ASIA 
 
 Vithini 
 
 Qatewa^softhe 
 Far East 
 
 'I k 
 
 Charles I\. Erdman 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION ON CHEsfA 
 
 AND THE CHINESE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DS 508.E66 
 
 Within the gateways of the Far East :ar 
 
 3 1924 023 271 608 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023271608 
 
Within ••t-Ke-G-aie-i^ay'^' 
 of. .the Far East 
 
THE FAMOUS TORII, OR GATEWAY, AT MIYAJIMA 
 "We saw its shrines float on the surface of the flood tide.'' 
 
Within the Gateways 
 Of the Far East 
 
 A Record of Recent Travel 
 
 By 
 
 CHARLES R. ERDMAN 
 
 Professor of Practical Theology 
 Princeton Theological Seminary 
 
 Author of "The Gospel of John, an Exposition," "The 
 
 Gospel of Matthew," "The Gospel of Mark," "The 
 
 General Epistles," "The Acts" "The Gospel 
 
 of Luke," "Coxftittg tp the Communion,' 
 
 "The, Return of Christ" etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED- 
 
 Nbw York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1922, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago,': 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
To 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 who 
 
 encourages me 
 
 in 
 
 every worthy effort 
 
 and even 
 
 forgives me 
 
 for writing books 
 
• '.••• 'Fpreword • Vv. v 
 . • • .. 
 
 MY next ifiiTiUiiigf'fiarr^tive will prob- 
 ably be dedicated ' to that rapidly 
 diminishing number of persons who 
 have distinguished themselves by never visiting 
 the Orient These pages were prepared more 
 particularly for the perusal of personal friends 
 and they may be regarded as an apology for 
 an extended absence from home. They do not 
 form an absolutely complete compendium of 
 routes, distances, areas, populations, rainfalls, 
 products, languages, customs, vital statistics of 
 Lama priests, and similar informing items 
 which fill more important and conventional 
 books of travel. The omission of any such 
 details is due to the cruel limitations of space 
 imposed by the high cost of printing. 
 Compensation is offered in the original and 
 profound observations made by the author, 
 whose ignorance of geography, history, science, 
 and religion enables him to write with such 
 abandon and assurance as characterize all who 
 have spent a few days in the Far East. The 
 value of the volume will ever remain a matter 
 of personal opinion, to which those who 
 7 
 
8 ■'•','.• FOEEWOED'.,.' ', 
 
 read- it thcoru^ .^ll:;be.;:ftilly entitled. The 
 reading must bepfomptj-idcaise the Orient is 
 changins'lo rapidly that the statejnents of the 
 author- sooji'may be out of d^i^,';'^'o this same 
 cause mvis^^^ferattribute.d'?.«y apJTarent inaccu- 
 racies theBQok'm^.eontarfi.'. ' 
 
 *•.!••■ C. R> K- 
 
 Princeton, N. /. 
 
Contents 
 
 I. "Westward Ho" 
 
 II. China. 
 
 III. Korea 
 
 IV. Japan . 
 
 V. Homeward Bound 
 
 13 
 
 32 
 
 62 
 
 92 
 
 108 
 
Illustrations 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 The Famous Torii of Miyajima . . . Title 
 
 TheDaibutsu 26 
 
 The Great Wall 32 
 
 The Cheng- Yang-Men Gate, Peking . . 56 
 
 A Korean Peasant 7° 
 
 Pyeng-Yang City Wall 86 
 
 The Yomei-Mon at Nikko .... 94 
 
 Fujiyama 108 
 
 II 
 
"WESTWARD HO" 
 
 TO reach the Far East you may sail 
 due west, and you surely will choose 
 Ihat course if you are starting from 
 California for the coast of Cathay. 
 
 From San Francisco to Honolulu is a voy- 
 age of five days and fifty-five nights, at least 
 so it seems to my friend who loves to lounge 
 on deck but loathes being shut down below in 
 a hot little box without light or air, or room to 
 move. However, my friend has never been at 
 sea, and he cannot imagine what it is to occupy 
 a cabin flooded with sunshine and swept by 
 breezes, cooled and heated and lighted by elec- 
 tric devices, provided with beds and with ward- 
 robes and couches, with hot and cold water, 
 with adjoining baths and all the appointments 
 of more stationary hotels. 
 
 Then too his imagination is clouded by an 
 unfortunate knowledge of history, and he re- 
 members that Thurston and Bingham and their 
 wives and companions, the first missionaries to 
 Hawaii, spent one hundred and fifty days on 
 13 
 
T4 GATEWAYS OP THE PAE EAST 
 
 their toy ship Thaddeiis en route from Boston, 
 that Mrs. Bingham in her journal uncomplain- 
 ingly compared her stateroom to the " Black 
 Hole of Calcutta," that in those days the menu 
 consisted of hardtack, pickles and pork, that 
 ships were usually boarded by pirates, wrecked 
 by typhoons and their companies devoured by 
 cannibals. 
 
 As a matter of fact, a modern Pacific voyage 
 is attended by not the slightest discomfort aside 
 from paying for the ticket ; and the trip is sur- 
 prisingly short. One scarcely has thrown his 
 cabin into disorder with trunks and bags, has 
 sorted out his steamer letters and telegrams, 
 has advised the captain as to his duties, has 
 taken a few turns on deck, and an occasional 
 sleep in his room, has grown accustomed to the 
 roll of the ship and to the snoring of his cabin- 
 mate, in fact has just accommodated himself 
 to his surroundings, when suddenly he has 
 pointed out to him, on a bright morning, the 
 bold headlands of the Hawaiian Islands, " the 
 Paradise of the Pacific." 
 
 These islands were known to the Spaniards 
 and visited by Juan Gaetano in 1555 ; but they 
 were " discovered " by Captain Cook in 1T78, 
 and by him "placed upon the map," and 
 named the " Sandwich Islands " in honour of 
 the Lord of the British Admiralty, For these 
 
"WESTWAEDHO" 15 
 
 and other indiscretions, the famous, or notori- 
 ous, captain was killed by the natives who for 
 a time had worshipped him as a god ; they re- 
 moved his flesh from his bones, decked the 
 skeleton in red feathers and then paid it the 
 same divine honours as when it had been more 
 decently clothed. A monument to the memory 
 of the rash captain has been reared by his ad- 
 miring countrymen, where he is supposed to 
 have fallen, on Hawaii, the southernmost of 
 the islands, which island has given to the group 
 their present name. 
 
 These Islands of the Blest, some eight in 
 number, stretch from southeast to northwest 
 over a distance of about two hundred miles, in 
 the northern tropics, and some two thousand 
 miles west of the Californian coast. The third 
 in size, but the most important, is Oahu, on 
 which the city of Honolulu is situated, and it is 
 this island which appears first, raising its grey- 
 green mountain summits out of the emerald 
 sea. 
 
 However, to the south, some fifty miles in 
 the distance, one traces the faint outlines of 
 Molokai, "the leper island"; but these out- 
 lines are less vague and indistinct than the 
 mjrths which are usually associated, in popular 
 fancy, with the false phrase "leper island" 
 and the famous name of Father Damien. 
 
 It is true that at Kalaupapa the government 
 
16 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 has long been conducting a colony for lepers, 
 but only a fraction of the island is devoted to 
 this purpose. 
 
 It is also true that here Father Damien un- 
 selfishly performed the rites of his church and 
 ministered to the " faithful," that he con- 
 tracted the loathsome disease of leprosy and 
 died worthy of all the praise bestowed upon 
 him, even by Stevenson ; but in doing him full 
 justice it is not necessary to forget the Protes- 
 tant workers who laboured at his side, but 
 whose lives were preserved by more careful 
 personal habits and by a wiser observance of 
 sanitary laws. Most of all is it right to re- 
 member the modern heroes who are labouring 
 to-day so devotedly for the relief of the pitiful 
 sufferers on Molokai, and the scientists in other 
 places, who by their discoveries and their in- 
 vestigations even hold out hopes of effecting 
 permanent cures, even of stamping out leprosy 
 from the earth. 
 
 It is, however, the island of Oahu which we 
 are approaching. We round the great prom- 
 ontory of Koka Head, follow with the eye the 
 white line of foaming surf, pass Diamond 
 Head and the famous Waikiki Beach and are 
 soon alongside the great wharf in the harbour 
 of Honolulu. 
 
 A resident of New York cruelly remarked 
 
"WESTWAEDHO" 17 
 
 that he spent a week one afternoon in Philadel- 
 phia. For quite contrary reasons, a day and 
 a night passed in Honolulu are so crowded 
 with incidents and impressions and delights 
 that they linger in memory quite disassociated 
 from any particular measurements of time. 
 
 In order that the stay may be most enjoyable 
 one should provide in advance to be met at the 
 wharf by relatives, particularly by a cousin, 
 who bears the name of " the beloved disciple." 
 First of all you will pay a visit of respect to 
 the Palace, the last royal occupant of which 
 was Queen Liliuokalani, whose lovely song 
 "Aloha Oe " bids fair to make her fame out- 
 live that of the reckless Captain Cook, or of 
 the intrepid warrior Kamehameha I. It was 
 by the leadership of the latter that the islands 
 were brought under the sway of a single ruler, 
 more than a century ago ; and just across from 
 the royal palace you may see standing his im- 
 posing gold-wrought statue. 
 
 The "Mission Memorial," with its offices 
 and commodious auditorium, was erected by 
 the worthy descendants of the Christian heroes 
 to whose lives and services the present civiliza- 
 tion and prosperity of the islands are traced, 
 and it forms the radiating centre from which 
 are going forth similar transforming influences 
 into all parts of the islands to-day. 
 
 A drive up a steep narrowing valley brings 
 
18 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE'ESST^ 
 
 one suddenly to the Pali, the brink of a preci- 
 pice, from which one looks down a sheer thou- 
 sand feet upon a panorama whose loveliness is 
 probably unsurpassed. From the foot of the 
 cliff the verdant fields stretch away to the white 
 surf and the many-shaded expanse of the green 
 sea, while the picture is framed in the rugged 
 steeps of the mountains and the bending blue 
 of the sky. It is indeed a scene of loveliness ; 
 but an inscription on the rock, behind the visi- 
 tor, reminds him that it was once a scene of 
 horrid tragedy, for here the defenders of the 
 island took their last stand, and from this rock 
 the king and the remnant of his army were 
 hurled headlong, as Kamehameha the Great 
 completed his conquest of the islands. 
 
 Then you visit Waikiki, with its white 
 sands, its curling waves, its surf-boards, its 
 canoes and its joyous bathers. After a glimpse 
 at the aquarium, at the polo field and the coun- 
 try club, you make a round of the schools and 
 educational institutions which are the glory of 
 the islands, and you realize on what broad 
 lines the early missionaries built, and how 
 wisely their descendants are following their 
 policies to-day. 
 
 Seven years after the landing of the Pil- 
 grims from the Thaddeus, a boarding-school 
 for boys was established; and, ever since. 
 Christian education has been a chief concern of 
 
"WESTWAEDHO" 19 
 
 those who have led in the life and development 
 of the Islands. Among other results may be 
 mentioned Maunaolu Seminary, Kohala Girls' 
 School, Mid-Pacific Institute, the Christian 
 Worker's Institute, the Theological Seminary, 
 and the admirable system of Sunday Schools 
 established in the centres of population on each 
 of the Islands. 
 
 Of all the myths connected with these ro- 
 mantic scenes, none is more familiar than the 
 one which suggests that the missionaries " ex- 
 ploited the natives" and that their children 
 " have grown rich " because of the land they 
 inherited. Nothing could be farther from the 
 facts. It is true, however, that the great prin- 
 ciples taught by those early pioneers, and the 
 institutions they founded, did establish on the 
 Islands a Christian civilization, and that the 
 descendants of the missionaries have been the 
 leaders in every community, because of their 
 ability, their worth, and their strength of char- 
 acter. 
 
 The need of real " missionary effort," how- 
 ever, has not passed; in fact a new situation 
 has arisen which offers a serious challenge to 
 the Church. This was impressed on the mind 
 by a visit to the Buddhist temple. Here one 
 seemed to be in a Protestant church. There 
 were the pews, the pulpit, the pipe organ, but 
 there, most conspicuous of all, the great golden 
 
20 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 shrine with its Buddha. Here are bemg sung 
 such adaptations of Christian hymns as these: 
 
 " O, for a thousand tongues to sing 
 My Holy Buddha's praise." . j, . 
 
 "Joy to the World! The Buddha's come, 
 Let Earth receive the truth," . . . 
 
 " Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of 
 sin, 
 The law of Buddha teaches peace 
 within." , . . 
 
 Yet this suggests no approach to Chris- 
 tianity, nor sympathy for its teachings, for 
 in this temple Christianity is being most bit- 
 terly assailed. Now, on these islands, nearly 
 every second person, actually over one hun- 
 dred thousand of the population, are Japanese ; 
 and for them Buddhism has become a rallying 
 centre. Can these thousands be brought to ac- 
 cept the Gospel of Christ ? 
 
 After a night of perfect rest at a country 
 home on the northern shore of the island, 
 guarded by sentinels of royal palms, breathing 
 the fragrance of flowers and lulled to sleep by 
 the murmur of the surf, we drove to the city, 
 in the early morning, through great plantations 
 of sugar-cane, of bananas and of pineapples. 
 The cost of missionary operations on these 
 
" WESTWAED HO " 21 
 
 islands, during the full century, is estimated at 
 one and a half million dollars. The annual 
 exports now amount to more than one hundred 
 million. Some eighty million is in sugar, but 
 an increasing amount of the remainder is in 
 pineapples, more than six million cases of 
 which are shipped in a single year. 
 
 The great naval station at Pearl Harbor, 
 and the thousands of soldiers at the Schofield 
 Barracks remind the traveller of the strong 
 fortification of this far-American outpost, and 
 also of the fact that while he is five thousand 
 miles from home, he is still in his native land 
 and under the United States flag. 
 
 This was further impressed as one em- 
 barked to continue his voyage, for, as the 
 vessel moved from its moorings, the Hawaiian 
 National Hymn and "Aloha Oe" were pre- 
 ceded by the " Star Spangled Banner." Then 
 the serpentine streamers of paper began to 
 break, the flower-bedecked and garlanded pas- 
 sengers waved farewells to their friends on tfie 
 shore, and the islands of romance, of beauty, 
 of sentiment and of song, began to fade in the 
 distance. Yet as those scenes were beginning 
 to grow dim, the marvel of one great romance 
 became only more vivid, the romance of those 
 messengers of Christ, who, summoned by the 
 appeal of a Hawaiian boy, sailed from their 
 homeland in 1819 on that little brig Thaddem. 
 
22 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 In that very year, and in the same month, a 
 providential preparation was being made for 
 their coming. The islanders, ignorant of the 
 approaching messengers, weary of their idol- 
 atry and of the irksome requirements of their 
 cruel taboos, destroyed their idols, burned their 
 temples and abolished their priesthood. The 
 messengers of the Cross found a people without 
 a religion, but without spiritual truths or moral 
 restraints. No wonder that their messages 
 were received and that in 1837-1838, under the 
 leadership of Titus Coan and Lorenzo Lyons 
 and their companions, nearly twenty thousand 
 new members were added to the church. Do 
 not such facts outline the real romance of these 
 Islands? Such at least were the thoughts 
 which filled the mind as the jagged outlines of 
 the volcanic mountains sank beneath the hori- 
 zon of the sapphire sea. 
 
 By the time one was under way from Hono- 
 lulu to Yokohama, he had become fairly well 
 acquainted with his fellow-passengers and had 
 found them to form a more varied and less 
 conventional company than usually sail on an 
 Atlantic liner. It was also remarked tliat the 
 average intelligence of Pacific voyagers is 
 rapidly rising, as was evident from the fewer 
 number of inane criticisms passed upon mis- 
 sionaries and the smaller amount of liquor 
 
"WESTWAEDHO" 23 
 
 consumed than might have been expected from 
 popular reports. 
 
 There was marked informality and good 
 fellowship. The hours were passed in such 
 social amusements as are usual in places where 
 the surroundings are delightful and time is not 
 at a premium. 
 
 On the first evening tiie most interesting 
 pastime consisted in searching for the 
 Southern Cross. Those who depend for their 
 information upon poetr and the authors of 
 guide-books, have little conception of the diffi- 
 culty inexperienced travellers have in discov- 
 ering this elusive constellation. For two 
 nights the search was continued ; every author- 
 ity on board was consulted from the captain 
 to the cabin-boy. Three different "crosses" 
 were definitely pointed out, and when there 
 remained little doubt that we were gazing on 
 " the Cross " it proved to be a kite, for the 
 poor little quadrangle of stars has no connec- 
 tion between its four twinkling points, and it 
 may have been more than local and provincial 
 prejudice which declared that there is far 
 greater impressiveness in the majestic " Cross " 
 which glorifies the northern sky. 
 
 The days passed so rapidly that apparently 
 It was not thought worth while to count them 
 all ; for we retired on Monday night at eleven, 
 slept eight hours, and awoke on Wednesday 
 
24 GATEWAYS OF THE FAR EAST 
 
 morning. The captain explained that we had 
 " crossed the meridian " and so " lost a day." 
 Another explanation was that the captain in- 
 tentionally dropped a day to shorten the voy- 
 age for the benefit of those who are so con- 
 structed that they cannot enjoy the sea. 
 Whatever the explanation of the fact, this ex- 
 perience of losing a day out of one's life, espe- 
 cially when he knows he is moving toward 
 the "sunset," has solemn implications from 
 the view-point of science, of philosophy or of 
 religion. In a word, it reminds one that a 
 day of reckoning is sure to come; and that 
 when one continues to borrow, as we had in 
 turning our watches back a half hour every 
 day of our voyage, whether one borrows time 
 or strength or money, some day he may have 
 to pay, and the experience may occasion some 
 surprise. However, there is a brighter view 
 of this "loss of a day" at the one-hundred- 
 and-eightieth meridian: some "lost days" of 
 life may never be regained, but this full day at 
 least awaits one, and can be recovered just 
 where it was lost, if one will but change his 
 course and steer courageously toward the sun- 
 rise. 
 
