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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 087 
 
 24 834 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924087124834 
 
VIEW OF CHIEN-SHAN (Thousand Peaks) WITH BUDDHIST TEMPLE 
 
EAST 
 OF THE BARRIER 
 
 SIDE LIGHTS ON THE 
 MANCHURIA MISSION 
 
 Rev. J. MILLER GRAHAM 
 
 MISSIONARY OF THE UNITED FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 
 MOUKDEN, MANCHURIA 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO 
 
 Publishers of Evangelical Literature 
 1902 
 
TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 . CHAP. 
 
 I. Manchuria in Miniature 
 II. Peeps at the People . 
 
 III. Learning the Language 
 
 IV. In the Street Chapel . 
 v. In the Confessional 
 
 VI. The Making of Pastors 
 VII. On Circuit 
 VIII. The Prisoner of Hope . 
 IX. Women's Work and Witness 
 X. The Great Awakening 
 XL "The Fiery Trial" 
 XII. The "Boxer" Crisis . 
 XIII. After the Persecution 
 
 Index 
 Bibliography 
 
 PAGE 
 
 9 
 
 27 
 
 39 
 49 
 59 
 79 
 93 
 123 
 
 13s 
 
 145 
 IS9 
 189 
 219 
 
 233 
 237 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 View of Chien Shan (Thousand Peaks), 
 
 WITH Buddhist Temple . . . Frontispiece 
 
 A Chinese Salutation. . . . ."1 
 
 \ 3° 
 A Barber at Work . . . . ■] 
 
 The Author and His Teacher . . .42 
 
 Language Chart .... 46 
 
 The First Theological Licentiates, with "i 
 
 Professors Ross and Fulton . . • }- 86 
 
 The Present Theological Students 
 
 Setting out on a Journey 
 
 Interior of Inn .... 
 
 Chinese Official and His Son 
 
 Chinese Girls' School 
 
 A Buddhist Priest at Prayer Jt/^^ old Faith and 
 
 The Moukden Church . \ ''^« ^™ • 
 
 Mission Map of Manchuria showing Route 
 
 of the Trans-Siberian Railway . End of Book 
 
 130 
 142 
 
 I 170 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 MANCHURIA IN MINIATURE 
 
The chief geographical features in Manchuria are its excellent 
 waterways, its splendid forests, and its fertile soil. Those 
 colonists who have settled in its southern provinces fully realise 
 its value, and have turned out a hard-working and, in addition, 
 a hardy and progressive race. — Clive Bigham, C.M.G. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 MANCHURIA IN MINIATURE 
 
 THE name Manchuria is unknown to the 
 Chinese. They describe the country 
 vaguely as the " three Eastern provinces " ; 
 or when referring more particularly to the 
 southern province, they speak simply of " East 
 of the Barrier " — a name derived from the Great 
 Wall which stretches for twelve hundred and 
 fifty miles, from the seaboard on the east to 
 the plains of Mongolia on the west, and divides 
 the country from the eighteen provinces, or 
 what is known as China proper. Manchuria 
 is, however, an integral part of the Chinese 
 Empire. The inhabitants speak the same 
 language, have the same customs, and are 
 governed by the same laws, as the people all 
 over the Empire. As the cradle of the 
 Manchu dynasty there are naturally more of 
 that race in Manchuria (especially in the north) 
 than elsewhere, but not so many as is popularly 
 supposed. A recent authority ^ says, " of the 
 17,000,000 inhabitants of the three provinces 
 
 » Manchuria. Alex. Hosie, M.A., F.R.G.S. 
 
12 East of the Barrier 
 
 of Manchuria probably not more than ten per 
 cent, are Manchus." The bulk of the popula- 
 tion is made up partly of the " descendants of 
 Chinese who had already settled in Southern 
 Manchuria during the Ming dynastjV but more 
 especially of immigrants that pass j-early into 
 the country in a constant stream from the over- 
 flow population of the more crowded south. 
 xAs soon as the port opens in early spring, 
 thousands of immigrants cover the roads. 
 Most of them are men in middle life. But it 
 is no uncommon sight to witness whole families, 
 carrying bag and baggage on their Shantung 
 barrows, pushing on to the north and east, 
 where they cut down the virgin forest, and 
 obtain small land-holdings from the Government, 
 rent-free for the first four j-ears. The great 
 majority build for themselves homes, and settle 
 down in the country of their adoption either 
 as farmers or merchants, and never return per- 
 manently to their ancestral haunts. On the 
 whole, the dwellers in these northern provinces 
 are less conservative and less anti-foreign than 
 their brethren in the south, due probably to the 
 fact that they have left their old moorings and 
 entered upon a freer life. They are conse- 
 quently more progressive, more hardy, and 
 more susceptible to western influences. 
 
 Each of the three provinces is administered 
 by a Governor-General or Viceroy, who must 
 be a Manchu, assisted by a large staff of 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 13 
 
 officials of varying rank, both Manchu and 
 Chinese. The names of the three provinces 
 are: (i) Feng Tien or Hsing-Ching in the 
 south ; (2) Kirin in the centre ; and (3) Hei- 
 lung-chiang in the north. The country covers 
 a geographical area of some 300,000 square 
 miles. The most northerly province is much 
 the largest, but the most sparsely populated ; 
 while the southern province is not only the 
 most populous, but the best cultivated. It is 
 for the most part flat, except towards the east, 
 and extremely fertile. The country produces 
 millet, wheat, rice, beans, opium, tobacco, vege- 
 tables, and fruits of all kinds. It is rich in 
 undeveloped mineral wealth. Gold, silver, 
 copper, lead, iron, coal, asbestos, soda, are to 
 be found in greater or less abundance. Among 
 the principal exports are immense quantities 
 of bean-cake and bean-oil, with gold, silver, 
 silks, furs, skins, and pigs' bristles. The total 
 export trade for 1 899 was valued at ;£'3,7 8 3 ,9 1 4 
 sterling. 
 
 The climate is good. During the months 
 of July and August the heat is intense, — from 
 90° to 100° in the shade, — and is particularly 
 trying, owing to the hea\y rains which fall at 
 this season of the year. The winter is long 
 and severe — the barometer falling sometimes to 
 34° below zero. But as the atmosphere is dry, 
 and the sun warm, the winter cold is not so 
 disagreeable as the lowness of the temperature 
 
14 East of the Barrier 
 
 would seem to indicate. The transition from 
 heat to cold, and vice versd, is very rapid. 
 Spring and autumn do not extend beyond a 
 month, or six weeks at the most. The long 
 warm summer with its refreshing rains, enables 
 the farmers to reap two or three crops ; while 
 the long winter with its hard, smooth roads, 
 enables them to cart their produce to the port, 
 or else to the riverside, whence it is conveyed 
 by junks in the spring. 
 
 Prior to the Russian occupation of Port 
 Arthur and Ta-lien-wan (Dalny) in 1898, 
 Newchwang (Yingkow) was the only gateway 
 to these northern provinces. Newchwang was 
 made a treaty-port in i860. It has a native 
 population of about 60,000, and a large foreign 
 settlement, chiefly British, though the Russians 
 have now a growing colony three miles higher 
 up the river. Steamships of all nationalities 
 and a perfect forest of Chinese junks are con- 
 stantly to be seen in the river Liao, at the 
 mouth of which Newchwang stands. The bulk 
 of the trade is in the hands of the British, 
 Japanese, and Americans. The trade with 
 Japan alone has trebled itself since the war 
 with China in 1895. The total imports for 
 1899 were valued at ;^S,633,435 sterling. 
 
 Proceeding in a north - easterly direction 
 from Newchwang, the first city of any import- 
 ance that we touch is Haicheng (the city by 
 the sea). Though it is forty miles from the 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 15 
 
 seaboard, it would appear from the name that 
 it was not always so. It is on record that 
 Tang Wang- came to Haicheng in 1700. The 
 city was then in the hands of the Koreans. 
 He landed his troops at Hsaio-ma-tow (small 
 ferry), the name of a village five miles from 
 Haicheng. The attack was evidently made 
 from a hill that still bears the name of the 
 conqueror — Tang Wang Shan. The Koreans 
 were forced to retire, and from that time the 
 city has been in the hands of the Chinese. 
 On the rising ground within the city, two sides 
 of a Korean wall, two Korean gateways, and 
 an old well, within what must have been the 
 Korean fortress, are still extant. A magnifi- 
 cent Confucian temple now crowns this hill. 
 
 The population of Haicheng is estimated at 
 20,000. It is a third-grade (Hsien) city. It 
 was captured by the Japanese in December 
 
 1894, and was handed back to the Chinese 
 upon their evacuation of Liaotung in December 
 
 1895. The impression left upon the Chinese 
 mind by the Japanese was so favourable that 
 it is the least anti-foreign city in Manchuria 
 to-day. In the eastern quarter of the city 
 there are about one thousand Mahommedan 
 families. They have a school for the educa- 
 tion of their boys, and a pretty mosque, where 
 they practise unmolested the rites of their faith. 
 In one of the Buddhist temples (San Hsiao Si) 
 is to be found what is probably the largest idol 
 
1 6 East of the Barrier 
 
 in the country. It is an immense image of 
 Buddha, standing thirty feet high. The head 
 alone measures six feet. The priest of this 
 temple became a convert to Christianity, and 
 handed over the magnificent buildings to the 
 Christian Church. It was afterwards found, 
 however, that he had gone beyond his rights, 
 and the matter was quietly dropped. 
 
 Twenty miles north of Haicheng we skirt 
 one of the most picturesque spots in Manchuria 
 — the " Thousand Peaks " (Chien Shan), so 
 called from the innumerable jagged spurs on 
 the mountain range that cut the sky - line. 
 Flowers, trees, and shrubs luxuriate among 
 the hills in great profusion. There are 
 wolves, foxes, and snakes in plenty, and at 
 least one tiger is believed by the natives to 
 have his lair in the vicinity. Many of the hills 
 are crowned by Buddhist and Taoist temples. 
 In these religious retreats those who have re- 
 nounced the world lead a recluse life. The 
 temple of the " Dragon Spring " is the finest. 
 Most of them own sufficient land for the 
 support of the priests, which they let out 
 to the natives for cultivation. The priests 
 are extremely illiterate, and often positively 
 immoral. 
 
 Continuing our journey northwards for 
 another forty miles, the next place of importance 
 is Liaoyang — the ancient capital of Korea. 
 It is a second-grade (Chow) city, and much 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 17 
 
 larger than Haicheng. While still some 
 distance from the city, the attention of the 
 traveller is arrested by a lofty white tower, one 
 of the finest specimens of a number of such 
 towers throughout Manchuria. They are prob- 
 ably Lama structures of the sixteenth century. 
 Ruskin tells us that the function of the tower 
 is threefold: (i) to withstand war, (2) to look 
 forth for tidings, and (3) to point to Heaven. 
 The white tower of Liaoyang fulfils the last of 
 these. The circles that entwine it are probably 
 a symbolical representation of the cycles 
 through which the soul passes in its ascent to 
 Nirvana. This tower now marks the site of 
 the new Russian railway station, around which 
 quite a large Russian colony has sprung up 
 within the last three years. The population of 
 Liaoyang is about 150,000. The high wall 
 with which it is enclosed is in excellent preser- 
 vation, and the numerous orchards and market 
 gardens within the enclosure testify to un- 
 limited scope for expansion. It is probably 
 the best preserved city in Manchuria to-day. 
 It was practically saved from destruction 
 by the timely intervention of Dr. Westwater, 
 who was with the Russian army during the 
 campaign of 1900. 
 
 Some twenty miles north-east of Liaoyang, 
 at Yentai, among the low hills that run 
 parallel with the main road, the Russians 
 are now carrying on extensive mining opera- 
 
1 8 East of the Barrier 
 
 tions. Coal is found in great abundance. 
 From this point the hills gradually recede 
 eastwards, and the country is flat and uninter- 
 esting, unless one finds interest in the broad 
 and fertile acres that everywhere make up the 
 landscape. 
 
 Moukden, the capital of the province, is 
 forty miles from Liaoyang. As we approach 
 it we cross the Hun River, the largest tributary 
 of the Liao. In summer the junks are able 
 to come up within a few miles of the city. 
 Moukden has a population of some 300,000. 
 High stone walls enclose the city proper, 
 within which are to be found the various 
 Government offices and the principal business 
 houses. The residential parts of the city are 
 in the extensive suburbs that have grown up 
 on all sides. During the Boxer outbreak 
 Moukden suffered severely. The best shops 
 were pillaged and some of the finest streets 
 were burned to ashes. 
 
