deaths unflinchingly, giving their lives for the
Faith, sustained by the Saviour whom they had
come to know and love. Again and again the hor
rors of northern China seemed soon to be re-enacted
at our stations. That they did not was due, under
God, to the Viceroys of the Yangtse Valley whom
the Christian Church will never cease to honor.
Viceroy Lieo at Nanking and Viceroy Chang at Wu
chang controlled the situation from Shanghai to
Ichang. Clearheaded, assured of the folly of the
enterprise in which China had set herself to defy
the whole Western world, and clearly seeing the
inevitable issue of such madness, they disregarded
the orders from Pekin to kill the foreigners and pro
tected them instead.
Protection in Hupeh. In Wuchang where danger
was most imminent Chang Tsz Tung ruled with an
iron rod. At great personal risk he issued proclama
tion after proclamation promising protection to for
eigners and their property and threatening the peo
ple into quietness. But it was an open question how
long the Viceroy would be able to keep the soldiers
in check especially as the governor of Hupeh was
strongly anti-foreign and had a great rabble of un-
The Boxer Movement and After 231
trained soldiers. At one place some soldiers tore
down the Viceroy s proclamation and cursed him
openly. It was only by the most summary pun
ishment and severest measures that the Viceroy
was able to avert from his two provinces that sum
mer the threatened disaster.
The Passing of the Storm. With the flight of the
Court from Pekin and the occupation of the city by
foreign troops the trouble in the provinces began to
subside. Gradually the workers in our Missions
were allowed to return to their stations to find all
intact and no lives lost and the lady missionaries
were recalled from Japan whither many of them had
been sent for safety. It was not, however, until
February of the following year that the ladies were
permitted to return to inland stations.
After the Boxer Movement. As the missionaries
had foreseen, the time that followed the Boxer perse
cution was one of unparalleled opportunity for ad
vance. The conservative, anti-foreign, anti-progres
sive movement had failed. The Empress Dowager
and her old advisers saw that it was impossible for
China to withdraw herself from the rest of the
world and that if China was to hold her own and
not be the prey of foreign nations she must learn all
she could from the once despised West. The Court
came back in 1901, from its flight to the West, sad
der but wiser. The reform movement which had
sprung into vigorous life after the war with Japan
again was in the ascendancy. The Empress Dowa
ger began issuing the same edicts for which three
232 The Story of the Church in China
years previously she had dethroned the young Em
peror. The tide had changed and Western ways
and methods were eagerly sought after. This was
especially true of Western education. The old clas
sical examinations were abolished and the fitness of
the candidate for civil office was no longer to be
judged by his stilted Confucian essay, but by his
knowledge of Western sciences and arts. For the
time being China had no schools where such things
were taught. The result was that good Mission
schools and colleges were advanced to the front
ranks of prestige and popularity.
Effect on Missionary Educational Work. St.
John s College and Boone School felt the movement
very markedly. St. John s had more students than
at any time in its history and turned many away.
It was most significant that many of the applicants
were the sons of officials. It became very evident
that increased accommodation and teaching staff
were necessary. The same thing was true of Boone.
Its growth was phenomenal and it was bidding fair
to become for Central China what St. John s was for
Eastern China. Its needs for more room and for a
scientific department demanded immediate attention
if it was to advance with the advancing opportunity.
New buildings were asked for both institutions and
in time obtained.
Opening of New Stations. The years after the
Boxer movement marked a growth in all mission
work.
The Boxer Movement and After 233
Kiukiang. Kiukiang is a treaty port in the prov
ince of Kiangsi, some ninety miles below Hankow.
The foreigners, mostly English, resident there were
desirous of having Church services and at their re
quest Mr. Ridgely was sent once a month to con
duct them. This made possible the sending of a
native deacon, and the opening also of Chinese work
which had been in contemplation for some years.
This was the first work we had attempted in the
province of Kiangsi. At first the work was carried
on in a rented house, beginning with public preach
ing, and a good number of enquirers were soon
brought to it. The work has grown encouragingly
from the start. A boys school and a girls school
soon opened. The Board of Managers at home were
unable to make any appropriation for this advance
and the offerings at the English services in Kiu
kiang were used at first to support the native work.
A chance to secure permanent property came in
1903, when a splendid Chinese house with large
grounds around providing room for expansion was
offered for sale to the Mission at a low price. The
opportunity was too good to lose and Mr. Littell
then in charge purchased the property for $1,300
(gold) and then gave his friends at home the op
portunity to help in this investment, which they did.
Thus was established permanently the work in the
province of Kiangsi with its twenty-five million
people without Christ.
Hankow. In Hankow a new Church, St. John s,
interrupted during Boxer troubles, was completed
234 The Story of the Church in China
and consecrated. The English community for whom
the Mission had been providing services since the first
year of Mr. Ingle s residence now expressed the de
sire that one of the American Mission clergy be
definitely set apart as their chaplain, giving them
part of his time for which they would provide part
of his salary. The Rev. A. M. Sherman was ap
pointed to this position, and from that time on this
work in Hankow has been cared for by one of our
men definitely appointed to the post. Later with
the growth of the port a solid and handsome new
Church and Rectory have been built by the mem
bers of the British and American community and
their friends, and the work has grown in importance
and interest.
Hunan. Another great province now claimed at
tention. Hunan, so long the object of Christian
hopes and prayers, was at last open to the preaching
of the Gospel. In 1897 Dr. Boone wrote as follows :
"The province of Hunan in Central China is large
and mountainous. Her hardy mountaineers are the
best soldiers in China. It has been their boast that
no white man could live or even travel in Hunan.
It has been the center from which emanated the vile
literature attacking the Christian religion and mak
ing atrocious charges against the Christians. Now
the chancellor of education, a high official, has is
sued an address to the colleges and students in the
provinces, thousands in number, and he says to
them : I was opposed to all Western learning and
religion upon hearsay evidence only. The course of
The Boxer Movement and After 235
events made it necessary for me to study these
things for myself. I find that I was misinformed,
that Western learning is valuable. I have read the
Bible. It is an admirable work, and I now publicly
withdraw my opposition both to learning and re
ligious doctrines and I advise you to study these
things for yourself/ Such is now the attitude of
many men who lead opinion in China." 3
Naturally when the door was opened after the
Boxer year and the city of Changsha was made a
"treaty-port/ our Mission wished to be among the
first to enter. It was convenient to our work, ad
joining the province of Hupeh, and Changsha was
distant only two hundred miles by boat from Han
kow. The natives were inviting foreign mission
aries to come and preach and teach and the diffi
culties in purchasing mission property were largely
removed. Bishop Graves appealed for new workers
for Wuchang or Hankow so that a trained and ex
perienced man might be sent to occupy the great
new field in the name of this Church. In June, 1902,
the station was opened with the Rev. Mr. Hwang,
one of the strongest of the native clergy in charge.
Anking. At Anking five hundred miles from the
coast the work was also full of promise. In 1900
land had been purchased for mission buildings and
the first permanent foothold obtained. Speaking of
this purchase Dr. Woodward, who had gone to this
station early in 1900, wrote, "Land purchase in
China is tedious and vexatious beyond belief. Such
1 Dr. Boone, Spirit of Missions, p. 541, 1897.
236 The Story of the Church in China
negotiations usually consume months and even
years, and sound every depth of the shameless
trickery, subterfuge and lying in which oriental
civilization is steeped. It is the history in minia
ture of the peace negotiations at Pekin. With us
the difficulties were much enhanced by the necessity
of buying in succession five contiguous lots from as
many different owners. Patient effort, however,
finally brought its reward and the Church now owns
a compound three hundred feet long and half as
wide, some of the most desirably located property
in the city."
On this compound inexpensive buildings in native
style were erected under Dr. Woodward s careful
supervision. The medical compound adjoined the
general one and here the first hospital building was
erected.
Taihu. In the new chapel a good congregation
was steadily built up and plans for extension were
considered. Sixty miles northwest of Anking is
situated the town of Taihu the busy center of a
fertile hill country. Visitors from this town had
been coming to the services in Anking and becom
ing much interested in the new religion. Native
helpers had been sent to visit Taihu from time to
time and in 1902 Mr. Lindstrom visited the station
and received the offer of land for a church. It was
decided as soon as possible to have a native cate-
chist resident at this place and make a permanent
beginning of a chain of stations in northern
Nganhwei.
THE CHURCH AND SOME OF THE CONGREGATION AT TAI-HU
I
INGLE HALL, BOONE UNIVERSITY, WUCHANG
The Boxer Movement and After 237
Ichang. After the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Col
lins, in 1899, Ichang had been without a foreigner
in charge. It was so far away from the nearest
foreign missionary, being four hundred miles from
Hankow (three days journey with the possibility
of considerable extension if the steamer stuck on a
sandbank), that it was impossible to properly de
velop this section without a resident missionary.
In 1901, the Rev. D. T. Huntington was appointed
to this outpost of the China work and the years
since that time of continuous faithful oversight have
seen Ichang develop into one of the strong centers
of mission activity.
Wusih. Extension was also being planned and
pushed in the Shanghai district. Shortly before the
Boxer movement the Rev. Mr. Mosher had made
an extended trip over the region to the north of
Shanghai looking toward the founding of more out-
station work. This had long been the hope of the
workers. As far back as 1879 at a meeting of the
clergy a resolution was passed that a chain of sta
tions be made connecting Shanghai with the city
of Wuhu on the Yangtse river, a distance of two
hundred and eighty English miles. By 1896, after
seventeen years, a small circle of five stations had
been opened in the Kia-ding district. In that year
Tai-Tsau, the furthest new station, was opened,
forty miles distant from Shanghai. This was occu
pied by a catechist. In 1897, Zangzok, fifty-five
miles distant from Shanghai, was opened and a dea
con stationed there.
238 The Story of the Church in China
These newer stations however had not been prop
erly developed because, the Mission being always
under-manned, the clergyman in charge of the coun
try work was also responsible for important work
in the city of Shanghai and found it difficult to get
the time for the long trips by little boats necessary
to give the outstations proper supervision. When,
however, with the increase of the staff it seemed
possible to have one or two foreign missionaries
free for this work a trip was made to investigate,
looking forward to the fulfillment of a long cher
ished ideal.
It resulted in opening work in Wusih, an import
ant walled city with a population of from one hun
dred thousand to three hundred thousand people.
As the center of a big rice and silk district and from
its position on the Grand Canal it promised to be
another strategic center. The Rev. P. N. Tsu was
first sent to prepare the way. He was afterward fol
lowed by the Rev. Cameron F. McRae. These work
ers were cordially received by the gentry of the
place who entered into the plans for the establish
ment of a mission station there with warm interest.
The reports of the work of the Mission had reached
their ears and they were very desirous that it come
and open a school and give public lectures on practi
cal and scientific subjects. These new friends were
frank to admit that at present they had no desire
to become Christians, but they realized that w r hat
China needed was progress and reform. If Chris
tianity would be for the welfare of their country
The Boxer Movement and After 239
they would like to know more about it.
Under these circumstances the work was started.
The people were eager and receptive. The board
ing school was a success from the start and the peo
ple were desirous of a foreign physician and hos
pital. A house was rented for $25 (Mexican) per
month which was put to many uses, for here was the
chapel, the boarding school with dormitories for
about ten boys, with school office, wash rooms, etc.,
a day school for thirty boys, a home for the native
deacon and his family and rooms for the foreign
missionary. It is scarcely necessary to add that it
is only a rambling Chinese house that possesses
such elastic proportions. Work is always begun
in a new place in rented quarters in order to give
time to decide, before locating definitely, whether
it is a good place to establish mission work or riot.
St. Elizabeth s Hospital, Shanghai. In 1899, Mrs.
Winslow, the wife of a commander in the United
States Army, while visiting in Shanghai was much
impressed by the need of a separate hospital for the
women and children of that city, and wrote an
earnest appeal addressed to the college girls of
America. She died soon after, and this appeal,
found in her desk, was sent out, not only to college
girls, but through the Woman s Auxiliary to the
women and girls of the Church. In the fall of 1900
Dr. Gates, after four years of efficient service in the
woman s ward at St. Luke s, while home in America,
added her earnest words to Mrs. Winslow s appeal
and the result was the erection in 1902 of St. Eliza-
240 The Story of the Church in China
beth s Hospital on a lot adjoining St. Peter s Church
in Sinza.
Help for the Slave Girls. There has been no more
beneiicent work done by our woman s hospital in
Shanghai than that for slave girls. This pitiful and
neglected class is composed of children who are pur
chased as infants from poor parents and are brought
up either to become servants in wealthy families,
or for immoral purposes, or to lead the wretched
lives of concubines. The woman s ward at St.
Luke s and its successor, St. Elizabeth s at Sinza,
have treated many of these patients, not brought by
kind friends, but rescued by the police in the foreign
settlement when their cries of anguish have been
overheard. In such cases the police go in and forci
bly take the suffering little ones from their cruel
owners. Miss Crummer, writing of the hospital in
1901, tells of two typical cases.
"I have seen, in the last year, one little girl
brought in who was beaten unto death by her mis
tress. She lived for two weeks in mortal terror
when she saw anyone approaching her bedside, and
then she passed away. Another day I encountered
an English policeman bringing in a child of eight,
whom he had cut down, having found her suspended
by her little thumbs until they were swollen and
festered. These little slave girls grow very fond of
the hospital life and they are the quickest of all to
pick up Christian teaching. Dr. Gates is devoted to
them and teaches them to sing our children s hymns
which greatly delights them/
The Boxer Movement and After 241
St. Mary s Hall. To these other advances must
be added the completion of the Twing Memorial
Fund for the new building for St. Mary s Hall,
Shanghai. This most fitting memorial of many
years of loving, unwearied service for the women
and girls in mission lands by the Honorary Secre
tary of the Woman s Auxiliary gave a convenient
home for this growing activity and made possible the
increase of the work of rescuing of hundreds of un
welcome girls from the awful degradation of hea
thenism. In connection with this it is interesting
to note a new departure in the work of the educa
tion of girls in China. Physical drill was novel
enough for boys, but it was unheard of for girls.
Miss Dodson at St. Mary s, however, found that it
was most successful. She writes :
"Mr Cooper, although a very busy man, has
drilled the girls regularly, and as a consequence the
general health is very good. Round shoulders have
straightened, hollow chests have filled out, and one
pair of bound feet has so spread that they are not
small feet, golden lilies/ any longer. Once or twice
the boys football (from St. John s College) has
come over the walls and the girls enjoyed its brief
stay so much on their playground that Santa Claus
brought them one of their own. Our small footed
girl can send it the farthest. Such doings may
cause Confucius to turn in his grave."
The years following the Boxer uprising were
marked by extensive building operations and new
centers of light were started here and there from one
242 The Story of the Church in China
end of the district to the other. The total value of
all the property of the Mission in 1901 was $300,000.
It represented stations stretched over a distance of
one thousand miles and comprised a college, many
schools, boarding and day, churches, chapels, four
hospitals and residences for all the missionaries and
native workers. As the Editor of the Spirit of Mis
sions remarked at the time: This is rather less
than the value of a single parish plant in a large
city at home." It represented the investment of
the whole Episcopal Church of the United States,
in a section of China with a population of over one
hundred millions of people for whom it was respon
sible, for founding the Church.
DIVISION OF THE MISSIONARY
JURISDICTION
1900-1903
CHAPTER XI
DIVISION OF THE MISSIONARY
JURISDICTION
1900-1903
The First Bishop of Hankow. For many years
the question of dividing the great and unwieldy
jurisdiction of the American Church in China had
been considered and now with the growth of the
work became imperative. In his report, in 1901,
Bishop Graves submitted his plans for a division
and it received the warm support of the Board of
Managers. The jurisdiction comprised the prov
inces of Kiangsu in which Shanghai, Wusih and
Suchow are situated, Anhui in which the principal
cities occupied were Wuhu and Anking, northern
Kiangsi where work had recently been opened in
Kiukiang, Hupeh where Hankow, Wuchang, Shasi
and Ichang w r ere the chief centers of mission ac
tivity and the northern section of the long closed
province of Hunan, the capital of which, Changsha,
had been occupied in 1901. We can get some idea
of the size of the jurisdiction by comparing it with
our home field. Placed on the map of the United
States it would reach from Philadelphia to St. Louis,
245
246 The Story of the Church in China
but its population was much larger and the dis
tances, which had at that time to be traversed by
boat, practically much greater. All the inland travel
away from the waterways had to be done by wheel
barrow, sedan-chair, mule-back or on foot. In this
way much of the Bishop s time was consumed in
his journeys. There was furthermore a decided dif
ference in language ; the people of Kiangsu, save for
the comparatively small northern section, speaking
the Shanghai dialect while the inhabitants of the other
provinces in the jurisdiction spoke Mandarin which
was so entirely different that people from one sec
tion could not understand the other. This involved
many difficulties in conferences, synods and in ad
ministration generally. In addition to all this the
work had doubled since Bishop Graves had been put
in charge of it in 1893.
The General Convention of 1901 meeting in San
Francisco divided the jurisdiction in China, making the
missionary district of Shanghai to consist of the Prov
ince of Fiangsu, a section about as large as the State of
Pennsylvania, and the district of Hankow to consist of
all the remainder. The Mission was fortunate in secur
ing for the new Bishop a man who had been in the
field for ten years and had a thorough and wide ex
perience in the work. James Addison Ingle, who
had come to Hankow in 1892, had acquired to a
marked degree not only a splendid knowledge of
the language, but the confidence and affection of his
fellow workers, both foreign and Chinese. He
brought to his difficult tasks such an evident capac-
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 247
ity for work, such a knowledge of men and affairs,
and above all, such an entire consecration to the
service of his Master and the men in China for whom
He died, that the election brought general satisfac
tion and rejoicing. It was hard for the workers
"upriver" to separate from the Bishop to whom
they were unusually devoted and from the workers
in the Shanghai district with whom they had la
bored in close spiritual fellowship, but in the inter
ests of the work all felt that the division was wise,
and, with such a leader, full of promise.
Value of the Catechists* Training School. Perhaps
of all the varied forms of work in which Mr. Ingle
had been successfully engaged none was of greater
importance than the work which he had inherited
from Mr. Locke and further developed, i. e., the train
ing of native lay workers as catechists. In addition
to all his pastoral cares, his outstation work, with
numerous chapels and day schools, the English
Church work, of which he had charge for several
years, his work in translation and on the Standing
Committee he had yet found time to gather around
him a group of men and teach them to be teachers
of the heathen at the outposts and assistants to the
native clergy in the large central cities. The value
of this work was seen in the marked improvement
in the preparation of candidates for Baptism and
Confirmation in all the stations where there was a
catechist who had been trained in Hankow.
Consecration of Bishop Ingle. The Bishop-elect
selected his own station of Hankow as the place for
248 The Story of the Church in China
his consecration. This occurred on St. Matthias*
Day, 1902, in St. PauPs Church, which was ap
pointed as the Cathedral for the new jurisdiction.
Thus after sixty years of faithful hard work the
Mission had set apart its first Bishop of the upriver
work. It was a day of great rejoicing in the China
Mission.
Guests for this great event came from far and near.
From Japan came Bishops Partridge and McKim,
with attending presbyters, one of whom was Japan
ese; from Shanghai came Bishop Graves with for
eign and Chinese priests. From Korea came Bishop
Corfe of the Church of England Mission. Promi
nent Chinese laymen from every important upriver
station were present.
At the early age of thirty-six, vigorous in experi
ence and in purpose if not in health, Bishop Ingle
came to his new work. How little any one thought
on that bright, happy day that in less than two years
the call to come up higher still would come and his
saddened fellow workers would be bringing his tired
body again to the Church he loved, to rest for a lit
tle while at the foot of those chancel steps! His
short Episcopate however was to be of great value
to the Mission and mark a distinct advance in the
work of the Church.
First Episcopal Visitation. We can get some
idea of the work as Bishop Ingle found it and of
the spirit of the man from his account of his first
visitations both up and down river from Hankow
to the two ends of his jurisdiction:
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 249
"The general impression made on my mind by
my visit to all the Stations was distinctly encourag
ing. I found that the work was being done, not only
industriously but intelligently. The behavior of
catechists and people has improved greatly. We
rarely need to find serious fault with one of the for
mer, while the latter have a far clearer idea of their
duties as Christians than ever before. The system
of discipline, on which we have been working for the
last seven or eight years, is now in force in almost
all stations, and is proving itself a great assistance.
More and more the workers of all classes are coming
to realize the Mission motto of Thorough. We
have in most stations, and are supplying to all as
rapidly as possible, trained clergymen, catechists,
Bible-women and teachers. One of the most en
couraging signs is the frankness with which most
of the native workers meet the foreign clergy and
discuss with them questions of importance, about
which, ten years ago, they would not have opened
their mouths. In short, training and organization
are increasing the effectiveness of our work. * * *
As for the Chinese clergy, with scarcely an excep
tion, their efficiency and general helpfulness in
crease year by year.