 Another equally practical suggestion came 
 to mind. It was in reference to my friend 
 who is a Seventh Day Adventist. He wor- 
 ships on Saturday and regrets that we hold 
 
"WESTWARD HO" 25 
 
 Sunday as the day of sacred rest. Why not 
 have this friend take a voyage toward the west 
 and bring all his sect with him? Let them 
 carefully observe as sacred every seventh day, 
 let them continue their journey around the 
 world, and when they reach home they will 
 be worshipping on the same day with all their 
 fellow-Christians. Thus simple is the process 
 of converting an Adventist into a Presbyterian. 
 Thus slight are some of the barriers which 
 prevent the union of churches. 
 
 Then with deeper distress came the thought 
 of the Adventist who had preceded us across 
 the sea with the sole purpose of distressing 
 converted heathen by telling them they must 
 observe as the sevendi day, a day the number 
 of which has not changed since the creation of 
 the world. He declares it a sin to change the 
 day of sacred rest; yet he knows that when he 
 crossed the Pacific he dropped a day from his 
 week and began to worship on Friday, or, if 
 he refused, he arrived in the East worshipping 
 on Sunday with all his fellow-Christians. 
 Thus in crossing the one-hundred-and-eightieth 
 degree, llie Seventh Day Adventist seems to be 
 in danger of losing his religion, — or his mind. 
 Thus serious is the matter of journeying west- 
 ward toward the East; for the Adventist is not 
 the only man who has lost his religion by a 
 voyage across the sea. 
 
26 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 While thus meditating about the Seventh 
 Day, on the eighth day from Honolulu, about 
 noon, there appeared in the western sky what 
 seemed at first to be a fleecy cloud, but later 
 proved to be the desire of our hearts, a distant 
 view of the snow-capped summit of Fujiyama, 
 " the sacred." This sight was the signal for 
 packing bags, paying fees, and leaving the ship 
 for a glimpse of romantic, picturesque Japan. 
 
 The first sight which usually amuses tourists 
 in the Orient is that of their fellow-passengers 
 looking supremely uncomfortable and self-con- 
 scious as they sit perched on those glorified 
 baby-carriages, the " jinrikishas " or "pull- 
 man-cars," and as they roll silently along the 
 wharf, toward the Yokohama hotels, drawn by 
 little brown-clad Japanese coolies. 
 
 Some of us, however, wished to attempt the 
 perilous experiment of "hustling the East"; 
 we were anxious to save time ; so we mounted 
 a motor-car and rushed ofif to pay our respects 
 to the "Daibutsu" or "Great Buddha" of 
 Kamakura. 
 
 The drive was indeed one of deadly peril, 
 not however to the occupants of the car, but to 
 the pedestrians and more particularly to the 
 children who scurried out from under the 
 wheels as we dashed through streets and alleys 
 and lanes so narrow that the mud-guards 
 
THE DAIBUTSU 
 
 " The colossal image of brass towered before us some fifty feet into 
 
 the evening sky." 
 
" WESTWAED HO " 27 
 
 seemed to scrape along the piles of goods dis- 
 played in the little open- fronted shops that 
 lined both sides of the way through the city. 
 No one in the party commanded enough Japa- 
 nese to consult with the driver on the delicate 
 topic of speed ; so we resigned ourselves to the 
 probable slaughter of innocents, and as we be- 
 gan to reach stretches of open country we 
 settled down to enjoy the scenes through which 
 we were passing. There were wooded hills 
 and vistas of the sea, and crowded villages 
 and fields green with growing grain ; but there 
 were two features of the landscape, for which 
 we had been prepared properly by the guide- 
 books and encyclopsedias, which impressed us 
 almost with the force of discoveries ; these were 
 the cherry blossoms and the children. 
 
 They appeared in about equal numbers, both 
 in the state of nature, but many of the latter 
 were clothed in kimonos of various colours, the 
 younger children bound to the backs of their 
 mothers, or contentedly clinging to the shoul- 
 ders of sisters or brothers little larger than 
 themselves. Both the abundant blossoms and 
 the superabundant babes seemed symbolic, the 
 one of the beauty, the other of the growth and 
 hope of Japan. 
 
 In about half an hour we found ourselves 
 standing on the sloping " approach " and gaz- 
 ing in wonder at the colossal image of brass 
 
28 GATEWAYS OF THE FAR EAST 
 
 which towered before us some fifty feet into 
 the evening sky. We lingered there in the twi- 
 light, in the starlight, in the moonlight, ever 
 more deeply impressed by the majesty and the 
 vast proportions of the statue. As a symbol 
 of Buddhism it may well be vast in propor- 
 tions, for before that image, one-third of the 
 human race or more than four hundred million 
 human souls are virtually bowing in worship, 
 seeking that conquest of all desire, that calm of 
 perfect resignation, which the face of this 
 statue so perfectly represents. The ideal is not 
 that of holiness, of achievement, of service, it 
 is the " Light of Asia " not the " Light of the 
 World." 
 
 Leaving Yokohama next day, we travelled 
 the eighteen miles to Tokyo by a truly modern 
 electric train, and glimpses of the Imperial 
 Palace, of the Imperial University and of the 
 unique new Imperial Hotel, impressed upon 
 our minds the fact that we were in the capital 
 of the Island Empire; then, further extended 
 motor excursions, in various directions, with 
 friends residing in the city, made us realize 
 that Tokyo is one of the four or five largest 
 cities in the world. Most of the buildings are 
 insignificant in height ; they seem in too much 
 terror of earthquakes to raise themselves far 
 above the ground. 
 
 Whatever is beautiful in the way of gardens 
 
"WESTWABD HO" 29 
 
 or residences is carefully screened by walls 
 from the profane gaze of the tourist Broad, 
 dusty avenues have been cut through mazes of 
 narrow winding streets which for miles stretch 
 in every direction. A careful search discovers 
 Christian churches and schools and hospitals, 
 but it cannot be said that religion has placed 
 any very marked impression on the great 
 metropolis. 
 
 We were conducted to the shops on the 
 Ginza and on the crowded cross-streets. We 
 were entertained in a restaurant sitting on the 
 floor in stocking feet and struggling with chop- 
 sticks. We drove to Ueno Park, not simply 
 to see the cherry blossoms, but to visit the na- 
 tional Exhibition where were displayed all the 
 industrial and artistic products of the Empire. 
 The jostling crowds were evidently from the 
 country districts, for, as foreigners, we seemed 
 to attract as much attention as other " exhib- 
 its," a fact which suggested the truth that 
 Western influence and Christianity itself have 
 readied only a fractional part of Japan. 
 
 A night on a Japanese sleeper may leave 
 something to be desired in the way of luxury, 
 but it brought us to the ancient. Western cap- 
 ital, charming Kyoto. It was a picture of love- 
 liness as we looked down upon it from the 
 hotel; it seemed to be a bouquet of cherry- 
 blossoms, enveloped by hills of green. 
 
30 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 It is, however, a city "wholly given to 
 idolatry." Of course one will enjoy a visit to 
 the grounds and buildings of the Mikado's 
 Palace; he will struggle against the tempta- 
 tion to bankrupt himself in the shops which 
 are the most attractive in the land, but his real 
 concern in Kyoto will be its countless temples. 
 
 We rambled through acres of these struc- 
 tures, carefully depositing our shoes outside in 
 the rain, and walking in cloth slippers over 
 vast expanses of polished floors, passing before 
 uncounted idols and becoming more and more 
 depressed by realizing the familiar fact that a 
 proud modern empire, one of the five great 
 powers of the world, is in the deadening grasp 
 of false religions and degrading cults. 
 
 It was a relief to drive out to Lake Biwa, 
 although the superb view there was obtained 
 from the platform of a heathen temple. How- 
 ever, it was an unalloyed pleasure, one sunny 
 spring morning, as the guest of friends from 
 Princeton, to make the excursion to the rapids 
 of Katsura-gawa. We motored out through 
 the fields and villages, along the busy roads, to 
 Hozu and then boarded a crude little craft, but 
 were comfortably seated in chairs, as we shot 
 the rapids to Arashi-yama, some thirteen miles 
 below. The river rushed through a rocky 
 gorge, but the boatmen were skillful, and the 
 scene was charming, as the green hills which 
 
' * WEST WAED HO " M. 
 
 rose precipitously from the banks of the wind- 
 ing stream were densely covered with foliage 
 and were adorned by great masses of bright 
 blossoms. 
 
 Such a scene was a perfect preparation for 
 our sail, next day, through the famous beauties 
 of the Inland Sea. At sunset we passed the 
 narrow straits at Shimonoseki; all of Good 
 Friday we ploughed the Yellow Sea, which, 
 however, was blue in the morning and green 
 in the afternoon, but sufficiently muddy to be 
 regarded as yellow as, toward evening, we 
 dropped anchor at the mouth of the Yangtse. 
 The next morning we landed at Shanghai, the 
 place of all places to end a westward voyage 
 to the Far East, for here, as in no other plac0, 
 the East and the West are found to meet. 
 
II 
 
 CHINA 
 
 SHANGHAI is rightly regarded as the 
 " Gateway of China," and in China a 
 gateway is never a tiling to be despised ; 
 for this is a land of walls. The Great Wall, 
 stretching fourteen hundred miles across the 
 northern border, is not merely a monument of 
 the past, it is a symbol for the present of all 
 Chinese life, whether domestic, social, re- 
 ligious or political; all is surrounded by bar- 
 riers, and those who find no special way of 
 entrance pass by in ignorance of the meaning 
 and mystery which lie within. 
 
 Shanghai is not to be despised, although 
 some travellers affect such contempt. Of 
 course when one has travelled ten thousand 
 miles in search of the Far East, he is a little 
 surprised to find a great commercial city with 
 so many great buildings and broad boulevards, 
 and the beautiful homes and the crowded street 
 cars and noisy motors and similar reminders 
 of the conventional and commonplace West. 
 
 However, when one has been jostled for a 
 
 few days by the hurrying crowd of natives, 
 
 when he sees that only one in seventy-five, of 
 
 the million and a half of the residents, is a 
 
 32 
 
THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Once 1700 miles in length; it is 30 to 40 feet high and 20 or more 
 feet thick; the greatest defensive work in the world. 
 
CHINA 33 
 
 foreigner, when he turns from the Interna- 
 tional and French settlements and plunges into 
 the wild welter of the "native city," he will 
 encounter sufficient foul odours, piles of pro- 
 visions and coffins, squalid hovels, clinging 
 beggars, mangy dogs and other sickening sights 
 to satisfy the most romantic lover of the allur- 
 ing mysteries of the Orient. 
 
 In Shanghai one can catch a glimpse of the 
 Far East, and he can even use this city as a 
 Gateway to the realm of Christian missions. 
 Evidently most tourists need such an entrance ; 
 for most of them travel through these Eastern 
 lands and never catch a glimpse of the fascinat- 
 ing fields of enterprise and endeavour which 
 often lie hidden behind the walls of Western 
 indifference and ignorance and prejudice. 
 
 Many persons imagine that they have seen 
 Shanghai when they can tell you of the busi- 
 ness houses on the Bund, of the Bubbling Well 
 mansions, of the shops on Nanking Road, of 
 the events of the Race Course or the " dinner- 
 dances " at the " Astor House Hotel." They 
 would be surprised and delighted if given even 
 a glimpse of the charming campus of St. John's 
 University, the beautiful new buildings of the 
 Baptist University, of the ornate old palace 
 occupied by the McTeyre School for Girls, or 
 the great educational work being done by the 
 .Presbyterians behind the walls of their com- 
 
34 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 pound, but hardly beyond the odours of the 
 streets and canals, at the South Gate of the 
 Chinese City. 
 
 However, to those who were fortunate 
 enough to gain an entrance, Shanghai offered 
 in May, 1933, a true gateway for an investi- 
 gation of the missionary occupation of China. 
 At a great National Christian Conference 
 there were gathered twelve hundred delegates 
 representing all the forces now engaged iu the 
 evangelizing of this land. It was a natural 
 place for such a gathering, for here are the 
 headquarters of practically all the societies 
 and organizations whose influences radiate 
 throughout the eighteen provinces and pene- 
 trate into Mongolia and Manchuria and 
 Thibet. 
 
 It was not the first Christian Conference, of 
 a national character, to be held in this city ; but 
 the others have been mainly gatherings of mis- 
 sionaries and of persons representing mission- 
 ary agencies, as for instance the notable Cen- 
 tenary Conference of 1907 which celebrated 
 the one hundredth anniversary of the begin- 
 ning of missionary effort in China and re- 
 called the arrival of Robert Morrison in Can- 
 ton. 
 
 The distinguishing feature, however, of the 
 Conference held in Shanghai, May 3-11, 1933, 
 was the fact that it was composed not only of 
 
CHINA 35 
 
 foreigners, but of an equal number of Chinese; 
 or to be more exact, subtracting the forty-five 
 representatives of Western Boards and 
 Agencies, there were but four hundred and 
 eighty-eight foreign delegates and five hundred 
 and sixty-five Chinese. Of these latter, sixty- 
 three were women. 
 
 The Conference marked the new epoch 
 which is opening in the development of Chi- 
 nese Christianity. For a hundred and fifteen 
 years Christianity has been regarded as a for- 
 eign religion. Its leaders and most of its 
 financial support have come from Western 
 lands and churches. It is felt, however, that 
 the time has now come for the Chinese Chris- 
 tians to assume an ever increasing share in the 
 control and the extension of the Christian 
 forces and agencies in their own land. Ulti- 
 mately China must be evangelized by Chinese, 
 and one great purpose of the Conference was 
 to aid Chinese Christians in recognizing their 
 unity and their responsibility. 
 
 It must be remembered that at present 
 Christian believers in China are divided into a 
 very large number of denominations which 
 derive their names and characteristics from the 
 separated churches of the West. Such a condi- 
 tion has often been ridiculed ; it is unfortunate, 
 but for a time it was inevitable. No one 
 Western church was strong enough to under- 
 
36 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 take, unaided, the evangelization of so vast a 
 country; and as the Christian societies in all 
 the home lands were divided, it was natural 
 that their missionary representatives should, at 
 first, train their converts along the exact lines 
 of faith and order which they tiiemselves held. 
 
 More recently, however, there have been ef- 
 forts toward closer union, particularly within 
 the groups of the same denomination. Thus 
 the Episcopal Churches have one national or- 
 ganization of Chinese Christians; and just be- 
 fore the National Christian Conference con- 
 vened there was held in Shanghai the first 
 regular session of the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church of China. To further 
 such movements toward union, in fact to fos- 
 ter the project of one national church for all 
 Chinese Christians, was one of the prime pur- 
 poses of the National Christian Conference. 
 The further and more definite aim was to es- 
 tablish an organization which would coordinate 
 the work of the various missions with that of 
 the existing churches, or with that of such a 
 national church, should the latter come into 
 being. The great theme of the Conference, 
 therefore, was the " Chinese Church." To 
 prepare for the work of the Conference, five 
 commissions were appointed to deal with the 
 following subjects: 
 
 (1) The Present State of Christianity in 
 
CHIITA 37 
 
 China; (2) The Future Work of the Church; 
 (3) The Message of the Church; (4) The De- 
 velopment of Leadership for the Work of the 
 Church; (5) Coordination and Cooperation in 
 the Work of the Church. 
 
 The chairmen of two of these committees 
 were Chinese, as were the majority of the 
 members of the committees. In preparing 
 their reports, hundreds of the most experienced 
 Christian workers, both Chinese and foreign, 
 were consulted, so that the findings and recom- 
 mendations of these committees represent the 
 mature thought of a very large number of spe- 
 cialists in the subjects under consideration. 
 In framing their reports liiese committees also 
 had the aid of two documents, both of an ex- 
 traordinary character. 
 
 The first was the report of the " China Edu- 
 cational Committee of 1931 and 1923." This 
 committee, composed of leading educational- 
 ists from America, England and China, had 
 spent four months in making a survey of the 
 whole field of missionary education in China. 
 Their report, now published under the title of 
 "Christian Bducation in China" together with 
 the reports of the National Christian Confer- 
 ence, offers to China an outline of the most 
 perfectly graded and coordinated system of 
 Christian education existing in any modem 
 nation. 
 
38 GATEWAYS OF THE PAR EAST 
 
 The otiier document was the "General Sur- 
 vey" of the numerical strength and the geo- 
 graphical distribution of the Christian forces 
 in China, made by a special committee under 
 the leadership of the Rev. Milton T. Stauffer. 
 It comprises some six hundred quarto pages, 
 and is probably the most elaborate and careful 
 survey ever made of a great missionary field. 
 
 Thus aided, the Committees were able to 
 present, to the members of the National Con- 
 ference, reports which, together with the two 
 volumes already mentioned, will be indispen- 
 sable to any one who wishes to form a fair esti- 
 mate of the present state of Christianity in 
 China, of the most approved meAods of mis- 
 sionary work, and of some of the chief prob- 
 lems which now confront the universal Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 These reports show that the present numer- 
 ical strength of the Protestant Church in China 
 is approximately 375,000, which is more than 
 a fourfold increase since the Boxer uprising of 
 the year 1900; and to this statement as to 
 church numbers must be added the long list of 
 native leaders and of the large Christian insti- 
 tutions and a generous estimate of the wide 
 influence of the Christian community. 
 
 It is obvious, however, that the work of 
 evangelizing China has only been begun; 375,- 
 000 out of 400,000,000 is less than one in one 
 
CHINA 39 
 
 thousand, less than one-half of one per cent. 
 There are vast areas as yet unreached, scores of 
 great walled cities imentered, countless multi- 
 tudes who have never heard the Gospel mes- 
 sage. 
 
 The first result of this Conference, there- 
 fore, was a fresh realization of the gigantic 
 task of the Christian Church. 
 
 A second result was a deepened sense of 
 unity among iht many denominations of Chi- 
 nese Christians. As the Conference pro- 
 gressed it became evident to all that the time 
 had not yet come for any movement toward the 
 organization of a National Chinese Church; 
 yet the Chinese delegates revealed the surpris- 
 ing strength of the native Christian leaders, 
 and plainly expressed their desire for increased 
 ecclesiastical independence, and their self-con- 
 sciousness as an indigenous church. While no 
 visible organization was proposed, this sense 
 of unity and of responsibility was so great that 
 the chairman of the Conference, a Chinese 
 leader of poise and discretion, could exclaim 
 with fervour, " This meeting is the birthplace 
 of the Chinese Church." 
 