 Just within the east gate is the famous 
 " Fox " temple. It is much frequented by 
 people who pray to the canonised Fox — the 
 mythical ancestor of all the foxes. He is 
 represented now as a bland old gentleman 
 with long beard and cunning cast of eye. The 
 " Fox " temple is a kind of Chinese Lourdes. 
 Miracles of healing are said to take place, 
 and certainly many tablets adorn the walls 
 — the votive offerings of those devotees 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 19 
 
 who profess to have received healing at his 
 shrine. 
 
 The Confucian Temple of Literature in the 
 east suburb is one of the prettiest buildings in 
 the city. The Chinese say that the god of 
 literature resides in the middle star of the 
 plough. After graduation, students, gorgeously 
 dressed, march in procession with the magistrate 
 at their head, and solemnly prostrate themselves 
 before the tablet of Confucius. 
 
 On the north side of the city is the grave of 
 Wen Hsiang — a quiet resting-place encircled 
 by a pretty pine wood. Originally a "table 
 boy,'' he was educated by his master, whose 
 daughter he subsequently married. He was 
 president of several of the six Boards, and a 
 member of the Tsung li Yamen. In 1861 he 
 was Secretary of State. He died in 1876. 
 It is a curious fact that the most beautiful 
 spots in China are dedicated to the dead. A 
 few miles farther north, within a beautifully 
 wooded enclosure, are the tombs of the founders 
 of the Manchu dynasty. A number of Manchu 
 retainers guard the grounds. Until quite 
 recently no foreigner was allowed to enter the 
 sacred precincts. Inside are beautiful avenues 
 of elm trees, on either hand stone animals, 
 and at intervals temples where the wor- 
 shippers of the dead perform their ceremonies. 
 The tomb itself is on the west side, covered by 
 a huge mound, on the pinnacle of which grows 
 
20 East of the Barrier 
 
 the spirit tree. The Russian railway passes 
 ten miles west of the city of Moukden, in 
 deference to the prejudices of the Chinese, 
 who could not tolerate anything so barbarian 
 as a railway in the near neighbourhood of 
 their mighty dead. 
 
 To the north of Moukden the country is 
 more hilly. Passing through Yilu, a busy 
 little market-town, the next place of any im- 
 portance is Tiehling ("the city of the Iron Hill") 
 situated at the junction of the Liao and Tsai 
 Rivers. It is one of the most flourishing towns 
 in the province, and has a great commercial 
 future before it. It focuses the trade of the 
 country to the east, and has every facility for 
 transport, both by road and by river. The 
 name would seem to indicate that iron is to be 
 found in the vicinity. 
 
 A run of twenty-five miles over undulating 
 territory brings us to Kaiyuan, an important 
 market-town of some 25,000 inhabitants, 
 situated on the banks of the Ching River and at 
 the mouth of the valley of the same name. 
 It is the business centre of an immense 
 agricultural region lying chiefly to the east. 
 Still farther north is the large town of 
 Mai-mai-kai (Merchant Street). Each of 
 the places mentioned — Haicheng, Liaoyang, 
 Moukden, Yilu, Tiehling, Kaiyuan, and Mai- 
 mai-kai — is an important missionary centre of 
 the United Free Church, from which there 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 21 
 
 flows a continual stream of influence upon the 
 neighbourhoods around. Important however, 
 as these towns and cities are, Manchuria is 
 after all a country of villages. The people 
 are a race of farmers, and no matter in what 
 direction we turn, we pass a village at every 
 two or three miles' interval. 
 
 The three so-called religions of China all 
 flourish on Manchurian soil. These are: (i) 
 Confucianism ; the cult more particularly of the 
 literary and governing classes. (2) Taoism ; 
 which represents the reaction in Chinese re- 
 ligious thought against the hard materialism 
 of Confucius. Its founder was Lao Tzu, a 
 contemporary of Confucius. His mystical 
 philosophy has not deeply influenced the 
 nation, though it has given the Christian 
 Church some of its choicest and most spiritual 
 converts. (3) Buddhism; the religion of the 
 bulk of the peasantry. It is not uncommon, 
 however, to find people whose religious ex- 
 perience is coloured by all three. Confucianism 
 has no priesthood, so that priests are either 
 Buddhist or Taoist, easily distinguishable from 
 the laity by their low-necked dress, or shaven 
 head. The religious indifference of the people 
 is frequently illustrated by their readiness to 
 call in either to say prayers or conduct funeral 
 ceremonies. 
 
 The traveller in Manchuria cannot fail to 
 notice the very large number of wayside 
 
22 East of the Barrier 
 
 shrines. On every hillside, under village trees, 
 and at the parting of the ways, these evidences 
 of a primitive nature - vi^orship meet the eye. 
 They are the shrines of the god of the hills. 
 He dates back to the time when the hills were 
 forest - clad. He is always represented as a 
 young man with an axe over his shoulder. 
 He is the clearer of the forest ; he knows the 
 secrets of the forest. The people of Korea 
 pray to him to this hour. On his left should 
 sit the god of nervous diseases ; on his right 
 the god of the ground, who is prayed to at 
 death and takes charge of the spirit after 
 death. These wayside shrines are everywhere 
 over the country, testifying to the tenacity of 
 a nature-worship, which is older than any of 
 the religious systems, and as vigorous to-day 
 as any of them. 
 
 William C. Burns was the pioneer missionary 
 to Manchuria. Though he lived for only seven 
 months in Newchwang, his death attracted atten- 
 tion to this unevangelised part of the world. 
 " God buries His workmen, but carries on His 
 work." Since Burns' death in 1868 vast 
 changes have been wrought in the religious 
 condition of the people of Manchuria. Mission- 
 aries have established themselves all over the 
 interior, and a native Christian church of twenty 
 thousand members testifies to the success of 
 their labours. The three Protestant societies 
 at work are: (i) The Mission of the Irish 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 23 
 
 Presbyterian Church, since 1869, working to 
 the west of the river Liao, at Newchwang, 
 Chin-chow, Kuang-ning, Moukden, Hsin-min- 
 tun, Fa-ku-men, and in the north at Kuan- 
 Cheng-Tzu, Kirin, and Ku-yli-Shu. (2) The 
 Mission of the United Free Church of Scotland, 
 since 1872, working on the east of the Liao and 
 towards Korea, also in the north at Ashiho. 
 These two missions united in 1890, and 
 though still controlled by separate committees 
 at home, are one before the eyes of the native 
 church. (3) The Danish Lutheran Mission, 
 since 1895, working on the southern sea- 
 board ; but they are not numerous. In ad- 
 dition to these societies, there is (4) The 
 Mission of the Roman Catholics, since 1838. 
 They are probably as numerous as the Pro- 
 testant Missions. They observe no territorial 
 limitations, but " count the whole world their 
 parish." 
 
 The projection of a branch of the great 
 Trans-Siberian Railway through Manchuria is 
 bound to exercise a potent influence over the 
 future development of the country. The line, 
 which is now completed, runs from Port Arthur 
 in the south, in a north-easterly direction, right 
 through the plain to Harbin, a distance of 
 six hundred miles. At Harbin it meets the 
 junction line from Vladivostock, a distance of 
 four hundred miles. There is also a loop line 
 from Newchwang, which joins the line from Port 
 
24 East of die BaErier 
 
 Ar thnr at Ta sMi ckzac (gieat straie bd^^), a 
 (Hstaace rf tweaty milpg. Already fiK laihray 
 has b^cn. to tap raucji <rf tiie tia^c foeiBeEly 
 Gamed oa by FDed and by mts. "As a 
 ri vili«gng powier it win do miicii to derelap 
 thik vast and fertile ptKtitKi of fTti^m, espkrit- 
 ing its resoaices and educating' its peaffe. 
 Canps^ieisiTe in its inc^ftiaei, pafVifiit and 
 arduQos in its execnticKi, its (XKopl^icKi nnst 
 assuredly give a m^iity imp^i^ to the mcKal 
 and matoial esolnticRi rf Ooental Asia \ aisd 
 no CKie, bow^TET Rnssoi^iobe, can hcsiestly 
 
 besitate to g|'W ar irytst^ and vi ^ftaiea'fmcae* witb 
 
 sn<i a msgnificait and such a fcuinaii^ng 
 enterprise."" - 
 
 UptKi tbe Qgt hr raV i£ tbe "Boxer" hostilities 
 tiie Russian antbcKities tormally took posses- 
 sion of Xewclrarang, and it is now tEnqwrari^ 
 nnder tfieir administration. Of the Riis^an 
 acticm, ilr. Fnliord, Ae Brit^ QeseI at th^ 
 time, wtitts : " On July zSdi, igca, tl^ Rnssan 
 Cansnl, bearing a rEnonx rfr^^ a Rns^an csp- 
 tivE was beid in tlK native city, -snotE to fee 
 Taotai that be nmst be givtn js^ imiaediatrfv, 
 <K- if anytiiing fej^ieaed to >7Tm tbe city unoM 
 be bcKaberded. Tbe nmiacrr was t^T^ bat thg^ 
 tEireat gave rfee to great alarm. On Aiignst 
 3rd tbe Russian Ccnsol iafismed tbe Taotsi 
 that next day, being a Russian festnra!, a 
 salnte c£ thirty-one gnns woold be fised by the 
 
 ^ A Yiicr is dzmx. CEre i !ru':ti i_ CJCG. 
 
Manchuria in Miniature 25 
 
 Russian gunboat lying in the river off the town. 
 The Taotai protested that this would terrify 
 the townspeople, and he feared that, under the 
 impression that they were being attacked, the 
 anti-foreign party might attempt some violence 
 against the European quarter. Next morning 
 early — August 4 th — the lawless element of the 
 town evidently got the upper hand, and ad- 
 vanced against the barricade guarding our end 
 of the city. One of the barricades was effi- 
 ciently defended by the volunteers of the 
 foreign community. The Russian forces then 
 took possession of the town, and a Russian 
 civil administration was provisionally estab- 
 lished. The foreign community remained 
 under assurances from the Russian authorities 
 of the enjoyment of their treaty privileges." 
 
 During the following months the Russian 
 army invaded the interior, and took possession 
 of all the cities along the Imperial route. Now 
 that order has been restored, the administration 
 has been handed back to the Chinese officials, 
 although Russian influence is still dominant, 
 and likely to remain so. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PEEPS AT THE PEOPLE 
 
A people of much intelligence and some wisdom.— Dr. 
 Giles. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PEEPS AT THE PEOPLE 
 
 THE most fascinating part of a missionary's 
 work is that which brings him into 
 contact with the life of the people. No man 
 in China is more happily circumstanced than 
 he for observing the peculiar workings of the 
 native mind. Though the rigid etiquette of 
 the country precludes him from engaging in 
 pastoral work, in the sense in which we under- 
 stand it at home, — house-to-house visitation, — 
 still he has ample opportunity, in the troops 
 of visitors who throng his study from day to 
 day, for observing those more prominent qualities 
 which mark off the Chinese race from the rest 
 of mankind. Not unnaturally he is prepared 
 to think well of the people whose good he 
 seeks. " Love thinketh no evil." He regards 
 them with a sympathetic, kindly eye, and 
 while not altogether blind to their weaknesses, 
 is prepared to do justice to their many ad- 
 mirable qualities. By a constant effort of 
 intellectual detachment he endeavours to see 
 life from their point of view, and by the growing 
 
 29 
 
30 East of the Barrier 
 
 bond of attachment thus created, is the better 
 able to draw out the best that is in them, and 
 lift them up to higher levels of life. 
 