"Two thoughts were deeply impressed upon me
as I went in and out among our people and saw how
differently they regard questions of right and wrong
from their heathen neighbors. The first was:
What a revolution must be wrought in the mind of
a sincere heathen when he is brought face to face
250 The Story of the Church in China
with the ideal of the Christian. It is no longer a
string of platitudes about the Superior Man 5 but
it demands conformity to the likeness of the Son
of God, the man Christ Jesus. It promises strength
and ultimate success. As day after day unfolds
more clearly the deep seated ills of this decayed
civilization, so more and more firmly am I con
vinced that nothing but the response of her people
to this voice of God can save China from utter, irre
trievable ruin.
"The second thought was: What must it mean,
to one who is truly trying to attain this ideal, to
realize that the Church is earnestly watching his
every action, ready to praise, to blame, if necessary,
to punish? Someone cares for him, as a man, not
for his money, but for him, that he may become
more a man. When he sees his fellow Christians
punished for serious offenses not by a money fine
but by open discipline, which marks for them and
all the world the hatefulness of sin, he must real
ize, if he reflects at all, that the thing which the
Church most loves is holiness, most hates is sin. And
she stands ready to lead all her children in the way
of holiness, to insist that they shall walk in it, on
pain of forfeiture of their rights as children. I be
lieve that, for a young Church, newly emerged from
heathenism, there can be no more helpful influence
for molding character than wise discipline, ten
derly, prayerfully administered."
Discipline. The conditions of the Church in a
great heathen land are similar in many ways to the
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 251
conditions which faced the Church in the early cen
turies. The temptations which beset the early
Christians from the forces of heathenism around
them to which St. Paul refers in his Epistles are
strong today around our Christians in China, and
as in those early days the sins and relapses of Chris
tians into evil ways had to be strictly disciplined so
is it also in China. Bishop Ingle especially empha
sized and developed this, using the regulations on
discipline agreed upon by the Bishop in China in
their Conference in 1899. When a Christian griev
ously or openly sinned, for the sake of the good
name of the Church, whose reputation among the
heathen must be preserved if it was to win the ap
proval of the best of the Chinese, as well as for his
own sake, public discipline must be administered.
If the offender is sorry for his sin and is willing to
undergo discipline it begins immediately. At the
time appointed the penitent is escorted to the steps
at the entrance of the choir where the Bishop or
priest explains to the congregation what is about to
be done. The penitent then reads his confession of
sin against God and His Body the Church, there
upon after a prayer for pardon the absolution may
be pronounced immediately or deferred for a fixed
time, to test the sincerity of the repentance, during
which the penitent occupies a seat among the cate
chumens until such time as the restoration to com
munion takes place. If the offender refuses to sub
mit to discipline his name is posted on the Church
door with a description of his offense and he is
252 The Story of the Church in China
declared excommunicated until such time as the sin
is acknowledged and put away.
Training Day-School Teachers. From the begin
ning of the work in China the day school was an im
portant adjunct to the work. This was usually the
first arm of the Church to become operative in a
new station. For years these were charitable insti
tutions opened in order to get in touch with the peo
ple. At first everything was supplied to the dozen
or two boys who would come because they were so
poor that there was no hope of their getting an edu
cation in any other way. The schools differed very
little from the heathen pay schools around except
that, in addition to the memorizing of Chinese clas
sics, Christian doctrine was regularly taught. As
time went on the Mission sought to improve upon
the native method and tried to make the pupils
understand what they recited parrot fashion. In
the face at first of considerable opposition from
the native simple arithmetic and geography were
added. As the demand for "Western learning"
grew it was determined to charge a small fee.
There were many dismal forebodings on the
part of native helpers that no pupils would
come. But the plan proved a success wherever
started and by the end of the century was gen
erally adopted. After Boxer year when the schools
were reopened it was determined to further add sim
ple Western subjects to the day-school curriculum.
But now a great difficulty arose. Who were to teach
these strange things? The day-school teachers,
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 253
learned, round-shouldered, bespectacled, middle-
aged gentlemen were learned in Confucius and Men-
cius but they knew nought of anything newer than
a learning ten or twenty centuries old. Yet they
were the only teachers available. A normal school be
came necessary, but like everything else in the Mission
field it was a slow growth. It began with a normal
class of dignified teachers called together by Bishop
Ingle before his election, to meet for a short time dur
ing vacation. The way was prepared by a growing
feeling on the part of the teachers that it was hard
to teach what they did not know. But another dif
ficulty presented itself in finding a suitable teacher.
The name of the Rev. Mr. Hu, headmaster at Boone
School, naturally suggested itself but all of the men
coming to be taught were older than he some had
Chinese degrees while he had none and moreover
one of them had years before been his teacher and
he had come under his rod. But finally all the diffi
culties were overcome and the work started of
studying the rudiments of science. Bishop Ingle
thus described it.
"It was most interesting to watch the interest in
creasing as time went on. It was an introduction
to entirely new worlds to most of the student-teach
ers to realize that the lightning and thunder were
the product of natural causes and not of super
natural powers which they were obliged to pro
pitiate. They had heard something about this, it is
true, but it had seemed an empty tale until, with
their own eyes, they saw the electric spark repro-
254 The Story of the Church in China
duced and heard the noise it made in its course. Now
they knew that the dew was not "earth sweat," that
the dragon did not send the rain and what made the
wind blow. They not only understood these things
but they were prepared to explain them to others.
And the more they understood the more their inter
est in spiritual things grew. Before long they had
asked some of the Chinese clergy to come to their
rooms in the evening and explain to them religious
things about which they were in doubt. * * * One
of them said to one of the foreign clergy of the
Mission : Now I really begin to know something.
I thought I knew before. But it was all false and
empty. Now I begin to know the truth/ And he
was a B.A. of advanced years."
The Service of Science. This is a good example
of what was beginning to take place in the minds of
many of the leaders in China and was producing the
awakening of that vast Empire from its sleep ot
ages. It is also an example of what the teaching of
science was doing for Christianity. It was driving
out many superstitions of heathen religion and pre
paring the way for the Truth. A young man who
is now one of the most alert and earnest of the cate-
chists in the Hankow district one day had explained
to his satisfaction and comprehension that the earth
was round. As the fact dawned upon him it brought
to his attractive face a new look of joy and great in
terest. "Now," he said, "I am ready to believe the
other equally difficult things that the missionaries
have told me about God."
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 255
Plan of Campaign. Upon his consecration Bishop
Ingle formulated a vigorous policy of development
as the goal toward which both the foreign and native
workers and the home supporters should work. It
soon became evident that the new jurisdiction was
under far-seeing and practical direction and his
workers set themselves with renewed confidence
and zeal to the carrying out of his policy. With
some modifications and enlargements due to chang
ing circumstances it is still the ideal toward which
the Central China Missions are working and while
too long for detailed enumeration here it will help
us to a clearer understanding of the present mission
policy in China to consider briefly its main outlines.
1. Evangelistic. The planting of strong central
stations in the capital cities of the provinces and
other important cities. In these foreign missionaries
are to live and train and guide the native workers.
From these centers smaller cities and towns are to
be worked.
2. Educational. To have in every station, large
and small, a well conducted parochial day school
for the teaching of Christian and heathen boys. In
each large center to have a higher school called an
intermediate school to which the more promising of
the primary school boys may go. At the apex of the
school system is the college into which Bishop In
gle planned to develop Boone School along the lines
of the development of St. John s College.
At that time there was but little demand for the
education of girls so that the scheme for girls was
256 The Story of the Church in China
confined to a few parochial schools and then St.
Hilda s School in Wuchang, corresponding to St.
Mary s in Shanghai and later St. Agnes School in
Anking. But the Bishop looked forward to the day
when there would be parochial schools for girls in
every station and intermediate schools when cir
cumstances permit; in fact to the development of
the work of the education of girls along the same
lines as that of boys.
All of these schools are pay-schools but help in
the form of scholarships is provided as far as funds
permit for the children of needy Christian parents.
Bishop Ingle also planned a normal school in
which the teachers needed for the mission day
schools might be trained. At the top of the series
was the Divinity School for, as the Bishop said:
"The bulk of our Chinese clergy must be educated
men who can lead their people."
3. Medical. The scheme for the medical work
provided for at least two physicians at each hospital
so that there might be no interruption to the medi
cal work when one doctor was sick or on furlough ;
and for the establishment of hospitals at Shasi and
Kiukiang.
Much of what Bishop Ingle planned has been ac
complished. At that time work was established in
three of the provincial capitals, work having been
recently begun in Changsha the capital of Hunan.
The expense of the Hunan work was borne at first
by the foreign missionaries personally. Nan Chang
the capital of Kiangsi had since been occupied although
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 257
it has not yet been equipped. Practically all the sta
tions have boys schools and most of the larger
stations intermediate schools while the parochial
schools for girls are being opened as far as teachers
can be found to supply them. Five day schools for girls
were opened during Bishop Ingle s Episcopate. The
Normal School was established soon after the vaca
tion normal school experiment referred to above.
Bishop Ingle s comprehensive scheme for the de
velopment of the work in the huge district for which
he was responsible looked forward to the planting
of a strong native Church in Central China. It had
never been the hope of the American Mission to
evangelize China s millions by American mission
aries, but so to plan and labor that there might be a
regular and increasing stream of native preachers
of the Word of Life. For the fulfillment of this
hope the method outlined by Bishop Ingle, follow
ing the example of the other Bishops in China, was
imperative. It required however a growing increase
in the number of foreign missionaries as trained
leaders and in the equipment of the great central
cities.
Bishop Ingle closed his second and last report in
these words : "We have worked this year with the
idea that we are to spread the Kingdom of Christ,
with appropriations, if we can get them ; if not, with
out. So, instead of curtailing work for which no
funds were provided, I have encouraged all that
seemed to me wisely planned and soundly carried
out. I have no heart for clipping wings. Not only
258 The Story of the Church in China
has none of the work been dropped for which ap
propriations were refused, but we have extended, in
every direction, more widely, I believe, than in any
previous year of our mission and there is a promise
of yet better things to come."
Death of Bishop Ingle. Bishop Ingle went back
to China from his furlough in America in 1899, thor
oughly tired out and although at times he seemed
strong and well it was afterward found out that it
was more strength of will than strength of body.
After his election to the Episcopate its many cares
and duties and the slowness of the home Church in
responding to the opportunities in China wore upon
him heavily. Everywhere need, opportunity and
openings, but workers few and equipment inade
quate, confronted him. But no matter how bur
dened, to his workers the Bishop was always the
cheery encouraging friend. When one of them was
feeling the need of a Church for his station where
for many years the congregation had worshipped in
the loft of a Chinese house and spoke despondently
to the Bishop of the need so long unmet, he met
the cheery response : "Cheer up, old boy ! With God
and His whole Church behind you what cause have
you to worry about money for your work ?"
The summer of 1903 was spent in the mountains
at Ruling in the hope that it would be the means
of restoring Bishop Ingle to vigorous health. At
the end of this time he attended the triennial confer
ence of Anglican Bishops in China, in Shanghai.
Upon his return to Hankow he was unable to attend
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 259
a conference of his native clergy which he had
carefully arranged but was sent to bed instead, the
bed from which he never arose, dying of fever on
the 7th of December. The loss of their brilliant and
consecrated young leader came as a very heavy
blow to his devoted fellow workers. With him at
the head of the column the march seemed easy and
bright. It did not seem possible that he had been
called away just at what seemed the beginning of a
most promising development of the Mission work.
But God had other work for him to do and so, at the
early age of thirty-six, the summons came while
Chinese and foreigners alike were left to face the
future without that strength and courage upon
which all had come to lean.
When told that he must die Bishop Ingle broke
forth into fervent prayer for his family, for the
Chinese Church and the Mission, for the strengthen
ing of the Chinese Christians and the sending forth
of more and better leaders. All at the bedside were
filled with wonder and awe at his calmness and
clearness. His love for China and the Church never
shone forth more strongly. "I have attended many
death-beds," said one of the attending physicians,
"but never one like that."
Shortly before he died he sent this message to the
Chinese Christians. "Tell them that as I have tried
to serve them in Christ s name while living, so if
God please to take me away from this world, I pray
that even my death may be a blessing to them and
help them to grow in the faith and love of Christ.
260 The Story of the Church in China
May they be pure in heart, loving Christ for His
own sake, and steadfastly follow the dictates of con
science uninfluenced by sordid ambitions or selfish
ness of any kind." 3
On the sad day when the Cathedral was filled with
Chinese Christians for the funeral services Mr.
Roots took this message from the Bishop to them.
"We know that wherever he is in Paradise," wrote
Bishop Graves after the burial, "he will pray for us
and for the victory of Christ s cause in China. It
was his supreme interest on earth and death has
nothing in it to change him. As priest and bishop
his one aim was the salvation of souls. Duty and
loyalty were the guiding principles of his life and
he had a loving heart which drew all to him who
knew him. I saw Chinese Christian women weep
ing by the side of the road as the funeral procession
passed by, and within and without the Mission he
was loved with the deepest affection."
Bishop Ingle s Tomb. At the base of the Cross
which marks his resting place in the churchyard of
the English Church in Hankow is an inscription in
Chinese, of which the following is a translation :
"James Addison Ingle was the first Bishop of
Hankow. From the time he gave himself to the
Church he studied to make the mind of the Lord
Jesus his own. For more than ten years he pro
claimed The Way in Hankow, making plain the
evidences of Sacred Truth, shepherding believers,
"The Uplift of China," Smith, page 143.
Division of the Missionary Jurisdiction 261
developing men s talents, extending the Church,
uniting Chinese and foreigners, zealously embracing
every opportunity to promote righteousness, doing
with all his heart whatever promised help to the
Chinese Church, as it is said Bending his body to
the task, and applying all his powers unsparingly,
even unto death. *
"Now, though he has passed from our midst, his
example is ever fresh before us, even as Sacred
Scriptures saith according to the grace of God
which was given unto me, as a wise master builder
I laid a foundation and another buildeth thereon
and the foundation laid is Jesus Christ/
"These few words are respectfully recorded as a
memorial for posterity/
Classical quotation from the great historical novel "The
Tirpp TTinordnmc n
Three Kingdoms.
A TIME OF HARVEST:
1903-1907
CHAPTER XII
A TIME OF HARVEST
1903-1907
Retrospect of Ten Years. Bishop Graves gave in
1903 a valuable resume of the steady growth that
had taken place in the Mission work in China during
the ten years that had marked his Episcopate. And
speaking of the conditions at the end of that period
he wrote: "Certainly there never has been a time
when the Gospel could be preached so freely, or has
met with so ready an acceptance; when Christian
literature circulated so widely and when the services
of missionary schools were so fully appreciated as
they are today. The signs show that we are near-
ing the end of the period in which Christianity has
had to struggle for a bare foothold, and has been
obliged to devote its energies to defense, on the one
hand, and to the making of a breach in the walls
of ignorance and prejudice on the other, and that
we are at the beginning of a period when the re
sults of the work of the past will be largely gathered
in. The past has been a time of sowing and the
time of harvest is at hand."
266 l*he Story of the Church in China
The actual progress as revealed in the statistics
was most encouraging. "We have now," he con
tinued, "two bishops and two missionary districts
and the work in either of these two districts is
stronger than the whole Mission was then. We
were working in three of the provinces of China
then; we are working in five provinces now. Our
foreign missionaries were resident in three cities
then ; they are resident in eight now. Our Mission
staff consisted then of seven foreign clergy and
seven foreign lay-workers ; it has now grown to two
Bishops, twenty-one foreign clergy and twenty-
five workers. We had but few baptized Chris
tians in addition to the eight hundred and
eighteen communicants then; where we have three
thousand six hundred baptized Christians and one
thousand three hundred and nine communicants
now. These are some of the facts that lie on the
surface."
Work for Women. No more important develop-
ment had occurred in the decade which 1903 closed
than the spread of the work for women due to the
increasing number of women workers. Not only
was the training school for Bible women in Shang
hai well on its way but in the long neglected Han
kow field the arrival of five ladies between the years
1899 and 1902, especially for the evangelistic work
among women, made possible, after forty years, the
first aggressive woman s work in the upriver dis
trict. These workers soon saw the necessity of a
local training school for Chinese women to be
A Time of Harvest 167
trained as their assistants. The Shanghai School,
six hundred miles distant, was too far to send the
number of women that it would be necessary to
train for the Hankow district.
Training School for Bible Women in Hankow.
Out of this necessity grew the Hankow Training
School for Bible Women. Its beginnings were
small. The first class, in charge of Mrs. Roots, who
started the work, consisted of three only who studied
for four months. One of the graduates from the
Shanghai Training School assisted greatly in the
work. After this first little class the school proper
was started with Mrs. Littell in charge, after Mrs.
Roots departure for America on furlough. Ten
women were in this class, housed in a rented Chi
nese house. And so another necessity of the work
was met, at first, as all mission works have been,
crudely and imperfectly but growing in efficiency
year by year. While home on furlough in 1906 Mrs.
Littell so ably presented the need of a proper home
for this work that enough money was contributed to
erect a substantial and permanent school building.
Socchow Opened. A very important step was
taken on October 1st, 1902, when the Mission
moved forward and occupied for the first time the
great commercial city of Soochow about sixty miles
west of Shanghai. Work on a large scale was
planned and started immediately in native quarters.
Within six weeks after the arrival of the Rev.
Messrs. Ancell and Nichols they reported "a small
chapel for Sunday services, a preaching hall open
268 3?he Story of the Church in China
six nights in the week for pioneer evangelistic
work; a small but flourishing boys^ school, paying
fees; a girls school, which is not quite so flourish
ing because of the Chinese prejudice against the
education of girls ; an orphan asylum for boys ; and
a woman s guest-room, with a capable Bible woman
in charge, a few enquirers registered and under in
struction."
Outlook in Kiangsu "More encouraging than
ever before," wrote Bishop Graves, a year later,
of the outlook before the Church in the province of
Kiangsu in 1904. "Hitherto we have had to per
suade the people to be taught, now they come to us
themselves, not one by one, but in numbers. From
I-jau a place near Wusih comes a petition for a
Christian teacher. Nearly one hundred men have
put their names down on the roll of enquirers. The
Ts ing-poo district, near Shanghai, is the same way.
That there is a strong movement toward Chris
tianity setting in is evident. We must be equipped
to meet it."
Yen Hall. In the Shanghai Station one of the
great events of year 1903 was the erection of the
new college building for which Dr. Pott, his
Chinese colleagues and the alumni of St. John s
had labored so earnestly. The name of one whose
ready help and wise counsel had meant so much to
the college in the day of small things and to whom
the college was greatly indebted for its later growth
was selected as the name of the new building. It
was called Yen Hall, in memory of the late Rev.
SLAVE GIRLS IN ST. ELIZABETH S HOSPITAL, SHANGHAI
MAIN BUILDING, ST. LUKE S HOSPITAL, SHANGHAI
A Time of Harvest 269
Y. K. Yen, M.A. This was the third large building
of the College group and, besides a splendid hall
seating one thousand persons, gave dormitory
accommodations for one hundred and fifty students.
The library was called the Low Library in honor
of the New York family which has so often stood
a friend to the China Mission.
New Hospital Building for St. Luke s. The
medical work in Shanghai had been much
strengthened in 1901 by the coming of a colleague
for Dr. Boone Dr. William H. JefTerys.
For some time it had been apparent to the friends
of St. Luke s Hospital that if it was to meet the
increasing demands made upon it and keep pace
with the rapid development of Shanghai it must
double the number of its beds and advance in its
general equipment. It was therefore a time of great
rejoicing when in 1903 a new administration build
ing was erected representing the expenditure of
something over $12,000, the gift of a Philadelphia
Churchman, Mr. Charles P. B. JefTerys, making
possible a considerable extension of the Hospital s
work.
Bishop Roots. After the death of Bishop Ingle,
Bishop Graves was in charge of the two districts
in China until the consecration of another Bishop
for Hankow. It was no surprise and a matter of
widespread satisfaction when the Rev. Logan H.
Roots of Hankow was chosen by the General Con
vention, meeting in Boston in 1904, to be the Mis
sionary Bishop of the vacant jurisdiction. He
270 The Story of the Church in China
seemed to be the natural successor to Bishop
Ingle as during the latter s short Episcopate he
had been closely associated with Mr. Roots and as
President of the Standing Committee they had
worked together over many a mission problem.
Like Bishop Ingle the new Bishop had devoted
much time to the training of native catechists and
was greatly loved and trusted by foreigners and
Chinese alike. Again like Bishop Ingle he pos
sessed a remarkable knowledge of the Chinese
language and has thus been able to come in close
touch with the Chinese workers.
Consecration of Bishop Roots. The Bishop-elect
was home on furlough when his election occurred
in October 1894 and he was consecrated on the
fourteenth of the following month in Emmanuel
Church, Boston, Massachusetts. The day was
memorable as being the day on which the first
American Bishop, Dr. Seabury, one hundred and
twenty years previously, was consecrated in Aber
deen, Scotland. Bishop Graves of Shanghai was
again the consecrator with Bishops McKim of
Tokyo and McVickar of Rhode Island as co-con-
secrators. Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts and
Bishop Partridge of Kyoto were the presentors and
the sermon was preached by Bishop Lawrence.