 However, no one felt that this infant, inor- 
 ganic, potential church was ready to assume 
 responsibility for the evangelizing of China, 
 without further aid from the West. The bur- 
 den must be assumed gradually. Eventually 
 
40 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 Chinese Christians must be relieved from the 
 stigma of being adherents of a foreign religion, 
 they must be free from the denominational 
 divisions which have been imported from 
 Western Christianity, and must be independent 
 of foreign support. However, let no one 
 dream that this day has come or that the work 
 of the Western churches is now complete. 
 Vast sums of money and great reinforcements 
 of devoted men and women must be sent to 
 China if the work now begun is to be continued 
 successfully. The ideal toward which all mis- 
 sionaries are working is to make their own ef- 
 forts superfluous by the establishing of a self- 
 supporting and self-governing indigenous 
 church, which can evangelize its own land. 
 That ideal has not been attained in China. As 
 it is more and more perfectly realized, delicate 
 questions will arise involving the relations be- 
 tween the missions and the churches. A 
 strong desire was expressed by the Chinese 
 delegates to the Conference that during this 
 period of transition, there should be no separa- 
 tion between these forces, but that sympathetic 
 and whole-hearted cooperation should be main- 
 tained. 
 
 An efifort to provide for such true unity 
 among the Christian forces in China was the 
 most definite and concrete result of the Con- 
 ference. There was formed a National Chris- 
 
CHINA 41 
 
 tian Council, composed of one hundred mem- 
 bers, seventy-five of whom were nominated by 
 the denominational groups represented in the 
 Conference, and twenty-five additional mem- 
 bers proposed by these nominees. The Council 
 is to meet annually and is to continue in exist- 
 ence until it convenes another national Con- 
 ference, sometime within the next ten years. 
 The Council is to elect its own officers and to 
 appoint an executive committee of not more 
 than twenty-one members, a majority of whom, 
 as in the case of the Council, shall be Chinese. 
 The great purpose of this new organization is 
 to express and to promote unity and harmony 
 among all the societies and churches, both for- 
 eign and Chinese, which are engaged in the 
 evangelization of the land. 
 
 For the formation of such a national coun- 
 cil there was a remarkably unanimous desire. 
 There are differences of theological views 
 among the Christian workers in China; some 
 may be regarded as serious and radical. They 
 are the same which exist in America and in 
 England. A journey across the Pacific does 
 not necessarily change religious convictions. 
 These differences undoubtedly threaten to dis- 
 turb the peace and to retard the growth of the 
 Chinese Church. However, the action of the 
 Conference in establishing this National Chris- 
 tian Council expressed the deep yearning for 
 
42 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 harmonious action and united effort which ani- 
 mates even those who are most soUcitous as to 
 the future of Christian work in the Orient. It 
 is in the reports of such a great Conference as 
 this which met in Shanghai, that one who de- 
 sires a gUmpse at missionary enterprise in 
 China can find a gateway into a field of re- 
 markable interest and importance. He will 
 learn that six thousand men and women, from 
 distant homes, are now labouring as Christian 
 missionaries in this one land of the Far East, 
 and that, despite their denominational differ- 
 ences, they are consciously one in their purpose, 
 their efforts and their hopes. 
 
 Another gateway through which one can 
 catch a glimpse of the forces that are trans- 
 forming China can be found by visiting the 
 great plant of the Commercial Press at Shang- 
 hai. This is the largest printing establishment 
 in Asia and one of the largest and most effi- 
 cient in the world. It employs thousands of 
 workers, its buildings cover acres of ground, 
 its machinery is most modern and its equip- 
 ment includes even a department for producing 
 moving-picture films. From its presses issues 
 a vast variety of publications, of school books, 
 of advertisements, of Bibles, printed both in 
 the Chinese characters and in the modern, pop- 
 ular "phonetic" type. Its influences extend 
 
CHINA 43 
 
 to every part of the land and aid immeasur- 
 ably in producing the New China. 
 
 This great Press, however, is a direct prod- 
 uct of Protestant missions. It was founded 
 and developed by two Christian men who were 
 educated in mission schools and were prepared 
 for their great work by being employed for 
 years in the Presbyterian Press, which is the 
 oldest printing establishment in China and one 
 of the chief glories of the Presbyterian Mis- 
 sion. 
 
 In this connection, too, should be mentioned 
 the influence of evangelical literature and of 
 such periodicals as the Chinese Christian Intel- 
 ligencer, by means of which the Gospel is be- 
 ing sent forth from Shanghai to all the prov- 
 inces of China. 
 
 A gateway which leads into a limited but sig- 
 nificant realm of life is found in the Foreign 
 Protestant Churches in Shanghai. It is com- 
 monly supposed that the lives of foreign resi- 
 dents in the Far East are so lax morally, and 
 so utterly irreligious, as to constitute a great 
 obstacle to Christian missions and a disgrace to 
 Christian nations. It is probably true that a 
 large city like Shanghai is a refuge for moral 
 derelicts and is filled with temptations to vari- 
 ous forms of vice and is lacking in the religious 
 restraints found in most Western communities. 
 
44 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 On the other hand, it must not be forgotten 
 that it contains groups of devoted Christians 
 such as were found in these Protestant 
 churches. Besides the Episcopal Cathedral, 
 might be mentioned the Union Church, the 
 Community Church, and the Free Christian 
 Churdi. In all of these, week after week, 
 large and eager audiences were faced; nor 
 could one find more genuine fervour than in 
 the seven Sunday services conducted in the 
 last named of these churches, the membership 
 of which was composed mostly of missionary 
 workers. The Community Church is largely 
 a product of American business men; it is 
 planning to erect a building in the newly de- 
 veloped foreign residence section of the 
 " French Concession." These churches are 
 doing much toward impressing Christian ideals 
 upon the social and commercial life of the city. 
 
 One of the most valuable instruments for 
 opening non-Christian lands to the reception 
 of the Christian message has been found in the 
 work of medical missions. Shanghai again 
 furnishes a gateway through which one can 
 catch a glimpse of that fascinating form of 
 work. Saint Luke's and the Margaret Wil- 
 liamson Hospitals should surely be visited ; but 
 not the least remarkable, possibly the most im- 
 pressively interestmg of all, is the Bethel Hos- 
 
CHINA 45 
 
 pital and Nurses' Training School, conducted, 
 near the West Gate of the native city, by Dr. 
 Mary Stone and her Chinese and foreign asso- 
 ciates. Dr. Stone received her thorough med- 
 ical and surgical training in America ; for some 
 years she practised in an inland city of China, 
 but more recently established her work in 
 Shanghai, near the great cotton factories and 
 directly across Arsenal Road from the barracks 
 of thousands of Chinese soldiers. 
 
 Just here is a bit of humour and romance. 
 A dog carried from the hospital into the bar- 
 racks a Bible, which he had partly destroyed. 
 The soldiers read the stories and were so inter- 
 ested that they came over to the hospital to 
 secure a complete copy of the Book, and this 
 interest opened up the way for Dr. Stone, not 
 only to treat the wives and families of these 
 men, but to bring to them the Gospel message. 
 The hospital is now self-supporting and, with 
 the school and its new Gospel Tabernacle, is a 
 most definite and successful evangelizing 
 agency. The work of Dr. Stone gives a 
 glimpse of what the Gospel of Christ is doing 
 for the women of China and of what women, 
 both Chinese and foreign, are doing toward 
 spreading the Gospel in China. 
 
 Oiina is a land of funerals and graves. As 
 one journeys through the country in any direc- 
 
46 GATEWAYS OF THE FAB EAST 
 
 tion he is surprised by the sight of the innu- 
 merable mounds which mark the sleeping places 
 of the dead; and even when jostling through 
 the crowds of the city streets he is impressed 
 not, for instance, with the truly interesting 
 wedding pageants, but rather with the funeral 
 processions which form the most spectacular 
 feature of Chinese life. The central object in 
 one of these processions is, of course, the great 
 catafalque in which the coffin is borne. This 
 rests on a huge framework of poles supported 
 on the shoulders of coolies who number thirty- 
 two or sixty- four, or even as many as one hun- 
 dred and twenty-eight. Modern brass bands 
 playing gay and festive tunes, or mournful 
 and weird wind-instruments, mingle their notes 
 with the wailing of the mourners. Great 
 numbers of standard-bearers carry flags and 
 streamers ; but the most interesting feature in 
 the processions consists in the articles made of 
 paper which are burned and so, passing into the 
 unseen, provide for the dead man all possible 
 necessities in the world of spirits. These ar- 
 ticles include not only large quantities of paper 
 money but houses and horses and, at present, 
 full-sized automobiles. 
 
 Of course all these customs are sadly con- 
 nected with the ignorance and superstition and 
 false religious conceptions of the people. 
 
 Possibly a Chinese funeral, as no other spec- 
 
CHINA 47 
 
 tacle, suggests how truly this nation is in need 
 of Christ. When on his way from the north, 
 an esteemed friend, one of the most charming 
 delegates to the Shanghai Conference, re- 
 marked to his wife, " I do wish these Chinese 
 Christians who are with us could see a Chris- 
 tian funeral while in the city, because, as we 
 discourage ancestor worship, the Chinese com- 
 monly think that we do not honour our dead 
 and because they do not know how at such 
 times we express our Christian hope." 
 
 By a strange providence he was stricken with 
 heart disease during the days of the Confer- 
 ence; everything was done to give him relief, 
 but all to no avail ; and smiling he fell asleep, 
 saying in a farewell word that he was privi- 
 leged above others in that he was so soon to see 
 his Lord. 
 
 Then those Chinese did see a Christian fu- 
 neral, though they saw it through their tears. 
 As they walked along that paved avenue of 
 lime trees where the birds were singing, as 
 they entered that crowded vine-clad chapel and 
 heard the hymns and messages of triumph, 
 they realized that their "beloved physician" 
 was already with his Lord ; and as they saw his 
 body lowered into the grave, in the beautiful 
 Bubbling Well Cemetery, they were reminded 
 of Him who is indeed " the Resurrection and 
 the Life." 
 
48 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 To the traveller who uses Shanghai as 3 
 gateway to China, the two cities most accessible 
 and of chief interest are Hangchow and Soo- 
 chow. There is a Chinese proverb which says 
 that " Heaven is away in the sky, but Soochow 
 and Hangchow are here below." There are 
 many possible ways of interpretiug such a 
 proverb, but the obvious one is that th^e cities 
 are attractive and easy of access. 
 
 Hangchow has been the terminus of the 
 Grand Canal for over six centuries. For the 
 past ten years it has been the terminus of a rail- 
 road. The journey from Shanghai formerly 
 occupied six days by boat ; it is now a ride of 
 four or five hours by train. The route lies 
 through a rich farming country which, in the 
 springtime, is glorious with its fields of green 
 and gold and fascinating with its canals and 
 shrines and grey-walled cities. 
 
 Hangchow has a situation of rare beauty. 
 Three sides are surrounded by an amphitheatre 
 of hills. To the west stretch the quiet waters 
 of the great artificial lake, the shores of which 
 are dotted with monasteries and pagodas and 
 other monuments of the past. Marco Polo re- 
 garded Hangchow as the noblest and best city 
 in the world, and while much of its ancient 
 splendour has faded, it still claims the title of 
 " Heaven below." This phrase must be ac- 
 cepted with some limitations, especially when 
 
CHINA 49 
 
 one wanders through the narrow, dirty streets 
 of certain sections of the city. So, too, while 
 one admires the picturesque monasteries of the 
 West Lake and its environs, it is rather de- 
 pressing to be reminded by them of the degrad- 
 ing heathenism by which the great masses of 
 the Chinese people are still bound. In these 
 very monasteries are between five and six hun- 
 dred priests, most of whom are leading lives so 
 lazy and dissolute that the popular proverb says 
 "If you would find a man of black heart, look 
 among the monks." 
 
 Christian missions and Western education 
 are doing much to transform and renew the 
 life of this historic city. Perhaps the most in- 
 teresting feature of the religious work is the 
 unity existing among all the representatives 
 of the various churches and expressed in the 
 organization of the Union Evangelistic Com- 
 mittee which coordinates all the various activi- 
 ties of the six missions that are working to- 
 gether with such marked success. 
 
 It was a privilege to visit the new building 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association, the 
 ground for which was given by the Govern- 
 ment, and to address an audience of alert and 
 ambitious men and boys. 
 
 It was also an inspiration to confer with the 
 missionaries and see the different "com- 
 pounds," the hospital and the churches, and to 
 
60 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 meet in one of tHe mission schools the daugh- 
 ter of the famous patriot Yuan. 
 
 It will be remembered that he was governor 
 of the Province at the time of the Boxer up- 
 rising. An edict had been issued ordering the 
 death of all foreigners. Yuan changed the 
 word " kill " to " protect," and then published 
 the edict. The Empress regarded this act as 
 treason. The foreigners in the Province were 
 indeed saved; but he was sawn asunder, the 
 halves of his bleeding body thrown into a 
 rough box and buried. However, when public 
 opinion changed, he was given a state funeral 
 by command of the Emperor, and his name 
 was inscribed in the Hall of Fame. 
 
 The point of greatest interest, possibly, was 
 the Hangchow Christian College. Not the 
 least impressive feature is the site of its cam- 
 pus. Where is there another like it? Pos- 
 sibly that of Robert College, Constantinople, 
 may be its equal. Like the latter it is outside 
 the city, in fact some four miles beyond the 
 great walls. It lies on the slopes of a high hill, 
 above the broad Chien Tang River, command- 
 ing a superb view of mountain and plain and 
 water and sky. What is more important is the 
 fact that this college is situated in the midst of 
 the seventeen million people of Chekiang 
 Province, the only institution of its kind. 
 Surely it is worthy of more liberal support 
 
CHINA 61 
 
 from the American Presbyterians by whom it 
 has been estabhshed. 
 
 Hangchow lies to the southwest, but Soo- 
 chow some three hours by rail to the north of 
 Shanghai. Why it is regarded as near or like 
 to heaven it is difficult to imagine; but one 
 must remember that it once had a glory which 
 is departed, and that few facts in the Far East 
 seem to support popular theories of evolution. 
 
 Soochow is more commonly called the Ven- 
 ice or Amsterdam of China ; however, it looks 
 as though it would require a century of con- 
 tinuous washing and fumigating to make it 
 compare with even the less cleanly of these 
 European cities. However, if one can be 
 happy when not inhaling perfume, and can set 
 his eyes strictly for the picturesque, he will re- 
 gard a day in Soochow as one of the most 
 memorable in his life. 
 
 Hangchow boasts an artificial lake ; Soochow 
 is an artificial city ; that is, it was built to order 
 for old King Wu. He selected a group of is- 
 lands among a score of lakes, he connected 
 them by bridges, surrounded them by a great 
 rectangular wall, intersected them with canals, 
 beautified them with parks and palaces and li- 
 braries and comfortable homes, and then emp- 
 tied three large cities to supply inhabitants for 
 his beautiful new capital. 
 
62 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 However that was a great many years ago; 
 the splendour has faded, but the city is still 
 famous for its silks, its suicides, its pagodas 
 and its canals. Silks form the glory of Soo- 
 chow; they are its staple product and chief 
 source of wealth; but how these delicate fab- 
 rics, with their artistic designs and perfect 
 workmanship, can come out of those dark, 
 damp, dirty, earthen-floored huts is a mystery 
 to all beholders. 
 
 As to the canals, spanned by their beautiful 
 bridges and fragrant with the accumulated 
 odours of ages, they are of continual service, 
 not only as furnishing means of transporta- 
 tion, but as receptacles for all kinds of refuse, 
 while in them all clothing is washed, all food 
 is cleansed, fish are hatched, and from them 
 drinking water is supplied. 
 
 The pagodas of Soochow are amoag the 
 most impressive of the land. At Lin Yin Mon- 
 astery, near Hangchow, is an inscription de- 
 claring that those who enter are only " one 
 foot from heaven." If this is equally true of 
 any place in Soodiow, it must be on the top of 
 the Great Pagoda, the highest in China and so 
 in the world. It is octagonal in shape, contains 
 nine stories and rises some two hundred and 
 fifty feet in height. It commands a superb 
 view; the narrow streets and canals of the 
 city, the great lake to the west, the picturesque 
 
CHINA 63 
 
 pagodas, the ranges of hills, the many villages, 
 towns and cities, and best of all, within the 
 city and beyond its walls, like oases in the 
 desert, the " compounds " of the University, of 
 the hospitals, and of the schools and the 
 churches, established by Christian missionaries. 
 Their work seems to be the only hope of the 
 land. The view from the Great Pagoda brings 
 five million people witiiin the range of vision; 
 in the great new temple near the Presb3d:erian 
 compound the people are worshippers of five 
 hundred gods; how long will it be before these 
 worshippers come to know the transforming 
 power of Christ? 
 
 Nanking, or "The Southern Capital," was 
 given this honorary title by the Ming Em- 
 peror Yung when he removed the seat of gov- 
 ernment to the " Northern Capital," Peking. 
 For centuries it had been the most important 
 city in China, and even to the present time it is 
 one of the most interesting of the provincial 
 capitals. 
 
 It is situated on the Yangtse some two hun- 
 dred miles north of Shanghai. Its great walls, 
 thirty to fifty feet in height, are over thirty 
 miles in circumference and enclose a vast area, 
 large portions of which are not covered with 
 buildings but consist of green hills and culti- 
 vated fields. 
 
64 GATEWAYS OF THE FAR EAST 
 
 The most conspicuous objects in the city are 
 the buildings belonging to the various educa- 
 tional institutions. Travellers who confess or 
 boast that they see nothing of Christian mis- 
 sions can never have in mind their visit to Nan- 
 king. Here instruction is being given to boys 
 and girls and men and women in every grade 
 from the kindergarten to the College, Univer- 
 sity and Theological Seminary. Some of the 
 most interesting audiences faced in China were 
 those of the Chinese Christian Church, of the 
 Woman's Bible Institute and of the Union 
 Theological Seminary; and one of the most 
 surprising exhibitions of the character of New 
 China was given by the speeches delivered in 
 English by the members of the University de- 
 bating team, which had just returned victorious 
 from a contest in Shanghai. 
 