 Their perfect charm of manner is perhaps 
 their most attractive characteristic. Their style 
 of dress — long flowing robes of blue cotton, 
 with silk vest worn above ; white cotton socks, 
 velvet shoes, and, not least, their plaited queue 
 of jet-black hair with its silk tassel dangling at 
 their heels — lends grace to every movement 
 of the body, and a touch of the picturesque to 
 the otherwise monotonous features of the streets. 
 A race of born actors, they have acquired 
 through long practice the faculty of always 
 putting their best foot foremost. In speech 
 and behaviour they are careful in their relations 
 with each other not to offend ; are perfectly 
 cool and self-possessed, and are never at a loss, 
 under the most trying circumstances, for the 
 right word or the correct attitude. Even a 
 coolie, thrust suddenly into the presence of his 
 superiors, understands perfectly what is expected 
 of him, and acquits himself like a gentleman 
 as though to the manner born. It is not 
 difficult for the foreigner who has just arrived 
 in China to understand why the Chinese should 
 regard him as a barbarian. In spite of his 
 fancied superiority, he soon discovers that in 
 comparison with these people of the East he 
 is a mere child in the art of social etiquette. 
 As Dr. Arthur Smith reminds us : " The Anglo- 
 
A CHINESE SALUTATION 
 
 A IJAKBLR AT WORK 
 
Peeps at the People 31 
 
 Saxon has no doubt many virtues, and among 
 them is to be found a very large percentage of 
 fortiter in re, but a very small percentage of 
 suaviter in modo. When, therefore, we come 
 to the Orient, and find the vast population of 
 the immense Asiatic continent so greatly our 
 superiors in the art of lubricating the friction 
 which is sure to arise in the intercourse of man 
 with man, we are filled with that admiration 
 which is the tribute of those who cannot do a 
 thing to those who can do it easily and well. 
 The most bigoted critic of the Chinese is forced 
 to admit that they have brought the practice 
 of politeness to a pitch of perfection which is 
 not only unknown in Western lands, but pre- 
 vious to experience is un thought of and almost 
 unimaginable." 
 
 To some extent, of course, their admirable 
 etiquette has the defects of its qualities. One 
 finds this in the tendency to exaggeration and 
 flattery so common in everyday speech. Their 
 horror of directness, their determination not to 
 offend, has given rise to a wide vocabulary of 
 circumlocutionary phrases that are sometimes 
 positively untrue. But to tell a lie, rather than 
 be offensive, would seem to be the obvious duty 
 of every Chinaman. They address each other 
 continually as the " Honourable Mr. So-and-so." 
 An ugly fact is invariably alluded to under 
 cover of some veiled periphrasis. They never 
 speak of " death " directly, but say that the 
 
32 East of the Barrier 
 
 deceased is " not in," that he has " greeted 
 the age," " ascended to the sky," or returned to 
 the " Heavenly Hall." 
 
 This " talent for indirection," as it has been 
 called, is carried even further than circumlocu- 
 tionary phraseology. When the business in 
 hand is of extreme delicacy, such as borrowing 
 money, or negotiating a betrothal, it necessi- 
 tates the calling in of a middle-man to act as 
 " go-between." Should your " boy " wish an 
 advance in his wages, it is probable that he will 
 not come in person to tell you so. He enlists 
 the services of your " teacher," and even your 
 " teacher " goes about his task in a truly 
 circuitous fashion. He watches his opportunity. 
 Some morning he finds you in an unusually 
 good mood, then he naively asks you if you 
 are aware that millet (the staple food of the 
 peasantry) has risen in price, adding that, of 
 course, fuel has also risen so much. By this 
 time you are aware that somebody's wages are 
 in question, but whose? Not his own, for he 
 would not talk in this fashion about himself 
 " There's So-and-so," he continues, indicating 
 with a nod in the direction of the kitchen ; he 
 has so many " mouths " to feed. Then heaving 
 a sigh, he remarks, as he takes himself out of 
 the room, " I wonder how some people live." 
 A certain evangelist who wished a rise in his 
 salary, wrote me letters for some months from 
 his country station. He drew a terrible picture 
 
Peeps at the People 33 
 
 of the famine prices he was paying for the bare 
 necessaries of life ; but though he turned up to 
 see me at the end of each month and received 
 his saJary, no allusion was ever made to the 
 correspondence by either of us. After a few 
 months the letters ceased. But he knew that 
 if he could do better I was prepared to let him 
 go elsewhere. From this it will be seen that 
 words are not always the index of a Chinaman's 
 real thoughts. He often purposely uses language 
 to veil his thought, but he expects you to be 
 shrewd enough to divine his meaning. He 
 regards the straight, brusque frankness of the 
 foreigner as a weakness, not as a virtue. And 
 every Chinaman knows that this is the most 
 vulnerable point in the foreigner's coat-of-mail. 
 After one has lived amongst the people for 
 awhile, one begins, of course, to get glimpses 
 beneath the surface, and to see how much of 
 their etiquette is purely superficial. Every 
 Chinese wears a mask, which he calls his 
 " face," but it would be the height of impropriety 
 to pull it aside and look at the real man. 
 High officials have been known to chose death 
 rather than " lose face." It is everything to 
 them. It embraces self-respect, honour, amour 
 propre, nay, even conscience itself. They speak 
 of " losing one's face " ; of " keeping one's face " ; 
 of " giving a person face " ; of " taking away a 
 person's face " ; or, when reparation cannot be 
 made, they say " his face cannot come down." 
 
 3 
 
34 East of the Barrier 
 
 To accuse a person of a fault in the presence of 
 others is to take his face away. If he is your 
 servant, he cannot, of course, remain in your 
 service, and will probably acquaint you next 
 day with the fact that he has had a message 
 from home informing him of his mother's illness 
 or death, and is profoundly sorry to tell you 
 that he must leave your honourable service for 
 an indefinite period. If you wish to give 
 " face " to one you have insulted, the common 
 custom is to invite him to a feast. In the 
 presence of mutual friends reparation is made, 
 and all enmity ceases. To offer a person a 
 handsome present is to give him " great face." 
 But the acceptance of a gift generally entails 
 op the receiver the return of something of equal 
 value. Missionaries have sometimes to pay 
 dearly for their intimacy with the official 
 classes, because they are expected to make a 
 return in the shape of some foreign article. It 
 is said of the early Jesuit Fathers that they 
 propagated the gospel in Pekin by the liberal 
 distribution of European clocks. And, on one 
 occasion, after persecution had driven them 
 from the capital, they were one day summarily 
 recalled to the court, because all the clocks in 
 the palace had stopped and no one knew how 
 to set them a-going. 
 
 The Chinese are never in a hurry, and yet 
 they are a most industrious people. To toil 
 so hard and yet remain so poor illustrates the 
 
Peeps at the People 35 
 
 irony of their history. From dawn to sunset 
 they are in harness. They work seven days 
 each week, and have never discovered the art 
 of enjoying a month's holiday. Yet withal 
 they go about their work in a truly artistic 
 fashion. They are Asiatics, and they work 
 as such. They think nothing of resting in 
 the midst of their labours, four or five times 
 between regular meals, to smoke or to sip tea. 
 To have anything to do with Chinese work- 
 men is to undergo a severe discipline in 
 patience, so much so that it has been play- 
 fully remarked that after a missionary has 
 built for himself a church or a house, he re- 
 quires a furlough to restore his shattered 
 nerves. Though his working-day is not so 
 long, by several hours, your Occidental can 
 generally pack as much into one hour as your 
 Asiatic does in three, and therein lies the whole 
 factor of race supremacy. The Oriental has not 
 our energy. The sun is in his blood, and he has 
 yielded to the enervating influences of climate 
 for centuries. As a workman he has little 
 mechanical inventiveness. Show him a short 
 cut how to do a piece of work to-day, but do 
 not be surprised if you find him back in the 
 old groove to-morrow. Introduce some labour- 
 saving machines, and spend infinite pains in 
 instructing him in their use, or in demonstrat- 
 ing their utility, but do not be disappointed 
 should you find them erelong rusting in the 
 
^6 East of the Barrier 
 
 fields. The claims of habit would seem to be 
 inexorable, and one almost despairs of ever 
 getting the Chinese mind to grasp the mean- 
 ing of the word progress. 
 
 The prevalent opinion of the Chinaman in 
 this country is that he is a lying rogue, a 
 cruel and inhuman monster. The misfortune 
 is that we seldom read of him except when he 
 is misbehaving — killing foreigners or attempt- 
 ing a revolution, then his doings are flashed 
 abroad in every newspaper of the western 
 world. He does lie and he is cruel. But 
 these are not attributes of the Chinese alone, 
 but of all Asiatics, of all semicivilised races 
 that have not come under the humanising 
 touch of Christianity. Their cruelty has its 
 roots in their low estimate of the value of 
 human life, and it will not disappear until 
 that is altered. Most of their dark deeds are 
 due to ignorant superstition, or to the master- 
 ing passion of fanaticism ; but to dispose of 
 the Chinaman by saying that he is cruel is to 
 take an unbalanced view of his character. In 
 his natural habitat he is hospitably disposed, 
 patient under trial, and only vindictive because 
 of some fancied insult or real injustice. 
 
 The conservatism of the race is proverbial. 
 Their golden age is in the past. Their minds 
 look backward, not forward. Their educational 
 system, which consists in memorising their 
 classical books, fosters their conservative in- 
 
Peeps at the People 37 
 
 stinct. The fever of commercial competition, 
 of international rivalry, has not yet entered 
 their veins, and they may be said to be lack- 
 ing in ambition. Their ideal is neither com- 
 mercial — though they are good merchants ; 
 nor military — though they make excellent 
 soldiers when properly drilled and led ; but 
 literary. The " superior person " or ideal man 
 in China is he who is most deeply versed in 
 classical lore ; who writes the most elegant 
 style. A people possessing many great and 
 good qualities, their civiHsation yet presents 
 many glaring defects to the critic from the 
 west. Chief of these is their lack of conscience 
 and consequent instability of character. If 
 they are ever to take their place amongst the 
 nations of the West, or make that contribution 
 to the aggregate of human good which their 
 really great qualities entitle us to expect, then 
 they must rise above their narrow isolation, 
 antiquated scholasticism, and tribal conceptions 
 of duty, and advance to a less artificial and 
 less encumbered life, endeavouring to keep 
 pace with the march and progress of the 
 civilised world. Otherwise, they will go down 
 before the pressure of that civilisation and 
 pass from the stage of history like the effete 
 civilisations of antiquity. 
 
 In a recent book. Sir Robert Hart has in- 
 dicated his belief that the only way to obviate 
 the " yellow peril " — which to his mind is a 
 
38 East of the Barrier 
 
 real danger, and one that may at no distant 
 date threaten the peace of Europe — Hes (i) 
 either in the partition of the Empire, so that 
 the separate parts might be held in check ; or 
 (2) in the gradual Christianising of the people, 
 and the leavening of Chinese society with the 
 restraints of Christian principle. His words 
 are : " Nothing but partition or a miraculous 
 spread of Christianity in its best form — a 
 not impossible but scarcely-to-be-looked-for 
 religious triumph — will avert the result." The 
 alternative is between a policy of Force and a 
 policy of Love. The first means bloodshed, 
 anarchy, chaos ; the second means social order, 
 gradual evolution, ultimate emancipation. 
 There can be no doubt surely into which 
 scale we should throw the weight of our 
 influence. " No social revolution and no in- 
 tellectual education could so thoroughly ad- 
 vance the moral and material evolution of 
 China as the willing adoption of the Christian 
 faith." 1 
 
 ^A Year in China. Clive Bigham, C.M.G. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LEARNING THE LANGUAGE 
 
What kind of country is China ? 
 
 I know very little about it : all I know is that it is a 
 very large country far to the east, but scarcely large enough 
 to contain its inhabitants, who are so numerous, that though 
 China does not cover one-ninth part of the world, its inhabitants 
 amount to one-third of the population of the world. 
 
 And do they talk as we do ? 
 
 Oh no ! I know nothing of their language, but I have 
 heard that it is quite different from all others, and so difficult 
 that none but the cleverest people amongst foreigners can 
 master it. — Lavengro. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LEARNING THE LANGUAGE 
 
 THE advent of the young missionary on the 
 mission field, and the birth of a child 
 into the world, may seem two very different 
 things, but it is the only analogy that does 
 justice to the situation, in the opinion of those 
 who have passed through the experience. His 
 first task is to learn to speak. Until he has 
 reduced the labyrinthine mass of sounds to an 
 intelligible system, and acquired the difficult 
 habit of uttering them in speech, his condition 
 is one of helpless bewilderment. There is no 
 royal road to the accomplishment of this end. 
 " Sit down doggedly, sir," is not a comfortable 
 maxim, but it is a wise one, and yields the 
 best results. 
 