A Big Diocese. "It is no small thing to be the
bishop of a mission to one hundred millions of
souls/ wrote the Rev. Mr. Mosher, one of the
attending presbyters at the consecration, especi
ally if the force of workers is too small to do more
A Time of Harvest 271
than touch the fringe of the work. Nor is it a
small thing to be sent in succession to that truly
wonderful man, the late Bishop Ingle. But those
who know the new Bishop of Hankow have no
fear for the future of the Church there."
Bishop Roots was thus thoroughly conversant
and in sympathy with Bishop Ingle s plans and
with consecrated powers of leadership and wide
sympathies he has set himself resolutely to his great
task. Again the thrill of enthusiasm ran along the
line of workers and with new buoyancy and deter
mination which the Bishop everywhere inspired
they came up loyally and heartily to his support.
A New Start for Wuhu. Under the steady and
faithful efforts of the workers at Wuhu the work
at this station and outstations connected with it
had been growing in a very encouraging way. But
the more it grew the more were the workers
oppressed by the narrrow confines of the little
Chinese dwelling that served for the Church home.
On Christmas Day 1903 the hearts of the congre
gation in Wuhu were made very happy by the gift
in the Alms basin of a cheque for $5,600, from a
friend of the China Mission in America, a member
of the congregation of St. James Church, New
York City. After nearly twenty years of strug
gling, this important city on the Yangtse, one of the
most important in all China was to be equipped
with a Church and necessary mission buildings.
We can well imagine the rejoicing in that congre
gation in the dark old Chinese dwelling that morn-
272 The Story of the Church in China
ing. Soon now there would arise in Wuhu a home
for the Church that would not only provide for its
growing work but be a constant, impressive, visible
witness among the heathen of the one true God.
It was the happiest Christmas service Wuhu
ever had.
"When the Lord turned again the captivity of
Sion then were we like unto them that dream.
"Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our
tongue with joy.
"Then said they among the heathen, the Lord
hath done great things for them."
The New Church. At Wuhu on May 3rd, 1905,
St. James Church was consecrated. A memorial
tablet near the Altar explains the gift to the
daughter Church in China:
To the glory of God,
and in loving memory of
Edward Walpole Warren, D. D.
Rector of St. James Church, New York City.
Christmas, 1903.
The gift also provided for the erection of a build
ing for the boarding school and rooms for an un
married foreign missionary.
The Sunday School of St. James* Church, New
York City, gave the bell for the new church.
The members of the Church in Wuhu also came
forward to help. One of the members gave money
for a church organ and others provided the baptis
mal font. A lady in Denmark, out of gratitude for
A Time of Harvest 273
kindness done to her son who had been in the
Customs service in China, gave the furnishings for
one of the school rooms. Later through the gener
ous gifts of the same donor who gave the Church,
and others, the Wuhu compound has been en
larged and on a hill outside the city a splendid
building for a boys large boarding school has been
erected, thus making Wuhu one of the efficient
strong centers of mission activity.
What Might Be Done. We have dwelt at some
length on the equipment of Wuhu as an example
of what a comparatively small sum of money
wisely invested for Christ will accomplish in China.
What has been done in Wuhu might be done, nay
should be done for Kuikiang, Shasi, Nanchang and
Changsha and other places where the Church has
been well and long established, but in temporary
and makeshift quarters, and still needing material
help for the more rapid accomplishment of its work.
Not Pauperizing the Chinese Church. It does
not mean that we are making the Chinese Church
dependent on the foreigner. Most of our congre
gations are poor, very poor. All the contributions
they can give are needed for the support of the
work. In small country stations where land is
much cheaper they are sometimes able to give and
do give, land and buildings for the work but in the
great cities where the work must be most aggres
sive they are not strong enough to provide for the
big campaign before the Church.
Wuhu s Mission Work. At the time of the gift
274 The Story of the Church in China
to Wuhu the congregation was already doing mis
sion work of its own. For a year it had supported
a catechist in Lukang, a neighboring town. In Nan-
ling, another outstation, there was a roomy com
pound, a catechist s house and a chapel, worth in
all about $900, more than half of which sum had
been given by native Christians. The time is com
ing when the money that has been spent on temples
and idols, on processions and ancestor worship will
be spent in work to make the Father known. But
until it is and in order that it may be, we who have
experienced His love must pass on the means to
others, as others have passed on to us, of bringing
the knowledge of Him to those to whom He is new
not even a name.
Outlook for Self-Support. The outlook for self-
support on the whole is an encouraging one. It is
one that the foreign missionary has ever in Ids
heart and for which he constantly works. In the
old days no money was asked from enquirers lest
they should think that the Church s Mission was
what many of the heathen suspected it of being,
a means of the foreigner for making money. Tea
and the inevitable Chinese water tobacco pipe were
also furnished in the mission guest halls where en
quirers were brought. This has been gradually
changed and the Christian taught that giving, even
out of their often-times deep poverty, is an indis
pensable part of worship. At a conference of
the Shanghai district in 1905 it was decided
that new stations in the future should pay the
A Time of Harvest 275
charges for rent and general expenses. For the
older stations a graduated scheme toward self-
support was drawn up by the Chinese and foreign
workers though the order was suggested by the
Chinese. First the station is required to pay the
sundry running expenses, then the wages of sexton
or caretaker, then the salary of Bible-woman, next
the salary of catechist, then rent, repairs, etc., and
then the salary of the Chinese clergyman, first one
half and then the whole. Similar steps were taken
in the Hankow district. As an incentive toward
self-support the ability to vote in convention or
synod was made to depend upon the congregation
represented having reached a certain stage of self-
support.
Progress In Last Few Years. The last few years
have witnessed considerable advance toward self-
support. The cathedral congregation in Hankow,
which numbers among its members several Boone
College graduates in good business positions, is
a strong parish and was approaching self-support
when the Revolution broke out in 1911 and a
large part of the city was burned. The con
gregation at the Church of our Saviour, Shanghai,
which also numbers among its members young
people whom the Church has educated and trained,
has been self-supporting for some years. In addi
tion it built in 1911 at an expense of over $7,000
Mex., a new parish building called the Wong Me
morial Hall. This is in memory of the first convert
of the China Mission and the first pastor of this
276 The Story of the Church in China
Church. There have also been many and large
Chinese gifts for St. John s University, Boone Uni
versity, and for our hospitals in China. These,
however, have often been from non-Christians who
have seen so far the value of the Church s educa
tional and healing work only and so is a different
question from that of self-support on the part of the
native Christians.
The New Conditions. Under the more prosper
ous conditions and the development of China under
the progressiveness of the new form of government,
when it is firmly established, we may expect to see
a quicker coming of self-support. We have seen that
self-support has come most rapidly in the foreign
settlements in Shanghai and Hankow. It has been
so also in the Church of England Missions in Hong-
Kong. Chinese Christians who have been engaged
in business there have shared in the security and
general business prosperity of these communities.
As these conditions spread more rapidly in China
we may expect to see similar results. Another hope
ful sign is that our Mission schools are sending
forth every year greater numbers of efficient and
qualified Christian men whose ability and training
are giving them positions as influential laymen. It
marks the incoming into our churches of a new,
progressive and prosperous membership in the
larger and old established centers of Mission work.
A Notable Gift at Han Yang. During the last
year of Bishop Ingle s life one of the Christians in
Hankow by the name of Hsia presented to the Mis-
A Time of Harvest 277
sion the deeds for three pieces of property. Before
his conversion he had been such a profligate that his
mother had hidden the deeds, left by the father,
away from the son lest the property should be
spent in riotous living. At his conversion the
chagrin and dismay of the family were much in
creased. He had been bad enough before, but now
he was a Christian. What worse calamity could
happen to the family? The mother literally barred
her door against the entrance of the missionary into
her house. Gradually, however, they noticed a
great change in the dissolute son, his evil habits
disappeared and be became an honored member of
the community. Then it was that the mother
brought forth the deeds and presented them to the
son. He in his turn presented them to the Church.
On one of the three lots thus given the native
buildings were remodelled for a chapel and school
rooms. The other two pieces were leased and the
income used for the support of the mission; but
best of all, following the example of the first con
vert, other members of the family have since been
presented for Baptism.
The Growth of Boone University. The last few
years have seen a rapid development in Boone. In
1905, it was acknowledged to be, after thirty years
of experience, the best high school and college amid
a population of one hundred million people. In the
face of opposition and prejudice it had steadily gone
on its way, improving year by year. At the be
ginning pupils were paid to enter the school. In
278 The Story of the Church in China
1905 it had one hundred and fifty pupils and its fees
amounted to over $5,000. Its position and oppor
tunity to influence Central China were unique.
The well-known missionary veteran ex-President of
the Pekin University, wrote a "Farewell to Wuchang"
which appeared in the North China Daily News
in 1905. After speaking of the high aims of the Vice
roy he concluded : "Much as China s statesmen may
accomplish their efforts will be incomplete without
the confirmation of missionaries. In the Boone
School the Viceroy has a fine model for his colleges
and higher schools."
Ingle Hall. With the growth of the upriver
work it was inevitable that Boone School should
develop into Boone College. St. John s College, six
hundred miles away, was too far to send the Han
kow students of the Mission and the increasing
number of Christian students who were ready for
a higher education in the vicinity could not go so
far in order to attend college. If a college educa
tion under the Christian influences of this Mission
was to be provided for them it must be in
Central China. Bishop Ingle saw this greater
opportunity that had opened before the Church
and sanctioned the addition of a college course
in 1902. Among his last appeals was one for
a college building. After his death, from his
many friends and admirers, far and wide, came
in the gifts for Ingle Hall and it was erected as his
memorial, being opened in 1907.
A Time of Harvest 279
First College Graduates. In the meantime the
first college class consisting of seven members had
graduated in January, 1906. The personnel of this
class is interesting and was most encouraging to
the missionaries for it proved that the longer stu
dents remained in Mission institutions the more
likely they were to remain as workers and helpers
in Christian work. It had been a cause of great
anxiety to the missionaries to see the students after
finishing their school course hurrying off to posi
tions in postal or customs employ or to business
positions. There had been no Divinity class for
several years. The outlook for the future of the na
tive Church was not bright in the years from 1899
to 1905 in the Hankow district. But with the
founding of the college course the outlook changed.
The students who remained for it became more
matured, more thoughtful, more ready and able to
respond to high ideals. Three of the first class to
graduate from the college entered the Divinity
School immediately. Three stayed in the college as
teachers and another accepted a position as private
secretary to one of the officers in the school. Thus
all remained to help the Mission in the face of
inviting business prospects outside. Best of all,
all but one were Christians, and he was so by con
viction and prevented only by his parents from
being baptized. Four were from Christian homes,
but two presented themselves for Baptism just
before commencement.
Effect of the College Course. From that day to
280 The Story of the Church in China
this the Divinity School in Wuchang has not been
closed. There has been a small but steady stream
of well educated young men of resolute purpose
and high ideals who have given themselves to the
work of the ministry. To this end the strong
spiritual influence of the Rector, Rev. James Jack
son, D.D., and his corps of helpers have contributed
in a high degree.
A Viceroy s Changed Attitude. It has been noted
before in these pages how in the rectorship of the
Rev. Mr. Partridge 1 Chang Tze Tung desired to
send his son to Boone School and offered to give a
dormitory to the institution if he could be exempt
from Christian worship and Christian instruction.
In 1906 the same Viceroy asked permission to send
four of his young relatives to Boone College with
the understanding that they v/ere to have the full
course of Christian teaching.
A Significant Request. Another evidence of the
place the Mission had come to occupy in the com
munity was given when in the same year a number
of Chinese officials in Wuchang made the request
to Bishop Roots that he establish a school for girls
to which they might send their daughters. There
had been a government institution opened for girls
and at first the Mandarins daughters had gone to
one of these. But feeling the moral atmosphere to
be unwholesome these officials desired to withdraw
their daughters and entrust them to the Mission.
St. Hilda s School and its graduates were living
1 Now Bishop of West Missouri.
A Time of Harvest 281
witnesses to the quality of Mission work. They
therefore promised that if Bishop Roots would open
such a select school they would bear the expense of
it. It was seen immediately that this would be an
effective way of reaching a class to which there had
been no entree before and accordingly St. Margaret s
School was instituted. It was first in charge of
Mrs. Jackson, the wife of the Rector of Boone
School, and later under Miss Byerly continued
right up to the Revolution when such a special
school for the daughters of Imperial officials, many
of them Manchus, became no longer necessary.
St. Hilda s School. Seven years of faithful hard
work on the part of Miss Pauline Osgood, the prin
cipal, had raised St. Hilda s to a position of wide
usefulness and it had become now one of the most
valuable mission institutions for the upriver dis
trict. In 1906, it had the largest number of pupils
in its history and its fame and influence were stead
ily growing. A desire for the education of their
daughters as well as for their sons was beginning
to make itself felt and was another striking evidence
of the change that was passing over the old Empire.
The Day Schools. In both districts we note an
advance in the efficiency of the day schools. In
Shanghai, Miss Richmond, a teacher of experience,
was made school superintendent and the wisdom of
having a trained worker in sole charge of this work
was soon apparent. Among other advantages the
number of pupils more than doubled in a year. The
new type of day school which taught Chinese by
282 The Story of the Church in China
Western methods has now in all the missionary
districts taken the place of the old fashioned Chinese
school where the pupils studied aloud at the top of
their voices and learned only to memorize, without
understanding, the elegant phrases of the Chinese
classics.
Normal School. This change was made possible
by the fact that now for the first time the Mission
was producing trained teachers. The normal class,
started by Bishop Ingle, had developed into a nor
mal school conducted by the Rev. Mr. Huntington
in Ichang. Owing to the difficulty in securing a
teaching staff for this work, after the graduation of
the first class of teachers the Mission decided to co
operate with another Mission in this department.
The Wesleyan Mission in Wuchang possessed an
excellent normal school and they kindly consented
to receive and train our teachers. The work has
been so well done and has been so free from prac
tical objections that Bishop Roots has continued
this scheme of union educational work in this
department.
The Chinese Churchman. The establishment in
1905 of The Chinese Churchman, a monthly paper
in Chinese, marked a step forward in Church life
in China. The paper was started by the Shanghai
District and the Hankow District soon joined it.
The paper has done much to spread information,
especially on Church topics, to the congregations
in China and has helped to bring them into closer
relations.
A Time of Harvest 283
Contact with Japan. After the war between
Russia and Japan in 1904-1905 and the victory of
Japan, the eyes of the Chinese were focussed on
Japan and the impetus toward Western learning
was much quickened. It was seen that Japan s
power had been acquired by learning from the
Western world. Therefore to acquire Western
learning the easiest and quickest way seemed to be
to go to Japan to study. Students, many of them
supported by the government, began flocking to
Japan in great numbers. At one time it was esti
mated that there were fifteen thousand Chinese
students in Tokyo. It was a time of great peril and
great opportunity; of peril because these students
so crowded in a foreign city were not only exposed
to great temptations to immorality but were also
in danger of absorbing the anti-Christian material
ism that pervaded the Japanese students ; of oppor
tunity because here were many of the future leaders
of China grouped together, and an unusual possi
bility of reaching them thus presented itself. Mis
sionaries were sent over from China to work among
these students and the Bishop of Tokyo started a
school for Chinese students. The Rev. Mr. Hu of
Wuchang was sent by Bishop Roots to help in this
most new and difficult work and he remained there
for a year and a half.
Lengthening the Cords: Nanchang. In the fall
of 1906 the capital of the province of Kiangsi
was occupied by the Mission. It was the last of
the provincial capitals in the Central China dis-
284 The Story of the Church in China
trict to be so occupied. To the Rev. Mr. Yu, a
priest from the city of Hankow, together with a
young man just graduated from the Hankow Train
ing School for Catechists, belong the honor of
starting the Mission work in this important center.
The progress here has been encouraging, but now
after seven years of occupancy the station is still
housed in rented quarters.
Han Tsuan and New Outstations. One of the most
notable gifts to the evangelistic work in 1906 was a
church building for the congregation in Han Tsuan.
This gift of a communicant in Yonkers, New York,
was the cause of great rejoicing in the district of
which the city is the center. In addition to the
equipment of this station the opening of five new
stations in the Hankow district were noted by
Bishop Roots in his report for 1906. An important
section had been opened up in a district near Han
kow city, called Hwangpi. This work witnessed
a strong growth and development after the opening
of the Hankow-Pekin railroad which ran through
it. Altogether in the two districts there were eighty
stations in operation in 1906.
Tsingpoo District. Another very encouraging work
was in progress in the Tsingpoo district in the
Shanghai jurisdiction. It was started by the Rev.
Mr. Rees in 1902. From that time it had developed
until in 1912 there were seven outstations connected
with it. The early days of this work are associated
with the name of Miss Porter, who lived for some
years alone and carried on a splendid work for
A Time of Harvest 285
women and children. Land for a church was given
here by the native Christians.
Death of Bishop Schereschewsky. In 1881, Bishop
Schereschewsky was stricken with a disease which
brought on an almost complete paralysis and since
that date had withdrawn from almost all the Mis
sion activities. Almost, but not all, and that ex
ception was, as we have seen before in these pages,
a most important one. For over twenty years he
labored at translation work, turning the Scriptures
into the language of one-third of the population of
the globe. Few achievements in the cause of Mis
sions have been greater than those accomplished
by this patient-hearted, undaunted sufferer. On
October 15, 1906, the great missionary hero and
scholar was called to his rest from his home in
Tokyo, Japan.
St. John s College Incorporated as a University.
The incorporation of St. John s College as a uni
versity, besides securing the recognition of the
Chinese government and the right to bestow de
grees, gave to St. John s a valuable prestige in the
eyes of the world s great institutions of learning,
and did much to increase its growing popularity.
"Yale agreed to receive the graduates of St. John s
for study, leading up to the degrees of M. A.
and Ph. D. and to allow them to enter the schools
of law and medicine without examination. Har
vard, Columbia, Cornell, Michigan, Chicago and
Pennsylvania agreed to give St. John s students
credit for all they had done and to admit them to
286 The Story of the Church in China
higher standing in undergraduate courses." Thus
St. John s entered upon another and higher sphere
of usefulness. The diplomas conferring the degree
of B. A. upon a number of graduates were given in
January, 1907.
First Graduates from the Training School for
Bible Women, Hankow. Early in 1906 the first
class of women to receive full training as Bible
women in the District of Hankow graduated. Out
of a group of ten who had entered two years be
fore six finished the course. It had not been an easy
undertaking. Several could not read a word when
they entered the school, and none of them could
write, and all were well past their youth. The work
of taking this unpromising material and teaching
them to read and write, the Life of Christ, the Acts
of the Apostles, an outline of the Old Testament,
the Catechism, the intelligent use of the Prayer
Book and the art of expounding Scriptures in a
simple way in two years was not an easy one.
A Bible Woman s Duties. The expression in
Chinese which we translate "Bible Woman" is
"female teacher of the Church." Her work is
teaching the women as a catechist teaches the men,
although her work is done mostly in the home.
Both are assistants to the native pastor and the
Bible woman works usually under the direction of
the foreign lady missionary. Some of them act as
matrons in our hospitals where they teach the
truths of Christianity to the crowds in the dispen
sary as well as to the in-patients. Others serve as
A Time of Harvest 287
matrons in the girls schools where they give re
ligious instruction to the girls and act as their
general friend and monitor. In fact they are used
in every way in which a woman only can be used
to spread the Truth in a land where the lives of
women and men are so separate as they are in
China.
Difficulties of a Bible Woman s Work. Few un
derstand the peculiar difficulties that meet the natur
ally timid and retiring Chinese woman when she
first faces such public duties. After a sheltered life
in the seclusion of a Chinese home the Bible
woman goes forth to live among strangers where
the conditions of her life often cause wonder and
comment to the heathen. Mrs. Sung, a Bible
woman in the Shanghai district, thus describes the
situation: "To gain an entrance into a Chinese
home is no easy matter, especially inland. These
difficulties apply especially to the outstations or
new places, not to Shanghai, where the custom of
visiting has been established several tens of years.
No Chinese woman who considers herself a lady
will go to a house without an invitation, hence
though you have the best of intentions, should you
go as a stranger, you will be looked down upon. A
woman who is unknown is sure to be misunder
stood by the non-Christians, for they cannot un
derstand why she has come. They know that she
has been sent by foreigners, but they do not know
whether they are to be harmed or benefited by these
visits; so she sometimes receives a very cool re-
288 The Story of the Church in China
ception, or sometimes the people laugh at her.
After you have been invited into the house and
you think you can begin work in earnest you find
an entirely new set of difficulties, for while the wife
is delighted to see you the husband or mother-in-
law may object, or may fear a neighbor s ridicule.
"How are we to overcome these difficulties? One
way is to establish schools and then visit the par
ents, brothers and sisters of your pupils; invite
them to see you and ask them to bring their neigh
bors and friends. * * * I feel encouraged to perse
vere and save others from a fate Providence has
allowed me to escape ; and so I repeat that courage,
patience and earnestness will overcome all the diffi
culties which hinder us in the work of bringing the
knowledge of Christ to the heathen women of
China."