 These worthy institutions deserve further 
 development; but it appears that the specific 
 work of evangelism, both within and without 
 the city, should be more generously supported 
 and more widely extended. In any event, few 
 places afford better opportunities than Nanking 
 to study the present problems and progress of 
 Christian Education in China. 
 
 Peking is the most impressive city in China 
 and one of the most romantic cities of the 
 world; its impressiveness, however, is that of 
 
CHINA 65 
 
 faded splendour, its romance is that of de- 
 parted power. The city is a veritable monu- 
 ment and symbol of past empire. 
 
 Its grandeur dates from the days of Kublai 
 Khan who in 1364 made it his magnificent 
 capital, and from this centre ruled all China. 
 For some seven centuries successive d)Tiasties 
 of Mongols, Mings and Manchus maintained 
 this city as the seat of the Dragon Throne, and 
 since the establishment of the Republic in 1910 
 it has continued to be the centre of that rather 
 elusive and theoretical entity known as the 
 " Chinese Government." 
 
 Experts in political economy can speak more 
 wisely; but to an inexperienced traveller in 
 1923 the nation seemed to be sadly lacking in 
 political unity. Not only were the people di- 
 vided in sympathy between the " North " and 
 the " South," but the various provinces were 
 controlled by military " governors," while the 
 civil "governors," like the President of the 
 Republic, were mere official puppets. Each 
 governor maintained his position by forces of 
 soldiers, and when out of power he and his 
 followers played the polite role of bandits. 
 These civil "wars" between the contending 
 chieftains were comic enough in the eyes of 
 the world, but sufficiently tragic in the minds 
 of the poor peasants who were plundered and 
 pillaged and compelled to support insolent 
 
56 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE BAST 
 
 marauders masquerading one day as "ban- 
 dits " and the next day as " government 
 forces." 
 
 Two of these miUtary governors, in the early 
 summer, were striving for the mastery of 
 China. These were Wu Pei-fu and Chang 
 Tso-lin. The descent of the latter from his 
 capital in Mukden, for a time blocked the road 
 from Shanghai to Peking; but after a really 
 serious and decisive battle had been fought 
 south of the city, it proved possible to find a 
 way through the trains of soldiers and muni- 
 tions and to reach the famous capital. 
 
 Peking is really four cities in one. Its heart 
 is the " Forbidden City," shut in by its walls 
 of reddish-pink. Around this lies the " Im- 
 perial City " guarded by walls twenty feet in 
 height. Outside this lies "the Tartar City" 
 surrounded by its famous walls which are forty 
 feet high and some fourteen miles in circum- 
 ference. This inclusive Tartar City, which by 
 most persons is regarded as " Peking," is 
 called however the " Inner City," for through 
 its southern gates one enters the great 
 " Chinese City," surrounded by walls of its 
 own. This " Outer City " covers a vast area. 
 Part of it is crowded with shops ; but its chief 
 glory is the great Temple of Heaven. 
 
 Perhaps no place of worship in the world so 
 stirs the emotions as does the central " altar " 
 
THE CHENG- YANG-MEN GATE, PEKING 
 Connecting the Inner or "Tartar City" with the Outer or 
 " Chinese Citi 
 
CHINA 57 
 
 of this temple. The walls of the temple are 
 three miles in circuit; so that one feels that 
 the city, with its throngs and its tumult, has 
 been left far behind when he enters the solitude 
 of this place of prayer. When at last he ap- 
 proaches the " altar," he finds no shrine, no 
 temple, no roofed structure, but a simple 
 " triple circular marble terrace," the upper sur- 
 face of which is paved with marble blocks, the 
 central one being in the form of a perfect cir- 
 cle. Here, with no image, under the wide and 
 boundless sky, century after century the em- 
 perors of China knelt to worship the one su- 
 preme God of Heaven. 
 
 The further one goes back in history the 
 purer is the conception of God which he finds. 
 Christianity has not developed out of the 
 world religions. The latter are a corruption 
 of a primitive belief. How far this corruption 
 has progressed was intimated by a visit to the 
 Lama Temple, near the north wall of the 
 " Inner City," a temple which is known as 
 "the official residence of a living Buddha." 
 The tile-roofed buildings are picturesque, the 
 great wooden and gilded Buddhas are gro- 
 tesque but imposing; however, it is pathetic 
 to listen to the senseless mummery of the 
 shaven priests and to see the incense offered by 
 the Ignorant worshippers, and to remember 
 how many millions accept as their religion this 
 
58 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 corrupt and degrading form of original Bud- 
 dhism. 
 
 Another striking contrast was fotmd by 
 visiting the stately " Confucian Temple." 
 Here again were neither altars nor images nor 
 idols. The great sage is worthy of such a 
 memorial. His teachings embody a truer 
 morality than can be found in any system out- 
 side the Hebrew Scriptures; he always re- 
 garded character as the real goal of education ; 
 yet he never dreamed that to-day millions of 
 men would be worshipping him as a God ; how- 
 ever he was never able to point men to the 
 saving power of the true God who later re- 
 vealed Himself in Jesus Christ. 
 
 The failure of Confucianism is written 
 large upon the face of modern China. It was 
 therefore a great privilege, as a favoured guest 
 of Mr. Gleysteen, the President of Truth Hall, 
 the historic Presbyterian Boys' Academy, to 
 be given some insight into the Christian edu- 
 cational institutions which have been estab- 
 lished in Peking, and which are making this 
 city the educational centre for China. 
 
 In various parts of the city, work is being 
 done, much of it in Union enterprises, by Con- 
 gregationalists, Methodists, Anglicans, Presby- 
 terians and by the Princeton University Centre 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 The superb plant of the Peking Union 
 
CHINA 59 
 
 Medical College (Rockefeller Foundation) is 
 the most imposing monument of the sympa- 
 thetic interest felt by America for the people 
 of China. 
 
 However, after a brief survey of the field, 
 one felt, as in Nanking, that a new effort 
 should be made to place the purely evangelistic 
 work of the Christian missions on the same 
 high plane of efficiency, and to man it as 
 strongly, as the superb work which is being 
 done in the sphere of Christian education. 
 
 Of course the great need in China is that 
 of trained Christian leaders. Yet she must 
 have leaders in all walks of life ; many of these 
 must be found outside of Christian schools 
 and institutions of higher learning. Among 
 the most famous of such leaders is the great 
 " Christian General," . Feng Yu-hsiang. As a 
 young soldier he witnessed in the Boxer upris- 
 ing the death of Doctor and Mrs. Hodge, of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Simcox and of Doctor Taylor. 
 He was deeply impressed by the demeanour of 
 these martyrs. Later on he was led to con- 
 sider the unselfish work of the missionary 
 physicians and finally in an evangelistic meet- 
 ing in Peking he determined to begin a Chris- 
 tian life, and joined a class for the study of 
 the Bible. 
 
 Coming from a very humble origin he has 
 risen to be one of the most conspicuous men 
 
60 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 of modern China. He is a true soldier. The 
 discipline of his troops is perfect; they are 
 allowed neither to smoke nor to gamble nor 
 to swear. They all observe "grace before 
 meals." Nine-tenths of them are Christians. 
 
 These are the men upon whom General Wu 
 relied to defeat Chang Tso-lin, Nothing 
 could withstand their attack; and when the 
 defeated forces of Chang tried to take a stand 
 to the north of the city, Chang saw the sol- 
 diers of General Feng again pressing upon his 
 right flank and he turned in flight, withdrawing 
 all his forces beyond the Great Wall. 
 
 As the way to this great " wonder of the 
 world " was opened, a day was spent in clam- 
 bering over its vast ramparts. The Great Wall 
 was found twisting and turning and climbing 
 and creeping over mountains and valleys as 
 far in either direction as the eye could reach. 
 Again one realized that China is a land of 
 walls. Once it was closed to the Gospel but 
 now the doors are opened wide and those who 
 will may enter. 
 
 Returning to Peking and taking a last view 
 of the city, seeing its temples and palaces and 
 imperial mansions with their yellow tiles 
 gleaming among the groves of trees with which 
 the city abounds, one was again impressed with 
 the fact that Peking is indeed an imperial city, 
 it is the capital of this mighty nation, it is yet 
 
CHINA 61 
 
 to determine the destiny of four hundred mil- 
 lion people. Is that destiny to be shaped by the 
 influence of Confucius or by the power of 
 Christ? 
 
Ill 
 
 KOREA 
 
 IT was impossible to reach Korea by the 
 usual route through Mukden, for the con- 
 tending Chinese armies had more im- 
 portant uses for the railroad than the trans- 
 portation of American travellers. However, 
 even an elementary knowledge of geography 
 gave the comforting assurance that the " Land 
 of the Morning Calm " might be approached 
 by sea in spite of the conflicts among the sons 
 of Han. 
 
 Some of our American countrymen have 
 trouble in locating Korea; their difficulty is 
 much like that of the man who told his pastor 
 that he had trouble with the Book of Daniel. 
 " Why, what is your trouble ? " he was asked. 
 " My difficulty," he replied, " is to find it in the 
 Bible." 
 
 So a Missouri postmaster was given a parcel- 
 post package directed to " Korea." He 
 searched his lists in vain, to find the rate, and 
 then asked politely, " In what part of Kansas 
 is Korea, anyway? " 
 
 Some of us remember that Korea is a little 
 peninsula about six hundred miles in length, 
 appended to the east coast of Asia, and related 
 62 
 
KOEEA 63 
 
 to it somewhat as Florida is to the United 
 States. We recall that politically as well as 
 geographically it has hung as a tempting mor- 
 sel between China, Russia and Japan, and that 
 these nations ever have been ready to devour 
 each other to secure it, until finally it has been 
 swallowed up by the " Island Empire " which 
 is now proposing to assimilate it into her body 
 politic. 
 
 What has further tended to conceal its lo- 
 cation has been the revival of the old name 
 " Chosen," by which name it is now desig- 
 nated as a Province of Japan. Some Ameri- 
 cans are feverishly fearful of offending Japan 
 by still using the name of " Korea," but they 
 need not be so timid. The Japanese governor 
 of one of the Provinces, in sending me a gift, 
 accompanied the gift by' his card on which he 
 had written his address in " Korea." 
 
 The elementary knowledge which suggested 
 the plan of reaching Korea by sea proved to 
 be shared by many other travellers, so that 
 when through gracious friends in Tientsin an 
 effort was made to secure a passage to Dairen 
 or Antung or Chemulpo it was learned that all 
 the little steamers were filled and many names 
 were on the waiting lists; but eventually a 
 berth was secured on a Japanese boat bound for 
 Moji, in Japan, frorn whence Korea could be 
 reached by way of Shimonoseki and Fusan. 
 
64 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 For two days we steamed across the gulf 
 of Pechili along the north coast of Shantung; 
 a fact which reflects no more upon the size of 
 the Shantung peninsula than upon the slow- 
 ness of the boat. On the second afternoon the 
 coast of China, far to the westward, appeared 
 to sink into the sea. The skies were blue, the 
 sunlight was dancing over the waves and the 
 scene was one of peculiar peace and loveliness. 
 Suddenly at five o'clock the ship changed her 
 course, cut a complete semicircle and put back 
 toward the west. It was soon whispered about 
 that a passenger was missing from the first- 
 class cabin, a Japanese woman, the mother of 
 two little children who were accompanying her 
 home. She had been seen on deck at three 
 o'clock; now she was nowhere to be found, 
 and as the rails were high it was concluded 
 that she could not have fallen but must have 
 leaped into the sea. Men were stationed at 
 the bow, and three high up on the mast, but 
 as one realized how much time must have 
 elapsed since the tragedy occurred, and as one 
 gazed out upon that vast unbroken expanse of 
 sea and sky, the search for one little human 
 body was seemingly hopeless. 
 
 For exactly two hours the course was held 
 westward, and then the ship again put about 
 and turned her bow toward the east. After 
 only a few minutes had passed the engine bells 
 
KOEBA 65 
 
 sounded, the ship came to a complete stop, and 
 there, as we peered over the starboard rail, 
 only a hundred yards away, could be seen 
 plainly a dark kimono and a mass of black hair 
 rising and falling with the waves. To have so 
 exactly retraced the course, to have succeeded 
 in such a search, was a feat of navigation 
 worthy of all praise. There was a long delay 
 in lowering the life-boat; the sun had sunk in 
 splendour behind the barren hills of Shantung 
 when the poor little dripping body was drawn 
 on board. The sailors acted with marked ten- 
 derness and reverence in the presence of the 
 dead. For hours the surgeon and his assist- 
 ants were reported to be endeavouring to fan 
 back some spark of life, but such efforts were 
 of course futile. 
 
 Before midnight just before the door of the 
 little room in which the body lay, there was 
 placed a small stand and upon it lighted can- 
 dles and burning incense, and a glass of water 
 and a lotus flower, and a bowl of rice, pro- 
 visions for the spirit which was supposed to 
 be hovering near. Through the night a stew- 
 ard kept constant vigil, and in the morning a 
 small coffin was built and in it was placed the 
 body, carefully prepared for the burial which 
 was to take place when the ship reached the 
 Japanese port. 
 
 A suicide at sea is not a rare occurrence but 
 
66 GATEWAYS OF THE FAR EAST 
 
 it is always an incident of deep pathos and 
 tragedy, particularly when it involves a young 
 mother whose children are weeping at their 
 failure to find her, while her husband is 
 hastening to the harbour to welcome her return 
 home. 
 
 These tragedies are all too common among 
 the Japanese; but what drove this woman to 
 her desperate deed, what fear or remorse or 
 heart-break ? This was only one more mystery 
 of the sea; yet it reminds us that there are 
 distresses too painful to be endured by those 
 who know nothing of the comfort and power 
 of Christ. 
 
 Previous impressions of Korea had been 
 gained from books, and they were deepened 
 by the first glimpse of the bleak cliffs and 
 rocky, barren islands of the southwestern 
 coast. The picture in mind was a land of 
 lonely, desolate mountains inhabited by rude, 
 ignorant peasants, writhing under the iron heel 
 of Japan. Two months of continuous travel 
 quite altered the opinion. Even as we glided 
 into the superb harbour of Fusan, on a lovely 
 morning in May, the abundant verdure on the 
 round hills reminded us of former approaches 
 to the Emerald Isle. 
 
 We journeyed from southeast to northwest, 
 and from southwest to northeast, some three 
 
KOBEA 67 
 
 thousand miles by rail and nearly another 
 thousand by Ford cars. We spent a week at 
 a time in quaint cities like Taiku and Seoul and 
 Kwongju and Andong, each one of which is 
 encircled by an amphitheatre of green hills and 
 of towering mountains. 
 
 We rode for days through beautiful valleys 
 which were radiant with the gold of ripe bar- 
 ley and wheat, and great patches of deep green 
 hemp, and we looked on the flooded rice fields 
 which mirrored the blue and the white of the 
 sky and the drifting clouds. We made a four 
 days' excursion to the peaks and passes and 
 gorges of the Diamond Mountains, once re- 
 garded as the wonder of Eastern Asia, now re- 
 garded as one of the wonders of the world. 
 We stayed for a week at Wonsan, with its 
 superb harbour and encircling hills and island- 
 guarded coast, looking eastward over the Japan 
 Sea ; and then went to Sorai Beach on the west 
 coast, with its silver sands, and its rocky, wind- 
 swept bluff rising high above the blue tides of 
 the Yellow Sea. Then the impression deep- 
 ened that Korea is a land which has features 
 of rarest charm. 
 
 Of course your friend who always looks on 
 the darker side tells you that an unfair ad- 
 vantage was taken by visiting Korea in May 
 and June and July, and that one could judge 
 better by looking on the brown hills, and sun- 
 
68 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 burned fields in the early fall, or upon the 
 dreary scenes of winter; but shall not every 
 country be allowed some change of dress? 
 Does even Southern California always wear 
 her gay garments? Moreover, wise men tell 
 us that no one really knows the Diamond 
 Mountains or the Northern Highlands of 
 Korea unless he has seen them in the glory of 
 their autumn garb. 
 
 Tourists will not much longer be content 
 with the conventional dining-car " Korean 
 Tour," from Fusan to the Yalu, as they rush 
 from Japan to China; they will soon insist 
 upon lingering to see something of one of the 
 most beautiful and interesting countries of 
 the world. 
 
 The Korean people are physically strong and 
 stalwart, they are gentle, genial, affable and 
 courteous in their demeanour, poetic in their 
 forms of thought and expression, usually poor, 
 ignorant and superstitious, but intelligent, 
 thoughtful and capable of the most surprising 
 and rapid mental and social and spiritual de- 
 velopments. 
 
 In the past, Korea possessed a far more 
 advanced and complex civilization than now, 
 and gave to Japan many of her most valued 
 arts, as for example the manufacture of the 
 beautiful Satsuma ware and the other grades 
 
KOEEA 69 
 
 of porcelain, and also the culture and manu- 
 facture of silks. 
 
 At present, however, the Koreans are a race 
 of farmers; the latest statistics show that 
 nearly fifteen out of their seventeen millions 
 are supported by agriculture, while less than 
 one million are engaged in trade and transpor- 
 tation. 
 
 The methods of farming are extremely prim- 
 itive. It is true it requires no little skill and 
 ingenuity to irrigate the rice fields and keep 
 them at an exact water level and to prevent 
 them from being washed away by storms ; how- 
 ever, the Korean uses the same kind of plow, 
 threshes his grain with the same light flail on 
 the hard rock " floor," and grinds his produce 
 in the same crude mills as did his ancestors 
 three thousand years ago. 
 
 Most Koreans live in mere huts. These are 
 built with mud walls and thatched with rice 
 straw, and when grouped together look like 
 clusters of brown mushrooms. 
 