 The first Chinaman with whom the young 
 missionary becomes intimately acquainted is 
 his " teacher." As this important personage 
 enters the house after breakfast (before it, if he 
 is allowed) to begin the work of the day, he 
 makes a profound bow, which is more or less 
 awkwardly returned. Putting his two hands 
 
42 East of the Barrier 
 
 together (for instead of shaking yours, he 
 prefers to shake his own) he bends his body 
 till his hands nearly touch the ground. He 
 then slowly raises them upwards, till, standing 
 perfectly erect, they reach the level of his head. 
 For a moment he stands thus, then quickly 
 drops them by his side. This done, his first 
 word is no insipid remark upon the weather 
 (for there is no weather in Manchuria), but a 
 comfortable request to ascertain if you have 
 " eaten your food." This formality over, the 
 business of the day begins. He reads a 
 sentence or two in Chinese, which you struggle 
 to repeat after him, attempting to reproduce 
 the sound, and to remember the formation of 
 the character simultaneously. This form of 
 vocal gymnastic goes on for two or three hours 
 without intermission, with a growing sensation 
 of despair on your part, and a not imperceptible 
 pity on his. You pause and attempt conversa- 
 tion, which is apt to degenerate into monologue. 
 Of course, you do not understand, but your ear 
 must grow accustomed to sounds. He hunts 
 up the characters in your book and points to 
 the translation, and with the help of a vivid 
 imagination you may perhaps divine his mean- 
 ing. He is asking your honourable age ? 
 How many " mouths " there are in your vener- 
 able home? What is the amount of your 
 salary ? or perhaps he hints that it would be 
 refreshing to sip a cup of tea on so hot a day. 
 
Learning the Language 43 
 
 All the time you are carefully noting these 
 phrases for future use. Should you happen to 
 leave the room for a moment, he forgets his 
 rigid decorum, rises and makes good use of his 
 time, examining the articles about the room. 
 One missionary who used to read in his bed- 
 room (perhaps he had no other place) had 
 occasion to leave his teacher for a moment. 
 The weakness of the gentleman in question 
 was a childish liking for foreign cakes. He 
 saw on the washstand what he took to be one 
 of his favourite rarities, and instantly proceeded 
 to take a good bite of it. It was scented soap ! 
 On his return, the missionary took in the 
 situation and asked him if he liked it. True 
 to the " celestial " nature, not to betray the 
 slightest trace of chagrin, he replied warmly in 
 the affirmative ! 
 
 In learning a new language it is a mistake 
 to stick too rigidly to books. A language is a 
 living thing, and can best be acquired (i) by 
 attentive listening, (2) by constant speaking, 
 (3) by assiduous note-taking. Beginners are apt 
 to stuff their memories with words and phrases, 
 which unfortunately have a knack, like " Jeems " 
 and " Thomas," of not coming when called 
 for. The Chinese have a saying to the effect 
 that it is all very well to have money in the 
 bank when you are at home, but when travel- 
 ling that will avail you nothing if you have no 
 ready cash in your pocket. Speech is current 
 
44 East of the Barrier 
 
 coin, and is only of value when it can be put 
 readily into circulation. 
 
 One's first attempts to speak Chinese are 
 apt, of course, to be humiliating. You take a 
 walk into the country and spy a Chinaman 
 coming along the road. There is no one near, 
 so you resolve not to let the opportunity slip. 
 You greet him with some of your newly-acquired 
 phrases. To your amazement, he replies, " I 
 don't understand foreign talk." He does not 
 understand you because he does not expect to 
 understand you. It takes him some time to 
 perceive that it is possible for a foreigner to 
 speak Chinese. 
 
 The very slight difference in sound of the 
 various Chinese words, caused by what is tech- 
 nically known as the tones, is a veritable slough 
 of despond which the young pilgrim can hardly 
 hope to escape. For example, ma'- means 
 " mother " ; ma^ means " hemp " ; ma^ means 
 " horse " ; and ma* is " to curse." Care must be 
 taken, therefore, when addressing a mother not 
 to swear, or when calling for your horse not to 
 be handed a piece of hemp. Tell your " boy " 
 to bring a chair, but do not be surprised if he 
 presents you with a cake of soap (yi^ tzu, yi^ 
 tzu). A missionary who wished his " boy " to 
 go to the street to buy a cupboard, failed to 
 understand his reluctance till he discovered 
 that he had really asked him to buy a " foreign- 
 devil " (kuei : kuei tzu). Another, who wished 
 
Learning the Language 45 
 
 to invite a friend into a restaurant for some re- 
 freshments, only understood why the invitation 
 was decHned when informed that he had really 
 asked him to walk into his coffin (kuan tzu : 
 kuan). Not less amusing was the enthusiastic 
 missionary who, while inculcating the duty of 
 preaching the doctrine (ch'uan tao), really 
 informed his hearers that they ought to wear 
 trousers (chuan t'ao). 
 
 Learning to speak, however, is only one-half 
 the task of acquiring a knowledge of Chinese. 
 The missionary must learn to read. If ambi- 
 tious, he may even acquire the art of writing — 
 but this is a herculean task. The Chinese 
 language, being ideographic, each hieroglyphic 
 is a symbolical representation of a given thing 
 or idea. It is composed of two parts. The 
 part to the left (or as happens sometimes, on 
 the top) is the radical, which gives a clue to 
 the meaning ; while that on the right hand (or 
 as sometimes happens, below) is the phonetic, 
 and gives the proper sound to the whole word. 
 The table on the following page will help the 
 reader to understand how the language is 
 built up ; while it will discover to him a fund 
 of humour, lurking where he perhaps never 
 dreamt of its existence. 
 
 The total number of Chinese characters has 
 been estimated at 50,000, but more than one- 
 half are obsolete. The using vocabulary of 
 an educated man seldom amounts to more 
 
46 East of the Barrier 
 
 than between 5000 and 6000, while the 
 number used in the translation of the New 
 Testament is limited to 2713, and the thirteen 
 classics are made up of 6544 separate 
 characters. The young student gets his 
 
 4: 
 
 "To Seize'* 
 
 "ipeaco" 
 One woman 
 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 "Mouth" 
 
 4i 
 
 •■ Honesty " 
 
 OrlBlnal form 
 
 under "ciawt" 
 
 •■AWHo" 
 A woman and 
 
 under a roor 
 
 '■ToQuarrBl'' 
 Two women 
 
 the doof 
 "Woman" 
 
 m 
 
 "To ask" 
 A mouth Inside 
 
 biP hit word 
 
 a 
 
 "ASauarB 
 
 Present tormi 
 for "M«n " 
 
 J^plg under a 
 n>ol 
 
 togetfiar 
 
 "InftlBue »nd 
 Slander- 
 
 "Son" 
 
 Vie door 
 •■Ear-; 
 
 «2J 
 
 "A Prisoner" 
 
 H7 
 
 " A r<eld " 
 Divided Inta 
 
 •■ Marrlaae- 
 A -Oman and 
 
 .one'ool 
 
 ■Three womefv 
 together 
 
 "To Covet" 
 
 "Good- 
 
 Woman and 
 
 r4 
 
 ■•To Listen" 
 Ear inside the 
 
 Man Inside ■ 
 box 
 
 ■'A Dooi" 
 
 lou 
 
 ^^ 
 
 "A Farmer'' 
 
 Man betide a. 
 
 Note. — Chinese characters read downwards and begin at the 
 right hand corner. The above table is taken from The 
 Ladies' Home Journal, 1900, Philadelphia. 
 
 " teacher " to write a dozen or so of these 
 characters daily on little detached slips of 
 paper, on the back of which he writes the 
 sound in Roman letters, with proper tone and 
 meaning. One enthusiastic beginner hit on 
 the ingenious plan of having a number of those 
 
Learning the Language 47 
 
 slips of paper served up to breakfast every 
 morning. His " boy " had instructions to put 
 a hundred or two in the sugar basin, and he did 
 not allow himself to begin breakfast till he had 
 passed them one by one into the slop basin. 
 Nothing but constant reading accustoms the 
 eye to the peculiar formation of the characters, 
 but after a year or two one is able to read 
 almost as fluently as in English. After a six 
 months' residence in the country it is possible 
 to converse a little; but, in the case of most 
 men who are not gifted with a special genius 
 for the acquisition of languages, it invariably 
 takes from eighteen months to two years before 
 they can attempt the sustained and dignified 
 speech essential to good preaching. 
 
 Interest in the people grows with a growing 
 mastery of the language. Excursions into the 
 rich field of Chinese literature open up a new 
 world to the student, amply rewarding him for 
 all past struggles. 
 
 Apart from the classical books of the sages, 
 which interpret better than anything else the 
 gravitas of the Chinese character, there are 
 whole libraries of novels, plays, and poems that 
 throw a flood of light upon the lighter and 
 more human moods of this most wonderful 
 people. It has been well said that "we are 
 too apt to give the Chinaman credit for being 
 interested in little else than ' cash ' and ' chow- 
 chow ' (food) ; in spite of ourselves we cannot 
 
48 East of the Barrier 
 
 conceive him in an ideal aspect, or credit him 
 with any delicacy of feeling or fineness of taste. 
 Yet these people also are richly endowed with 
 that mysterious creative power of imagination 
 which gives to genius its light, and to love its 
 glory. Across their hearts also has swept the 
 rush of enthusiasm for brave deeds, and the 
 sweetness of kind thoughts, trembling tender- 
 ness, discursive fancy, soft breathings of pity 
 and the rain of tears." ^ 
 
 ^ Chinese Fiction. Rev. Geo. T. Candlin. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN THE STREET CHAPEL 
 
The offer of Christ to sinful men wherever they can be found 
 is not the offer of an alternative religion to them, in the sense 
 in which Hinduism and Taoism and Confucianism are religions. 
 It is the offer to men of the secret of life, of something that will 
 cleanse them from all that hinders and defeats their spiritual 
 natures, of something that will enable them to realise their 
 true selves, and become men in the true and full sense of the 
 word. — Ascent through Christ. 
 
 60 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN THE STREET CHAPEL 
 
 WE will suppose that the missionary has 
 acquired a sufficient knowledge of the 
 language to enable him to preach a little. 
 Preaching in China is not quite the same, how- 
 ever, as preaching at home. The missionary 
 does not shut himself up in his study for the 
 best part of the week preparing two elaborate 
 and cultured discourses to be read on Sunday 
 to the congregation. He has to preach to 
 Christians on the Lord's day, it is true, but 
 he has also to evangelise the heathen during 
 the other days of the week. This is carried 
 on, for the most part, in the street-preaching 
 chapels. These chapels are open for a few 
 hours every afternoon. They are situated in 
 main thoroughfares to attract passers-by, and 
 are generally large enough to accommodate 
 from fifty to a hundred people. The buildings 
 are quite unpretentious ; not in the least 
 ecclesiastical. Any old shop or store with 
 sufficient air-space and a few forms is all that 
 is required. They are only distinguishable 
 
52 East of the Barrier 
 
 from the other buildings around by a glance 
 at the sign-board — " Jesus Religion Chapel." 
 On entering the building the most noticeable 
 features are the characters inscribed upon the 
 walls ; sayings from the classics, such as : " He 
 who offends against Heaven has no place where 
 he can pray," are found side by side with the 
 Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Lord's 
 Prayer, or, " The time is fulfilled, repent and 
 believe the gospel." Not seldom I have seen 
 a map of the world adorning the walls. Ad- 
 joining the chapel is frequently a book-shop, 
 where books of various kinds dealing with 
 Christianity can be found, but especially the 
 Scriptures in the vernacular of the people. 
 