NEW VENTURES OF FAITH
1907-1909
CHAPTER XIII
NEW VENTURES OF FAITH
1907-1909
Quiet Steady Growth. The last few years have
been years of quiet, steady and rapid growth in the
China Mission. Obstacles have continued but in
spite of them the work has pushed forward tinder
wise and energetic leadership. The chief obstacle
has been the lack of a sufficiently large foreign staff
to use the opening opportunities. "The future de
velopment of our work will depend for years to
come," wrote Bishop Roots in 1907, "for its solidity
upon the guidance of a strong staff of foreigners."
Again and again ill-health has caused the temporary
or permanent withdrawal of some trained worker,
and the work has suffered accordingly.
Restraining Workers. One of the greatest
anxieties of a missionary bishop is the care of the
health of his workers. He finds it necessary more
cften to restrain than to urge them on. "In our
prayers for missionaries/ Bishop Roots reported in
1906, speaking of the illness of a member of the
staff, "I think this one that the missionaries may
take all due care of their health, in order to attain the
291
292 The Story of the Church in China
most far-reaching usefulness, restraining their zeal
within the limits of their strength should take a
prominent place. For such men and women as the
Church has sent into this China Mission, there is
small danger of indulging in slack work or any
kind of slothfulness. The chief dangers are those
arising out of the destitution and unlimited oppor
tunities for usefulness with which we are sur
rounded, and which tempt us to neglect the care
of our own health, physical, intellectual or spiritual.
The spirit of a sound mind is necessary to resist
these temptations."
The School for Beggar Boys. Perhaps the most
unusual new work has been the Trade School
opened for beggar boys in Ichang by the Rev. D. T.
Huntington in 1907. Mr. Huntington had been
greatly impressed with the number of homeless
and destitute boys in the streets of Ichang who
were perishing from neglect and starvation. Ichang
is the terminus for the junks coming down the
Yangtse gorges from the province of Szechuen.
Boys from this latter province are picked up by the
junk owners to help bring the boats through the
rapids for small pay. On the return trip against
the rapids the work is too hard for the boys and
they are cast aside in the streets of Ichang several
weeks journey from home, and there, shelterless and
without any knowledge of any trade whatever, are
left to beg.
In the hope of rescuing some of this pitiable class
of boys and training them to become useful citizens,
New Ventures of Faith 293
Mr. Huntington opened a trade school. The work
soon passed the experimental stage and, in its happy
busy atmosphere, in 1911 one hundred and sixty
boys were learning carpentry, brass-work, shoe-
making, tailoring, barbering and other trades.
Here the boys make their own shoes and clothes,
raise vegetables and pigs. Three hours a day are
spent in school. Care is taken to see that their
simple style of living may not unfit them for the
Chinese artisan life for which they are preparing.
In 1910, a group of buildings consisting of dormi
tories, work-shop, refectory, infirmary and a dwell
ing for the foreign missionary in charge was erected
at a cost of about $13,000 (U. S. currency) largely
provided by the Christian Herald Orphanage Fund,
which also supported a majority of the destitute
boys.
The Ichang Lace Work. Another interesting
industrial work organized in Ichang shortly before
the Trades School was the lace making industry
started for women and girls by Miss Maria Hunt
ington, the aunt of the Rev. Mr. Huntington. This
work was opened as a means of attracting women
to the Church and bringing them within the hear
ing of the Gospel Message. The results were soon
evidenced in the greatly increased numbers at the
"woman s meetings" and at the Church service.
The women readily learned to make beautiful Euro
pean laces. Under Miss Huntington s successors this
branch of mission activity has developed into a
profitable industry. It has not only accomplished
294 The Story of the Church in China
its original purpose of bringing a large number of
women into the Church but has provided them with
a respectable and agreeable means of livelihood, and
helps largely in the support of the boys trade
school.
Expansion in Evangelistic Work. Everywhere
the evangelistic work has been expanding in the
last few years. The changing attitude of the
Chinese people and the opening of railroads have
made the opportunities innumerable. The steady
supply of the training schools for catechists in Han
kow and later in Wusih have furnished an increas
ing number of better qualified lay workers to ex
tend the work. The young graduates from the two
Divinity Schools have proven themselves earnest,
consecrated and efficient and their accession to the
ranks of the ministry has made it possible to re
lease some of the older native priests for the open
ing and oversight of new stations. These favor
able conditions have made possible a notable in
crease in the number of outstations in all three of
the present missionary jurisdictions, and have been
a great cause of rejoicing and hopefulness. Especi
ally has the advance been marked since 1907. On
all sides splendid opportunities have opened and in
as many places as possible have been seized, the
only reason for not occupying even a greater
number of outstations than have been occupied has
been lack of workers and funds. Again and again
the missionaries themselves have provided the
funds for the opening of new stations rather than
THE SCHOOL CHAPEL, AN KING
ST. JOHN S PRO-CATHEDRAL, SHANGHAI
New Ventures of Faith 295
lose the opportunity in some new and promising
place.
And Some a Hundredfold. The story of the
growth of the work at Anking since 1900 is not
only an evidence of faithful hard work on the part
of the missionaries but an encouraging example of
what might be done under the same conditions in
other places. As we have seen, the year 1900 saw
a rented Chinese building, a little day school with
a few boys and a handful of Christians most of
whom, as was afterward ascertained, were in the
Church from unworthy motives. Little by little the
missionary staff had been increased land was
bought the first temporary hospital erected a
small chapel and outstations were opened; but
Anking s chief asset has been its medical work.
It has won for the Mission many friends and made
the Church well known for hundreds of miles. So
rapidly did the work grow that in 1907 land was se
cured for the development of the Anking Station
along big lines. The new St. James* Hospital was
built which was at the time said to be "probably
the most modern and complete hospital in China."
It certainly was so for central China. It was also
the only hospital for a population of five million
people. A boarding school for boys St. Paul s
High School has grown out of the little day
school, while St. Agnes School for girls is doing
for its great district the work that St. Hilda s in
Hankow, and St. Mary s in Shanghai are doing for
their sections.
296 The Story of the Church in China
The little $250 chapel built in 1900 with its handful of
Christians is no longer the central home of the Anking
Church. The beautiful Cathedral Church of the Holy
Saviour now shelters the many hundreds of Chris
tians to which the membership in Anking has
grown. The outstations have multiplied from none
in 1900 to twelve in 1908, extending over a section
as large as the State of Massachusetts. *
Yangchow. For all the years in which the Church
has been engaged in mission work in the maritime
province of Kiangsu its activities had been con
fined entirely to the lower half of the province.
The development of the outstation work in the
Kiading, Wusih, Tsingpoo and Soochow districts
had been within comparatively easy reach of Shang
hai by canal or railway. In 1908 an important move
was made toward occupying the northern section
of the province where Mandarin was the language
of the people. Again in the face of an inadequate
staff it seemed reckless to detach two men for this
new work, but feeling that the end would fully
justify the decision, the Rev. Messrs. Ancell and
Sinclair were sent to be the pioneers of our work
*In speaking of the praiseworthy and earnest work done
by the missionaries and native helpers at Anking mention
should be made of our Chinese woman physician there, Dr.
Yoh, the physician in charge of the woman s ward. For
merly a pupil in the Jane Bohlen School for Girls in Wuchang
(now St. Hilda s School), continuing her education in the
Wesleyan Mission Hospital she took her degree after a very
careful training in the Canton Medical College. Bishop Roots
speaks in high praise of her professional ability and public
spirited willingness to shoulder responsibility.
New Ventures of Faith 297
in this ancient and famous city. As none of the
native clergy in the district of Shanghai spoke Man
darin Chinese fluently Bishop Roots loaned the Rev.
Fu Ta Hwan to assist the foreign clergy. A help
in opening the new work was afforded by a Chris
tian in Yangchow who had been confirmed by the
second Bishop Boone and who had been a con
sistent Christian all the years that he had been
away from his own Church surroundings.
The Opening Wedge. The first step in the work
was to establish a school for boys as a means of
reaching the people. It soon developed into a
flourishing institution. It was largely through this
school and contract with the parents of the boys,
people of the better classes, that the general attitude
of hostility which characterized Yangchow residents
changed into a more friendly one. The school proved
as the missionaries believed it would the right
wedge for opening up the city. Yangchow promises
to be a good center for outstation work and one out-
station has been opened in the neighboring town of
Tai Chwo some twenty miles distant.
Country Trips. One of the Shanghai workers 1
gives us an interesting picture of itinerating work in
the outstations. "So walking, or by boat, we visited
and held services in ten different places outside of
Zangzok. Generally it was a tea-house where the
service was held; but in two places were stores
which had been converted into chapels, while in
other cases it was a private house, the owner of
Rev. H. A. McNulty in Spirit of Missions, 1910, page 34.
298 The Story of the Church in China
which was either a Christian or an enquirer. [The
time of day at which the meeting was held depended
entirely on our arrival it might be at eight in the
morning; once it was at twelve o clock at night, in
a great farm-house three miles away in the country
from our boat ; and here amid the farm implements
and baskets, with some twenty or thirty of the clan
around, the Word of Christ was read and preached
and prayers sent up to the Father."
Nanking. The capital of Kiangsi was the last
of the capitals of the provinces in which this
Church is at work to be occupied. In 1910 the
Rev. J. M. B. Gill left Yangchow to open up this
work. There were already communicants of the
Church residing in Nanking and the outlook was
encouraging. Other missions were doing good
work in Nanking but the additional worker and
mission were welcomed especially as the aim in
view was a new one i. e., to reach the better classes
of Chinese who had not been reached by the other mis
sions in Nanking nor to any appreciable extent by
any mission anywhere in China. The field was a
hard one full of weary waits and discouragements,
but it was felt that something more must be done
to bring this class of business and professional men
into the fold of the Church. 1
"We Have Had the Men." "How shall we ac
count for this advance in the last ten years," wrote
1 This seemingly difficult work has been made much easier
by the overthrow of the Manchu regime and the changed
attitude towards Christianity.
New Ventures of Faith 299
the Rev. Mr. Nichols in 1910, "when there was so
little comparatively before? The answer, short
and comprehensive, ought to ring throughout the
home Church. We have had the men. For fifty odd
years before 1900 there had been two, three and four
American priests trying to lead and plant the
Church in Kiangsu. Sometimes there was but one
to shoulder the burden. In 1900 there were six, two
having just come to the work. This year there are
fourteen on the bishop s staff." The number of
native clergy had moreover increased from ten to
fifteen.
The Shanghai Training School for Catechists.
Part of this increase was due to the fact that Shang
hai had been able to add the training of catechists
to its many activities. The School had a difficult
time in getting started. The Rev. Mr. Mosher had
organized it soon after opening Wusih in 1901.
A few men were trained here for a short time. Later
the School was opened again in Soochow under the
Rev. Mr. Ancell and then in Shanghai where it was
conducted by the Rev. Mr. Nichols on the veranda
of his dwelling house. It was therefore a matter of
much rejoicing when funds were secured for the
permanent housing and development of this indis
pensable work in Wusih, and the corner-stone was
laid by Bishop Nichols of California in 1911. One
of the workers wrote of the occasion: "If any
thing in the district of Shanghai needed a corner
stone or some other symbol of permanence it is
the Catechists School." The buildings for it were
300 The Story of the Church in China
completed in the year following.
The Hankow Training School. The Hankow dis
trict had been the pioneer in the matter of a school
for the training of catechists, and the development
of the Evangelistic work in that district had con
vincingly demonstrated the wisdom of such an
institution, and the value of the training it afforded.
Here men in good Christian standing who did not
look forward to the Christian ministry were given
a two or three years course of training and then
sent out by the Bishop to lead in opening new sta
tions and assist in the old. It, too, had had a peri
patetic existence, but in spite of its travels and
uncertain home it had done good work. Over
forty men had completed the course and twenty-
five were in training when early in 1909 it moved
into the roomy and well-equipped building erected
for it in the German Concession in Hankow. The
Rector, the Rev. S. H. Littell, through whose
energy the funds were raised for this new develop
ment, made the building large enough to house fifty
students thus providing, seemingly, for the normal
growth of the school for some years to come. But
things were moving fast in China and in two years
the school was crowded beyond its limits with fifty-
two students, the extra ones sleeping in the attic.
A Unique Opportunity for St. John s. In 1911
the further extension of St. John s University was
made possible by the purchase of an adjoining
estate called the Unkasa property. This added
eleven acres of ground to the crowded Mission
New Ventures of Faith 301
compound. The situation of the University had
been excellent occupying one-half of a peninsula
made by an abrupt turn in the Soochow Creek.
The other half of this peninsula however composed
a private estate owned by an English merchant
and used as a residence. The right of way of St.
John s campus lay through this property and al
though it has been courteously granted for many
years it might be closed at any time. For a long
time the University had looked longingly upon this
property it had been one of the Naboth s Vine
yards in the Mission field for its acquisition would
mean the doubling of the college compound, free
dom from all possible encroachments and room for
all the conceivable expansion that even rapidly
growing St. John s University would need. The
estate came suddenly on the market in 1911 and
rather than have this means of extension indefi
nitely lost to the University the Board of Missions
sanctioned its purchase, giving to St. John s as
one of the members of the Board said the oppor
tunity of becoming to China what Harvard College
has been to America. A large part of the money is
still needed for the payment of this property.
An Estimate of St. John s University. An Ameri
can journalist, Mr. William T. Ellis, visiting China
recently, in writing to America spoke thus of St.
John s: "St. John s University, Shanghai, is un
questionably the greatest educational institution
in China. I have talked over the subject with many
men of many denominations and they all concede this.
302 The Story of the Church in China
It has stood for the highest ideals of culture and of
Christianity. The thoroughness of its work and the
excellence of its standing have commanded the
allegiance of the very best class of Chinese in the
Empire. I have been chagrined to find many
Episcopalians on this side of the water who did
not know of this immense work which their Church
is doing on the other side of the world. It seems
to me that if St. John s were the property of my
Church, I would do a deal of bragging about it
in fact I have bragged not a little about it as it is."
Archdeacon Thomson s Semi-Centenary Celebra
tion. A notable event in the history of the China
Mission occurred in 1909 when, on December 21st,
was celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Rev.
Elliot H. Thomson, Archdeacon of Shanghai. He
had come out to China in the days of the first
Bishop Boone in company with Mr. Samuel Scher-
eschewsky and ten other new workers in the days
when the journey consumed nearly six months.
The debt of the Mission to the Archdeacon in that
half century of faithful, eventful service should
always be remembered.
In 1865, deaths on the field, serious illnesses, civil
war in the United States, and the death of the
Bishop had reduced the once promising work of the
Mission almost to the vanishing point, until at one
time Mr. Thomson was the only representative of
the Church s work at the center of its work in the
Empire. The slender thread would have been
broken had it not been for the unwearying devo-
New Ventures of Faith 303
tion of Mr. Thomson assisted by the Rev. Mr.
Wong and Mr. Woo. He had witnessed and had
part in practically every great enterprise in which
the Church had engaged. Among other things he
started St. Luke s Hospital. He began the pioneer
work in many of the Mission stations, and he had
lived to see the Church firmly planted in them.
He had assisted in the training of a noble company
of mission workers, among them forty candidates
for Holy Orders. "He has superintended the work
of the Chinese clergy with a tact, patience and
wisdom that have helped every other member of
the staff in his dealings with native workers. He
has rendered valuable service in translating the
Scriptures, both on a committee of our own dis
trict and on one of the general committees of the
American Bible Society. He has served under five
bishops, has welcomed more than one hundred and
fifty missionaries and has ever been a type of what
a devoted herald of the Cross should be." 3 And
his presence today is a benediction to the Mission
and its workers,
Editorial, Spirit of Missions, 1909, p. 1006.
BRINGING FORTH FRUIT MANY FOLD
1909-1910
CHAPTER XIV
BRINGING FORTH FRUIT MANY FOLD
1909-1910
The Half Was Not Told. One of the Hankow
staff who had labored in Wuchang in the days of
slow results and little response in the nineties re
turning to his field of labor again in 1908, after an
absence of ten years, was greatly impressed with
the change of attitude on the part of the Chinese
and the marvelous growth of the Mission. We may
catch a vivid glimpse of it through Dr. Merrins*
eyes and realize what these first years of this cen
tury had seen accomplished.
"When I left China a few years ago, in what is
now the district of Hankow, the number of our
foreign missionaries could be counted easily on the
fingers of two hands; now there are about forty,
and churches, hospitals and schools have propor
tionately increased. In Wuhu, Kiukiang, Shasi
and Changsha in the Province of Hunan, there are
now strong native churches where formerly we
had no work at all and Hunan was a closed
province." After citing the various institutions
307
308 The Story of the Church in China
and the growth by leaps and bounds in numbers
and power he continues:
"One of the most encouraging features both in
Hankow and Wuchang, is the evangelistic and
educational movement among women and girls of
the higher classes, either started or supported by
themselves. In short the work is expanding in all
directions. At one time our missionaries were so
few, and the opposition or inertia of the people so
serious, it required the faith that moves mountains
to expect great and immediate results. Now while
doubtless many hopes to a greater or less extent
have been realized, every one, from the beloved
bishop downward, is enthusiastically pressing for
ward, believing that under the blessing of God still
greater results will be seen in the future. Before
reaching China, I was told many surprises awaited
me. Like the Queen of Sheba, I hardly believed
the words, until I came and mine own eyes had seen
the changes, and behold ! the half was not told me."
Boone Becomes a University. Step by step
Boone College had advanced from very small
beginnings, when in 1868 it was established by
Bishop Williams, to the honored place it holds in
Central China, where it is easily first of its kind.
In 1909 it was incorporated as a University with
the right of granting degrees. The government
(Confucian) schools were growing in number and
in efficiency and the leaders of Mission institutions
realized that Mission colleges must not only main
tain but advance their high standard of educational
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 309
efficiency if they were to continue to attract to the
Christian atmosphere of mission schools and col
leges the young men and women who were looking
for the best education they could find. The day
Aad gone by when instruction in Christian doctrine
,md required attendance on Christian worship
created any difficulty. In 1901 after the Boxer
outbreak Boone School was opened with one hun
dred boys which was a great advance over a few
years previous. In 1910 the enrollment was 420
resident students with a large number unable to
find entrance. The power now to grant degrees en-
enabled the College to hold to the end of their course
students who would otherwise go elsewhere in
order to be given such recognition.
Expansion in Wuchang. It was at this time that
it was decided that the whole of the Wuchang com
pound which up to this time had housed all the
institutions should be given up to the growth of
the University and that St. Hilda s School for girls,
the hospitals for men and women, should move to
separate compounds in more advantageous positions
where each would have room for its own develop
ment. As Boone had grown it had acquired a good
deal of the land in its vicinity one of the streets
leading past the woman s hospital had even been
closed by the city authorities in order to connect
new and old college property on both sides of the
city. In fact the growth of the mission work had
entirely changed the character of that corner of
the city and it was felt wiser to move hospitals to
3io The Story of the Church in China
busier parts. Accordingly they have been moved,
the college undertaking to refund gradually the
cost of buildings and land taken over. At present
it has not yet been able to pay the amount, as
the Revolution for some time closed the college
and on its reopening so decreased the number
of paying students, whose parents lost their
property in the burning of Hankow, that its in
come has been seriously though temporarily dimin
ished. It has therefore not been able to meet extra
obligations.
The Wuchang Hospitals. Meanwhile the in
creased activity of the Hospitals in their new
situation though housed in very inadequate Chinese
residences has demonstrated the wisdom of a
change.
The Revolution in 1911 opened a remarkable op
portunity for the medical work in Wuchang and
the outlook for usefulness before these hospitals
is now greater than ever before. They are still
in temporary quarters poorly fitted for the use to
which they are now put. In his last report (1912)
Bishop Roots speaks of the need for Hospital
Equipment as the greatest need in the Hankow
Mission.
Boone Library. Another important development
in Wuchang has been the Boone Library. It is
strange that in a land so devoted to learning as
China has been that there have been no public libraries.
The Wuchang library was started by Miss Mary
Elizabeth Wood soon after her arrival as a teacher
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 311
for Boone School. Desiring however to enlarge
its scope until it might serve not only as a help
to the Church s students but reach all the students
in the great educational center of Wuchang, plans
were made for a University Library that would be
at the disposal of all who might desire its services.
After the usual arduous months of appealing to the
friends of China in America for funds to finance this
new enterprise the money was raised and the build
ing erected. Miss Wood and her mission colleagues
had the joy of seeing the splendid new building
opened in 1910. The upper floor is a great hall in
which religious, scientific and literary lectures are
given for students in government institutions.
These have been attended by large numbers of
students and have proved an effectual means of
reaching this hitherto unapproachable class.