 All Koreans dress in white. This is not say' 
 ing that the dress remains white. However, 
 the miracle is that those immaculate flowing 
 robes emerge from such squalid mud huts and 
 that they retain their spotlessness so long and 
 under such adverse conditions. All wear 
 white, and at all times, rich and poor, young 
 and old, scholars at their books and plough- 
 
70 GATEWAYS OP THE PAE EAST 
 
 men in their fields, old men with their top- 
 knots and their black horsehair hats, and 
 young women at work with their babes on 
 their backs. Of course one must except the 
 countless children who scramble through the 
 dirty streets ; they are clothed only in the rich 
 brown of the Korean skin. 
 
 It is true that the top-knot, and the black 
 horsehair " fly-trap " hat which surrounds it, 
 are disappearing from the cities and towns, but 
 they are found everywhere in the county, and 
 there too one can still see, in the fields, the 
 famous tent-like straw hats of the farmers. 
 These are so large that when a peasant went 
 out to cultivate his six rice fields, after finish- 
 ing five he could not find the sixth until, as he 
 looked around, he saw his hat on the ground, 
 and lifting it he found his lost field — ^so they 
 say, — ^but you know Korean rice fields are 
 small. 
 
 Since her occupation of Korea, Japan has 
 wrought many changes; she has introduced 
 railroads and telegraphs and telephones; she 
 has improved the methods of education, of 
 agriculture, of arboriculture, of irrigation and 
 of sanitation. She has brought real and abid- 
 ing benefits to the Korean people. Whether 
 these compensate them for the loss of their 
 independence is a question as to which no one 
 
A KOREAN PEASANT 
 
 " The Koreans are a race of farmers; fifteen out of their seventeen 
 
 millions are supported by agriculture " 
 
KOEEA 71 
 
 would feel like denying the Korean a right to 
 his opinion. 
 
 Surely the political situation in the country 
 has vastly improved within even the last few 
 months. It will be remembered that the un- 
 armed "Independence Movement" of 1919 
 was met by Japan with a ruthless cruelty which 
 for a time lost for her the sympathy of all 
 civilized nations; but apparently a different 
 regime has been inaugurated. The prisons are 
 still well filled with political offenders who are 
 serving long sentences for the hideous offense 
 of having cried " Mansei," or for having been 
 prominent as religious leaders. It is still 
 proper, when meeting a distinguished Korean, 
 to ask him, not as to his family or his health, 
 but as to how long he has been in jail? Even 
 now, justice is not being done to the Koreans 
 who have migrated to Manchuria, and even yet 
 minor police officials, both Japanese and 
 Korean, are occasionally guilty of acts which 
 are unjust, irritating or intimidating; but these, 
 when reported to the higher officials, are re- 
 buked. To say the least, a reign of terror no 
 longer exists, and the Christian Church no 
 longer is openly opposed. 
 
 Baron Saito, the present Governor General, 
 is regarded as an enlightened, just and benevo- 
 lent ruler. Such were the popular reports, 
 and, as the guest of honour at a dinner gra- 
 
72 GATEWAYS OP THE PAIt EAST 
 
 ciously given by him in his official residence, an 
 opportunity was given of meeting him per- 
 sonally, and of conversing vsrith him and with 
 certain of his official staff. The Baron is a 
 genial and affable gentleman, kindly and demo- 
 cratic in his demeanour. He understands 
 English among other languages. During the 
 administration of President Cleveland he spent 
 considerable time in Washington. His pur- 
 poses are to extend, in Korea, as rapidly as 
 possible, the educational system and the ma- 
 terial improvements which already have been 
 far advanced. Such officials are the hope of 
 brighter days in the Far East. 
 
 The Koreans still cherish the dream of 
 political independence, but there are no more 
 serious " demonstrations," no more public 
 shoutings of " Mansei " or other pernicious 
 phrases. The supposed right of " self-determi- 
 nation " is finding other no less objectionable 
 forms of expression. There are even indica- 
 tions that some Koreans are making the mis- 
 take, common among other peoples, of con- 
 fusing liberty with license, and freedom with 
 anarchy. This is suggested by the present 
 epidemic of "strikes." They are sufficiently 
 foolish and frequent to satisfy the soul of a 
 radical American labour agitator. Every one 
 strikes in the Orient, and Korea is quite abreast 
 of the times. 
 
KOEBA 73 
 
 Schoolboys strike if they wish a better 
 building or a more popular teacher, or if they 
 suspect that they are not in absolute control of 
 the school. 
 
 The Pyengyang papers reported that a strike 
 had been declared by the Guild of Dancing 
 Girls, a society of young ladies whose morals 
 are not " above suspicion " ; they had struck 
 because some pure-minded citizen had over- 
 thrown a monument they had erected in a 
 public place to the memory of a former man- 
 ager. They made the dire threat to remain off 
 duty until the offender should be apprehended 
 and punished. 
 
 The lepers went on strike, at the Taiku 
 leprosarium, and threatened to " leave " unless 
 they were allowed a sum of money, daily, for 
 tobacco. Now, no matter how much the most 
 tender-hearted sympathizer might wish to give 
 these poor outcasts any weed which would 
 afford them consolation, the pathetic humour 
 of the situation consists in the fact that they 
 are being supported by the gifts and sacrifices 
 of persons who are at their wit's ends to pro- 
 vide food for them, and if any one of these 
 lepers were to " leave " he would have no place 
 to go, and fifty others would be fighting for the 
 privilege of being admitted to fill the vacancy. 
 They decided to remain. 
 
 It is obvious that very many Koreans need to 
 
74 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 learn the lesson that true freedom is liberty 
 safeguarded by law. 
 
 The present consuming passion of the 
 Koreans, however, is for education. It is al- 
 most unbelievable to see the facility with which 
 they absorb and assimilate Western learning 
 and customs, and the eagerness with which 
 they crowd into government and mission 
 schools of all characters and grades. 
 
 The provision for education is pitifully in- 
 adequate; not one boy or girl in fifty can be 
 given the opportunity that is craved. The 
 most painful self-denial will be practiced by 
 families to provide education for a son. A 
 hundred applicants will pay for the privilege 
 of trying a competitive examination for en- 
 trance to a school even when they know that 
 only one vacancy is to be filled. 
 
 The intellectual ability of the Korean is 
 astounding. Out of little mud huts emerge 
 boys and girls who not only master the prac- 
 tical arts but become proficient in science, in 
 music, in history and philosophy, and, as young 
 men, many graduate in theology, fully equipped 
 to serve as pastors in Christian churches. 
 
 Korean student life is a fascinating study. 
 It has, in the higher academies, all the out- 
 ward expressions of student life in America, 
 baseball teams, glee clubs, bands, debating so- 
 
KOEEA 76 
 
 cieties, special uniforms, and various social 
 organizations. 
 
 It is in the sphere of education that the 
 chief disagreement seems to exist between the 
 Japanese government and the Christian mis- 
 sions in Korea. 
 
 The Japanese constitution guarantees relig- 
 ious liberty to all citizens of the Empire ; and in 
 accordance with this provision, recently there 
 has been extended to private schools in Korea 
 the right to teach religion. However, the 
 schools which accept this right to teach religion 
 are discriminated against, under the present 
 law, and the schools which do not teach relig- 
 ion are given a " recognition " and privileges 
 which they otherwise could not enjoy. 
 
 That is, the graduates of any mission school 
 which teaches Christianity cannot enter any 
 government institution of the next higher 
 grade without a special government examina- 
 tion, nor is the diploma of such a school 
 recognized. Nor can a graduate of such a 
 school enter even the Chosen Christian College 
 without a government examination, even 
 though fully accredited by the Christian school 
 from which he comes. 
 
 In order to avoid these disabilities and to 
 enjoy the advantages of being recognized by 
 the Japanese government, some mission 
 schools have given up the teaching of the Bible 
 
76 GATEWAYS OF THE FAR EAST 
 
 or religion. They do such teaching "out of 
 school hours " and " not as schools " ; they do 
 what they receive special privileges for not 
 doing. They believe that the government v^ill 
 continue to " wink at the irregularity," but they 
 are aware liiat an officer could at any time 
 close such schools for actual illegal conduct. 
 
 Such an evasion of law constitutes a form of 
 apparent immorality which only the most skill- 
 ful casuist can reconcile with the teachings of 
 Christ. 
 
 There exist, therefore, several classes of 
 schools in Korea, and their status and relation 
 can be understood best by a glance at the 
 system of education previously existing in 
 Japan but this year extended to Korea. 
 
 I. Primary School Period (from six years 
 of age), covering six years. 
 
 II. Middle School Period, covering five 
 years. 
 
 III. Higher School Period (preparatory to 
 the University), covering three years. 
 
 IV. University, period of four years. 
 
 V. Post-Graduate (special study). 
 These periods are approximate; the second 
 
 is in some instances shortened, and the third 
 lengthened. 
 
 This is the regular government system, 
 which exists also in other parts of the Japanese 
 Emcire. There are in Korea at present no 
 
KOEEA 77 
 
 institutions of as high a grade as the Uni- 
 versity (IV, V) ; but in addition to the gov- 
 ernment institutions, schools of the three lower 
 grades have been established by Christian mis- 
 sionary societies. To distinguish them from 
 government schools they are classed as 
 " private schools." Those which claim to 
 teach no religion and to " have no religious 
 exercises of any kind in connection with their 
 work," if on a grade with the government 
 schools, are " recognised " by the government, 
 and their graduates are placed on the same 
 status, and have the same opportunities for 
 securing desirable positions, as have the gradu- 
 ates of government schools. 
 
 Whether " recognized " as teaching no re- 
 ligion, or not " recognized " because teaching 
 religion, all these schools must be " registered " 
 with the government. To be so registered 
 they each must submit a petition giving a state- 
 ment as to resources, constituency, buildings, 
 qualifications of teachers, and courses of study. 
 According to the new law, of April, 1933, 
 every primary school must have an endowment 
 of $15,000 ; every middle school must have an 
 endowment of $300,000 or an income of $14,- 
 000; every higher school (preparatory to the 
 University) an endowment of $300,000, every 
 University an endowment of $500,000. 
 
 At present, the majority of Mission schools 
 
78 GATEWAYS OF THE PAE EAST 
 
 are registered under previously existing ordi- 
 nances; they cannot be " recognized," nor re- 
 registered, unless they meet these new regula- 
 tions of the Japanese government. 
 
 The government recently agreed to allow the 
 Chosen Christian College, a missionary institu- 
 tion of the Higher School grade, (" University 
 preparatory") to teach religion and still be 
 " recognized," but the graduates are not al- 
 lowed to enter a University, nor can the 
 graduates of a school, which teaches the Bible 
 as a part of its course, enter this " college " 
 without a special examination given by the 
 government. The grade of this Institution 
 (Higher School) is above that of an American 
 High School and includes many " college " 
 courses; however, should the institution ad- 
 vance to the grade of a University, it would be 
 reqiiired to forfeit its right to teach religion. 
 The government now lists it merely as a 
 " special school." 
 
 This penalizing of institutions on the ground 
 that they teach Christianity is obviously con- 
 trary to the liberties guaranteed by the Japanese 
 Constitution, and certain high officials, while 
 making no promises, express hope that relief 
 may soon be given. This probably may be 
 found along the line of an arrangement which 
 has long existed in Japan proper. Here there 
 are a number of " registered " private schools, 
 
KOEBA 79 
 
 " approved " by the government as of equal 
 grade with the government schools, as for ex- 
 ample the Meji Gakuin in Tokyo, the Kwansei 
 Gakuin in Kobe, the Doshisha in Kyoto. 
 
 The missions in Korea are advised to con- 
 tinue their efforts to bring their schools to the 
 level of the regular government schools, in 
 their equipment and teaching force, with the 
 hope that in Korea such a class of " approved " 
 schools may be recognized by the government. 
 
 At least from the view-point of the Korean, 
 there are two vital defects in the system of 
 education imposed by Japan. First the course 
 of study of every school is selected and rigidly 
 enforced by the government. No persons are 
 allowed to establish and conduct, even at their 
 own expense, schools in which any courses 
 whatever are taught, however admirable, in 
 case these courses are not those prescribed by 
 the government, and this, too, in communities 
 where the government has made no provision 
 for education. 
 
 Secondly the Koreans are distressed by the 
 requirement that all instruction in the schools 
 of Korea must be given in the Japanese lan- 
 guage. They declare that this places a need- 
 less barrier in the way of educating their chil- 
 dren, that it opens before these children only 
 the literature of Japan, while giving them no 
 real Korean culture, and that it is the expres- 
 
80 GATEWAYS OF THE PAE EAST 
 
 sion of a hopeless endeavour to obliterate all 
 distinction between Koreans and Japanese. It 
 would seem that some radical modification of 
 so exasperating a regulation would make for 
 the peace and prosperity of the land. 
 
 Korea is a land without a religion. This 
 statement has been contradicted by far wiser 
 men; but they wrote yesterday; this book is 
 written for to-day; its words may not be true 
 to-morrow; but why borrow trouble? The 
 fact then is this, the Koreans, as a people, have 
 nothing that corresponds to any of the great 
 religions of the world. They once were 
 Buddhists; they received this religion from 
 India, and gave it to Japan, but they have kept 
 none of it for themselves. Now Japan is try- 
 ing to repay the debt. At great expense she is 
 trying to restore Buddhism to Korea. The 
 new shrines are decorative; the fresh paint on 
 the old buildings is sometimes an improvement ; 
 but the reestablishment of the religion is hope- 
 less. Buddhism in Korea has been discredited 
 too thoroughly ; it too long has been dead. 
 
 Mrs. Bishop, and even later writers, en- 
 couraged us to believe that if we went far 
 enough into the mountains we would find mon- 
 asteries and temples filled with Buddhist priests 
 and nuns. We went into the wild mountain 
 fastnesses of the southwest and northeast. We 
 
KOEBA 81 
 
 here and there found a beautiful old shrine, 
 and usually a sleepy priest who would solemnly 
 unlock the dusty prison of his gilded god ; but 
 worshippers there were none. 
 
 We made a memorable visit to the Diamond 
 Mountains, where the best Buddhist relics re- 
 main. At Choanji we lived in a building of 
 one of the most famous of these monasteries 
 which dates from the days of Mohammed. 
 The building had been converted into a most 
 comfortable little Japanese inn. The mon- 
 astery was situated far up in a narrow valley, 
 down which a noble mountain torrent was roar- 
 ing. On three sides were steep slopes covered 
 with spruce and pine. We were conducted 
 through the silent buildings by a monk, 
 shaven-headed, mild-mannered, clad in a dirty, 
 padded robe which was patched like a " crazy- 
 quilt." 
 
 That night we slept soundly; we had come 
 ninety miles in a Ford car ; but at four we were 
 awakened by the patched priest who was knock- 
 ing on a hollow piece of wood and intoning 
 sleepily a " call to prayer." Then he pounded 
 with considerable vigour on a brass bell. It 
 was all quite interesting; but none of the other 
 five priests preferred prayer to slumber; neither 
 did we, at the time; and soon all was silent 
 save the music of the stream. However, at the 
 same hour the next night, the performance was 
 
82 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE BAST 
 
 repeated ; then it seemed to be an interruption. 
 The third night the same thing occurred; then 
 it seemed to be an insult. We decided to re- 
 nounce Buddhism for ever; — so has Korea. 
 
 Then there is Confucianism. Well, at its 
 best, that was never intended to be a religion. 
 Confucius never dreamed that any one would 
 worship him; — no one should. His name is 
 known and honoured among all Koreans, but 
 as a philosopher, and as the author of rules of 
 conduct. He has given to Korea its forms 
 and ceremonies for social life, but not a re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The nearest approach to religion is in the 
 practice of " ancestor worship." Some Ko- 
 reans still observe its forms. One man visited 
 the grave of his father every day for twenty- 
 six years. He bowed his head to the same spot, 
 until his hands and forehead had worn hollows 
 in the solid rock. However, when we visited 
 the scene, the weeds and undergrowth were 
 covering the place and his piety was becoming 
 a tradition. So is ancestor worship, in Korea. 
 You can find shrines in most of the door-yards 
 of the wealthy, but as far as real religious 
 sentiments are concerned, they are about on a 
 level with those which stir the noble breasts of 
 the members of the Society of the Cincinnati 
 or of the Daughters of the Revolution. 
 
 Of course the dread of spirits remains; but 
 
KOEEA 83 
 
 " animism " is fast becoming only an interest- 
 ing study for the antiquarian. We had read 
 much about the " devil posts " which stood " at 
 the entrance to every village " and " on top of 
 every high hill " ; but for two months we 
 hunted for a " devil post " ; w& travelled thou- 
 sands of miles, but all in vain. We always 
 found some one who had seen one; we could 
 buy some imitations for souvenirs; but we 
 could find no posts. 
 
 " Spirit trees " were about as rare. We did 
 see one with its paper prayers pinned to the 
 branches and its heap of stones near the trunk; 
 but as for any external signs of worship or of 
 religion in Korea, they are now extremely hard 
 to find. 
 
 " Every house has its spirit-jar," so we were 
 told and such may be true; but the old men 
 smile as you ask about them, and the young 
 men laugh, and the wise observer says that 
 "probably no man under forty-five years of 
 age believes in spirits to-day." 
 
 Soothsayers and sorceresses are still to be 
 found, but the latter are sought, rather for 
 their aid in times of sickness, not to lead in 
 worship. Their medicinal prescriptions are 
 still valued; but their influence is fast waning 
 before the advance of Western science. 
 
 It is just this lack of real religion in Korea 
 that constitutes the call and the opportunity of 
 
84 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE BAST 
 
 the Christian Church. Intemperance and im- 
 morality are everywhere on the increase. 
 Strange new modern cuhs are being pushed. 
 
 The absorbing interests of a new material 
 civilization are crowding upon the awakened 
 minds of the people. They need the stabi- 
 lizing and saving influence of the Christian 
 Gospel. It is the one hope for the land. 
 