 Let us go to one of these chapels and spend 
 the afternoon. Two native evangelists live on 
 the premises behind the chapel, and are in 
 charge of all the arrangements. During the 
 former part of each day they are busy receiving 
 visitors, making calls, or studying, for they are 
 students as well as evangelists, and have 
 examinations to pass. These evangelists are, 
 as a rule, the pick of our converts ; young men 
 of bright intelligence, ready utterance, and love 
 for souls. About four o'clock the door opens. 
 We commence by singing a hymn : " There is 
 a gate that stands ajar," or other popular air. 
 The singing attracts the passers - by on the 
 street. They begin to drop into the chapel 
 in twos and threes, till, at the close of the 
 
In the Street Chapel 53 
 
 hymn, from twenty to thirty people have 
 gathered together. These, be it observed, are 
 all men. Women do not attend the street 
 chapel. Chinese etiquette does not sanction 
 mixed audiences, and indeed women are 
 seldom to be seen on the streets at all. The 
 men seat themselves on the forms provided, 
 light their pipes if they choose, and quietly 
 listen. The whole meeting is of a free-and- 
 easy character. They go out and in at will. 
 Only there is no conversation — a law, however, 
 which is sometimes honoured in the breach, as 
 it is almost impossible for the irrepressible 
 Chinaman to sit still and hold his tongue. 
 The range of topics upon which one may 
 speak to such an audience is fairly wide, so 
 long as we treat our subjects in such a way as 
 to show that they have some affinity with the 
 circle of ideas already familiar to the Chinese 
 mind. It will not do to choose a text and 
 preach a sermon, even though that be directed to 
 the unconverted. The probability is it would 
 not be understood. We have to be careful 
 even in the language we employ, for Christianity 
 gives a new and deeper meaning to a wide 
 vocabulary of words which the heathen mind 
 can only fully understand after they have 
 entered the Church, and grown up to an 
 appreciation of Christian ideas. You need not 
 be surprised if, when you are addressing your 
 audience as sinners, you are informed by a 
 
54 East of the Barrier 
 
 respectable Chinaman that he, at least, is nothing 
 of the kind. It is the fault of the language, 
 for tsui ren connotes to his mind nothing more 
 nor less than a criminal. He knows nothing 
 of that inward sense of pollution in the sight 
 of an all-holy God which we read into the 
 word. 
 
 The Chinese have two expressions which 
 describe very well what we mean by preaching. 
 The first is " explain the book " (chiang shu), 
 and the second is " spread the doctrine " (chuan 
 tao). The character of our preaching to the 
 heathen consists largely in explanation, which 
 results in spreading the knowledge of the 
 gospel. If the foreign pastor is present when 
 the chapel opens, he invariably leads off, and 
 is followed by the native evangelists. Not un- 
 frequently some church-members drop in, and 
 close with a few words of testimony or exhorta- 
 tion. The foreign pastor may begin somewhat 
 in this style : — 
 
 " In your Three-Character-Classic there is a 
 saying to this effect : ' Man's nature was 
 originally virtuous.' " (As this is one of the 
 ABC books in every Chinese school, all 
 present understand the allusion and know the 
 text by heart from which you wish to speak. 
 Moreover, they are pleased to hear the foreigner 
 quote their classical books : it places him en 
 rapport with his audience at once.) Then he 
 proceeds : " Our Western books (the Bible) say 
 
In the Street Chapel 55 
 
 the same thing in another way. They say : 
 ' In the beginning God created man in His 
 own image.' Originally man's nature was 
 pure and virtuous like the nature of a little 
 child. But as a matter of fact, are the men 
 and women around you virtuous? Do they 
 not lie and squeeze and curse ? (Illustrations 
 of this from their daily life can readily be 
 given.) 
 
 " Chu Hsi, one of your own sages, says it is 
 like this : You plant a young tree in the earth, 
 expecting to see it grow up tall and straight in 
 your garden. But just as it begins to show 
 itself above the ground, an enemy comes and 
 places a large stone on the top of it. It does 
 not cease to grow, but it grows twisted under- 
 neath the stone. Now the young tree is like 
 our nature, but the stone is human sin. Sin is 
 a heavy weight ; it twists and embitters our 
 nature and prevents us from growing virtuous 
 and upright as God originally intended. 
 
 " Go to the Yamen Gate and you will see 
 men wearing a heavy piece of wood on their 
 shoulders, their heads thrust through a hole in 
 the middle of it. It is locked, and they cannot 
 get free. When they lie down to sleep it 
 prevents them from resting ; when they awake 
 it is still there. Day and night they have to 
 carry the burden. That is a punishment for 
 having broken the law of the Emperor. But 
 there is a higher law than the law of the land. 
 
56 East of the Barrier 
 
 It is God's law. We have all broken that, and 
 are carrying invisible burdens in consequence. 
 Now I have come to China to tell you that 
 God has sent His Son into the world to take 
 that burden off your shoulders. He alone can 
 remove the stone of sin from your hearts. 
 When Jesus was crucified He took it upon His 
 own, for ' He bore our sins in His own body 
 on the tree.' He alone never broke God's law. 
 He was without sin ; perfectly virtuous. Read 
 His life as you find it in the Gospels, and you 
 will see what virtue means. Confucius tells 
 you that it is enough to observe the five rela- 
 tions : The minister must be loyal to the 
 Emperor, the wife love her husband, the 
 child obey his parents, the younger brother 
 be submissive to the elder, and friend be faith- 
 ful to friend. But all that says nothing about 
 our relation to God. Jesus says : ' Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
 and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as 
 thyself.' " 
 
 This talk will last for twenty minutes or 
 half an hour. Meantime the little chapel is 
 gradually becoming full of people. Some are 
 listening attentively ; some, on the other hand, 
 are gazing around with vacant stare : " Hearing 
 their one hope with an empty wonder, vainly 
 contented with the show of things." The native 
 preachers succeed the foreigner and take up 
 
In the Street Chapel 57 
 
 the theme. Ideas and illustrations have sug- 
 gested themselves to their minds while he has 
 been speaking, and they are able to enforce 
 and apply the message to the consciences of 
 the hearers in a manner he could not do. 
 
 After two or three hours the service ends. 
 The bulk betake themselves home, where they 
 talk over what they have heard in the chapels. 
 Some few remain in conversation with the 
 preachers. They are invited to the rooms be- 
 hind the chapel to talk over their difficulties, and 
 are encouraged to inquire further into the " Jesus 
 doctrine " by the reading of a book ; and so the 
 work goes on every day. The street-preaching 
 chapel is the nexus between the Christian and 
 the heathen world ; the lever by means of which 
 the people are being raised out of their heathen- 
 ism into the Kingdom of God ; the feeder of 
 the Church. 
 
 Evening falls and members and inquirers 
 gather themselves together for worship. The 
 senior preacher gives a short exposition of 
 some passage and leads their devotions. After 
 worship they spend some time together learning 
 new hymns, examining inquirers, and in social 
 intercourse, and thus the day closes. 
 
 In Moukden city there were seven such 
 chapels, two of which belonged to the Irish 
 Mission, and five to the Scotch. Over the 
 whole Moukden centre there were between 
 forty and fifty, and there must have been nearly 
 
58 East of the Barrier 
 
 three or four hundred such chapels spread all 
 over Manchuria. These held the strategic points 
 of the field. An elder and two deacons were 
 associated with each of the city chapels. They 
 held a monthly business meeting. Some mem- 
 bers had got into trouble and needed help ; 
 some brother had grown lax in attendance, and 
 must be visited ; some may have lapsed into 
 heathen practices after the death of a member 
 of the family where the unconverted portion 
 insisted on the observance of heathen rites, and 
 these must be disciplined ; the contributions to 
 the central funds of the church had to be 
 made up and sent in. This meeting took 
 general oversight of all the affairs of the chapel 
 connected with that district, and the elder re- 
 ported at the monthly meeting of Session on 
 all matters affecting the spiritual welfare of the 
 little community. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN THE CONFESSIONAL 
 
A pagan approaches Christianity the way the world did.- 
 The Shadow Christ. 
 
 60 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN THE CONFESSIONAL 
 
 I HAVE tried to show how Christianity 
 grows extensively through the medium 
 of the street-preaching chapel ; a more difficult 
 but a more interesting task is to attempt to 
 depict its growth intensively. What impact 
 does Christianity make upon the heathen 
 mind ? How do the Chinese enter the Church ? 
 What is the rationale of conversion ? How does 
 the change come, and what effects are apparent 
 in the lives of the converts ? In short, can we 
 trace the evolution of the inward growth of 
 Christian doctrine in the pagan mind? 
 
 The first obstacle that confronts the mission- 
 ary who would essay such a task is one which 
 he can never thoroughly overcome. He is a 
 foreigner. The Chinese have been described as 
 "sphinxes of imperturbable reserve." Reserve 
 is a national characteristic. People — even those 
 who are on familiar terms with you — are careful 
 not to reveal their deepest experiences to the 
 foreign gaze. It has been remarked by an 
 experienced missionary, with some truth, that 
 
 61 
 
62 East of the Barrier 
 
 when a Chinaman comes to consult the foreigner 
 about his soul's good, it is time to look to one's 
 pocket. Sincere inquirers observe a wise 
 reticence about such matters. Yet there are 
 not wanting opportunities for observing how 
 the leaven of the gospel wins its way. 
 
 The manner of conversion differs from what 
 one would naturally expect from one's experi- 
 ence of the same change as witnessed in persons 
 at home. One would suppose that the sheer 
 novelty of the gospel would strike the pagan 
 mind, almost on a first hearing, with over- 
 powering force ; that conversion would be swift 
 and irresistible. As a matter of fact it is not 
 so. We forget that " their eyes are holden " by 
 custom, prejudice, and antecedent belief, so that 
 " they cannot see." The portrait of Christ 
 which confronts them demands much study and 
 long patience ere it yields up its secret to 
 their gaze, and ere they see in Him who was 
 pierced that beauty which will make them desire 
 Him as their Saviour. Writing to a friend who 
 was home on furlough, Mackay of Uganda says : 
 " You will do a noble work if you get good 
 Christians in England to understand fully the 
 exact nature of the case — that the heathen do 
 not by nature wish the gospel, although we know 
 they sorely need it ; that in every land people 
 are jealous for their faith which came down from 
 their ancestors of long-lost memory." 
 
 Let us try to trace the steps of the 
 
In the Confessional 63 
 
 normal conversion of a working-man in China. 
 Let us suppose that a chapel has been opened 
 in his village. For some time he ignores 
 its very existence. He not improbably an- 
 ticipates some dire calamity to visit the 
 neighbourhood because of it. Time passes, 
 however, and nothing happens. He hears 
 that some of his friends have visited the 
 place. They give kindly accounts of the 
 preacher. He is not a foreigner; he is one 
 of themselves. One night he drops in. The 
 chapel is a comfortable room. He meets his 
 companions, gets a hearty welcome, and is 
 invited to return. The preacher sings them a 
 hymn and explains the doctrine. They never 
 sang in their lives before, and no one ever 
 manifested such a kindly interest in them and 
 their families, as this preacher of the " Jesus 
 religion." Some of his friends have actually 
 bought a catechism and begun to learn to read. 
 He is a simple man ; peaceful, industrious, fond 
 of his family. The only religion he knows is 
 associated with the " Kitchen-god," which he 
 believes has power to ward off evil influences 
 from the home. Perhaps he goes to the 
 temple once a year to bump his head on the 
 ground before the idol — his sole ritual. He is 
 beginning to enjoy going to the chapel of an 
 evening after the labours of the day are ended. 
 One night the evangelist speaks of the sin of 
 idolatry. He had not thought of it in that 
 
64 East of the Barrier 
 
 way ; how could he ? He does but as his 
 fathers did. Yet it does seem ridiculous to 
 expect help from the idols. Some of his 
 friends have got rid of theirs, and the heavens 
 have not fallen. He talks it over with his 
 wife, resolves to abolish the idol, and learn the 
 " Jesus doctrine." " Ye turned unto God from 
 idols, to serve a living and true God." This is 
 invariably the first step into the Kingdom. 
 He begins to read ; this is inevitably the 
 second step. Line upon line, precept upon 
 precept, he spells out the gospel story and the 
 doctrines of grace. When the foreign pastor 
 comes along that way on circuit, he is pre- 
 sented for examination. How different his 
 feelings towards the foreigner now ! He re- 
 members how once he called him a " devil," or 
 threw mud at him on the street. To-day, he 
 salutes him with a profound bow, and attends 
 to his slightest need with alacrity. 
 
 Most inquirers are examined two or three 
 times before baptism. Experienced mission- 
 aries have little difficulty in discovering if the 
 truth has reached the heart and changed the 
 life. Though his knowledge is yet imperfect, 
 and from the moral and spiritual point of view 
 the net result in character small, yet the begin- 
 ning of a new life has begun. He has the faith 
 of the mustard seed. ♦• In his home Scripture 
 texts are to be seen adorning the walls in place 
 of the " Kitchen-god." The singing of hymns 
 
In the Confessional 65 
 
 takes the place of family feuds, and the children 
 go to school instead of running wild on the 
 streets. 
 