St. Hilda s School. With the growth of Boone
College it was felt that a more retired position out
side the city wall and removed from the college
would be a better position for the Wuchang board
ing school for girls. Its progress during the years
since 1900 has been steady and good. Its reputa
tion for being a well ordered school with a strict
discipline was attracting a growing number of ap
plicants. The demand in 1909 was far exceeding
the supply and it was a source of anxiety and per
plexity to the principal to know how to crowd in
the girls. In the last few years the Bishop s appeal
for trained women workers from America for this
institution has met with a gratifying response and
312 The Story of the Church in China
through the generosity of the Woman s Aux
iliary the funds have been provided to erect a new
and more commodious school building on the site
selected. The old building will provide a welcom
ing home for the growing family of Boone students.
Demand for Female Education. More and more
there has been an effort to develop the educational
work for girls and to catch up with that for boys.
But the latter had a long start and the catching up
process is not easy. It was very natural that
there should be this inequality, for during the
first fifty years of missionary work in China, out
side of Shanghai, we had practically no schools for
girls. In the first place there was no demand for
them ; it would have been impossible to start a suc
cessful school in most places, and in the second
place there were not enough trained American
women workers to look after such schools. But in
the great change in China following the Boxer
reaction a demand for the education of Chinese girls
arose. This was especially noticeable in the fami
lies of those boys who had been educated in Mission
schools and who were becoming ashamed of their
ignorant fiancees and relatives. We have seen how
this changed attitude had affected the growth of
our girls boarding schools in Shanghai, Wuchang
and Anking. Mission schools for girls had at last,
moreover, shamed a nation that thought woman
hood incapable of intellectual development into
opening government schools for girls. It has been
one of the many indirect benefits that Christian
I n m
A GROUP OF GIRLS DAY SCHOOL TEACHERS
A TYPICAL GIRLS DAY SCHOOL
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 313
missions have conferred upon China. But the dis
cipline in these government institutions was often
lax and the curriculum irregular so that the mis
sion schools continued in the lead. From this van
tage ground they have been able to bring to bear
upon the development of Chinese womanhood the
moral and spiritual forces of Christianity. Even
after the government schools are firmly established
the mission schools privately endowed and sup
ported will be able to perform in China as they
are doing in America a high service in holding up
a high standard and making possible the thorough
Christian training for which government institu
tions make no provision.
Hankow Normal School. As the parochial
schools for girls multiplied, the need for trained
women teachers became evident. This was a far
more difficult problem than training men, for it
was not easy in a land where the conventions have
been so strict to break so far away from them as
to have a young unmarried woman going daily to
and fro to teach or perhaps living with strangers
away from home. These general difficulties have
had to be treated particularly in each individual
case for the need for young women trained teachers
had become imperative. Under the management
of Miss Alice M. Clark, a normal school was opened
in Hankow and temporarily housed in her house
until a small but suitable building was erected for
this work to serve while it is still more or less in
the experimental stage. In 1912 the group of pros-
314 The Story of the Church in China
pective school mistresses settled in this its first
permanent home on part of the land, in the Russian
Concession, Hankow purchased for the Training
School for Bible Women.
Another Plan for the Uplift of Chinese Woman
hood. Owing to the fact that there were many
more catechists than Bible-women there are a large
number of stations where there is practically no
systematic work for the instruction of the wives
of converts and women enquirers. To reach and
teach such women in these distant places a station
class was started by Mrs. Roots in Hankow in 1909.
While new in our Mission the idea was one that
had been worked at for some years in the Church
of England Mission in Fukien with remarkable suc
cess. In fact it has been made their chief method
for evangelizing non-Christian women as well as for
training Christians. They have thirty such houses
with twenty-five or thirty women in each. Follow
ing this model the first station class in Hankow
came for three months instruction in the principles
of the Christian religion. It promises to be, if the
Church gives the means to continue the work, a
splendid opportunity to extend the Message far
and wide.
Lutheran Congregation Admitted. Another par
ish was added to the four in the city of Hankow in
1909 when the Mission took over bodily the work
of the American Lutheran Mission. Owing to the
desire of this Mission to concentrate its work in the
province of Hunan they asked Bishop Roots to
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 315
assume responsibility for the Hankow congrega
tion consisting of Christians, catechumens and small
parochial schools for boys and girls. No con
ditions were attached to the offer, which evidenced
a sincere respect for our Mission and the character
of the work it was doing. Thus All Saints Parish
in the near vicinity of the Catechetical School was
started with the buildings of the Lutherans rented
until such time as the Mission could pay for them.
A Notable Ordination. Perhaps no event in the
recent history of the Hankow Mission has been of
more importance than the ordination of seven dea
cons on January 17th, 1909. Its especial signifi
cance lay not in the large number, though it meant
much to have the small group of native clergy aug
mented by more than one-third in one day, but be
cause six of them (all Boone College graduates)
were the best educated clergy trained by the Mis
sion on their native soil. Their entire theological
course had been taken in English, the students passing
the same examinations as would be expected of candi
dates in our best Seminaries at home, except for the
omission of Hebrew and Greek, in addition to the
study of the classical books of religion, history and
poetry in Chinese. It is interesting to note that of
these six three came from non-Christian homes,
having been brought into the Church by means of
the Mission day school, where also the other four
had been prepared for Boone preparatory school.
Rice Riot in Changsha. During the years since
the work was opened in Hunan after the Boxer
316 The Story of the Church in China
movement it had made steady progress. The Rev.
A. A. Gilman and family had moved there and, with
Mr. Huang, was conducting an active and vigorous
campaign of evangelization. In addition a board
ing school for twenty-five boys and a parochial day
school for boys and girls had been opened. A
desirable plot of land had been purchased, but the
work was conducted in native buildings while the
missionaries were living in a small semi-foreign
house hastily constructed. Such was the work
when in the spring of 1910, shortly after Mr. and
Mrs. Gilman had returned from furlough, a
serious and lamentable riot broke out because of
the advanced cost of rice which was beginning to
mean starvation to the lower classes. Infuriated
because the governor would not bring down the
price the people rushed through the streets attack
ing the governor s yamen and the other government
buildings and mission property. The Norwegian
and China Inland Missions were burned and our
Mission although not burned was devastated by the
angry crowds. All the missionaries escaped with
their lives, but our workers lost all furniture and
personal effects and Mr. and Mrs. Gilman arrived
in Hankow with only such light baggage as they
could save in the hurried departure. The move
ment was not however primarily against foreigners,
and in a short time Mr. Gilman was able to return
to Changsha and slowly gather together the threads
of this new work and weave it together more firmly
than ever. Through the interest and gifts of friends
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 317
who have the advance into this great province at
heart, a substantial church has been erected in
Changsha where the work may find a fitting center.
The need for other mission buildings in this capi
tal city still continues imperative.
Advance in Western Hupeh. In the seventy
years of occupancy of Central China by this Mis
sion, Ichang, a thousand miles from the ocean, has
been the westernmost point occupied. Between it
and the province of Szechuan where several mis
sions were at work, stretched Western Hupeh, a
region considerably larger than Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Rhode Island. In this large dis
trict only the Romanists were at work and they
only here and there. The eyes of the workers in
Ichang turned longingly to this great unoccupied
field in which were many openings, and especially
to the city of Szenan. This city nine days distant,
by foot, over the mountains from Ichang, was the
center of government for one million people.
The First Board of Missions in the District of
Hankow. At the Conference of the foreign and
Chinese workers of the Hankow district in 1910 a
Board of Missions was organized similar in plan to
a diocesan board in America. Under its auspices
work was opened in the difficult field of Szenan and
the Rev. Mr. Tseng, Chinese priest for many years
at Ichang, was set apart for this work. This step
made definite a long cherished plan of giving the
Chinese Church the opportunity of branching out
into its own vast home missionary field. In the fol-
3i8 The Story of the Church in China
lowing year a station was opened in Hukow in the
province of Kiangsi in the district of Wuhu. All
the expenses of these new ventures, apart from the
salaries of the workers (the priest at Szenan and
the catechist at Hukow), such as rent, furnishings
and incidentals, were undertaken by the district
Board of Missions.
Japanese Work in Hankow. At the conclusion
of the war between Russia and Japan and with the
growth of the ambition and prestige of the latter
nation a large number of Japanese flocked to China
as teachers in Chinese schools and for business
purposes. It is estimated that there were soon two
thousand of them in Hankow alone. Some of these
were Christians of various missions in Japan and
their unshepherded condition made a distinct appeal
to the Mission. Fortunately the Mission staff in
Wuchang contained a missionary who had been
born and lived in Japan and spoke Japanese. Under
the direction of the Rev. Dudley Tyng a Japanese
congregation was organized in Hankow and not
only was the little group held together but con
siderable increase has been made by confirmations.
This work gave to the work of the Mission a
cosmopolitan character, for in addition to the
wide-spread Chinese work in the five parishes, and
the vigorous English congregation in the British
Concession, work in another language and for
another race had now been assumed.
"As Others See Us." It is interesting to see
how the work of our Mission in China appears to
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 319
other people. A missionary of another Christian
body writing home to her sister 1 thus speaks of it:
"At Hankow we saw the Episcopal work and it
was just a revelation to us of what could be done,
if we only had the men and the means. They have
the very largest and finest school for boys in
China. They have any number of smaller day
schools. They have just built a Public Library
costing ten thousand gold dollars. They have not
stinted the money put into the work, but have gone
ahead and done things that were really worthy of
the cause, and they have the result three hundred
boys in their college, and from the best families
in that part of China, and I don t know how many
more in the day schools. Their stations in the
three cities of Hankow, Wuchang and Hanyang
(they are right across the river from one another)
have thirty-four foreign workers, and they are in
vesting brains, money and talent tenfold in the
work. They have several churches there with a
large membership, a training-school for Bible-
women and one for men. And they certainly have
been well paid for their investment in the numbers
and character of their Christians. If only all
our Boards could see the wisdom of concentration,
instead of scattering poorly-manned stations and
a few workers over a large territory, we might
expect much greater results. If we are going
to do things that are worth spending our time
* Spirit of Missions, 1911, p. 414.
320 The Story of the Church in China
for in China we have got to have the men, the
means, and the equipment for properly carrying on
the work."
A Chinese Saint. While the work was thus advanc
ing everywhere, the general unrest of the people
which in 1911 culminated in a successful revolu
tion, was causing the throne great uneasiness.
Everywhere officials were on the lookout for revo
lutionary leaders and many were the executions of
suspects. A history of the Church s Mission in
China would not be complete without the story of
Liu Chin-An. A young scholar of Hupeh, he had
first come in touch with Christianity through books
and tracts distributed by missionaries to the stu
dents who came to Wuchang to pass the govern
ment examinations for a literary degree. So inter
ested was this young seeker after truth that he
made further enquiries about Christianity on his
return to Wuchang and was finally converted and
baptized. While still a catchumen he came to see
Bishop Roots and asked to be accepted as a
candidate for the ministry, as his one great thought
was to tell his fellow countrymen the Message
that had brought peace to him. In spite of the
difficulties in the way he persevered, feeling that
he must preach the Gospel. While preparing he
was used, because of his superior Chinese learning,
as a teacher of the Chinese classics to his fellow
divinity students. Here he greatly endeared him
self to the young men. "He is the one Chinese
scholar/ said one of them, "who can meet one on
Bringing Forth Fruit Many Fold 321
any intellectual grounds sharing one s enthusiasms
while guiding them."
It was while he was thus engaged that he was
arrested in 1907 on the charge of being one Liu
Chia-Yuin, the leader of the Revolutionary party
in the province of Hupeh. The charge was mani
festly false and investigation proved it so, but on
the false testimony of an acquaintance, a teacher
also under suspicion, he was condemned to death.
His life was saved at the last minute by an order
from Pekin to delay until the case could be more
carefully investigated, and the sentence was finally
changed to imprisonment for life. In the horrors
of a Chinese prison this sentence was not a long
one.
His desire to preach Christ was fulfilled in ways
he had little dreamed of. Never once during the
awful time of torture and the days of suspense
that followed "did he waver in his outspoken be
lief in God and the Christ to whom his accusers
mockingly appealed in his behalf," wrote Mrs. Roots
in 1909. "Two successive gaolers who had personal
charge of him have been converted to Christianity
and are now enrolled as preparing for Baptism. 1
His father who has recently died without seeing
his son set free, his mother and his brother have all
embraced Christianity, led to it by him, and
his former pupils in the Divinity School look up
to him almost as to a St. Paul, for they now see
1 One of them later became a Chinese missionary,
322 The Story of the Church in China
in him not only their ideal teacher but a Christian
confessor. Over a year ago, one of these young
men, now a deacon in the Church, managed to see
him in prison, and as they talked of the young
man s prospects of study and of coming ordina
tion, Liu Chin-An said The Lord has indeed
shown His love for you, but His love for me has
been greater, and I know that my being here is
part of His good plan for me/ ;
The prison conditions and confinement soon
broke down his sensitive young life and after four
and a half years of imprisonment he died in 1911,
a few months before the Revolution set free all
political prisoners. Toward the end of his life he
was not allowed to see his friends nor were they
allowed to minister to his comfort or relieve his
distress. But occasionally he was able to get
letters to them, "epistles" his former students
called them, full of the spirit of love and unfading
trust in the Saviour who had died for Him. "He
so whole-heartedly received that Life/ wrote
Bishop Roots after his death, "and by its power
transformed the hard conditions under which he
lived, that he richly deserves the highest name we
can give to any man, that of a Saint of God/ His
life has been one of the richest encouragements
that has come to the Church in China; another
evidence that not the name only but the power of
Christ has entered into the lives of the Chinese
people.
WUHU THE NEW MISSIONARY DISTRICT;
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
SHENG KUNG HUI
1910-1911
CHAPTER XV
WUHU THE NEW MISSIONARY DISTRICT;
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
SHENG KUNG HUI
1910-1911
Division of the Diocese of Hankow. The steady
development of the work centering around the
three stations, Wuhu, Anking and Kiukiang, and
the vast stretches of densely populated regions of
the country all around them where as yet the Mis
sion had not been able to penetrate, led the General
Convention in 1910 to set apart the Eastern por
tion of the district of Hankow into a separate mis
sionary district. The new district, sandwiched be
tween Hankow and Shanghai, comprised the
province of Anhui and that part of the province
of Kiangsi north of latitude twenty degrees north.
This creation of a new missionary district from
the district of Hankow, following nine years only
after the creation of the latter district from the
original "diocese" in China, gives an idea of the
rapid development of the Mission work and of the
323
324 The Story of the Church in China
quickened interest and determination on the part
of the Church in the United States to push more
vigorously into the great, open harvest field.
The First Bishop of Wuhu. The Church en
trusted the care of the new work to one who had
proven for over twenty years his ability to pro
mote the interests of the Kingdom of God in China.
The Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott was called from his
work at St. John s University to be the first
Bishop of Wuhu, but he felt unable to leave the
post he had served so long and a year later the
Rev. D. Trumbull Huntington of Ichang was chosen
for the new office. The election of Mr. Hunting-
ton, because of his singular devotion to the work
and his ripe experience of seventeen years, brought
general satisfaction, and again there was the feel
ing of confidence on the part of mission workers
that the Church had chosen wisely and well.
Consecration of Bishop Huntington. The first
Bishop of Wuhu was advanced to the Episcopate on
the Feast of Annunciation, March 25th, 1912, in St.
John s pro-Cathedral on the grounds of St. John s
University, Shanghai. Bishop Graves was the
consecrating Bishop, assisted by Bishop Roots and
Bishop Moloney of the Church of England mis
sion in Chekiang which adjoins the Shanghai dis
trict on the south. Bishop Cassels, the leader of
the Church of England Mission in Szechuan and
West China, also took part in the laying on of
hands. Bishop Roots who so long had been associ
ated with Bishop Huntington in the work in the
Wuhu The New Missionary District 325
city and district of Hankow preached the consecra
tion sermon. 1
Anking Chosen as See City. It was no light bur
den that the new Bishop had to take up. The dis
trict of Wuhu has an immense population with but
few mission buildings and workers. With him how
ever these workers have set themselves anew to
face resolutely the work before them. Anking,
situated on the Yangtse River, three hundred and
sixty miles from the coast, was selected as the see
city. It is the capital of the province and contains
a population of about one hundred thousand. Here
was a large compound of fifteen acres in which the
new St. James* Hospital was continuing to draw
the love and gratitude of the city and country people
to the Mission and its work. St. Agnes School
for girls and St. Paul s School for boys, though new,
were also adding to the fame and usefulness of the
Church.
The Cathedral of the Holy Saviour. The new
Church of the Holy Saviour which was completed
in 1912 became through the choice of Anking for the
episcopal residence the cathedral of the new dis
trict. The consecration of this church, the largest
in the China Mission, was followed by a remark
able series of evangelistic services lasting for over
a week. The aim of these services was to introduce a
striking evangelistic campaign such as had not been
1 Bishop Huntington was the first bishop to promise con
formity both to the Church in the United States and the newly
organized Holy Catholic Church in China.
326 The Story of the Church in China
possible before in the small mission buildings. Dif
ferent classes of people were invited by ticket for
different days and the subjects arranged to be such
as would appeal to each. On one night officials and
students were invited, on another gentry and mer
chants, on another soldiers, on another industrial
guilds. The attendance averaged one thousand five
hundred to two thousand people daily and many
signed the little cards distributed signifying their
desire for instruction in the Christian religion.
The Voice of a Rival Silenced. Thus full of prom
ise the new Cathedral started in a most practical
way its work of setting forth the glory and praise
of almighty God. At the same time a wide
spread movement away from idolatry throughout
China was felt in Anking. "Almost coincident,"
wrote the Rev. E. J. Lee, "with the opening of the
Cathedral the great city temple adjoining the cathe
dral compound was dismantled. The idols were
many of them thrown into the river, the building
whitewashed and converted into a market. Its great
bell is now no longer heard. The bell of the cathe
dral supersedes it and is now calling people to the
purer worship of the true God."
Progress Toward Unification of Anglican Work.
With the beginning of the conferences of the Eng
lish and American bishops in China, in 1897, grew
the hope that some day the Church of England and
the American Episcopal Mission in China might
combine into one Church in China. The Conference
in April, 1907, marked a great step in advance. Be-
Wuhu The New Missionary District 327
sides the Bishops, duly elected presbyters were
present for the first time. There were two clerical
representatives present from each of the eight mis
sionary jurisdictions in China. The chief subject
of this Conference was that of the organization of
the Anglican Communion in China, and obstacles
that had long seemed serious were dealt with in a
way to encourage greatly and to cheer the friends of
union.
Concordat of 1908. For a period of more than
fifty years the question of the exact determination
of the territory under the respective jurisdictions
of the American and English Churches had been
under discussion. The chief difficulty had been
the Chinese work in the city of Shanghai in which
both missions had chapels. Other questions such
as ministering to the English residents throughout
China also entered into the discussion. An agree
ment was signed at Lambeth, London, in July, 1908,
by the (English) Bishop in Chekiang and the
(American) Bishops of Shanghai and Hankow and
approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Presiding Bishop of the American Church. By this
agreement the exact limits of the American and
English missionary districts in China were defi
nitely fixed and mutual arrangements were made
to avoid any future overlapping of territory.
The English and Chinese clergymen connected
with St. Paul s Chinese congregation, Shanghai,
thereupon took out licenses under the American
Bishop who immediately visited the congrega-
328 The Story of the Church in China
tion for Confirmation. It was further decided that
all congregations of English people in China, irre
spective of location, to whom English clergymen
ministered, should be under the jurisdiction of the
English Bishop in Chekiang. In the provinces of
Hunan and Kiangsi the English Church was as
signed those parts south of latitude 28 North and
the American Church limited its missionary opera
tions to the northern parts. 1
The Conference of 1909. Thus the last of long
standing difficulties were cleared away and the way
was opened for the full and harmonious union of
the Missions of the English and American Churches
in China. The Conference of 1909 was the first truly
representative conference of the Anglican Com
munion in China, for at it were assembled Chinese
clerical elected delegates in addition to the foreign
clergy and bishops. This Conference was signifi
cant because of the action taken adopting a tenta
tive Constitution and Canons of the Chinese
Church, the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui. "This,"
wrote Bishop Graves, "is the end for which our
Missions have been striving ever since they were
sent to China by the Churches in England and
America, the formation of a Chinese Church, and
is the crown of the work of more than sixty years."
The Holy Catholic Church of China. The dio
cesan Synods in China and the home Churches
having approved the tentative Constitution and
1 For full text of this agreement see Spirit of Missions for
September, 1908, p. 701.
Wuhu The New Missionary District 329
Canons drawn up in 1909 these were formally
adopted by the Conference of 1911 and on April
26th of that year in St. John s pro-Cathedral, Shang
hai, there ceased to exist a separate number of
Anglican Missions, and a new national Church with
representative and self-governing powers the
Holy Catholic Church in China was born. Thus
the last Conference of the Anglican Mission work
ers in China became the first Synod of the Chung
Hua Sheng Kung Hui.
Its Character and Scope. Three new dioceses had
been added since the Conference in 1909, Kwangsi
and Hunan (English), Honan (Canadian), and
Wuhu (American). Eleven dioceses comprised
the new Church, scattered over all but five or six
of the provinces of China. Of these, three were
American.