 The history of Christian missions contains 
 no romance of greater interest than that which 
 has been written by the annals of the Korean 
 Church. Since an entrance was found, by the 
 coming of a Christian physician to the Korean 
 court in 1884, the progress of Christianity has 
 been continuous and surprising, and the figures 
 given last year, 1921, by the Federal Council 
 of Protestant Churches in Korea, are as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Churches and Groups, 
 
 3,338 
 
 Church Buildings, 
 
 2,996 
 
 Communicants, 
 
 91,818 
 
 Catechumens, 
 
 35.225 
 
 Baptized Children, 
 
 19,679 
 
 Total Adherents, 
 
 241,328 
 
 In some parts of the country the intelligent 
 acceptance of the Christian faith has been so 
 eager that the prophecy has frequently been 
 ventured that Korea will be the first land of 
 the Orient to become converted to Christ. It 
 
KOEBA 85 
 
 was a great pleasure to visit the city of 
 Syenchun, far in the north, to face one of the 
 audiences which regularly gather in its great 
 churches, and to learn that liiis is probably the 
 " most Christian city of the world," as, on any 
 Sunday, more than three thousand of its six 
 thousand residents can be found in churches. 
 
 It was also a thrilling experience to address 
 the vast audiences in Pyengyang and to go out 
 into the surrounding country and be given an 
 insight into the work of the churches which are 
 grouped around each evangelizing centre. The 
 picture of these Korean audiences can never be 
 effaced from memory. On one side of each 
 church the men and on the other the women, 
 all clothed in spotless white, all seated on the 
 floor and crowded into spaces incredibly small 
 for the number of auditors; in front of the 
 women the girls, and in front of the men the 
 boys, clustered around the feet of the speaker. 
 The church buildings are spacious, but utterly 
 lacking in artistic beauty; however, the best 
 adornment for any such structure are the eager 
 congregations which throng them to the doors, 
 three or more times on a single day. 
 
 No one reason can account for the unique 
 success of mission work in this " Land of the 
 Morning Calm " ; but among the factors may 
 be mentioned the simple and wise methods 
 which have been employed, and the emphasis 
 
86 GATEWAYS OF THE FAB EAST 
 
 which has continually been placed upon self- 
 support, Bible study, and personal evangelism. 
 In China, it is commonly said, the converts to 
 Christianity give less to the church than they 
 previously gave to idolatry ; but, in Korea, more 
 is given relatively for Christian work than in 
 America. The Koreans have their own mis- 
 sionaries working in Quelparte Island, and in 
 China, and a large region has been allotted in 
 Shantung for their special occupation. Yet 
 the Korean Christians are pitifully poor. It is 
 well said that they are true " rice Christians " ; 
 for at times they take the rice they need for 
 food and sell it in order to advance Christian 
 work. 
 
 They are eager students of the Bible. It is 
 interesting to ask an ordinary audience to an- 
 swer questions about Bible topics and to notice 
 the accuracy and promptness of their replies. 
 Down at the leper colony at Kwangju before 
 the address in the crowded chapel, a series of 
 such questions was proposed, and it is far 
 within the truth to assert that no university 
 gathering in America could have made such 
 accurate and confident and joyful replies. At 
 many Christian centres, " Bible Institutes " are 
 held annually, at one season for men, at an- 
 other for women, and, in order to be present, 
 these Korean peasants will walk for miles over 
 mountains and valleys, carrying with them 
 
KOEEA 87 
 
 their bags of rice, for food, and then remain 
 for periods of four or six weeks, sleeping in 
 incredibly cramped quarters, and cooking their 
 own food, in order to receive instruction in 
 the Bible. 
 
 While at the Institute at Taiku, a young 
 Korean woman was heard reciting upon the 
 structure and furniture of the Tabernacle, with 
 a fluency and an assurance which would have 
 startled an American student of theology, as it 
 did an American professor. 
 
 Sunday School methods also have been 
 wisely adopted and adapted. In all the large 
 centres, like Seoul or Pyengyang, in fact quite 
 universally through the land, the churches are 
 filled successively, on Sunday morning, by 
 crowds of children, then of women, then of 
 men, all engaged in studying the Bible. 
 
 An admirable system has been adopted at 
 Kwangju. Here the churches are united in a 
 Sunday School Association and, in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the city, twenty-two schools, 
 with twenty-five hundred scholars enrolled, are 
 in session every Sunday morning. These 
 schools rapidly develop into churches. One 
 such " heathen Sunday School " was visited. 
 It had been established three miles from the 
 city, by a faithful worker, who had found a 
 native village with no " Believers," no knowl- 
 edge of God or of morality ; and there, after a 
 
88 GATEWAYS OF THE FAH EAST 
 
 few weeks of her effort, we saw two houses 
 crowded, one with women and children, one 
 with men; and there Christian hymns were 
 being sung and the Christian Scriptures were 
 being taught. The whole life of the village 
 had been changed already and there, before 
 long, will be established a Christian church. 
 
 The evangelistic zeal of the Koreans has 
 been equally characteristic. Men and women 
 will pledge in advance so many " days " a year 
 and will then employ these days in house to 
 house visitation in the towns in which they 
 reside, speaking with others about the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that these 
 Korean believers are faultless, or that they 
 make any claims of sinless perfection. In fact 
 it was almost a relief to discover how really 
 human they are, and how even the church life 
 is not quite free from occasional dissensions. 
 However, taken all in all, the body of Christian 
 believers in Korea is not only the largest in 
 proportion to the population, but the most alert, 
 independent and energetic of that to be found 
 on any mission field in the world. 
 
 The growth of the Church has been continu- 
 ous during all the nearly forty years of its ex- 
 istence; but this growth has not been uniform. 
 It was checked by the Japanese occupation of 
 the country, by the persecution of 1910, and by 
 
KOBBA 89 
 
 the Independence Movement in 1919. How- 
 ever, the government interference has always 
 reacted favourably: The Korean people re- 
 spect the Japanese and live with them in perfect 
 friendliness ; but they have no love for the gov- 
 ernment, and the suspicion that the government 
 was opposed to the Church made the Church 
 immensely popular. 
 
 At present it is generally understood that the 
 government is maintaining religious liberty, ex- 
 cept in the matter of education, and its attitude 
 is inc'.easingly a negative factor in actual 
 church life; nor is there in Korea any such 
 popular antagonism to Christianity as is mani- 
 fested in certain other parts of ihe Far East. 
 Of course occasionally a man, or more com- 
 monly a woman, is made to suffer severe 
 persecution by members of the family because 
 in becoming a " Believer " it is necessary to 
 break away from certain customs and practices 
 associated with ancient heathen belief. 
 
 The Koreans, now, are peculiarly open to 
 the gospel message and ready to listen to the 
 messenger. During many weeks it was a 
 great privilege to be the constant companion of 
 an own brother who has resided in Korea for 
 sixteen years and speaks the language with re- 
 markable fluency. He served as guide and in- 
 terpreter and instructor. In village after vil- 
 lage as we stopped by the way, as curious 
 
90 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 crowds gathered around us, they were always 
 most respectful as they listened to anything 
 said to them, ready to accept tracts and leaflets 
 and prompt to answer any questions relating to 
 religion or their beliefs in spirits or their cus- 
 toms or superstitions. 
 
 It was also possible for us to gain a fair 
 impression of Korean character. Instead of 
 finding the people unrestrained and quarrel- 
 some, as some have reported, they appeared 
 in various street scenes and under certain se- 
 vere provocations, to possess great self-control 
 and kindliness of spirit. When deeply affected, 
 however, their fondness for speech was mani- 
 fested, and the torrent of words which flowed 
 forth was amusing and astounding. 
 
 In view of such favouring conditions, and in 
 face of the opportunities which are fleeting, it 
 was distressing to find an appalling lack of 
 workers. Practically every mission station 
 was undermanned and its workers were over- 
 burdened. This was not because of any un- 
 wise ambition on the part of the evangelistic 
 force which led them to undertake excessive 
 tasks, but because of the recent depletion in the 
 force. Men have been taken from the field to 
 do necessary work in educational institutions 
 which even with this help are not fully sup- 
 plied with teachers. In addition, there are the 
 cases of death, of sickness and of resignation. 
 
KOEEA 91 
 
 so that the evangelistic force at present is less 
 efficient than it was twelve years ago. A large 
 number of new men are not needed, nor will 
 large numbers be needed in years to come. If 
 rightly directed now the Church of Korea 
 would soon be able to evangelize the land. 
 However, there is imperative and critical need 
 of some twenty new workers at once. In 
 Korea is the place where the battle line of 
 heathenism has begun to break. If the 
 Christians of America were really aware of 
 the actual situation, it seems certain they would 
 immediately throw in such reinforcements as 
 to ensure a speedy victory, which would bring 
 influences of light and life to all the peoples of 
 the Far East. 
 
IV 
 
 JAPAN 
 
 THIS was my third visit to Japan, a 
 fact which is of not the slightest in- 
 terest to the American public, but is 
 published for the benefit of friends who travel 
 as a profession and who love to list and post 
 the number of their Pacific voyages. I had 
 crossed the Pacific but once ; however, I caught 
 a glimpse of Japan before sailing for China, 
 and another after my return from China, and 
 another before crossing to Korea, and another 
 after my two months' stay in Korea, and an- 
 other before my departure for home. This 
 form of statement is designed to impress my 
 readers and to prepare them for the claim that 
 the word Japan had ceased to connote a mere 
 confused blur of kimonos and rice fields, and 
 cherry-blossoms, and jinrikishas, and Bud- 
 dhas, and pine trees, and moonlit lakes. 
 
 I had come to distinguish, with some degree 
 of assurance, between obi and torii, between 
 daimyos and dynamos, between ohaio (" good 
 morning") and oyu ("hot water"), between 
 yen and sen, between Hideyoshi and leyasu, 
 92 
 
JAPAN 93 
 
 and even to detect a difference between police- 
 men and reporters, between shopkeepers and 
 swindlers. This dent in my vast ignorance of 
 things Japanese was due in large measure to 
 delightful zigzag journeys with my brother and 
 his wife. She was born in Japan, and her 
 knowledge of the language and their faithful 
 but rather futile efforts to make me understand 
 what I heard and saw, raised me nearly to the 
 intellectual level of a guide-book graduate. 
 
 We journeyed from Shimonoseki to Sendai, 
 from Kyushu to Karuizawa. We saw the 
 summer sun sink behind the purple islands of 
 the Inland Sea. We spent a Sunday at Miya- 
 jima, and saw its shrines float on the surface 
 of the flood tide, and watched the people wor- 
 shipping the Shinto goddesses and feeding oats 
 to the sacred horse. At Kyoto we visited the 
 temples and walked over acres of polished 
 floors, and reviewed regiments of dusty, gilded 
 gods, of which there were " thirty-three thou- 
 sand " under a single roof ; and, at night, in the 
 glare of electric lights, among crowds of ex- 
 cited, and intoxicated, and shouting worship- 
 pers, we saw hundreds of men, nearly naked, 
 staggering under the " floats," which carried 
 the sacred furniture, and other objects of ado- 
 ration from the temples, as they were borne in 
 the great procession, on the occasion of the 
 annual Shinto festival in July. We went to 
 
94 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 Nara to visit the temple parks, with their 
 countless stone lanterns and sacred deer, and to 
 pound its bell, and to gape at its colossal Bud- 
 dha. At Hakone we saw Fuji, the worshipped 
 mountain, arrayed by the " rosy-fingered 
 dawn" in purple and scarlet and white, and 
 mirrored on the surface of the silent lake. We 
 passed through the dust and the shops and the 
 crowded streets, and under the shadow of tow- 
 ering modern structures and among the miles 
 of miniature houses and great parks of Tokyo, 
 the largest, but one of the least impressive 
 cities of Asia. We learned how to use the 
 word " magnificent " at Nikko, and cautiously 
 walked around its sacred red bridge, and 
 crossed its rushing stream, and photographed 
 the moveless monkeys and the sacred cat, and 
 marvelled at the beauty and splendour of the 
 shrines, and toiled up the endless steps of stone, 
 under the shade of the towering cryptomerias, 
 to pay a tribute of respect at the tombs of the 
 great Shoguns. We joined the stream of pil- 
 grims and toiled up the sacred steeps, past the 
 beautiful waterfalls, to see the sacred mountain 
 reflected on the surface of charming Lake 
 Chuzenji. We penetrated the twenty-six tun- 
 nels and scaled the high passes to reach Karu- 
 izawa, a place nearer heaven (by twelve hun- 
 dred feet) than any we had visited, and here ad- 
 dressed large audiences of patient missionaries. 
 
THE YOMEI-MON AT NIKKO 
 An exquisite gateway leading to the mausoleum of leyasu 
 
JAPAN 95 
 
 each day, during two happy weeks. We even 
 pursued auditors who had fled to the new sum- 
 mer resort, across the mountains at Nojiri; 
 and later visited those who were seeking rest at 
 Takagama Beach in the famous region of Mat- 
 sushima. There we plunged into the cool surf 
 of the Pacific; and then, after meeting the 
 notable Bible Class of my friend. Professor 
 Kajiwara, at Sendai, left for Yokohama and 
 for home. 
 
 Such journeyings, under such tuition, to- 
 gether with extensive research, profound inves- 
 tigations, acute questioning, mature reflection, 
 and other strenuous mental processes, con- 
 vinced one of the truthfulness and accuracy of 
 all the conflicting and irreconcilable reports 
 which have reached the Western world rela- 
 tive to " mysterious Japan." At least, one 
 could agree with those who admire the 
 courtesy, the cleverness, and the unfailing 
 self-corrfidence of the Japanese. One could 
 see that these people are devoted lovers 
 of beauty, and that their land Is one of exquis- 
 ite charm, the truest paradise in the world for 
 tourists, and for men who wish to write books. 
 Nor could one help wondering at the incredible 
 rapidity with which the nation has adopted and 
 adapted all the arts and inventions of modem 
 civilization ; this would be particularly apparent 
 to one who stops at the " Imperial Hotel," who 
 
96 GATEWAYS OF THE PAR BAST 
 
 travels " first-class " on the " sleeping " and 
 " dining cars," and glides over the mountain 
 passes in a " Hudson super-six " ; a slightly 
 altered impression has been registered by some 
 who have carried packs along the dusty roads 
 and stopped among the peasants of the inland 
 districts. 
 
 No one could fail to rejoice that the spirit 
 of militarism in Japan is being restrained, 
 that there is a definitely improved international 
 outlook, and that the papers print fewer pro- 
 posals for the conquest of the world. No one 
 could fail to observe, even among a people so 
 recently awakened by Western thought and so 
 mentally alert, a present renaissance of intel- 
 lectual life, a rising passion for education, and 
 a sincere desire to reach ultimate truth. 
 
 However, no one who is a true friend of 
 Japan, no one who, at the same time, has read 
 the government statistics and has listened to 
 the story of those who have the welfare of 
 Japan most on their hearts, can fail to be ap- 
 palled at liie sight of a land so near to spiritual 
 and moral bankruptcy. Japan has long loved 
 beauty, she has begun to seek for truth ; when 
 will she learn to love purity and virtue, and 
 holiness and God? The great masses of the 
 people of Japan are still under the dominance 
 of degrading forms of heathenism. Forty-six, 
 out of fifty-six millions, are officially classed as 
 
JAPAN 07 
 
 Buddhists. None of the fourteen sects in Ja- 
 pan teaches the true tenets of Buddhism, but 
 all unite in filling the minds of the common 
 people with absurd superstitions, and in requir- 
 ing the rites of an ignorant idolatry. One will 
 see more outward manifestations of heathen- 
 ism on a journey of a single day in Japan than 
 by a residence of two months in Korea. 
 
 However, Buddhism is fast losing its hold. 
 It is a dishonest religion, in which the priests 
 teach the people beliefs the very opposite from 
 those which they themselves hold. It cannot 
 stand the light of investigation. Nor can it 
 meet the tests of modem science and civiliza- 
 tion. Buddhism is making a frantic effort at 
 revival; it is adopting Christian methods and 
 Christian forms ; but all in vain. It is unsound 
 at the heart. It is being deserted by the men 
 and women of education, and derided by many 
 of the " intellectuals." Its ultimate failure is 
 certain. However, one should not underrate 
 its present influence upon the millions in Japan 
 who are still under its insidious spell. 
 
 The state religion of Japan is Shintoism. 
 Official reports classify only fourteen million 
 Japanese as Shintoists; however, its influence 
 is absolutely universal. It constitutes at the 
 same time the very strength and the weakness 
 of the Empire. The worship of ancestors, 
 
98 GATEWAYS OF THE PAE EAST 
 
 reaching its climax in the worship of the Em- 
 peror, or more exactly in the worship of the 
 spirit of the emperors, does give a unity to the 
 nation, and a loyalty to the Imperial House, 
 which are almost without a parallel in history. 
 However, emperor worship, in any form, is 
 degrading, and as intelligence increases, be- 
 comes the occasion of reaction and revolution. 
 Real enlightenment and emperor worship are 
 absolutely incompatible. 
 
 The present problem before the government 
 of Japan is along this very line. The Consti- 
 tution vouchsafes to all citizens religious lib- 
 erty; how then can the government require its 
 officials, and even the children in its schools, to 
 bow before the picture of the Emperor and to 
 worship at Shinto shrines? The solution at- 
 tempted is clever but ineffectual; the govern- 
 ment declares that " all ceremonial observances 
 which are officially obligatory shall not be re- 
 garded as religious but as patriotic." 
 
 The government does not deny, as is often 
 asserted, that Shintoism is a religion. It re- 
 gards it as the real religion of the nation ; but 
 it declares that such forms of Shinto worship 
 as the government requires shall not be consid- 
 ered to be religious acts. This, however, is but 
 an abstraction and a fiction. A ceremony 
 which at one time and for one person is an act 
 of worship, cannot be, in reality, a mere civil 
 
JAPAN 99 
 
 ceremony at another time or for another person, 
 and as a matter of fact, the great mass of the 
 Japanese people do accept emperor worship as 
 a religious ceremony, and the very essence and 
 crown of all their religious systepj. '. ■'• ■; .■ " ' • 
 
 The great peril to the natio'?t,.'-iroih- ?),Qth"" 
 Buddhism and Shintoism, li^|'<flii the fact that ' 
 neither one gives any true'-ba'sis or adequate 
 sanction for morality. If'"Biiddhism does not 
 directly foster immorality, it at least;- saiictroiis- 
 officially the worst f ormS of so'cfal irii^utity.' " • 
 
 Intemperance and immotality are at present 
 sapping the vitality of the""Japanese people. _ 
 While these, rather than thcTeligibfi^ojE Japar^'-^ 
 form the real barrier to the prbgre^s of-'dhri^-* , 
 tianity, they likewise constitute the great- ap- 
 peal to the Christian church. All who love 
 Japan should yearn to see her social and indus- 
 trial life cleansed and purified and permeated 
 by the power of the living Christ. 
 