 It is true of the mission field of to-day, as 
 in the days of our Lord, that the poor hear 
 the message of salvation gladly. They have 
 little to lose. They have no selfish ends to 
 serve by throwing in their lot with the new 
 faith. But it is different with the rich and the 
 cultured classes. To them it means sacrifice, 
 and only strong impelling motives lead their 
 feet into the fold of the Christian Church. 
 These motives are not always disinterested, 
 and much caution has to be exercised in ad- 
 mitting them to the privileges of the Christian 
 Society. One very powerful inducement which 
 the Christian Church presents to the Chinese 
 mind lies in the protection which it affords 
 against oppression in the native law courts. 
 Without doubt the Chinese are the most 
 litigious people on the face of the earth. 
 There is hardly a family that has not had at 
 some time or other its lawsuit. The iniquitous 
 system is encouraged by the Yamens, for by 
 it they live. The ingenuity of the machinery 
 for entangling worthy and wealthy people in 
 the meshes of the law is simply appalling. 
 Respectable people live in terror of being 
 entrapped and coerced into its clutches. In 
 nine cases out of ten it means their ruin. 
 They are powerless to prevent it, and seldom 
 
 5 
 
66 East of the Barrier 
 
 escape till they have paid the uttermost 
 farthing. Hence the reason — in this social 
 evil — why many merchants have looked to the 
 Church, hoping to find in her communion a 
 haven of rest where they may pass their days 
 in peace and quietness, undisturbed by the 
 intrigues of their enemies or the injustice of 
 the law courts. 
 
 But how, it may be asked, does the Church 
 fulfil such expectations ? Does she come 
 between the subject and the civil courts of 
 the country? In this way. The Roman 
 Church early recognised in this social evil an 
 opportunity for recruiting a large number of 
 converts among the rich and cultured classes. 
 Over these she determined to throw the sgis 
 of the Church's protection. For example, Mr. 
 Wang has an impending lawsuit. He may 
 be perfectly innocent of the charges trumped 
 up against him. They may even have origin- 
 ated in the Yamen itself, for in every Yamen 
 there exists a class of men called " sword 
 pens," whose sole occupation is to bring grist 
 to the mill and keep the Yamen coffers full. 
 When charges are brought against Mr. Wang 
 he is helpless. He must appear to defend 
 himself There is no such thing as justice. 
 He who has money has reason on his side. 
 " The big fish eat the little fish, the little fish 
 eat the shrimps, and the shrimps eat the mud," 
 is one of the proverbs of the country. Mr. 
 
In the Confessional 67 
 
 Wang, finding himself in a tight place, resolves 
 to join the Church. It is cheaper to make a 
 handsome donation to the funds of the Church 
 than to be fleeced in the Yamen. The day 
 of the trial comes. The French priest sends 
 his card to the magistrate informing him that 
 Mr. Wang is one of his converts. This is 
 sufficient to put the magistrate on his guard. 
 In nine cases out of ten it will be sufficient 
 to secure Mr. Wang's acquittal. But should 
 the magistrate be bold enough to defy the 
 priest and decide against his convert, what 
 happens ? The priest will call upon the magis- 
 trate ; argue, threaten, browbeat, until, because 
 of his importunity, the magistrate will drop the 
 case altogether. It seldom needs more than 
 this to clench the matter. But should the 
 magistrate still persist, the priest has another 
 and a terrible card to play. He writes to 
 the French Consul, informing him of this case 
 of flagrant persecution. The Consul acquaints 
 the Taotai, the chief Chinese official in the 
 treaty -port ; who, in turn, instructs the local 
 magistrate to see to it that no more com- 
 plaints reach him from that quarter. This 
 method has been so successful that a tradition 
 has grown up amongst local magistrates that 
 it does not pay to give decisions against 
 Roman Catholic converts. Sometimes the 
 priest's action is sufficient to call for the re- 
 moval of the magistrate. Now, if the priest 
 
68 East of the Barrier 
 
 only interfered on behalf of bond fide converts, 
 who were such prior to the instituting of law 
 proceedings, and if he took care to discover 
 that his convert was innocent of the charge 
 preferred against him, there would not be cause 
 for complaint; but when he deliberately 
 receives men into the Church knowing that 
 their motive is to secure his protection, and 
 when, in addition, the justice of their case may 
 be extremely doubtful, no language can be too 
 strong, in the interests of Christianity, to con- 
 demn such a practice. It is notorious that 
 men guilty of the grossest crimes have been 
 protected from the just punishment of the 
 authorities in this way. The wily Chinaman 
 can always colour the facts of the case to 
 make himself appear the injured party in the 
 priest's eyes. Others, in similar straits, hear 
 of Mr. Wang's success ; they also become 
 converts on like principles, till the Roman 
 Church in China has become a veritable " cave 
 of AduUam," beyond the reach of the juris- 
 diction of the civil courts of the country. The 
 example and practice of the Roman Church 
 have not been without their baneful influence 
 on the Protestant cause in China. In spite of 
 the greatest vigilance, Protestant missionaries 
 have been dragged into this matter. With the 
 haziest notion of the difference between the 
 two churches, the Chinese come to us expect- 
 ing like favours. The problem has been com- 
 
In the Confessional 69 
 
 plicated by the fact that in not a few cases of 
 genuine persecution we have been constrained 
 to afford protection to our converts. And 
 having yielded in some cases, it is difficult to 
 get the Chinese to understand why, having the 
 power (successfully to protect some), we should 
 not exert our influence on behalf of all who 
 may apply. This gigantic evil has grown up 
 all over China, and threatens to poison the life 
 of the Church. 
 
 No inquirer is allowed to enter his name on 
 our books who is known to have an impending 
 lawsuit.'- It is by no means easy to discover 
 when your inquirer is, or is not, in that con- 
 dition. And there are not wanting native 
 preachers who dissemble and throw the 
 foreigner off his guard. Some years may 
 elapse before he becomes acquainted with the 
 true facts of the case. Even after baptism we 
 
 ' Here are a few of the leading rules of the Presbytery : — 
 
 "All who come on account of lawsuits are excluded from 
 entering the Church. A similar prohibition against those whose 
 motives are of material gain, or those who, being their own 
 masters, do not abolish their idols." 
 
 "Inquirers, after they have been enrolled, must submit to 
 nine months' probation and instruction." 
 
 "All opium-smokers who do not break off the habit are ex- 
 cluded from membership ; but if anyone through illness is unable 
 to break it off, he is to be examined by the medical missionary, 
 and if the latter certifies that it cannot safely be broken off, he 
 may be baptized with the approval of the Session." 
 
 ' ' All persons cultivating, or trading in, opium, whether raw 
 or prepared, are excluded from entering the Church." 
 
yo East of the Barrier 
 
 refuse point-blank to be entangled in their law 
 pleas, or in any way to lend our influence to 
 their cause. The mere fact, however, that they 
 are members, gives them an immense advantage 
 in the eyes of the officials. Many who were 
 enthusiastic when they entered the Church, 
 turn back and walk no more with us when 
 they learn that we are not prepared to help 
 them. Some, however, who may have enter- 
 tained false hopes and impure motives when 
 they began, continue. They rectify their mis- 
 takes. They learn the true meaning of the 
 Church. They truly repent and believe the 
 gospel, and develop into splendid Christian 
 men. 
 
 The approach of the literati to Christianity 
 differs in many respects from the approach of 
 the two types already portrayed. Their 
 attitude is strictly intellectual. Hitherto con- 
 verts from this class have not been numerous, 
 and can hardly be regarded as a success. 
 Their Christianity is eclectic. They read the 
 Scriptures, and find in them a system of ethics, 
 higher than that of their own classics. But 
 their religious life remains cold and unpro- 
 gressive. They seldom appreciate the great 
 doctrines of grace. Their characters are 
 marred by insufferable conceit, and by the 
 absence of that humility of heart which is the 
 mark of the seeker after truth. They are too 
 often content to admire and applaud the ethics 
 
In the Confessional 71 
 
 of Christianity without endeavouring to repro- 
 duce them in their conduct. In short, they 
 regard Christianity as a sort of sublimated 
 Confucianism. The Confucianist Christian is 
 generally censorious in his judgments of others, 
 and more careful about his personal deport- 
 ment and good name than about the salvation 
 of men ; and while professing to be enamoured 
 of the loftiest ethical teaching, he too often 
 remains the very personification of selfishness. 
 In spite of his profession of Christianity, Con- 
 fucius, not Christ, is his Master ; self-culture, 
 not self-abnegation, his aim ; law, not grace, 
 his method of salvation. 
 
 The ancestral worship of the thorough- 
 going Confucianist is not unfrequently the 
 barrier that hinders his advance. The attitude 
 of missionaries varies widely on the subject. 
 Some there are who treat it with easy tolerance ; 
 not regarding it as worship in the proper sense, 
 but simply as an expansion of filial piety issuing 
 in a pious recollection of the dead. While 
 there are others who insist on making it a test- 
 question of membership, and denounce it as a 
 pernicious belief contrary alike to the worship 
 of the One Living and True God, and to the 
 teaching of Scripture. The elaborate ritual 
 that has grown up round the doctrine in the 
 present day bears the same relation to the 
 original and classical form, as the corrupt 
 practices of continental Catholicism bear to 
 
72 East of the Barrier 
 
 the pure teaching of Christianity in the New 
 Testament. The native Christian Church will 
 be the best arbiter in a matter which it is 
 impossible for the Western mind thoroughly 
 to appreciate or understand. So far as I 
 have been able to observe, however, the native 
 Christian conscience unanimously condemns 
 the practice, and views with suspicion the 
 sincerity of anyone who, while seeking admis- 
 sion to their fellowship, still retains the old 
 belief, or practises the old ritual. 
 
 While converts of the literati type have 
 hitherto been more or less of a disappointment, 
 there is another class, somewhat akin to them, 
 who are the most promising and useful men 
 in the Church. Though not scholars in the 
 technical sense, they are reading men : bright, 
 thoughtful, intelligent. They approach Chris- 
 tianity with open mind and unsophisticated 
 heart. They are generally young men of good 
 family, liberal education, pure morals, and 
 strong convictions. From this class we draw 
 the great majority of our preachers and teachers. 
 
 To sum up what I have to say on this 
 subject it will be apparent : — 
 
 I. That among Chinese Christians apprecia- 
 tion of the essential inwardness of Christianity is 
 a growth. One is impressed, generally speak- 
 ing, by the absence of a deep sense of sin. This 
 is due probably to their Confucian training which 
 makes morality largely an external thing. The 
 
In the Confessional 73 
 
 missionary has constantly to guard his converts 
 against the tendency to set too high a value 
 on the efficacy of rites like Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper. I have heard of a newly- 
 baptised convert who, immediately after his 
 initiation, seized the font of water with trembling 
 hands and drank it off. He doubtless believed 
 that the water possessed some magical virtue 
 that would cleanse him of his sins. Not till 
 they have been in the Church for some time, 
 and grown up to a knowledge of the holy 
 character of God, do they feel the burden of a 
 sense of inward pollution and undergo that 
 radical change of heart that moulds their 
 character and controls their conduct. 
 
 2. Reverence can hardly be said to be 
 one of the graces of the Chinese Christian. 
 This, too, is a growth. At first he is apt to 
 make the punctilious performance of his 
 elaborate etiquette do duty for reverence. He 
 stalks into church, greets his friends in 
 stentorian tones, and will even light his pipe 
 immediately service is over, if not checked. 
 The sacred building exercises no spell over 
 his imagination. His consciousness is not 
 sufficiently developed to lead him into com- 
 munion with an invisible spiritual presence. 
 With a deeper sense of sin comes a profounder 
 humility and a truer reverence. 
 