The meaning of this step for the home base was
summed up by the Editor of the Spirit of Missions:
"Of course this change does not mean that there
will be an immediate transformation in missionary
methods or personnel. The Churches of England,
Canada, and America will still send their mission
aries and their offerings we hope to a larger de
gree than ever before, for the infant Church in
China will need much nourishment and guidance.
But a beginning has been made, and as the years
go on it may be hoped that there will grow up in
China a national Church more and more adequate
to the needs of the nation ; better able each year to
win men to the allegiance of Christ."
THE REVOLUTION AND THE OUTLOOK
1911
CHAPTER XVI
THE REVOLUTION AND THE OUTLOOK
1911
The Outbreak. The most significant political
event that has occurred since Christian Missions
have been at work in China has been the Revolu
tion of 1911. By it, in less than five months,
earth s oldest empire has become its newest repub
lic. There had been nearly a score of unsuccessful
revolutions before this one set China free from the
domination of the corrupt Manchu regime. The
storm which broke out in Wuchang on the night of
October llth had been gathering for many years.
Especially since the death of the Empress Dowager
in 1908 the movement toward a revolution had been
gathering much momentum, though its power and
proximity were little suspected by foreigners, and
when the fighting began it was a matter of great
surprise. China had become impatient for reform.
The many ills that had been patiently tolerated for
decades became at last unbearable.
For the centuries during which the Manchu
dynasty had ruled China it had governed for
the profit and pleasure of its rulers indifferent to
the cry for justice and mercy deaf to the cries
33i
332 The Story of the Church in China
of the famine stricken, oppressed and starving
people. The gold brought as tribute from the
provinces provided the marble playgrounds and
the gilded palaces for emperors and empresses and
their favorites, but accomplished nothing for the
uplift and improvement of the people. At last,
however the demand for freedom, for the right to
develop country and individual, made itself felt in
a successful revolution.
The quickness with which the revolution accom
plished its immediate purpose was amazing, but it
showed clearly that the old tree of Manchu govern
ment was thoroughly rotten, and when once the axe
was applied it was soon cut down. 1
Attitude of Revolutionists Toward Foreigners.
"We will not harm you," the Revolutionists said
on the night of October llth in Wuchang as the
American missionaries rushed out to ascertain the
cause of the fighting in the streets, "we simply
want to change our government and be free like
you are." Throughout the Revolution the attitude
of marked consideration toward Missions and mis
sionaries made the uprising an entirely different
1 The difficulties in the way of China s quickly adjusting
herself to a republic after four thousand years of monarchy
are many and we cannot expect to see suddenly appear a well
settled government It took this United States seven years
to gain independence and six years more to adopt a Con-
situation and establish a republic, and it may take a long time
for China to "find herself." It is impossible to prophesy what
the new government of China will be. But whatever form
of government the new China takes it will always be a "new
China." So wide-spread is the awakening that there cannot
be any permanent reaction to anti-progressive policies.
The Revolution and the Outlook 333
one from the Boxer movement in its effects upon
foreign missions.
Interference With the Work. Hankow and
vicinity was the main battle-field for two months
and so the regular work was largely at a standstill.
In Wuchang all of our institutions were closed for
several months. The most terrible act of the war,
apart from the initial massacre of Manchus, was
the burning of the native city of Hankow by the
Northern army. By this act many Chinese were
rendered homeless and practically penniless, and
many Chinese Christians suffered grievously.
The Church and the Revolution. But while
regular work ceased, there was much that the Mis
sion in the afflicted center could accomplish. The
existing hospitals proved far too few for the care
of the wounded and among the other buildings
turned into temporary hospitals was St. Paul s
Cathedral, Hankow, which served for this work of
mercy for six weeks. Dr. John MacWillie of St.
Peter s Hospital, Wuchang, was president of the
local Red Cross Society. With those of his fellow
workers in the Mission who had been allowed to
remain in Hankow, often at great risk of their lives,
he rendered conspicuous service in searching out and
caring for the sick and wounded and in burying
the great numbers left dead upon the battle-fields.
The workers who remained in Hankow in those
days seemed to live charmed lives, for though shells
were bursting overhead and bullets whizzed by
them, no one was injured. The hospitals provided
334 The Story of the Church in China
an excellent opportunity for evangelistic work and
foreigners and Divinity School students were en
abled to bring the message of the Saviour s love to
those who otherwise would never have heard it.
The Meaning of the Revolution. The revolution
was more than a change in politics. It has meant
a complete turn-about-face in everything. The
changes that followed, the adoption of our Western
solar calendar, the cutting off of the cue, are but
outward indications of a thorough mental conver
sion. China may be no longer characterized as
looking backward but as looking forward. Her
old antagonism to everything from the West has
given place to a desire to learn, and to learn as
quickly as possible, from the nations of Europe and
America the things that have made them strong;
the things which she realizes Japan has learned so
well. The old wall of opposition has broken down
and China is sitting for awhile at the feet of the
Western world. She is in a period of transition
standing on the threshold of a great industrial, edu
cational and commercial revolution. We see:
"The new age that stands as yet
Half built against the sky
Open to every threat
Of storms that clamor by.
While scaffolding veils the walls,
And thick dust floats and falls,
As moving to and fro
Their tasks the masons ply."
The Revolution and the Outlook 335
The Old Religions. Buddhism, Taoism and Con
fucianism, the old lights of China, have lost their
power to uplift and to inspire. The temples and
monasteries are being deserted and turned into
government buildings. The idols are being turned
out and destroyed. The young men of the new
China are branding Confucianism as the cause of
China s stagnation and backwardness. We see in
China the strange sight of the great ship of state
sailing out into unknown seas with no pilot on
board.
Attitude Toward Christianity. "Men say," said
Sun Yat Sen the first provisional President of the
Chinese Republic, "that I am responsible for this
Revolution. I do not deny the charge but where
did the idea of the Revolution come from. It came,
because from my earliest years [he was as a boy
a pupil in the Church of England School in Hono
lulu] I have associated with the missionaries of
Europe and America who put new ideas of liberty
and justice into my heart/ And again he said:
"I call upon the Churches to help in the establish
ment of a new government. The Republic cannot
endure unless there is that virtue and righteous
ness for which the Christian religion stands at the
center of the Nation s life. There is nothing to in
terfere with its bounding forward to take the land
for Christ."
The present President, Yuan Shin Kai, while not
a Christian contributes annually to missionary
work. He has publicly expressed the hope that
336 The Story of the Church in China
the new China may be built upon the foundations
of Christianity as the old China was built on the
foundations of Confucianism. A prominent Chinese
official expressed recently the new attitude on the
part of many of China s leaders today when he
said : "Confucianism has supplied China with pre
cepts in the past, but China imperatively needs
Christianity today to supply her with moral power.
Many are turning toward Christianity today as
the hope of China ; it is a sign of the times."
China s Appeal to Christianity. The 27th day of
April, 1913, was the greatest triumph day of Chris
tianity in modern times. On that day the govern
ment of China deliberately turned away from its
partial and false systems of religion and rejected
them as useless and powerless to save her now by
appealing to the Christian Church for help, and
asking it to make the day a day of prayer for the
new China.
Officials throughout the Empire were bidden by
telegraph to repair to the Christian churches on that
day to unite with Christians in worship. Thirteen
years ago the order from Pekin was to extermi
nate Christianity and thousands of native Christians
went to martyrs deaths. Today this vast people,
one third of the human race, in the persons of its
leaders turns blindly to the once despised Christian
Church for help. Many Christians are today in
positions of high influence and power in the land
where a few years since, Christians were at the best
simply tolerated and at the worst killed by awful
The Revolution and the Outlook 337
tortures. Was ever the prophecy more strikingly
fulfilled : "The sons of them that afflicted thee shall
come bending unto thee"?
The Opportunity. This appeal is more than a
triumph, it is a challenge. The doors are wide open
in China today. The Church has not had the faith
adequately to foresee and prepare for, the demand
now made upon it. The work done has been well
done but where we have a mere few dozen native
clergymen, we ought to have hundreds. Where we
have scores of catechists we should have hundreds.
Where we have sent out a few groups of Christian
young men into public service, we ought to have
prepared and sent out thousands. And still the task
continues. The new China will be molded in the
next twenty years, and until it becomes fixed, a
unique opportunity still awaits the Christian
Church. The new China will probably see one of
three things : the patriotic revival of one of the
old national religions; the supplanting of all
religion by agnosticism; largely through the influ
ence of Japan ; or the rise and spread of Christianity.
Which is it to be? It is for the Church at home
to decide. Will Christianity use this opportunity to
win a great land and people for Christ? It has been
well said, "God has melted the old China. Who
will mould the new?"
Foreign Agencies at Work in China. Other
activities are seeing the open door and entering in.
We are sending foreign merchandise to China
not only in China but far away in Thibet, where
338 The Story of the Church in China
Christianity is still prohibited, American oil has
found its way. A foreign tobacco firm which
believes in advertising distributed free recently
$5,000,000 worth of American cigarettes in China.
We are sending foreign vices to China. In Hankow
a great foreign distillery has been opened which
turns out daily two thousands gallons of whiskey
for sale to the Chinese in a city where before this
one might live for years and never see a drunken
Chinese. In the cities of China, American gamblers
and unfortunate women from this land are daily
representing America to the alert Chinese. Is the
Church alone to hold back? There is no question
whether there is to be a new China or not. There
is no question to-day whether the East is to be
westernized or not. The only question is, whether
this touch of the West upon the East is to be
Christianized or not. It is a time above all others
to send to our Mission in China, face to face with
this crisis, the reinforcements and the equipment
it greatly needs.
Give Ye Them to Eat. On a summer s day in
Galilee long ago when the multitude that had gathered
about Him were hungering in the wilderness, the dis
ciples besought the Master that He would send
them away to their homes, but He said to them:
"They need not depart, give ye them to eat."
And then He took the little that they had and so
mightily blessed it that proved enough, and more
than enough, for that great throng. So today
Christ is saying to His Church as He points to the
The Revolution and the Outlook 339
myriads in China hungering for the Bread of Life,
"they need not depart, give ye them to eat." He
can and will take what we have to offer; gifts of
life, prayer, influence, money, of which for a little
while we are stewards, and use them for the feed
ing and the salvation of China s millions.
At the General Convention of 1913 the name of tKe District
of Wuhu was changed to Anking.
APPENDICES
APPENDICES
LIST OF MISSIONARIES.
The letter (S.) indicates that the person after whose name it appears is now
a member of the staff in the District of Shanghai; the letter (H.) indicates
membership in the staff of the District of Hankow, and the letter (A.) indicates
membership in the staff of the District of Anking.
Arrived Withdrew
1835 Rev. Henry Lockwood. 1839
Died November, 1883.
Rev. Francis R. Hanson. 1838
1837 Rev. William Jones Boone.
Consecrated Bishop, 1844.
Died July, 1864.
Mrs. Boone.
Died August, 1842.
1845 Mrs. Boone 2d.
Died January, 1864.
Miss Eliza Gillette. 1845
Rev. Henry W. and Mrs. Wood. 1845
Rev. Richardson and Mrs. Graham. 1847
Rev. Edward W. Syle. 1861
Died 1890.
Mrs. Syle.
Died 1859.
Miss Emma G. Jones. 1861
Died 1879.
Miss Mary J. Morse. 1852
Died 1888.
1847 Rev. Phineas D. Spalding.
Lost at sea, 1849.
1850 Miss Caroline Tenney.
(Mrs. Keith.)
Died 1862.
1851 Miss Lydia Mary Fay.
Died 1878.
34 1
342 Appendix A
Arrived Withdrew
1851 Rev. Robert Nelson. 1881
Died 1886.
Mrs. Nelson. 1881
Died 1885.
Rev. Cleveland Keith.
Died 1862.
John T. Points. 1856
1853 Miss Catherine E. Jones.
Died 1863.
1854 Miss Emma J. Wray. 1855
Miss Jeannette R. Conover.
(Afterward Mrs. Elliot H. Thomson.)
Died 1889.
1855 M. W. Fish, M D. 1856
Mrs. Fish. 1856
1856 Rev. John Liggins.
Appointed to Japan, 1859.
Died, 1912.
Rev. Charming M. Williams.
Appointed to Japan, 1859.
Consecrated Bishop, 1866.
1859 Rev. Henry M. Parker.
Killed in Chefoo, 1861.
Mrs. Parker. 1861
Rev. Elliot H. Thomson. (S.)
Rev. Dudley D. Smith. 1863
Mrs. Smith.
Died 1862.
Rev. Thomas S. Yocum. 1860
Rev. Samuel I. J. Schereschewsky.
Consecrated Bishop, 1877.
Resigned as Bishop, 1883.
Died 1906.
Rev. Henry Purdon. 1860
J. T. Doyen. i 86 *
1 86 1 Mrs. Jane Doyen. J 86l
Mr. Edward Hubbell. 1861
Appendix A 343
Arrived Withdrew
1866 Rev. Augustus E. Hohine. 1876
Died 1885.
Mrs. Hohing.
Died 1867.
1867 Miss Susan M. Waring.
(Afterward Mrs. Schereschewsky.}
Died 1909.
1869 Rev. Samuel R. J. Hoyt. 1881
Mrs. Hoyt. 1881
1870 Rev. Wm. Jones Boone, Jr.
Consecrated Bishop, 1884.
Died 1891.
Mrs. Boone.
Died 1875.
1874 Rev. Francis H. Strieker. 1875
Albert C. Bunn, M. D. 1879
Mrs. Bunn.
Died 1878.
1876 Miss Henrietta F. Harris. 1892
(Afterward Mrs. W. J. Boone.)
Miss Mary C. Nelson. 1881
1878 Rev. Daniel M. Bates. 1881
Died 1901.
Mrs. Bates. 1881
Rev. William S. Sayres. I88i
Mrs. Sayres.
Died 1880.
:t88o Miss Josephine Roberts. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. F. R. Graves.)
Henry W. Boone, M. D. (S.)
Mrs. Boone.
Died 1 88 1.
1881 Wm. A. Deas, M. D. 1890
Rev. Frederick R. Graves. (S.)
Consecrated Bishop, 1893.
Edwin K. Buttles. 1882
344 Appendix A
Arrived Withdrew
1 88 1 Miss Anna Stevens. 1886
(Afterward the second Mrs. Sayres.)
Miss Elizabeth K. Boyd.
Died 1882.
1882 Rev. Herbert Sowerby. 1894
Mrs. Sowerby. 1894
Miss Martha Bruce. 1884
Miss Sara Lawsoti. 1887
(Afterward Mrs. Edgar M. Griffiths.)
1883 Rev. George H. Appleton. 1884
Mrs. Appleton. 1884
Rev. Arthur H. Locke. 1892
Mrs. Locke.
Died 1890.
Miss Esther A. Spencer.
Died 1891.
Mrs. Kate J. Sayers. 1887
1884 Miss Jessie A. Purple.
Died 1887.
Rev. Sidney C. Partridge. 1900
Consecrated Bishop of Kyoto, Japan, 1900.
Translated to the Diocese of Kansas City 191 1
Mrs. Partridge.
Died 1886.
1885 Edgar M. Griffiths, M. D. 1887
1886 Rev. Francis L. H. Pott. (S.)
Thomas Protheroe. 1888
1888 Marie Haslep, M. D. 1896
Percy Mathews, M. D. 1895
Mrs. Mathews. 1895
Miss Steva L. Dodson. (S.)
1889 Samuel E. Smalley. (S.)
Mrs. Smalley. (S.)
1891 Edward Merrins, M. D. 1898
Rev. James Addison Ingle.
Consecrated Bishop of Hankow, 1902.
Died 1903.
Appendix A 345
Arrived Withdrew
1891 Rev. Robert K. Massie. 1895
Mrs. Massie. 1895
1893 Miss Florence McRae. 1899
Rev. Henry C. Collins, M. D. 1900
Miss Georgia Starr. 1894
1894 Frederick C. Cooper. (S.)
Mrs. Cooper. (S.)
Miss Lily F. Ward.
Died 1897.
Miss Lillis Crummer.
Died 1910.
Mrs. J. A. Ingle. 1904
1895 Rev. D. Trumbull Huntington. (A.)
Consecrated Bishop of the District of
Wuhu in 1912.
Wm. L. Ludlow, M. D. 1897
1896 Rev. James L. Rees. 1904
Mrs. Rees. 1904
Rev. Gouverneur F. Mosher. (S.)
Miss Gertrude Mosher, Deaconess. 1900
Rev. Logan H. Roots. (H.)
Consecrated Bishop of Hankow, 1904.
Mary J. Gates, M. D. 1900
1897 George W. Cooper. 1901
1898 Rev. Laurence B. Ridgely. (H.)
Mrs. Ridgely. (H.)
Mrs. G. F. Mosher. (S.)
Rev. Robert E. Wood. (H.)
Rev. S. Harrington Littell. (H.)
Robert Borland, M. D. 1906
Mrs. Borland. 1906
1898 Rev. Franz E. Lund. (A.)
Rev. Carl F. Lindstrom. (A.)
Mary V. Glenton, M. D. (H.)
Miss Annette B. Richmond. (S.)
1899 Miss Pauline A. Osgood. 1906
346 Appendix A
Arrived Withdrew
1899 Rev. Cameron F. McRae. (S.)
Rev. Benjamin L. Ancell. (S.)
Charles S. F. Lincoln, M. D. (S.)
Miss Charley Warnock. 1903
Miss Eliza L. McCook. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. L. H. Roots.)
Rev. Arthur M. Sherman. (H.)
Edmund L. Woodward, M. D. (A.)
Miss Mary E. Wood. (H.)
1900 Rev. James Jackson, D. D. (H.)
Mrs. Jackson. (H.)
Wm. McCarthy. (A.)
Mrs. McCarthy. (A.)
1901 William H. Jefferys, M. D.\
Mrs. Jefferys.
Miss Ann E. Byerly. (H)
Miss Charlotte Mason. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. S. H. Littdl.)
Died 1913.
Giles B. Palmer. 1907
Miss Gertrude Carter. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. A. A. Oilman.)
Juliet N. Stevens, M. D. I94
1902 Rev. Edmund J. Lee. (A.)
M. Panderell Walker. (S.)
Rev. Alfred A. Gilman. (H.)
Rev. Robert C. Wilson. (S.)
Mrs. Lilian P. Fredericks. I9 IQ
Miss Williette W. Eastham. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. C. S. F. Lincoln.)
1902 Rev. John W. Nichols. (S.)
Rev. Fleming James. I96
Miss Alice M. Clark. (H.)
1903 Rev. A. R. Van Meter. (H.) I9<V
Mrs. Van Meter. (H.) 190?
Miss Ida N. Porter. (S.)
Appendix A 347
Arrived Withdrew
1903 Miss Rose M. El win. (S.)
Mrs. Fleming James. (S.) 1906
Rev. Amos Goddard. (A.)
Rev. Paul Maslin. (H.)
Deaconess M. T. Henderson. 1907
Miss Marion S. Mitchell. (S.)
1904 Rev. Arthur S. Mann.
Died 1907.
Miss Sarah Rhett. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. R. C. Wilson.)
Miss Carrie M. Palmer. 1910
Lewis S. Palen. 1905
1905 Harry B. Taylor, M. D. (A.)
Rev. Albert Seth Cooper. (H.)
Howard Richards, Jr. 1911
Miss L. E. Willey. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. P. T. Maslin.)
Angie M. Myers, M. D. 1913
James H. George. 1906
John MacWillie, M. D. (H.)
Mrs. MacWillie. (H.)
Miss Sarah N. Woodward. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. C. F. McRae).
Miss Mary A. Hill. (S.)
Deaconess Theodora L. Paine. (H.)
Deaconess Katharine E. Phelps. (H.)
Miss Mary R. Ogden. (A.)
Richard D. Shipman. 1906
Rev. William H. Standring.
Died 1910.
2905 Miss Margaret E. Bender. (S.)
Miss Susan H. Higgins. (H.)
Miss Elizabeth Barber. (A.)
1906 Claude M. Lee, M. D. (S.)
Mrs. Lee. (S.)
Deaconess Edith Hart. (H.)
Appendix A
Arrived Withdrew
1906 Deaconess Gertrude Stewart. (H.)
George N. Steiger. (S.)
Robert A. Kemp. (H.)
Pearson Bannister. 1908
Augustine W. Tucker, M. D. (S.)
Rev. George F. Bambach. 1906
Mrs. Amos Goddard. (H.)
1907 Weston O B. Harding.
Died 1909.
Montgomery H. Throop. (S.)
Julian N. Major. (S.)
Rev. Thomas L. Sinclair. (S.)
Mrs. Sinclair. (S.)
John A. Wilson. (H.)
Miss Sada C. Tomlinson
(On leave 1909-1913.)
Robert E. Browning 1910
William C. Martin 1908
1908 Miss Ann R. Torrence. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. W. H. Standring).
Ellen C. Fullerton, M. D. (S.)
Miss Lucy J. Graves. (S.)
Rev. Percy R. Stockman. (H.)
Mrs. Stockman. (H.)