 It is true that Christianity has obtained a 
 firm foothold among the Japanese people. It 
 has been the chief factor in introducing most 
 that is best in the life of modem Japan. How- 
 ever, the obstacles to its progress have been 
 very great, the growth of the Church has been 
 slow, and the task of evangelizing the country 
 has only been begun. 
 
 Work was undertaken as soon as the land 
 was opened to Western nations. Among the 
 
100 GATEWAYS OF THE PAR EAST 
 
 first great leaders should be mentioned such 
 men as Liggins and Williams of the Episcopal 
 Church, Hepburn of the Presbyterian Church, 
 Verbeck, Brown and Simmons of the Dutch 
 IRefornied, Church, who reached the field in 
 1859. ■ The .detestation with which Christian- 
 
 .-ity wa"s'theivreg,arded is suggested by the edicts 
 which are comjmcmly reported to present visi- 
 tors in Japan, dne'.of which, for example, ran 
 
 .^s^foUqwsf ;" §6"long as the sun warms the 
 
 y6a.H\,,lii'W'lQh,nstia.n be so bold as to come to 
 Japan, and let ^H<.know that if the King of 
 Spain, or the CSij-isfjans' God, or the great God 
 
 •.pf all, viol^ate this 'command, he shall pay for 
 
 '. .T&e-wo'rlE of evangelization, however, was 
 pressed with vigour. Other societies became 
 interested; large numbers of reinforcements 
 were sent out, until to-day there are nearly 
 thirteen hundred foreign missionaries on the 
 field. 
 
 Opposition gradually decreased until at pres- 
 ent the barrier to Christian progress is found 
 less in hostility to the Gospel than in an almost 
 universal indifference to Christianity. The 
 educated classes are largely infidel or agnostic, 
 and the masses of the people feel little concern 
 in real religion. Still, in spite of all obstacles, 
 vigorous and independent churches have come 
 into being, and there are now in Japan some 
 
JAPAN 101 
 
 one hundred and twenty-seven thousand Prot- 
 estant communicants, organized into one thou- 
 sand, four hundred and ten churdies, three 
 hundred of which are self-supporting. 
 
 However, the influence of Christianity is 
 quite inadequately represented by such figures. 
 Many Japanese who are actual adherents to 
 the faith are connected with no organized 
 church, thousands of others are carefully read- 
 ing and studying the Bible. Christian phrases, 
 and customs, and ideals are rapidly pervading 
 every sphere of thought and life, whether so- 
 cial, industrial, educational, literary or political. 
 There has been, during the past eight years, 
 an increase of seventeen per cent, in the num- 
 ber of Protestant ministers and eighty-five per 
 cent, in the Protestant Church enrollment. 
 The Roman Catholic Church reports seventy- 
 six thousand, and the Greek Catholic thirty-six 
 thousand adherents. 
 
 Nevertheless, it must be remembered that 
 less than one-half of one per cent, of the popu- 
 lation of Japan is included within the Christian 
 community. Furthermore, if we accept the 
 modem basis of calculation, namely, that a 
 mission field is not " occupied " unless there is 
 at least one missionary to every fifty thousand 
 of the population, then Japan, from the view- 
 point of modem Christian missions, is still one 
 of the great unoccupied fields of the world. 
 
102 GATEWAYS OF THE PAE EAST 
 
 The missionary methods employed in Japan 
 are similar to those found in other mission 
 fields. However, most travellers find that the 
 evidences of missionary effort are less con- 
 spicuous than in some lands; but when one is 
 guided by resident workers, and is shown the 
 real facts, he is certain to be surprised at the 
 vigour and the extent of the Christian enter- 
 prise. 
 
 One misses the medical missionary work, 
 and the Christian hospitals, that elsewhere 
 form so prominent a feature of missionary 
 service. On the otiier hand, it is interesting to 
 note certain new forms of work, such as the 
 enterprise of " Newspaper Evangelism," which 
 has attained marked success. 
 
 A day was spent with the leader in this form 
 of activity. Dr. Albertus Pieters, at Fukuoka, 
 on the southern island of Kyushu, and we were 
 deeply impressed with the results which are be- 
 ing secured by Christian messages printed in 
 secular papers. An insertion at advertising 
 rates is expensive; but tens of thousands of 
 readers, who are indifferent to Christianity, 
 and who would never attend a place of preach- 
 ing, read the Gospel story ; and every insertion 
 results in a number of inquiries which are care- 
 fully preserved and used as means of securing 
 personal correspondence and interviews. This 
 method has been given the endorsement of the 
 
JAPAN 103 
 
 Federated Missions of Japan and is being 
 adopted in other parts of the Empire. 
 
 Then, too, as we sailed through the Inland 
 Sea, and later as we rode along its shores, we 
 were reminded of the romantic story of the 
 "Fukuin Mara" ("The Gospel Ship"), 
 which moves about among those picturesque 
 islands and has accomplished a work of such 
 surprising proportions. Something of that ro- 
 mance was learned from my friend, F. W. 
 Steadman, who for a time conducted the work, 
 and from another personal interview with the 
 present gallant young commander of the ship, 
 the Reverend James F. Laughton; more of it 
 still is written in the life of " Captain Bickel 
 of the Inland Sea," 
 
 It is of great importance to note the superb 
 work of Christian education which is being 
 done in Japan. One feature of the work is 
 the prominent place in the curriculum given to 
 the Bible and to religious teaching in many of 
 the institutions. Another feature is the large 
 number of Japanese leaders who have shown 
 themselves able and qualified to assume great 
 responsibilities in the conduct and extension of 
 this work. 
 
 Then, too, as Japan ultimately must be evan- 
 gelized by Japanese, it was a great delight to 
 learn of the wide influence being exerted by 
 
104 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 such evangelists as Paul Kanamori and S. Ki- 
 mura, who are bringing the Gospel message to 
 tens of thousands of their fellow-countrymen. 
 It has been a great privilege to become person- 
 ally and intimately acquainted with these 
 workers, and to learn from them that at no pre- 
 vious time has it been so easy for them to gain 
 a hearing or to secure decisions for Christ. 
 Of great importance, too, is the Bible-teaching 
 work of such leaders as C. Kajiwara, of Sen- 
 dai, and K. Uchimura, of Tokyo. 
 
 At present one of the most interesting prob- 
 lems in the evangelization of Japan concerns 
 the relations between the denominational 
 churches, and the relations of these churches to 
 the various foreign missions. 
 
 Union and cooperation have already pro- 
 gressed much further in Japan than in China. 
 The country is not so vast, the numbers of 
 Christians and missionaries are not so great. 
 A much stronger native leadership, especially 
 in educational lines, has been developed. How- 
 ever, the next step proposed to secure more 
 effective cooperation is along the line recently 
 taken in China, namely, the formation of a 
 National Christian Council. 
 
 For many years there has existed in Japan a 
 Federation of Churches, and also a Federation 
 of Missions, like the Federal Council of 
 
JAPAN 105 
 
 Churches and the Federal Council of Missions 
 in Korea; but there has been no organization 
 uniting the churches and the missions. The 
 Federation of Churches does not seem to have 
 been very active, but the Federation of Mis- 
 sions has been most efficient. The annual 
 Conference of this Federation, held at Karu- 
 izawa in August, was an occasion of instruc- 
 tion and inspiration to all who attended its 
 sessions, and it revealed how mudi this organi- 
 zation has been accomplishing for the unifica- 
 tion and strengthening of the missionary cause 
 in Japan. 
 
 However, the work of the missionaries must 
 be brought into closer harmony and coopera- 
 tion with the work of the indigenous Japanese 
 Church. With this end in view, a National 
 Christian Conference was held at Tokyo, May 
 18-24, 1932. A very large proportion of the 
 churches and missions were represented. A 
 committee was appointed to formulate a plan 
 for a National Christian Council. This plan 
 was acted upon favourably by the Federation 
 of Churches, and when presented to the Feder- 
 ation of Christian Missions at Karuizawa, in 
 August, was referred for favourable action to 
 the individual constituent missions. 
 
 A few extracts from the proposed constitu- 
 tion of this National Council will give some 
 indication of its nature and purpose: 
 
106 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 Article I. The name of this organization shall 
 be The National Christian Council of Japan. 
 
 Article II. The Council shall consist of the 
 recognized evangelical bodies. 
 
 Article III. The purpose of the Council shall 
 be: 
 
 1. To express and foster the spirit of fellow- 
 ship and unity of the Christian Church in Japan 
 and to develop a deeper realization of its oneness 
 with the Church throughout the world. 
 
 2. To be a medium through which the Church 
 may speak in a representative capacity on matters 
 affecting the entire Christian movement in Japan, 
 such as general social, moral and religious ques- 
 tions. 
 
 3. To represent the Christian Church in Ja- 
 pan in communicating effectively with bodies 
 similar to this Council in other countries and to 
 express its voice and make its contribution in the 
 International Missionary Council and in other 
 international relations. 
 
 4. To take counsel, make surveys, plan for co- 
 operative work and to take suitable steps for 
 carrying on such work, and to act in behalf of 
 the cooperating bodies in all matters of common 
 interest when the Council is satisfied that the ac- 
 tion taken will be in accordance with the wishes 
 of the cooperating bodies. 
 
 5. To provide for the holding of Christian 
 Conferences at suitable times on matters of vital 
 importance to the Christian movement in Japan. 
 
 6. In all the above-mentioned functions, the 
 Council is understood as having no authority to 
 deal with questions of doctrine or ecclesiastical 
 
jAPAliT lor 
 
 polity, neither shall its functions be interpreted as 
 being in any way legislative or mandatory. 
 
 It is further proposed that this Council shall 
 be composed of one hundred members. Of 
 this number eighty-five (fifty-one Japanese and 
 thirty- four missionaries) shall be chosen by the 
 cooperating Christian bodies, and the remain- 
 ing fifteen members shall be coopted by the 
 eighty-five elected members. 
 
 It is therefore evident that, as in the new- 
 National Christian Council of China, the ma- 
 jority of members are to be representatives of 
 the native churches. However, it is also evi- 
 dent that this Council is to be a more truly rep- 
 resentative and authoritative body than that of 
 China, as its members are to be elected by the 
 various missions and other organizations to 
 which these members belong. It would seem 
 that such a Council would make for the unity 
 and efficiency of the whole Christian movement 
 in Japan and thus aid greatly in supplying to 
 the nation its supreme needs, namely, the pre- 
 cepts and the power of the living Christ. 
 
V 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 AS weeks and months drifted by, the 
 yearning for home, and the sense of 
 distant separation, became too intense 
 and insistent to be dispelled long, even by the 
 pressure of duties or the attractions of new 
 audiences or the fellowship of fascinating 
 friends; and when, for the fourth and last 
 time, Tokyo had been reached, even the touch- 
 ing tributes of generous Japanese and the real 
 delight of their farewell " Princeton dinner," 
 were less thrilling than the sight of the great 
 American ship chafing at her moorings by the 
 Yokohama pier. However, when farewells 
 had been said, when one stood alone on deck 
 and looked down at the upturned faces of loved 
 ones who had made the Orient precious, when 
 the engines started and our paper serpentines 
 snapped, and the space of separating water 
 widened, there was something in the eyes that 
 blurred the scene, and something in the heart 
 that in other circumstances would have been 
 called regret. Then, as we steamed down the 
 bay and started for the open sea, we looked 
 westward, and there, above the summer haze, 
 apparently floating on the clouds, was the pur- 
 io8 
 
FUJIYAMA 
 
 More correctly called Fuji-San or Fuji-no- Yama, is an extinct 
 
 volcano 12,365 feet in height, and is the pride of Japan 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 109 
 
 pie cone of Fujiyama. The shore line soon 
 disappeared, but the slopes of the sacred moun- 
 tain stood out clear in the sunset, and as the 
 eye followed the diverging lines of that moun- 
 tain-top downward into the mists they seemed 
 to expand until they enclosed the island, the 
 nation, the Orient. That mountain was all we 
 could see of Japan, but for us it was at the 
 time all of Japan, all of the Far East ; and then 
 it sank into the darkening sky. By the next 
 morning we were far on our delightful voyage 
 across the Pacific, surprised to find so many ac- 
 quaintances on board, and glad of the oppor- 
 tunity to form new friendships. We were 
 homeward bound and our faces were toward 
 the future. 
 
 As the voyagers exchanged confidences one 
 of the first questions asked was as to what 
 each one was bringing from the Orient. 
 
 The Wise Men from the East are pictured as 
 bearing gifts; and most men to-day come from 
 the East wiser, and poorer, for the gifts they 
 bear. These gifts somewhat differ, according 
 to the taste, the character and the former finan- 
 cial condition of the bearer, according also to 
 the sensitiveness of his conscience and his fear 
 of customs officials, according also to the num- 
 ber of women in his party or the influence of 
 the charming advisers he has met on the way. 
 
110 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 Yet, after all, there is a striking similarity 
 in these souvenirs, as gifts from the Far East 
 are easily classified and their origins located; 
 and while many are exquisitely beautiful there 
 seems to be " no new thing under the sun." 
 
 Practically every place in the Orient has its 
 specialty, its meibutsu, and this must be pur- 
 chased by each tourist as a gift for some one 
 at home or as a proof that he has travelled 
 abroad. However, according to popular re- 
 port, most of these Oriental purchases are 
 made by wives and daughters, while the hus- 
 bands and fathers decry the conspiracy of East- 
 ern nations in the matter of currency, for their 
 " dollars " and " yen " are worth only half a 
 dollar each; and consequently, according to 
 these men, every American woman imagines 
 that she has an opportunity of buying goods at 
 half price; the consequence in the amount of 
 the purchases can best be stated by those most 
 concerned. 
 
 Among these purchases which can be listed 
 according to places, if not prices, are the carved 
 ivory and jade from Canton, the silks from 
 Shanghai, the furs and beads and cloisonne 
 and red lacquer, and gorgeous " mandarin 
 coats " from Peking, the brocaded silks from 
 Nanking, and from Hangchow the umbrellas 
 and the fans. One should pause to remark 
 that in the Far East a fan is an article of real 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 111 
 
 importance ; there, a fan is carried by every one 
 from the Japanese " red-cap " who wrestles 
 with your luggage, to the imposing Korean 
 gentleman who, in flowing white robes, sits as- 
 tride his donkey, under the shadow of his 
 spreading umbrella. In the Orient it is almost 
 as necessary to carry a fan as it is to " save 
 your face." 
 
 The " specialty " of Korea is its brass. Re- 
 cently more tin and less copper is being used in 
 its composition than in former days, so that the 
 older pieces, less yellow in colour and, when 
 sounded, clearer in tone, are more highly 
 prized. 
 
 Then, too, there are the Korean chests, not 
 to be carried away in hand-bags, but to be 
 shipped homeward, resplendent with their cor- 
 ners, and their countless hinges, of brass. 
 Some of these chests are valuable heirlooms, 
 from the homes of the former gentry and 
 nobles, and are of great value as antiques ; but 
 most are of modern manufacture. 
 
 Korean fans, of bright colours, are made in 
 many parts of the country and are prized by 
 purchasers, but it seems that those of most 
 clever workmanship and of greatest value are 
 produced only in Chun-ju, in the southwest. 
 
 As to Japan, if its scenery is the delight of 
 tourists, so, too, are its souvenirs. While, in 
 all the great shopping centres, articles from 
 
112 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 almost any part of the land can be purchased, 
 nevertheless there are " specialties " associated 
 with many separate places, the meihutsu of a 
 particular locality being confined often to a 
 very limited area. 
 
 Nagasaki, on the southwestern Island of 
 Kyushu, is famous for its beautiful articles 
 made of tortoise-shell. 
 
 One who crosses to the sacred island, beauti- 
 ful Miyajima, will be attracted by the ingeni- 
 ous articles made of wood. In Nara, memo- 
 rable for its temples, its parks and its sacred 
 deer, the shops, not unnaturally, are filled with 
 little souvenirs made of deer-horn, but they 
 also ofifer for sale beautiful articles of lacquer. 
 
 Kyoto is a perfect delight and bewilderment 
 to all persons who love to make purchases of 
 Japanese goods, as its shops are probably the 
 most attractive in the Empire. Antiques and 
 modern products can be found in endless pro- 
 fusion. Some of the establishments are quite 
 imposing, but many of the most popular are 
 insignificant in appearance, and located on nar- 
 row and obscure streets. Some of the articles 
 most commonly sought, and which can be seen 
 in the process of manufacture in the various 
 places where they are purchased, are of 
 " damascene," of cloisonne and of various 
 kinds of pottery; then, too, there are the em- 
 broidered silks, particularly, exquisite kimonos, 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 113 
 
 some of which are of ancient and rare work- 
 manship, while many are of modern design 
 and made specially for " foreign trade." 
 
 In the beautiful Hakone district, mosaic 
 woodwork is the "specialty" which fills a 
 prominent place in the shops ; but the real spe- 
 cialty of Hakone is the view of the peerless 
 Fujiyama, of its majestic summit and its re- 
 flection in the still water of the lake. This 
 cannot be purchased, but its faint reproduc- 
 tions can be found in a very large portion of 
 Japanese pictures and other works of art, and 
 the memory will be one of the most satisfying 
 souvenirs of an Oriental tour. 
 
 The articles sold at Nikko are tempting, par- 
 ticularly the coloured photographs and the pro- 
 ductions of various kinds of wood ; so, too, at 
 Sendai, farther north, souvenirs can be secured 
 made of curious coal-black wood, and excellent 
 ^ samples of red lacquer. 
 