 3. I have been struck, however, by the clear- 
 ness with which Chinese converts grasp the 
 
74 East of the Barrier 
 
 central doctrine of the Christian faith — the 
 doctrine of atonement. Famiharity with the 
 substitutionary idea, as it finds expression in 
 their own rehgious life, has doubtless prepared 
 their minds and given them some affinity with 
 the Christian doctrine. The Emperor, as " the 
 Son of Heaven " represents his people in formal 
 acts of sacrificial worship twice a year, and 
 offers prayers of intercession for their well- 
 being. He is priest as well as Emperor. Every 
 magistrate is called the " father of the people," 
 in the same sense as the Romanist priest 
 assumes the title of " father " of his flock. Nor 
 is the idea of vicarious suffering unfamiliar 
 amongst a people where the family, and not 
 the individual, is the unit. The faith of the 
 Chinese Christian is phenomenal. Belief would 
 appear to be an easier thing to him than to us. 
 He has small speculative faculty, and is un- 
 encumbered by doubts. If it is faith that 
 saves, then whatever his defects, the Christianity 
 of the Chinese convert is undoubted. 
 
 4. The institutional value of the Church is 
 fully appreciated by Chinese converts. Its 
 social attractiveness, its fellowship with brother 
 believers, its mutual helpfulness, its intellectual 
 impulse, appeal most powerfully to the Chinese 
 nature. Among themselves they are extremely 
 gregarious. They have a positive genius for 
 combination, as witness the innumerable secret 
 societies all over the country. Every trade. 
 
In the Confessional 75 
 
 every class, every village has its guild. In the 
 Christian Society they meet together, not from 
 any community of interest, though that is not 
 lost sight of, but on the basis of a common be- 
 lief, and they are made to stand out against their 
 heathen environment in strong relief. Now that 
 Christianity has spread itself over the land, and 
 chapels are to be found nearly everywhere, the 
 Chinese convert is sure to find in his wanderings 
 a congenial home within the fold of the Church. 
 
 5 . The loyalty of the Chinese convert to his 
 faith is proverbial. It is a significant fact that 
 converts who have been excommunicated for 
 opium-smoking or immorality seldom go back 
 to heathenism, but usually continue to think 
 and speak of themselves, in spite of their sins, 
 as Christians. I have known a man of very 
 imperfect moral character held over a hole in 
 the ice in the dead of winter by his enemies, 
 who threatened to thrust him under if he did 
 not recant his faith — but all in vain : he was 
 prepared to be drowned rather than yield. 
 Only the timely intervention of friends saved 
 him from such a fate. 
 
 6. The ethical teaching of Confucius offers 
 an invaluable groundwork for the preacher of 
 the evangel of Jesus. The Chinese convert 
 does not present a tabula rasa to the 
 missionary, but a mind capable of moral dis- 
 tinction and religious impression. The Con- 
 fucian classics are not comparable to the Old 
 
76 East of the Barrier 
 
 Testament Scriptures, not to speak of the New. 
 All such comparisons are misleading. But 
 they have paved the way, and laid a foundation 
 for the higher faith, just as the Old Testament 
 prepared the way for the New. Without the 
 moral discipline which they represent — and 
 which has made the Chinese character what it 
 is to-day — mission work would have been 
 slower and more difficult. 
 
 The comparative study of religion has 
 taught us at least two things: (i) It has 
 taught us that Christianity loses nothing by 
 comparison. Every fresh research brings out 
 into clearer relief its unique, its divine character, 
 and on every mission field the cry of the pagan 
 Julian is heard again, " O Galilean, Thou hast 
 conquered ! '' (2) But it has not gained this 
 solitary eminence by a cheap disparagement 
 of the non-Christian faiths of the world. On 
 the contrary, it has taught us to speak of these 
 with greater respect. Their peoples are no 
 longer classed by us as heathen and infidel 
 indiscriminately. We now recognise that re- 
 ligion is an integral part of the life of every 
 people. The more we study their religious 
 systems, the more we see their incompleteness 
 and insufficiency, but we thankfully acknow- 
 ledge the gleams that bear witness to the 
 immanence in them of the Father of Lights. 
 Though the Sun of Righteousness has not yet 
 arisen in their sky, we believe that the Day- 
 
In the Confessional 77 
 
 Spring from on high shall yet visit them, 
 and guide their feet into the way of peace. 
 Confucius and Sak-ya-muni have not Hved in 
 vain. 
 
 " God sends His teachers unto every age, 
 To every clime, and every race of men. 
 With revelations fitted to their growth 
 And shape of mind, nor gives the realm of Truth 
 Into the selfish rule of one sole race : 
 Therefore, each form of worship that hath swayed 
 The life of man, and given it to grasp 
 The master-key of knowledge — reverence — 
 Infolds some germs of goodness and of right.'' 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE MAKING OF PASTORS 
 
 79 
 
It is now generally acknowledged among Evangelical 
 missions that the aim of the work is the formation of independ- 
 ent churches of native Christians.— Dr. Gustav Warneck. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE MAKING OF PASTORS 
 
 TO seek to evangelise the Chinese by the 
 Chinese has ever been the policy of the 
 Manchurian Mission. This is desirable in all 
 mission work, but may not always be possible. 
 In China, however, experience has abundantly 
 proved that the Chinese converts to Christianity 
 are equal to the task. They possess a positive 
 talent for the work of evangelisation, and herein 
 lies the great hope of a Christianised China. 
 The Chinese are a nation of talkers. They 
 spend little time in amusement, and less in 
 light reading, and they have no newspapers, 
 as we have, with which to occupy their leisure 
 hours. They spend much of their time in 
 talk, and, generally speaking, they talk well. 
 When a Chinese comes to Christ, he begins 
 straightway to speak about his new faith. He 
 cannot help himself. It is not because he has 
 more grace than the young convert at home 
 that he makes more converts to his faith. It 
 is due to his instinct to tell others the new 
 thing he has learned, and to the different 
 6 
 
82 East of the Barrier 
 
 social conditions under which he labours. As 
 he tells his story he finds himself the centre 
 of an admiring group of listeners, and he 
 probably feels flattered as he dons the much- 
 coveted mantle of public teacher. With some 
 biblical instruction, and the constant practice 
 in preaching which the daily chapel work 
 affords, it is astonishing to what a degree of 
 fluency and efficiency these men attain in the 
 art of evangelising. They are the real makers 
 of converts. For every convert the foreigner 
 makes, they will bring in a hundred. The 
 foreign missionary is not the pastor of a single 
 congregation : he is the overseer of many. He 
 is the moral force at the centre of the mission 
 organisation. He sends the natives out, 
 charged with his own enthusiasm, to grapple 
 with heathenism at first hand ; his work begins 
 after the converts are made. He has to ex- 
 amine inquirers, baptise converts, organise the 
 raw material into churches, and generally to 
 take oversight of the whole. 
 
 Experience proves that this method has 
 obvious advantages: (i) It is the most 
 economical, for by the use of the natives the 
 foreigner is able to multiply himself His 
 influence passes through them to the multitudes, 
 and he is thus able to cover a wider area. 
 Thirty natives can be supported on the same 
 sum as it takes to support one foreigner. (2) 
 It neutralises the anti-foreign antipathy of the 
 
The Making of Pastors 83 
 
 people. Friction is reduced to a minimum. 
 The native agency forms a sort of buffer- 
 territory between the foreigner and the heathen 
 population. The fewer foreigners, who can 
 overtake the work, the better. We need not 
 disguise the fact of the deep - seated anti- 
 foreign feeling of the Chinese, and if by any 
 means we can present the gospel to them in 
 such a way as to disarm them of this prejudice, 
 it ought to be welcomed. (3) It is likely to 
 ensure a more purely native type of Christianity. 
 There is always a danger of foreigners thrusting 
 their own conceptions of Christian doctrine and 
 practice upon the Chinese. Everything in our 
 teaching which tends to denationalise must be 
 rigorously avoided. The temptation, always 
 present to the missionary, to follow the line 
 of development with which he is familiar in 
 the West, will end in creating a Western cult on 
 Chinese soil, which must weaken the testimony 
 of the native Church and discredit her witness 
 among the heathen around. That the Chinese 
 people will make their own contribution to the 
 sum total of the Christianity of the future we 
 firmly believe, and for this reason the work of 
 propagation should be from the first intrusted 
 to their own hands, that in the providence of 
 God, and under the guidance of His Spirit, they 
 may be able to work out their own salvation. 
 (4) It would seem to be in line with the Divine 
 purpose ; for how else, it may be asked, are we 
 
84 East of the Barrier 
 
 ever to evangelise the four hundred millions of 
 the Chinese people? Certainly not by the 
 sprinkling of foreigners scattered over the 
 Empire. Or how else are we ever to attain 
 to our ideal of a self-supporting and self- 
 governing native Church? The foreigner's 
 best work is in the training of a band of native 
 workers who may be looked to as likely to 
 take his place in the future. 
 
 He is the teacher of the teachers, ever on 
 the outlook for " budding talent " among the 
 raw material of his converts. Wherever he 
 finds a young man of average education, the 
 gift of speech, and a love for souls, he takes 
 him apart, and, after some grounding in 
 Scripture knowledge, places him in the street- 
 preaching chapel, where he can be under his 
 own eye. For the first four years the 
 evangelist attends lectures, and has examina- 
 tions to pass. The cream of these evangelists 
 ultimately find their way into the Theological 
 College, where, under the instruction of two 
 professors, they receive a thorough training 
 in Scripture Knowledge, Church History, 
 Theology, Comparative Religion, and the 
 Elements of Science. The course extends 
 over four years of six months' session each 
 year. Those who pass through this curriculum 
 are considered qualified for the work of the 
 pastorate. 
 
 The present Theological College in Moukden 
 
The Making of Pastors 85 
 
 is only of yesterday. It was instituted in 1900. 
 The rapid growth of the Church after the 
 Japanese War, and the widespread demand 
 among the members for an educated ministry, 
 made the estabhshment of such an institution 
 a necessity. In the early days of the mission, 
 each missionary trained his own evangelists ; 
 but shortly after the Union with the Irish 
 Presbyterian Mission, it was felt that this was 
 not only a waste of power, but failed to yield 
 the best results. After the Union (1890) a 
 more systematic training became possible, and 
 senior missionaries were appointed to lecture to 
 all the evangelists together. The advantages 
 of this method over the old one were apparent 
 at once. It made a uniform course of study 
 possible, and it created an esprit de corps among 
 the evangelists themselves, and gave a sense 
 of unity to the work of the Church all over 
 the country. Still, this arrangement only 
 turned out evangelists, and as the membership 
 grew in knowledge, and organisation became 
 fixed, it was felt that something higher should 
 be attempted to meet the growing needs of 
 the Christians scattered all over the land. It 
 was in this way that the Theological College 
 was established The first photograph represents 
 a group of licentiates trained under the old 
 system, while the second represents the first 
 set of men in training under the new. The 
 entrance to the native pastorate is guarded by 
 
86 East of the Barrier 
 
 the missionaries with jealous care. While they 
 seek to make all legitimate provision for an 
 educated ministry, they have ever placed moral 
 character and spiritual earnestness before merely 
 academic equipment. 
 
 The mission was fortunate in its first native 
 pastor. Pastor Liu, both in his private life and 
 public capacity, has set a high ideal before his 
 younger brethren in the ministry. He was the 
 choice of the Moukden congregation, who be- 
 came responsible for his support. He was 
 ordained on 14th June 1896, and the event 
 marked a distinct advance in the development 
 of the life of the native Church. Liu is a 
 born preacher, graceful, self-possessed, fluent, 
 dramatic, at times rising to a high level of 
 pulpit eloquence. He holds his congregation 
 of nine hundred members in complete com- 
 mand, speaking for an hour or more without 
 the use of a note. His doctrine is always 
 intensely evangelical. He could hold his own 
 with the men in our pulpits at home, and 
 might, if comparisons were not odious, leave 
 some of them far behind. 
 