Rev. E. H. Fitzgerald.
Died 1908.
Rev. John C. Dean. 1911
Edward M. Merrins, M. D. (H.)
Reappointed.
Mrs. Merrins. (H.)
T. J. Hollander (H.)
Everard P. Miller, Jr. (H.)
Miss Louise L. Phelps. I9 IQ
Miss Rebecca R. Halsey. 1909
Miss Anna S. Tattershall.
(Afterward Mrs. J. C. Dean.)
Mrs. Yun Jin Lam.
Appendix A 349
Arrived Withdrew
1908 Rev. J. M. Banister Gill. (S.)
Mrs. Gill. (S.)
1909 Rev. Henry A. McNulty. (S.)
Rev. Robert A. Griesser. (S.)
Mrs. Griesser. (S.)
Rev. Joseph L. Meade. 1911
Rollin A. Sawyer, Jr. 1912
Henry James Post. 1912
James T. Addison. 1910
Horace Gray. 1910
Miss Sarah H. Reid. (S.)
Miss Annie W. Cheshire. (S.)
Deaconess Edith C. Piper. (S.)
(Afterward Mrs. Henry A. McNulty.)
Rev. Dudley Tyng. (H.)
James H. Sowerby, M. D. 1910
J. W. Fell. (H.)
Miss Alice F. Gates. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. Robert A. Kemp.)
Miss Elizabeth T. Cheshire. (H.)
(Afterward Mrs. A. S. Cooper.)
Miss E. M. A. Cartwright. (S.)
Miss Anita A. Boone. (S.)
1910 Rev. Thomas K. Nelson. (S.)
Haroid B. Barton (S.)
Rev. Robert A. Goodwin, Jr. (A.)
Mrs. Goodwin. (A.)
Rev. Frederick G. Deis. (H.)
Mrs. Deis. (H.)
Miss Sarah . Hop wood. (A.)
Deaconess Emily L. Ridgely. (H.)
Harold H. Morris, M. D. (S.)
Mrs. Morris. (S.)
Percy L. Urban. (S.)
Miss Caroline Fullerton. (S.)
Miss Edith Kay. (H.)
3 50 Appendix A
Arrived Withdrew
1910 Miss Lucy F. Baker.
(Afterward Mrs. Everard P. Miller, Jr.) (H.)
1911 Rev. Edward R. Dyer. (S.)
W. F. M. Borrman. (S.)
Miss Elizabeth Nichols.
(Afterward Mrs. M. H. Throop.) (S.)
Miss Anne F. Gordon. (S.)
Rev. Clarence Fletcher Howe. (H.)
Miss Katharine E. Scott. (H.)
Rev. Theodore R. Ludlow. (H.)
Mrs. Ludlow. (H.)
Gulielma F. Alsop, M. D. (S.)
1912 Rev. John G. Magee. (S.)
Rev. Walworth Tyng. (H.)
Rev. Gilbert L. Pennock 1912
Joseph F. Putnam. (S.)
Mrs. Putnam. (S.)
Miss Margaret Hart Bailey. (S.)
Miss Ada Whitehouse. (H.)
Miss Grace Hutchins. (H.)
Miss Evelyn A. Taber. (H.)
Rev. Edward K. Thurlow. (A.)
Mrs. Thurlow. (A.)
Miss Laura E. Lenhart. (S.)
Harley F. MacNair. (S.)
Rev. Edward Walker. (H.)
Miss Louise L. Phelps (reappointed). (H.)
1913 Rev. Thomas Bowyer Campbell. (S.)
William S. A. Pott. (S.)
Cecil Dabney, M. D. (S.)
Mrs. Dabney. (S.)
Charles F. Remer. (S.)
Lester E. Cook. (S.)
John R. Norton. (S.)
Miss Annie Brown. (S.)
Miss Mary A. Bremer. (S.)
Appendix A 35 l
Arrived
1913 Miss Louise S. Hammond. (S.)
Miss Elizabeth S. Chisholm. (S.)
Rev. Walter F. Hayward, Jr. (H.)
Rev. Edmund L. Souder. (H.)
Arthur S. Kean. (H.)
Deaconess Julia A. Clark. (H.)
Miss Ida J. Morrison. (H.)
Miss M. R. Waddffl. (H.)
Miss Sada C. Tomlinson (reappointed). (W.)
Mrs. M. Penderell Walker. (S.)
352 Appendix B
Appendix B
CHRONOLOGY OF THE MISSION
Dates
1834
May 14. Board of Missions votes to establish a mission
in China.
July 14. Rev. Henry Lockwood appointed.
1835
March. Rev. Francis R. Hanson appointed.
June 2. Departure of missionaries.
Oct. 4. Missionaries reach Canton.
Dec. 22. Arrival in Batavia.
1836
Feb. 17. Marriage of Mr. Lockwood.
Aug. 9. Death of Mrs. Lockwood. (Miss Sophia Med-
hurst, daughter of Rev. W. H. Medhurst of
London Missionary Society.)
1837
Jan. 17. Rev. William J. Boone, M.D., appointed.
July 8. Dr. and Mrs. Boone sail.
Oct. 22. The Boones reach Batavia.
Mr. Hanson retires.
1839
Jan. Boys School in Batavia reorganized.
April 6. Mr. Lockwood retires.
1841
Mission removes to Macao.
1842
Feb. Removal to Amoy. Five treaty-ports opened in
China.
Aug. 30. Death of Mrs. Boone.
1843
Dr. Boone goes to America (spring.)
Nov. 14. Miss Eliza Gillette appointed.
1844
Oct. 26. Dr. Boone consecrated Bishop of China.
Appendix B 353
Dates
1844
Dec. 4. Mission party sails: Bishop and Mrs. Boone, Rev.
Henry W. and Mrs. Wood, Rev. Richardson
and Mrs. Graham, Miss Gillette, Miss Morse,
Miss Emma G. Jones.
1845
April 24. Missionaries reach Hongkong.
June 17. Mission established at Shanghai.
Nov. 19. Rev. E. W. and Mrs. Syle arrive.
The Woods retire.
1846
Easter Day. First Baptism: Wong Kong-chai.
1847
Jan. 1 6. The Grahams retire.
Aug. 28. Rev. P. D. Spalding arrives.
1848
Oct, 22. Yen Yung-Kiung baptized.
1849
Sept. Death of Mr. Spalding.
1850
Jan. 6. Christ Church, Shanghai native city, consecrated
Aug. 2. Arrival of Miss Tenney.
1851
March. Arrival of Miss Fay.
Dec. 25. Arrival of Rev. Robert and Mrs. Nelson, Mr.
Keith, Mr. Points.
Miss Morse retires.
Sept. 7. Wong Kong-chai ordained deacon.
Dec. 31. Girls boarding-school opened in Shanghai.
1853
Jan. 30. Arrival of Mis? C. Jones.
Feb. Mrs. Wong baptized. (The first girl in Miss
Jones School.)
Church of Our Saviour, Shanghai, built during
this year.
354
Appendix B
Dates
1853
Sept.
1854
April
April
1855
Aug.
1856
Jan.
June
1857
June.
1858
Feb.
1859
Dec.
Dec.
1859
i860
1861
Jan.
April.
Tai-pings infest Shanghai.
4. Arrival of Miss Conover.
27. Marriage of Mr. Keith and Miss Tenney.
3. Arrival of Dr. Fish,
I. Dr. Fish resigns.
28. Arrival of Rev. C. M. Williams and Rev. John
Liggins.
Mr. Points retires.
Station opened in Sinza, District of Shanghai.
A school for blind established in Shanghai.
Soochow visited.
Station opened in Zangzok.
Zangzok abandoned.
Mr. Liggins and Mr. Williams appointed to Japan.
21. Arrival of large party of missionaries, among them
Rev. Elliot H. Thomson and Rev. Samuel I. J.
Schereschewsky.
28. Death of Mrs. Syle.
During this year a riot in Shanghai. Mission
church damaged.
Agreement concerning Episcopal jurisdiction with
the English Church.
Renewed rebellions in China.
Mr. Syle withdraws. Miss Emma Jones retires.
Chef oo opened by Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Mr. and
Mrs. Smith.
Appendix B 355
Dates
1861
Boys school, Shanghai, closed.
Oct. Mr. Parker murdered by rebels in Chefoo.
1862
July 10. Death of Mrs. Keith in San Francisco.
July 14. Death of Mrs. Smith at Chefoo.
July 27. Mr. Keith lost in the Durning of S. S. Golden Gate.
July. Mr. Schereschewsky at Pekin.
1863
April. Mr. Smith retires.
Chefoo abandoned.
Nov. 8. Rev. Wong Kong-chai advanced to priesthood.
Nov. 24. Death of Miss C. Jones.
1864
Jan. 20. Death of Mrs. Boone at Suez.
July 17. Death of Bishop Boone.
1866
Oct. 3. Bishop Williams consecrated.
Hospital work begun in Shanghai.
1868
Jan. 14. Bishop Williams arrives Shanghai.
May 17. Yen Yung-kiung ordained deacon.
Station at Kiang-wan opened.
June 22. Wuchang opened.
1869
Mch. 10. Bishop Williams fixes his residence in Osaka, Japan.
1870
Jan. 7. Rev. W. J. Boone joins the mission.
Oct. 28. Rev. W. J. Boone and Rev. Yen Yung-kiung
advanced to the priesthood.
Dec. 25. Chapel of the Nativity opened in Wuchang.
1871
Sept. Boone School, Wuchang, opened.
1872
Sept. Bridgman School taken over by the mission.
Appendix B
Dates
1873
May i.
1874
Oct.
Dec. 3.
1875
Oct.
Nov. 1 6.
1876
July.
Oct.
Nov. 8.
1877
June 14.
Oct. 31.
1878
Jan. 28.
Oct. 5.
Dec.
1879
April 14.
Aug.
Dec. 19.
1880
June 25.
Dec.
1881
Jan.
H. N. Woo ordained deacon.
St. Paul s Chapel, Hankow, opened.
Bishop Williams assigned to Japan.
Rev. W. P. Orrick elected bishop of China. De
clines.
Dr. A. C. Bunn arrives at Wuchang.
Rev. S. I. J. Schereschewsky elected bishop.
Declines.
Death of Mrs. Boone.
First railroad in China opened between Shanghai
and Kongwang.
Mr. Schereschewsky again elected bishop. Accepts.
Duane Hall and Divinity School, Shanghai, opened.
Emma Jones School, Shanghai, reopened.
Marriage of Rev. W. J. Boone and Miss Harris.
Bishop Schereschewsky consecrated.
Death of Mrs. Bunn.
Death of Miss Fay.
Elizabeth Bunn Hospital opened in a hired house
in Wuchang.
Property at Jessfield, near Shanghai, purchased.
Cornerstone of St. John s College, Shanghai, laid.
St. John s College opened.
St. Stephen s, San-tiang-Keu, consecrated.
Miss Roberts arrives at Shanghai.
St. Luke s Hospital, Shanghai, opened.
Rev. and Mrs. Robert Nelson and Miss Nelson
retire.
Appendix B 357
Dates
1881
Mch. i. Dr. Deas arrives at Wuchang.
June. St. Mary s Hall, Shanghai, opened.
Aug. 13. Bishop Schereschewsky prostrated by sunstroke.
Dec. 25. New Church of the Nativity in Wuchang opened.
1882
Station at Kia-ding opened.
1883
Sanitariums opened at Chefoo and Kiukiang.
Oct. 24. Bishop Schereschewsky resigns his jurisdiction.
Rev. George Worthington elected bishop. Declines.
1884
April 24. Rev. W. J. Boone elected bishop. Accepts.
June 3. Corner-stone of St. John s Church, Shanghai, laid.
Oct. 28. Bishop Boone consecrated.
Chinkiang opened.
Nov. I. St. John s Church, Shanghai, consecrated.
Dec. 1 8. Rev. E. H. Thomson appointed archdeacon.
1885
Oct. 7. St. Mary s Orphanage opened at Shanghai.
1886
March. Station removed from Chinkiang to Wuhu.
Station at Shasi opened.
Nov. 12. Death of Rev. Wong Kong-chai.
1888
Jan. 6. First ordination in Hankow.
May ii. Dr. Marie Haslep reaches Wuchang.
Dec. 25. The new St. Mary s Hall, Shanghai, opened.
1889
Station at Ichang opened.
Sept. 19. Death of Mrs. Thomson.
Oct. 28. New Church of the Nativity at Wuchang con
secrated.
1890
9. Ward for women opened at St. Luke s Hospita
Shanghai.
358 Appendix B
Dates
1890
Oct. Dr. Deas retires.
1891
Riots.
Sept. 2. Ichang property destroyed.
Oct. 5. Death of Bishop Boone.
1892
Jan. 24. First service held in new St. Paul s Church, Hankow.
Bishop Hare visits China.
1893
June 14. Rev. F. R. Graves consecrated bishop.
Woman s Auxiliary established in Shanghai by
Mrs. Twing.
1894
Feb. First mission conference.
New building at St. John s College, Shanghai.
May 19. St, Peter s Hospital, Wuchang, opened.
1896
Training School for Bible-women opened at
Shanghai.
Feb. 24-28. Second mission conference at Shanghai.
Hospital work begun in Nganking (now Anking).
1897
April 1-3. First conference of Anglican bishops at St. John s,
Shanghai.
Ichang house rebuilt.
Revision of Prayer-book completed.
1898
June 20. Death of Rev. Yen Yung-kiung.
Sept. 29. St. Paul s Divinity School, Wuchang, opened.
1899
Feb. ii. Third mission conference at Wuchang.
July 19. Science Hall, St. John s College, opened.
Oct. 22. Grace Church, Shanghai, opened.
Oct. 28. St. Peter s Church, Shanghai, consecrated.
Dec. 7 St. Hilda s School, Wuchang, opened.
Appendix 359
Dates
1900
Boxer year.
1901
Station at Wusih opened. Kiukiang occupied.
St. James s Hospital, Anking, opened.
District divided into the Districts of Shanghai and
Hankow.
1902
Feb. 24. Bishop Ingle consecrated at Hankow,
May. First conference of the Shanghai district.
Oct. Station at Soochow opened.
Death of Rev. Y. T. Chu.
1903
Mch. 17. St. Elizabeth s Hospital, Shanghai, opened.
Dec. 7. Death of Bishop Ingle.
1904
Feb. 10-12. Second conference of the Shanghai district.
Jan. 23. New building for St. Mary s Orphanage opened.
Nov. 13. Bishop Roots consecrated.
1905
May 3. St. James s Church, Wuhu, consecrated.
St. John s College, Shanghai, incorporated as a
university
Boone School, Wuchang, becomes Boone College.
The Chinese Churchman a monthly publica
tion, established and printed for the first time.
1906
Aug. 3-6. First conference of the Foreign Workers of the
District of Hankow held at Kuling.
Oct. 14. Death of Bishop Schereschewsky, of the District
of Shanghai, at Tokyo, Japan.
1907
Apr. 15-20. Conference of the Anglican Communion in China
held in Shanghai.
Ma *7 f Centenary Conference held in Shanghai.
360 Appendix B
Dates
1908
Yangchow occupied by the Rev. Mr. Ancell and
the Rev. Mr. Sinclair.
Feb. First General Conference of the District of Hankow
held in Hankow.
Apr. 25. Kiangsu Conference met and prepared a Constitu
tion for a Synod with regular representation.
1909
Ordination of seven Chinese deacons in the District
of Hankow.
Apr. ) 27. Conference of the Anglican Communion at St.
Mar. ) 4. John s University for the organization of a
General Synod.
1910
Boone College incorporated as a university.
Rice riots at Changsha, which compelled the Rev.
Mr. Gilman to fly for his life to Hankow.
Erection of the new Missionary District of Wuhu
by the General Convention and the election
of the Rev. Dr. Francis L. H. Pott, President
of St. John s University, Shanghai, as Bishop
of it.
1911
Purchase of the Unkaza property for St. John s
University.
Oct. 10. Outbreak of the Chinese Rebellion at Wuchang,
in the District of Wuhu.
Oct. 26-27. Special meeting of the House of Bishops in New
York City and the election of the Rev. D.
Trumbull Huntington, of Ichang, as Mis
sionary Bishop of Wuhu in the place of the
Rev. Dr. Pott, who did not accept.
1912
Feb. 12. Abdication of the Manchu dynasty and the organi
zation of the Republic of China with Yuan
Shih-kai as president.
Appendix B 361
Dates
1912
Mar. 25. The Rev. D. Trumbull Huntington consecrated
Missionary Bishop of Wuhu at St. John s pro-
Cathedral, Shanghai.
Apr. 11-13. First Synod of the District of Wuhu met in Wuhu.
Apr. 18-26= The Anglican Conference in Shanghai.
Apr. 26. General Synod of the Chung Hwa Sheng Kung
Hui, or the Holy Catholic Church in China,
fully organized immediately following the close
1913 of the Anglican Conference.
October. General Convention changes name of District of
Wuhu to District Anking.
INDEX
INDEX
American Bible Society, gift
to Mission, 8; 3O3
American Episcopal Church,
foreign policy of, 37
American Episcopal Church
in China, The, quoted, 152
American Episcopal Missions
in China, Church of Eng
land &, 205 ; indifference of
home Church to, 211-212;
division of missionary jur
isdiction, 245-261 ,
American Lutheran Mission,
314
Amoy, 27-29; 37-39; oi f
Ancell, Rev. Mr., 267, 296, 299
Anglican Bishops, conference
of, 205, 258
Anglican Commission, organ
ized, 327
Anglican Mission School,
Honolulu, 198
Anhui, province, 207, 219, 236,
245, 323
Anking, 207, 220, 235, 295, 3^2
Archbishop of Canterbury,
quoted, 84; 327
Arms, Mr., 13
B
Baird Hall, 88
Baptism, change in require
ments for, 115
Barrenstyne, Dr., German
missionary, 20
Batavia, Gutzlaff sent to, 9;
our missionaries in, 11-15.
20-25
Bates, Rev. & Mrs. Daniel M.,
Jr., 94; leave China, 115
Bedell, Mrs., donation by, 210,
218
Bible Women, training school
for, 190, 219, 266, 267, 286,
3M
Bintenzorg (Java), 13
Board of Missions organized,
Hankow, 3 T 7
Boone College, founded, 79;
native preachers trained at,
92; English taught at, no;
growth & changes at, 118,
157, 177, 188, 203, 222,
225, 232, 277; Sowerby in
charge of, 119, 159 J first
graduates at, 279; Chinese
favor, 280 ; a university, 308
Boone, Dr. Henry W., work
of, 64, 120, 184
Boone Library, 310
Boone, Mrs. W. J., quoted,
H3
Boone, William J., volunteers
for China, 18; in Batavia,
22-29; on furlough, 29-30;
at Shanghai, 40 ** se Q-!
elected Bishop, 36; death,
71, 75; quoted, 121, 204;
succeeded by son, 125; 77
93, loo
Boone, William Jones, second
Bishop of China, 125; opens
St. Mary s Orphanage, 142;
quoted, 144, 151, 156, 234;
moves to Hankow, 145. 17*
death, 174; 220
Borland, Dr., 223
364
Index
365
Boxer Movement, 200, 215,
224; 229-242; 332
Boys schools, Boone starts, 53
Bridgman, Mr., 9
Bridgeman Memorial School,
H3
Buddhist priests in Shang
hai, 46
Bunn, Dr., Albert C, founds
medical work, 64, 77, 79-81 ;
at Wuchang, 99 ; quoted, 175
C
Canada, Church of, 329
Canton, Lockwood & Hanson
at, 8- 1 1 ; & opium trade, 21 ;
internal trade of, 135
Canton Medical College, 296
Cathechists Training Schools,
165, 247, 284, 294, 299-300
Chang Tsz Tung, Viceroy,
friendly attitude of, 177,
230; offers financial aid,
203, 280
Changsha, anti- foreign dis
turbances in, 166, 315; a
treaty port, 235; 245, 256,
307
Charleston (S. C), aids Mis
sions, 19
Chekiang, 324, 327
Chef oo, 63, 72
Chiao Wei, appeal from, 223
China, early ignorance about,
4, 18; laws anent foreign
ers, 10, 21 ; new treaty with,
28; length of missionary
service in, 41 ; great changes
in, 66, 147; medical mis
sions in, 80; educational
work in, 87-95, ?58; influ
ence of missions in, 89, 201;
spread of English language
in, in; first railway in,
153; war with Japan, 197;
edict anent schools, 204;
the Revolution, 330-338
China Inland Mission, 146,
148, 316
Chinese children, 57
Chinese Churchman, The,
founded, 282
"Chinese Gordon," 74
Chingpoo, 63
Chinkiang, city, 126; mission
at, 128; abandoned, 145
Christian Herald Orphanage
Fund, 293
Christian Martyrs, 230
Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui,
move toward founding, 60,
328, 329
Chungking, outbreaks in, 148
Church of England, in China,
126; missionaries massa
cred, 201 ; 205, 276, 314
Church of Our Saviour,
Shanghai, 87, 186, 218, 275
Church of the Holy Nativity,
Wuchang, 116, 184, 222
Church of the Holy Saviour,
296, 325
Civil War, effect upon mis
sions, 73
Clark, Miss Alice M., 313
Collins, Rev. H. C, 184, 224,
237
Concordat of 1908, 327
Conferences, of Bishops, in
China, 326, 328, 329
Confucius, on education of
women, 66
Cooper, Mr., 241
Corfe, Bishop of Korea, 2^8
Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta,
quoted, 93
Crummer, Miss Lillis, quoted,
191-194, 240
D
Deas, Dr., 176, 184
Death, a subject shunned by
Chinese, 161
366
Index
Dodson, Miss S. L., long ser
vice of, 150; quoted, 190,
241
Duane Hall & Divinity School,
81, 88, 144, 188, 256, 280, 294
Edict of toleration, 146, 147,
149
Education in China, 52 el
seq.; among women, 66,
312; significant develop
ment of, 87-95, 1 10, 203-
204; effect of Boxer out
break on, 232 ; training day-
school teachers, 252; 255
Elgin, Lord, Treaty of, 135
Elizabeth Bunn Memorial
Hospital, 81
Ellis, W. T., quoted, on Mis
sion schools, 89; on St.