 Many other "specialties" might be men- 
 tioned, such as articles made of crystal, of cut- 
 velvet, of bamboo, of paper and of bronze ; but 
 enough has been said to suggest the wild pro- 
 fusion of purchases paraded in the conversa- 
 tion of homeward bound tourists; but vastly 
 more varied, more diverse, more confusing, are 
 the impressions, the memories, the opinions, 
 the reactions, which are bundled together in the 
 brains of these travellers, and are certain to be 
 
114 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 presented, with oracular impressiveness and 
 wearisome iteration, to innocent and indulgent 
 relatives and friends and even to the patient 
 American public. 
 
 These mental " specialties " inevitably differ 
 according to the previous prejudices, igno- 
 rance, occupation, and antipathies of the indi- 
 vidual traveller. Some of them are antiques, 
 but not of great value; others are new and 
 original, but of less value still. Some are fab- ' 
 ■ rics of the imagination ; others are based on the 
 infallible information gained in a chance con- 
 versation with an illiterate coolie. Some will 
 be kept for private consumption ; some will be 
 paraded before admiring friends on state occa- 
 sions ; some will be preserved as curios by their 
 honoured recipients ; some will form even ma- 
 terial for books. 
 
 A few of these personal impressions are here 
 recorded for the enlightenment of the reader, 
 who may classify them according to his own 
 best judgment. 
 
 First of all, the writer brought back with 
 him a confirmed conviction that many persons 
 who remain at home are better informed as to 
 the Orient than are some who have caught 
 casual glimpses of the Far East; and the 
 further conviction that one need not travel to 
 become a great philosopher; in fact, Immanuel 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 115 
 
 Kant is said to have never journeyed forty 
 miles from Konigsberg; it was even disheart- 
 ening to read, in China, the words of Laotse: 
 "The further one travels, the less one may 
 know." However, as to Laotse, the writer 
 has no sympathy with Taoism ; and as to Kant, 
 he may not have travelled, but he often seemed 
 to arrive at conclusions far enough from the 
 truth; and as to the friends at home, it is a 
 satisfaction to believe that by an Oriental tour 
 you may have approached a little nearer to 
 their level of intelligence, and, in spite of stu- 
 pidity and a poor memory, may have stored 
 away in the subconscious mind some ideas 
 which may emerge in future hours of need. 
 
 Moreover, since all life in the Far East lies 
 hidden behind almost impenetrable walls, if one 
 is fortunate enough to find here or there a 
 gateway through which he gains a glimpse of 
 the mysteries which lie beyond, it may be his 
 duty to tell others what he has seen, however 
 Imperfect his vision, however partial his views. 
 
 A second conviction brought from the Orient 
 was this: the better one is informed, the less 
 likely he will be to make sweeping statements, 
 and the more will he appreciate the peril of 
 passing comprehensive judgments upon any 
 race or nation or group of individuals. A cer- 
 tain traveller, after a prolonged residence o£ 
 
116 GATEWAYS OF THE PAE EAST 
 
 fifteen minutes in Asia, arguing from the ina- 
 bility of a Japanese " rickshaw " cooUe to un- 
 derstand " cockney " EngUsh, characterized all 
 Orientals as "brainless imbeciles." Even a 
 short journey enables one to appreciate the re- 
 mark: "All generalizations are false, including 
 this one." 
 
 However, even witii this in mind, one gen- 
 eral statement must be allowed, and it is thiS: 
 One brings back from his journey the memory 
 that wherever he went he met with unfailing 
 courtesy and consideration, and was over- 
 whelmed with kindness. These were shown 
 by all persons, without a single exception, from 
 the cabin boys on the steamers and the em- 
 ployees on the railroads, to the government of- 
 ficials, and to the personal friends whose gen- 
 erosity and graciousness made every day an 
 unbroken delight. " Showing tenderness to 
 strangers from far countries " was one of nine 
 cardinal directions enjoined upon rulers by 
 Confucius. It was a joy to find how far, in 
 this particular, at least, Confucius rules the 
 East. 
 
 In the fourth place, one brings back home a 
 heightened respect for the Oriental races, and a 
 truer appreciation of their many admirable 
 qualities. He realizes that " comparisons arc 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 117 
 
 odious," and that they are needless and are 
 commonly ttnfair. He has reinforced his con- 
 viction that it is not necessary to hate Japan in 
 order to sympathize with Korea or to appreci- 
 ate China, and that, on the other hand, his 
 general conclusions as to the situation in the 
 Far East will not be clarified by attempting to 
 imagine that all Japanese are charming fairies 
 or thinly disguised angels. 
 
 Then again, one returns with a larger con- 
 ception of the latent power of the nations of 
 the East. He does not feel called upon to pro- 
 claim a " yellow peril " ; but he has at least a 
 faint vision of populations and resources which 
 promise to become prime factors in the for- 
 tunes of the world. This is most notably true 
 of China ; not to speak of her potential wealth, 
 the multitudes of her people are beyond com- 
 prehension. Some one who delights in mathe- 
 matical calculations has affirmed that if the 
 population of China should pass a given point, 
 in single file, the procession would never cease, 
 for before the present generation has passed, 
 other generations would have been born to take 
 its place ; so we can conclude that " there is no 
 end to the Chinese." 
 
 Further, one returns with a haunting mem- 
 ory of the poverty, and ignorance, and pain 
 
118 GATEWAYS OP THE FAR EAST 
 
 which enslave these millions of the East. This 
 is peculiarly evident in China, where multi- 
 tudes ever live under the shadow of impending 
 death from flood or famine. Even in Japan, 
 the majority of the people are hovering near 
 the border-line of want. The houses in which 
 Orientals live are mere huts compared with the 
 common homes of America. Ninety-nine men 
 out of every hundred in the East could carry 
 on their backs, excepting their huts and house- 
 holds, all that they possess on earth. The 
 building of Western manufacturing plants has 
 introduced new problems, and hundreds of 
 thousands of men and women and little boys 
 and girls are living in practical and bitter 
 slavery. 
 
 The prevalence of disease is such that it is 
 difficult to believe the statements of reputable 
 physicians as to actual existing conditions. 
 Ignorance of the simplest laws of hygiene 
 leaves the masses a prey to continual pestilence. 
 Every thirty-seven seconds of every minute, 
 and hour and day and year, at least one man in 
 China dies of tuberculosis. In Korea the in- 
 fant mortality reaches the pitiful ratio of fifty 
 per cent. 
 
 There are more lepers in China, at this pres- 
 ent hour, than there are Christians in all the 
 eighteen provinces. Ih fact, in all the Orient, 
 lepers are everywhere to be seen, jostling in the 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 119 
 
 crowds, riding on the cars, lying in loathsome 
 helplessness by the roads. The Christian mis- 
 sionaries have begun a work for these outcasts, 
 and under their influence governments are do- 
 ing something; but the provision is absolutely 
 inadequate. Possibly the most agonizing sight 
 of the Oriental tour was that of the despairing 
 lepers outside the admirable but overcrowded 
 asylum at Kwangju (Korea). They had 
 crawled for miles on bleeding and festering 
 feet and hands, hoping to be admitted to the 
 " heaven on earth," only to be refused admis- 
 sion, because every inch of space was occupied. 
 There by the roadside they lay, with no pro- 
 tection from the heat and dust of summer and 
 no shelter from the coming storms and snows 
 of winter, matchless pictures of human misery, 
 left by their fellow-men to die in anguish, with 
 none to pity or relieve. 
 
 However, the moral leprosy of the Far East 
 is incomparably more terrible than any physical 
 disease. Impurity, intemperance, dishonesty, 
 cruelty, gross materialism, selfishness and sen- 
 suality, like foul ulcers, are eating out the 
 strength and vitality of these mighty nations. 
 Their pitiful moral impotence is an unanswer- 
 able indictment of their moribund religions. 
 They are familiar with the noble ethics of 
 Confucius, but what power can make these 
 helpless masses either desire or do the right? 
 
120 GATEWAYS OF THE FAB EAST 
 
 They " see the better and approve," but they 
 " follow the worse." Christ is the only hope 
 for the Orient, and of all the precious memo- 
 ries which one brings from the Far East, none 
 will compare with those of the lives and char- 
 acters and labours and achievements of the 
 messengers of the Christian Church. 
 
 Now, as to tiiese missionaries, so much has 
 been said, so well said, and so poorly said, that 
 even the self-assurance bom of a limited stay 
 in the Orient hardly emboldens one to add an- 
 other word. 
 
 However, it must be remembered that all 
 previous estimates of Christian missionaries 
 must now be revised or reaffirmed. All are 
 out of date. They were made yesterday, or 
 last year, or a decade ago. The missionaries 
 of to-day form a new company, and must be 
 judged on their own merits. In fact, no more 
 vivid impression is brought back from the Far 
 East than that of tiie extreme youth o£ the 
 missionary body. To patriarchs who have 
 passed the " dead line " of fifty, these workers 
 seem like boys and girls. Of course there are 
 among them veterans, who belong to an older 
 generation; but one who is fond of statistics 
 declared, recently, that of the six thousand mis- 
 sionaries in China, less than twenty per cent 
 had been on the field ten years. 
 
HOMBWAED BOUim 121 
 
 Whatever any one has ever affirmed to the 
 contrary, it can be confidently maintained that 
 the older missionaries and the generations 
 which preceded them laid the foundations 
 wisely and well, and no higher compliment can 
 be paid to the present stafiE of workers than to 
 say that they are worthy successors to those 
 whom they follow. 
 
 Taken all in all, the eight thousand mission- 
 aries of the Far East form the most intelligent, 
 the most cheerful, the most industrious, the 
 most useful group of similar size that can be 
 fotmd in any quarter of the earth. 
 
 Their hospitality is unbounded, and prover- 
 bial; but not infrequently abused. It forms 
 the basis for the antiquated criticism of the 
 " luxury and extravagance " in which mission- 
 aries live. One popular American writer, 
 stricken with fever, was rescued from death by 
 a missionary family who nursed him back to 
 health and, at great sacrifice, provided certain 
 nourishing delicacies prescribed by the physi- 
 cian. On his recovery, the ingrate returned 
 home and regaled the American public witii 
 published accounts of the self-indulgent luxury 
 of missionary homes. 
 
 These missionaries form a brave and inde- 
 pendent and self-respecting group of workers. 
 They deprecate being called heroic, and hate 
 being regarded with pity. Their joys and rec- 
 
122 GATEWAYS OF THE FAH EAST 
 
 ompenses are many, but their sacrifices and sor- 
 rows are real and bitter. A Single Mission, 
 this very year, mourned the loss of three little 
 children from three different households ■vsrithin 
 almost as many weeks. Yet these crises are 
 met with Christian courage. It would be im- 
 possible to forget the impression produced by 
 the services held in one of these sorrowing 
 homes. It was a June day of rare beauty. 
 Great clouds were drifting across the blue 
 heaven ; the air was quivering witii the song of 
 birds, and the breeze which stole gently 
 through the poplars was sweet with the fra- 
 grance of flowers. Yet, in spite of the dark 
 shadow which so plainly rested upon that com- 
 pany of sympathizing friends, the simple sol- 
 emn service seemed to be in harmony with the 
 summer scene about us with its brightness and 
 its beauty. The Scripture message was one of 
 cheer and hope and comfort, as it spoke of re- 
 union in the presence and at the appearing of 
 Christ, and the hymns contained notes of tri- 
 umph. The sense of, bereavement and of lone- 
 liness did make the homeland, with its relatives 
 and friends beyond the seas, seem very far 
 away, but the real Homeland, with its glories 
 and its joys, seemed strangely near, and the 
 company of Christian workers, met to express 
 their sympathy and love, appeared to form one 
 closely united family of faith. 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 123 
 
 These missionaries do show their courage, 
 not only in bearing such bereavements as this, 
 but in enduring continual separations from 
 loved ones, particularly those caused by the 
 necessity of sending children to America or 
 Europe to be educated. Happily this cause of 
 distress is being lessened. Schools for the 
 children of missionaries and of other foreign 
 residents are being established in many centres 
 of the Far East. An educator who has de- 
 voted his life to the development of one of the 
 largest of these schools declares that he was 
 impelled to the task by seeing the grief of a 
 certain missionary who was parting with his 
 children for a period of seven years. Long 
 after, as he met the same worker, he asked 
 whether the separation had been so long: 
 " Yes," was the reply, " it proved to be four- 
 teen years before I saw my family again ; they 
 were grown to be men and women. I really 
 never again saw my children." 
 
 To avoid such experiences, missionaries are 
 supporting some of these schools out of their 
 own meagre salaries. The Church at home 
 could make no wiser investment of funds than 
 by fostering, at its expense, all these necessary 
 institutions, not merely out of sympathy for 
 the missionaries, but because a longer residence 
 upon tiie field, on the part of the children of 
 missionaries, has resulted in a larger propor- 
 
124 GATEWAYS OF THE FAU EAST 
 
 tion of these children returning, after their col- 
 lege courses in America, to devote their lives to 
 missionary service; and, other things being 
 equal, those who in early years have become 
 familiar with the language and customs of Ori- 
 ental peoples, make the most efficient workers 
 in these various fields. 
 
 However, one returns from the East with an 
 impression that missionaries are no more se- 
 verely tested by separation and solitude than by 
 enforced society and compulsory companion- 
 ship. Not only are persons of contrasting 
 tastes and temperaments, who previously were 
 total strangers, compelled to live together for 
 years in the narrow limits of a contracted 
 " compound," but families of very different 
 antecedents and customs must live for long 
 periods under the same low roof. It is not 
 strange that at rare intervals frictions arise; 
 the remarkable thing is to note the harmony 
 and affection which more commonly prevail. 
 One of the obvious needs, in most stations, is 
 that of more and better homes for the workers ; 
 and one of the evident requirements of mis- 
 sionary candidates is that they should be rea- 
 sonably free from egoism, eccentricities and 
 fads. 
 
 Another impression brought baclc from the 
 East is that of the extreme difficulty of acqmr- 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 125 
 
 ing the use of Oriental languages. This diffi- 
 culty is not only an almost insuperable barrier 
 to the usefulness of many missionaries, but the 
 continual endeavour to attain proficiency forms 
 a severe, if often unrecognized, strain upon 
 their nerves and a menace to their health. 
 " Language schools " have been established, 
 most wisely; but their curricula should be en- 
 larged; and, furthermore, candidates who have 
 no ear for distinguishing sounds, and no apti- 
 tude for linguistic study, should seriously 
 question whether their life-work should lie in 
 either China, Korea or Japan. 
 
 Again, one could not fail to note the frail or 
 broken health of large numbers of missionary 
 workers. The unfavourable conditions of life, 
 the tax of overwork, the continual drain upon 
 their sympathies, make the maintenance of 
 physical vigour a matter of unusual difficulty. 
 Most mission boards and agencies are giving 
 increasing consideration to this matter, and 
 very wisely are providing for shorter terms of 
 service and for more frequent furloughs. 
 However, it would be a matter of wise econ- 
 omy if heed were taken to the urgent request 
 of the missionary body and a proper sanita- 
 rium, or series of sanataria, could be provided 
 for the Far East. There appears to be abso- 
 lutely no place in the Orient where a worker, 
 suffering from over-strain, or temporary ail- 
 
126 GATEWAYS OP THE FAE EAST 
 
 ment, can retire for rest and recuperation. 
 Here is the opportunity for some benevolent 
 person to make an invaluable contribution to 
 the missionary cause. 
 
 However, taken as a whole, the missionaries 
 are vigorous, efficient, devoted, optimistic, and 
 their influence forms the most hopeful feature 
 of all the situations and developments in the 
 Far East. 
 
 Nothing could be farther from the truth 
 than to imagine that missionaries, and large re- 
 inforcements of missionaries, are no longer 
 needed in the Orient. It is true that churches 
 have been established in China and Korea and 
 Japan, but in no one of these lands are the 
 churches so united, or so strong, as adequately 
 to meet the problem of evangelizing their own 
 peoples. In Eastern lands not one person out 
 of a hundred, in China scarcely one in a thou- 
 sand, is a Christian. Only a small fraction of 
 the population have heard of Christ. The 
 work of the missionaries has only been begun; 
 but it has been begun well, and it merits an 
 immeasurably increased appreciation and sup- 
 port. 
 
 After some months of continual association 
 with missionaries, one could not fail to return 
 from the field with the belief that the time has 
 come for more definite and aggressive and per- 
 
HOMEWAED BOUND 127 
 
 sonal evangelistic efifort. Particularly was this 
 evident in China and Japan. Other forms of 
 service are admirable and essential, whether 
 medical, or industrial, or educational, or social ; 
 and all of these may be used toward the one 
 supreme end of bringing individual souls into 
 vital relationship to Christ; but there is some- 
 times a danger of mistaking the means for the 
 end. The reports at the Shanghai National 
 Conference laid great stress upon this point; 
 and the Conference of Federated Missions, at 
 Karuizawa, took " Evangelism " as its theme, 
 and made ringing declarations along this line. 
 The feeling seemed to be unanimous that the 
 definite presentation of the Gospel message to 
 individuals must be made and kept more pre- 
 eminent in all the forms of missionary activity 
 which are being prosecuted so admirably and 
 with such notable success. 
 
 Finally, the supreme, conviction which one 
 brings back fromtlie Orient iS that of the unity 
 of the hurnali'J'^C^'.abd'thefsUpidency of the 
 Gospel ofXliwefc The differe'ricf& 'between the 
 peoples of-. China and Korea aii^%J^)an and 
 America a;:e'. obvious and^ interesting; tut their 
 similarities arid iSeJHJesSfe&tfe} oneness 'are far 
 more real and- importaTrit. 'All have the same 
 sorrows' and; joys, and hopes and,',fe^rs, and 
 temptations.'iilid sins, and gloriQU^/possibilities 
 
128 GATEWAYS OF THE FAE EAST 
 
 and spiritual needs ; and, for all, there is hope 
 and relief and light and triumph and liberty 
 and peace in the presence and the transforming 
 power of the living Christ. For making Him 
 known, the Orient has never offered more 
 abundant opportunities, nor have the obstacles 
 ever been more obvious or more real ; and these 
 obstacles and opportunities constitute the most 
 significant walls and gateways of the Far East. 
 
 Prinit^Si^'^e P«tit(T. Sthtet of ■■America