John s University, 301
Emma Jones Memorial
School, 113
Empress Dowager, desposes
Emperor, 215 ; issues edicts,
231 ; 330
England, Opium War with,
21-22; 28
English, teaching of, no, 177
F
Fay, Miss Lydia M., 55-57;
59, 65, 72, 81, 88
Fish, Dr., 41, 64, 71, 80
Foochow, 28, 61
Foreigners, f o r b i d de n to
travel, 21 ; treated better^
109; outbreaks against, 148,
166, 171, 229; services for,
186
Fukien, Church of England
Mission in, 314
Fu Ta Hwan, Rev. Mr., 297
Fung Tsen Seng, Rev. Mr.,
143
Gates, Dr., 239
General Conventions, 36, 76,
224, 246, 269, 323
General Theological Semin
ary, i, 217
Giles, Dr., quoted, 56
Gill, Rev. J. M. B., 298
Gillett, Miss, first spinster
appointed, 35
Gil man, Rev. A. A., 316
Giris, unwelcome in China,
142, 240, 241 ; educational
plans for, 255, 280, 312
Girls School, 55, 65, 190, 280
Glennie, Alexander, 37
Glenton, Dr. Mary V., 223
Gods, Chinese, amusing story
of, 130, 154
Grace Church, Shanghai, 218
Graham, Richardson, 35, 53
Graves, Bishop F. R., 116,
174, 183; locates at Han
kow, 184; calls conference,
187; quoted, 188, 202, 206,
209, 218, 220, 260, 265, 268,
328 ; organizes training
school, 191-192; & Prayer
Book revision, 206; visits
outstations, 215 ; plans divi
sion of jurisdiction, 245-
248; 235, 269, 270, 324
Graves, Mrs. F. R., 103, 1x4,
119
Guest Rooms, 159, 274
Gutzlaff Hospital, Shanghai,
120
Gutzlaff, Karl F. A., career
of, 9; Chinese Testament
of, 61
H
Han River, 100, 134, 206
Hangchow, 128
Hankow Normal School, 313
Index
3 6 7
Hankow, beginnings at, 77-
81, 99, no; church opened,
116, 176, 233; a central sta
tion, 134, 137, 156; ordina
tions at, 143; growth at,
169-171, 179, 186, 221, 275,
307, 354 ; Boone dies at, 174 ;
chapel erected at, 210; train
ing schools at, 165, 224, 267,
286, 294, 300; first bishops
of, 245-248; Bishop Ingle s
tomb at, 260; 167, 168;
Normal School, 313 ; Japan
ese work in, 318; library,
319; division of diocese,
323; & the Revolution,
332; 337
Hankow-Pekin Railroad, 284
Hanson, Rev. F. R., accom
panies Lockwood to Ba-
tavia, 7-15, 20; returns
home, 20
Hanchuan, 206-209 ; 224, 284
Han Yang, city, 100, 144, 168,
177; notable gift at, 276
Hare, Bishop of So. Dakota,
quoted, 178
Haslep, Dr., at Wuchang,
151
Hohing, Augustus, 77, 78
Holy Catholic Church in
China, born, 329
Holy Trinity Church, Shang
hai, 125
Honan, 329
Hongkew, American quarter.
Shanghai, 87; medical
school at, 184; 218
Hong Kong, 40, 61, 276
Honolulu, 198, 334
"Horatio," Boone sails on, 39
Hoyt, Samuel R. J., 77;
quoted, 100-102; retires, 104
Hsia, Mr., gift of, 276
Hsinti, opened, 208, 209
Hu, Rev. Mr., 189, 253, 283
Huang, Mr., 316
Hubbell, Mr., 72
Hukow, 318
Hunan, disturbances emanate
from, 166, 171 ; work in,
234, 245, 256, 307, 328, 329
Hung Hsiu-Chuan, sets Chma
aflame, 73
Huntington, Miss Maria, 293
Huntington, Rev. D. T.,
arrival of, 206; generous
gift of, 209; quoted, 209;
221; at Ichang, 237, 282,
292; Bishop of Wuhu,
324-325
Hupeh, province, 189, 208, 219,
230, 245, 317
Hwang Min Kao, Rev. Mr.,
143, 144, 235
Hwang Pi, 137, 284
Hwangpoo River, 44
I
Ichang, trade school at, 55,
292-293; progress at, 146,
156, 159, 237, 282; riots at,
172, 184; 224, 317
I-jau, petition from, 268
India, & opium, 21; 158
Ingle, Rev. J. A., 165, 177,
180; in charge of Hankow,
184; quoted, 186, 210, 249,
253. 256; visits Hanchuan,
206; at Hsinti, 208; 212,
215, 234; elected Bishop of
Hankow, 246-247; on dis
cipline, 251 ; vigorous policy
of, 255-257; death, 258;
message to Chinese Chris
tians, 259; inscription on
tomb, 260; 271, 278, 282
Ingle Hall, opened, 278
J
Jackson, Rev. James, 280
Jane Bohlen Memorial School,
see St. Hilda s
368
Index
Japan, bishop of, 75-76, 125;
war with China, 197, 231 ;
contact with, 283; 101, 153,
178, 225, 248, 336
Japanese, in China, 318
Java, Church s first oriental
work in, 14, 20
Jefferys, Dr. W. H., 269
Jefferys, Mr. Charles P. B.,
269
Jessfield, see Shanghai
Jones, Miss Emma, 35, 53, 55-
59; 65, 72
K
Keith, Mr., 72
Kenyon College, 78
Khartoun, hero of, 74
Kia-ding district, 237, 296
Kiangsi, province, 221, 233,
245, 283, 323, 328
Kiangsu, horrors of rebellion
in, 74; 219, 245, 268, 296,
299
Kiukiang, 126, 221, 233, 256,
307
Korea, 158, 198, 199, 248
Kublai Khan, referred to, 4
Kucheng, massacre in, 201
Ku-lang-su, island, 27-29
Kuling, 258
Kwang Su, Emperor, 200
Kwei, Mei Peng, Rev. Mr.,
128; at Wuhu, 145; at
Shasi, 209
Kwangsi, 329
Kyoto, 224, 270
L
Lambeth Agreement, 327
Langford, Rev. Dr., 176
Lawrence, Bishop of Massa
chusetts, 270
Learn China s Only Hope,
referred to, 203
Lee, Rev. E. J,, quoted, 326
Li, 189
Liberia, doctors sent to, 79
Lieo, Viceroy at Nanking, 230
Lieo Ying Tung, 144
Li Hung Chang, 204
Liggins, Mr., 172
Lindstrom, Mr., 217; at An-
king, 221, 236
Lintin, 8, 9
Littell, Mrs., 267
Littell, Rev. Mr., 223, 233, 300
Liu Chin- An, a Chinese saint,
320
Locke, Rev. & Mrs. A. H.,
arrival, 134; quoted, 135,
137, 155, 169; 165, 171, 177,
184, 247
Lockwood, Dr., 45, 62
Lockwood, Henry, Hanson i
colleague, 6-16; 20, 22, 23,
33, 45
London Missionary Society,
16, 27, 45, 62
Low Library, 269
Lukang, 274
Lund, Mr., 217, 220
Lung Hwa Ngan, station at,
117
Lyde, Augustus Foster, in
itiates Church s work in
China, 3-7
M
Macao, 9 ; Boone visits, 26
Mackay, Dr., 207
MacWillie, Dr. John, 332
McGatchie, Mr., 60
McKim, Rev. Dr. John, 183,
248, 270
McRae, Miss Florence, 184
McRae, Rev. C. F., 238
Manchus, 112, 166, 171, 226,
298, 330
Index
369
Mandarin, China s official lan
guage, 82; Old Testament
& Prayer Book translated
into, 120, 206; 143, 246, 296,
297
Massie, Rev. R. K., 176
Medhurst, Dr., 12, 13, 15;
book by, 20; 45,46; Chineso
Testament of, 61 ; 62
Medical work in China, 63-65,
129, 256
Mencius, quoted, 147
Merrins, Dr., at Wuchang,
176, 184; at Anking, 208;
quoted, 307, 308
Milnpr, Dr., 6
Mission Conference, first, 187,
190
Mission Schools, position of,
203-205; grow in popular
ity, 232 ; teachers trained in,
252, 276; 312
Moloney, Bishop, 324
Morrison, Dr., great pioneer,
4, 8, 9 ; Chinese New Testa
ment of, 61 ; 153
Morse, Miss Mary, 25, 53,
59, 71
Mosher, Rev. Mr., 237; quot
ed, 270; 299 m
Moule, Bishop in Mid-China,
125
N
Nagasaki, 77
Nan Chang, capital of Ki-
angsi, 256, 283
Nanking, 126, 230, 298
Nanjing, 274
Napier, Lord, treatment in
China, 21
Native workers, importance
of training, 91, 165; a
splendid body, 131-132;
Bishop Hare on, 178; 118,
129, 169, 189-190, 209, 257
Nelson, Dr. Robert, 77, 115,
153, 186
Netherland Missionary So
ciety, 9
New Testament, in Chinese, 61
Newton, E. A., 6
Nganhwei, see Anhui
Nichols, Bishop of Califor
nia, 299
Nichols, Rev. Mr., 267; quot
ed, 299
Nmgpo, 28, 44, 61
Occidentals, Chinese opinion
of, 21
Olyphant, Mr., 9
Opium War, 21-22; ends, 28
Orient, our first woman mis
sionary to, 16; uncertain
ties of, 23
Orientals, conservatism of,
Orrick, Mr., 83
Osgood, Miss Pauline, 222,
281
Out-stations, establishing, 62-
63, 94, 128; medical work
at, 129
Pan, Anglican, second, 84
Parker, Dr., 5, 9; killed by
mob, 72
Partridge, Sydney C, quoted,
127, 132, 154, 159, 167, 178,
189, 203; 184, 206, 222;
elected Bishop of Kyato,
224; 248, 270, 280
Pekin, Schereschewsky at, 72,
76, 82; edicts from 147, 14^,
230; exciting times at, 215,
231; 236, 335
Perkins, George A., 79
Philadelphia, meeting in, 7;
Bible Society of, 8; 34
370
Index
Pointer, Mr., 72
Porter, Miss, 284
Pott, Dr. F. L. H., 150, 185;
quoted, 202; 206, 217, 260,
324
Pott, Mrs. F. L. H., see Wong
Prayer Book, revision of, 200
Purden, Mr., 72
Purple, Miss, 152
Rees, Rev. Mr., 284
Revolution of 1911, 330-338
Rice Riots, Changsha, 315
Richmond, Miss A. B., quot
ed, 152; 281
Ridgely, Mr., 233
Riot Year, The, 166
Roberts, Miss Josephine, set
Graves
Roman Catholic Missions, de
stroyed, 148; animosity to,
171, 229; 208
Roman Catholic Orphanage,
Hankow, 141
Roman Catholics, at Shang
hai, 45
Roots, Mrs., 267, 314; quoted,
321
Roots, Rev. L. H., 165, 206,
215, 260; succeeds Bishop
Ingle, 269-271 ; significant
request to, 280; union edu
cational work of, 282 ; sends
Mr. Hu to Japan, 283;
quoted, 291, 296, 310, 322;
304. 320, 324
Russia-Japan War, 283, 318
St. Agnes School, 256, 295,
325
St. Bartholomew s Church
House, Hankow, 169
St. Elizabeth s Hospital,
Shanghai, erected, 239
St. Hilda s Girls School, 79,
103, 119, 222, 256, 280, 28l,
309, 3H
St. James Church, N. Y. City,
271 ; Wuhu, 272
St. James Hospital, Anking,
295, 325
St. John s Church, Jessfield,
219, 324, 329
St. John s, Hankow, 186, 221 ;
new edifice consecrated, 233
St. John s College, establish
ed, 87, 89, 120; Mr. Yen at,
100 ; teaching of English at,
no; Renaissance at, 112;
Chapel erected for, 114;
126; Divinity School moved
from, 144-145; progress at,
149, 157, 184, 202, 232;
Bishop Hare on, 179; 218;
gifts to, 276; a university,
285; extension of, 300-302;
324
St. Luke s Hospital, Shang
hai, 94, 120, 152, 239; new
building for, 269; 303
St. Mary s Orphanage, Shang
hai, beginnings of, 141 ;
Miss Dodson at, 150; Miss
Wong s work at, 150; 219
St. Mary s School, opened,
113; Bishop Boone on, 151;
progress at, 219, 241
St. Paul s Chapel (Cathe
dral), Hankow, 99, 137;
first ordinations in, 143-144,
177, 186, 221 ; Bishop Ingle
consecrated in, 248; a tem
porary hospital, 332
St. Paul s Divinity School,
223
St. Paul s High School, 295
St. Paul s School, Anking, 325
St. Peter s Chapel, 137. 209,
210, 218, 221
Index
Sampan, Chinese rowboat,
221
San Ting Ko, mission at, 94
Savage, T. S., 79
Sayres, Rev. & Mrs. William
S., 94; at Wuchang, 103-
105, 114; 116; quoted, 117,
118, 129; return to Shang
hai, 119; at Chinkiang, 128
Schereschewsky, Mrs., 83 ;
quoted, 105
Schereschewsky, Samuel Isaac
Joseph, translates Bible at
Pekin, 72; 76, 77; early
career of, 82-84; episcopate
of, 87 et seq.; 112; fatal
illness of, 114; 116; retire
ment, 119; successor, 125;
death, 149, 185, 206, 285;
302
Scott, Bishop in North China,
125, 126
Scriptures, translated, 60-62,
114, 120, 285, 303
Selwyns, referred to, 126
Shanghai, 28; Boone s work
in, 40-67; a description of,
43-46; medical work in, 80,
129; Church s progress in,
81, 112; American settle
ment in, 87 ; St. John s Col
lege, 89; desire to learn
English in, no; hospitals at
94, 120, 128, 239, 269; or
phanage established, 141 ;
idolatrous feasts at, 154;
menaced, 172 ; training
school, 191, 209; growth in,
149, 202, 218, 237; confer
ence of Anglican Bishops
at, 205, 258; jurisdiction
separated, 245-247 ; Yen
Hall built in, 268; confer
ence in, 274 ; day schools at,
281; visiting in, 287; girls
schools at, 312; 175
Shanghai Literary & Debat
ing Club, 133
Shang Ti Hui, society so-
called, 74
Shantung, province, conserv
atism in, 204
Shasi, Mission opened at, 146,
156; work at, 159-161, 209,
256, 307; 184, 223
Sheng Kung Hui, formed, 205
Sherman, Rev. A. M., 223, 234
Shihnan, 189
Shi Huang Ti, first Chinese
emperor, 49-50
Shinti, 223
Sinclair, Rev. Mr., 296
Singapore, Lockwood & Han
son at, 10-12
Sinza, suburb of Shanghai,
63, 218, 240
Slave girls, 240
Smalley, Mr. & Mrs., 151
Smith, Mrs., 72
Smith, Rev. Dr. A. H., quot
ed, 132, 142
Smith, Rev. G., 40
Soochow, 44, 77, 245 ; opened,
267; 296, 299
Southgate, Horatio, 37
Sowerby, Mr. & Mrs. Her
bert, join Mission staff,
119; at Ichang, 146, 156,
159, 184; quoted, 161, 172
Spirit of Missions, The,
quoted, 17, 18, 27, 29, 41,
60, 62, 76, 104, 114, 118,
148, 161, 229, 235, 242, 297,
303, 319, 328, 329
Students Missionary Society,
225
Suez Canal, & religion, 187
Sung, Mrs., quoted, 287
Sun Yat Sen, 198; quoted,
334
37*
Index
Syle, Rev. Edward W., 35,
53; diary of, 62, 65; 72
Szchuen, province of, 127;
persecution starts in, 148;
massacre in, 201 ; 324
Szenan, 317
Taj Chwo, 297
Taihu, 236
Tai Ping rebellion, 73
Tai Tsang, missionary center
at Shanghai, 109
Tai-Tsau, 237
Thibet, 336
Thomson, Mrs. Elliott D., re
tirement & death, quoted,
152
Thomson, Rev. E. D., 72, 76,
77, 80, 81, 82, 88, 129, 185,
206; semi-centenary of, 302
Tientsin, 204
Three Kingdoms, The, quot
ed, 261
Tokyo, Bishop Williams in,
75-77; 270; Chinese stu
dents in, 283 ; Bishop Sche-
reschewsky dies in, 285
Trade School, at Ichang, 292
Treaty of 1842, 28
Tsen, 189
Tseng, Rev. Mr., 317
Ts ing-poo district, Shanghai,
268, 284, 296
Tsu, Rev. P. N., 238
Tsun I Fu, Rev. Mr., 143
Tsz Tsen Fang, Rev. Mr., 224
Turks, 4
Twing, Mrs., quoted, 185
Tying, Rev. Mr. D., 318
U
Uplift of China, The, quoted,
260
V
Vail, Bishop of Kansas, on
W
Wang Swun-I, Rev. Mr., 143,
144
Ward, Miss Lily F., 222, 223
Warren, Rev. E. W., 272
Wenli, Bible translated into,
114, 120; Prayer Book in,
206
Wesleyan Mission, Wuchang,
282, 296
West Coast of Africa, 36
Williams Hall, Boone Col
lege, 222
White, Bishop, ^
Williams, Rt. Rev. Channing
Moore, elected bishop of
China & Japan, 74-76 ; prog
ress at Shanghai under, 8l-
82; Boone consecrated by,
125 ; 308
Winslow, Mrs., 239
Wolfe, Archdeacon of South
China, quoted, 200
Woman s Auxiliary, raises
money, 103, 191, 312; Chi
nese branch organized, 185 ;
239, 241
Wong, Miss (Mrs. F. L. H.
Pott), 113, 132, 141; work
at St. Mary s, 150-151
Wong Kong Chai, story of,
47-5i; 54, 65, 72, 132, 303
Wong Memorial Hall, 275
Woo, Rev. Mr., 109, 120, 130,
132, 303
Wood, Miss Mary E., 310
Wood, Rev. Mr., 223
Woods, Henry W., 35, 41
Woodward, Dr., quoted, 235
Woosung, 28, 43
Wray, Miss, 71
Index
373
Wuchang, medical work in,
64, 80, 129, 151, 176; Boone
Memorial School at, 79,
118, 177; struggle to sur
vive in, 99-106, 166; prog
ress at, 1 10, 221-222, 308,
309; church erected at, 114,
116; Sowerbys at, 119; 126,
134; ordinations at, 143;
Divinity School at, 144,
280; 156, 172, 174; Mr.
Partridge leaves, 224; 230,
235; Wesleyans at, 282;
hospitals & library at, 310;
during the Revolution, 330
Wuhu, 126; opened, 145, 156;
riot at, 172; new church at,
271-273, 307; the new mis
sionary district, 323-329 J
184, 220, 237, 245
Wusueh, 172
Wusih, 237, 238, 245, 268, 294,
296, 299
Y
Yang, Mr., in charge at
Hankow, Ii6, 137
Yangchow, 296, 297
Yangtse River, described, 42-
43; loo, 103, 127, 134, 154,
156, 168, 292
Yangtse Valley, 76, 126
Yeh Tsang Fa, Rev., 143
Yen Hall, erection of, 268
Yen Yun Kiung, Rev., vener
ated, 78; quoted, 92, 94; at
St. John s College, 100;
McPartridge on, 132; de
fends Christianity, 133 ;
Bishop Graves on, 218;
College called after, 268
Yoh, Dr., 296
Yokum, Mr., 72
Young, Mr., 13
Yu, Rev. Mr., 284
Yuan Shih Kai, President of
China, 334
Yung Wing, 112
Z
Zang-zok, 61 ; opened, 237 ;
297
DATE DUE
97.8-5*
51
NOV 2 -
Church
in
DATE
BR 1285 G78 1913 TRIN
Gray, Arthur R.
T h e s t o r y o f t h e C h u r c: h :i. n
China 136233