 Here is the impression produced by a ser- 
 mon of Liu's on Rev. John Macintyre. The 
 occasion was the ordination of Mr. Chang of 
 Tiehling, the second native pastor : — 
 
 " The event of the day, I should fancy, will 
 generally be regarded as the sermon by the 
 moderator. Pastor Liu : ' Ye are the salt of the 
 
THE FIRST THEOLOGICAL LICENTIATES 
 WITH PROFESSORS ROSS AND FULTON 
 
 THE PRESENT THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS 
 
The Making of Pastors 87 
 
 earth.' I feel I am but giving the opinion of 
 the mission when I say it was a thing of culture 
 and of power. Save perhaps that his intro- 
 duction might have been shorter, though there 
 was nothing to be complained of as irrelevant, 
 it sounded to us like a sermon which would 
 have been reckoned of a high order in any of 
 your home congregations. I was not myself 
 prepared to see Liu take such a high stand. 
 He is naturally eloquent, and seems simply to 
 play with words and to conjure with them as 
 he will. But what one felt was the clearness 
 and the width of his view, the power of return- 
 ing always to his main point from most 
 interesting excursions in the search for 
 illustrations, the power of adding illustration 
 to illustration in such wise that the light 
 seemed simply to beam upon his main topic, 
 and one forgot all else but the spiritual truth 
 he was enforcing. It will interest home readers 
 to know that he was always correct when he 
 touched on physical science ; and his eloquent 
 allusion to the ocean as embracing all and 
 sweetening all, as receiving all manner of 
 contaminating matter, yet ever pure, will long 
 be remembered as a powerful stroke of imagery. 
 What a step from the servant of a mandarin 
 who could be asked fiercely, ' Does his excel- 
 lency know that you are here in a detested 
 street chapel, red-tasselled hat and all, pro- 
 claiming this detestable doctrine ? ' I have 
 
88 East of the Barrier 
 
 never forgotten my first impression of him 
 as a bold, earnest man who could ward off 
 such an attack with gentleness, and who so 
 won the authorities that he was never inter- 
 fered with. And now no Chinese literate need 
 feel ashamed to sit under his ministry. With- 
 out being technically a ' student,' he is a brain- 
 worker, and has so mastered the necessary 
 mental processes that he delivered this magnifi- 
 cent sermon without a scrap of paper. It was 
 a proud day for the man who attracted him 
 to the mission, and who has been his teacher 
 all through his career, his right hand in the 
 pastorate." 
 
 When Liu was ordained he was little over 
 forty years of age, and had at that time been 
 connected with the " Jesus religion " for up- 
 wards of twenty years. Before throwing in 
 his lot with the new religion he made a careful 
 study of it. His occupation at that time gave 
 him ample opportunity for so doing. He was 
 seal-bearer to one of the mandarins, and was 
 only on duty for some two hours every second 
 day. While still in the employ of the Yamen, 
 he preached much ; but shortly after the return 
 of Dr. Ross from his first furlough, he became, at 
 some personal sacrifice, an agent of the Church. 
 As an evangelist he was abundantly successful. 
 Old Wang (Dr. Ross's first convert) and Liu 
 bore the brunt of the opposition at the com- 
 mencement of the work in Liaoyang ; they 
 
The Making of Pastors 89 
 
 never flinched, and ultimately their courage 
 triumphed. Once Liu fell into the hands of 
 robbers. They stripped him and used him 
 badly, but all these things he counted as 
 nothing for the " excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus his Lord." 
 
 Liu seems to have been one of those men 
 spoken of by Augustine, " whose hearts are 
 restless till they rest in God." He had 
 knocked at the doors of all the religious faiths 
 that flourish in China, but he never found the 
 rest he sought till, in his own words, he " met 
 Pastor Ross and the Bible." Such men are 
 religious in spite of the superstitious forms 
 through which they seek to approach the 
 unseen — 
 
 " They stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, 
 And gather dust and chaff, and call 
 To what they feel is Lord of all ; " 
 
 but it is not until they come into the full 
 knowledge of Christ that the burden of guilt 
 and unrest rolls from them for ever. There is 
 no doubt as to the perfect satisfaction which 
 Liu now enjoys in the " life that is hid with 
 Christ in God." Surely the history of one such 
 man is fitted to strengthen the faith of the 
 Church at home. It proves — if proof were 
 needed — that the mission has not " laboured in 
 vain in the Lord." 
 
 At the jubilee of the United Presbyterian 
 Church (1897), Pastor Liu was chosen to repre- 
 
90 East of the Barrier 
 
 sent the mission field of Manchuria. He threw 
 himself with zest into the project, and the Mother 
 Church had no worthier trophy to show on 
 that occasion than the silk banner which he 
 bore from the " land of Sinim," and which 
 spoke of the " Beginning of Happiness in 
 Manchuria." His sojourn in this country- 
 enlarged his horizon. The superior position 
 of women, the excellence of our educational 
 system, and, above all, the enthusiasm and 
 energy of the Home Church in all forms of 
 Christian work, greatly impressed him, and 
 sent him back to his own people with fresh 
 hope to labour for their emancipation. 
 
 That the life of this man has been merci- 
 fully spared to the native Church during the 
 recent persecution is a matter that calls for 
 devout thankfulness. The last text from which 
 he preached before the Moukden church was 
 burned to the ground by the Boxer incendiaries, 
 was surely prophetic of the coming conflagra- 
 tion. " Behold the fire and the wood : but 
 where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ? " 
 (Gen. xxii. 7). The sermon was scarcely 
 ended before the Christians were fleeing for 
 their lives, and many were called upon to seal 
 their confession with their life's blood. Liu 
 made his escape with difficulty, in the guise of 
 a Buddhist priest, to a village among the eastern 
 hills, and there he managed to live in hiding 
 till the storm passed. But with the restora- 
 
The Making of Pastors 91 
 
 tion of order and the coming of the Russians, 
 he returned to the city and led his little flock 
 in worship in the open air, and over the ashes 
 of the burned building. The hand of the 
 wicked had thrown down the scaffolding, but 
 the spiritual building remained — steadfast, in- 
 destructible, standing out in its naked reality 
 in clearer relief than ever before. 
 
 In Pastor Chang — the second native pastor 
 — the example set by Liu has been worthily 
 maintained. Of him on the day of his ordina- 
 tion — November 1 898 — Mr. Macintyre wrote : 
 " He is the more pleasing presence of the two, 
 and for years I have regarded him as the most 
 winsome man on our Presbytery roll. A man 
 of spirit, however, like Liu, and capable of 
 temper ; I have seen him flash up in Presbytery 
 like a European, under a fancied insult from us 
 foreigners. But it was the generous, unsolicited 
 apology which he made next day that won him 
 to me for life." 
 
 It would be impossible to close this chapter 
 without a word of tribute to the memory of 
 Elder Hsii. He was under call to the pastorate 
 of the newly-formed congregation in West 
 Moukden when the hostilities began. The last 
 thing I did before leaving Moukden was to 
 read the warrant for his ordination. Hsii was 
 a remarkable man. He had received a careful 
 training, chiefly from Mr. Fulton of the Irish 
 Mission, and would have been the first native 
 
92 East of the Barrier 
 
 pastor of that mission. He was labouring at 
 Fa-ku-men when the storm broke ; and, being 
 a marked man, he and his son were arrested 
 and instantly beheaded. A scholar himself, 
 Hsii was unwearied in his exertions in the 
 cause of Higher Education. Through his 
 labours a prosperous church had been built up 
 in Fa-ku-men, and he gave great promise of 
 a useful and influential ministry in West 
 Moukden. By his noble Christian character, 
 his scholarly attainments, his modesty, and, 
 above all, his zeal for the conversion of his 
 countrymen, he endeared himself to every 
 foreigner in the mission. His place will be 
 difficult to fill. We could ill afford to lose 
 such a man, but he was ripe for martyrdom. 
 To us his life's work seemed just beginning, 
 but to Him who " seeth not as man seeth," it 
 was finished. " He had fought a good fight, he 
 had kept the faith, and he now wears the 
 crown of righteousness that fadeth not away." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ON CIRCUIT 
 
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in 
 their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.— 
 St. Matthew. 
 
 94 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 ON CIRCUIT 
 
 A MINISTER at home recently remarked 
 to me that, in his opinion, a primary 
 qualification in a successful missionary was a 
 certain consecrated love of adventure. There 
 is a grain of truth in the observation, though 
 perhaps it is somewhat out of date as applied 
 to the majority of missionaries of to-day. It 
 points back more particularly to the pioneer 
 age of mission enterprise. Then the missionary 
 was a kind of " bird of passage," ever exploring 
 fresh fields whose very geography was a com- 
 parative blank to the Western world ; then he 
 presented himself to the home mind in his 
 ideal aspect as traveller, and the imagination 
 was wont to encircle his doings with the aureole 
 of romance. But that phase of a missionary's 
 work is fast passing away, and will soon be 
 gone. The world is growing smaller every 
 year, and there are few places on the globe 
 where " hallowed footsteps never trod," or 
 where some intrepid apostle has not taken up 
 "his appointed post." Experience proves that 
 
96 East of the Barrier 
 
 missionary organisation tends to follow certain 
 fixed laws, and that the best results accrue to 
 a settled, rather than a roving ministry. After 
 a few years, when the novelty of living in a 
 new country has worn off, it requires rather 
 a consecrated sense of duty to enable the 
 missionary to go through the commonplace 
 routine of his circuit — within which narrow 
 limit alone is there any scope left for the play 
 of adventure. The three banes of missionary 
 existence in Manchuria are bad roads, dirty 
 inns, and springless carts. If anyone can find 
 adventure lurking under these conditions, after 
 his first few years, then he is to be congratu- 
 lated. He is certainly well endowed with 
 missionary capability. 
 
 The difficulty of travel in Manchuria is only 
 equalled by the difficulty of learning the 
 language. Indeed, the latter is in some sense 
 the easier of the two, for after a few years it is 
 possible to say all one has to say, but the roads 
 remain for ever. Of course, if one has a taste 
 for riding, one can indulge it to the top of one's 
 bent. The Manchurian ponies are hardy little 
 animals : they need no stable, and ask little 
 grooming. But though most new-comers begin 
 by riding, they invariably end by choosing 
 what is after all the less of two evils — the 
 Chinese cart ! Many considerations influence 
 this decision. The intense cold of winter, when 
 the bulk of the travelling has to be done, makes 
 
On Circuit 97 
 
 riding far from agreeable; while under the 
 scorching heat of the summer sun, it would be 
 dangerous if not impossible. Moreover, it is 
 more dignified, from a Chinese point of view, 
 to drive in a cart than to ride. No Chinaman 
 who could afford a cart would ever dream of 
 riding. Your new-comer, of course, does not 
 know this, but his " boy," who has comfortably 
 ensconced himself in his master's cart, does, 
 and rather enjoys the honour unconsciously 
 paid to his dignity by the uninitiated foreigner, 
 who plays the role of outrider to perfection. 
 For, after all, riding does not enable one to get 
 rid of the cart ; to the foreigner it remains a 
 sine qua non. His superior civilisation has 
 unfitted him for living upon Chinese fare, or 
 lying upon the hard brick kang; hence the 
 necessity of the cart to convey his food-box 
 and bedding. The heroic attitude of new- 
 comers who affect to dispense with such 
 creaturely comforts usually ends in failure — ■ 
 or a furlough ! 
 
 The small passenger cart can hold two at 
 a pinch, and one easily. It is drawn by two 
 or three sturdy mules. The driver sits on the 
 shafts in front, guiding his team with a long 
 whip, and (if allowed) a copious vocabulary of 
 curses. When the novice emerges from his 
 first excursion, he vows he will never again be 
 induced to undergo such torture. But after 
 the discipline of bumps has done its work, and 
 7 
 
98 East of the Barrier 
 
 especially after the art of sitting a la Chinois 
 has been acquired, it is astonishing how one 
 gets to like this much-abused vehicle. The 
 Chinese dearly love their cart, and think there 
 is no means of locomotion to equal it. It is 
 even related of a high Pekin official who had 
 spent some years as ambassador in a European 
 capital, that on his return to his own country, 
 as he took his seat in his cart for the first time, 
 he was overheard to remark, with an evident 
 grunt of satisfaction : " Ai yah, after all there's 
 nothing like a Chinese cart for comfort ! " 
 
 Only magistrates of a certain grade use 
 " chairs." These require eight bearers at 
 least ; four to carry and four for relief It is 
 undoubtedly the most comfortable mode of 
 travel, but so expensive that only high officials 
 care to indulge in the luxury. In their case, 
 however, it is probably more a matter of 
 dignity than of comfort. The Chinese show 
 the same consideration to the man who keeps 
 a " chair," as we at home do to one who 
 keeps a carriage. 
 
 With good roads it is possible to make from 
 thirty to forty miles a day. But the roads are 
 generally bad. In dry weather they are hard 
 and rutty ; in wet weather they are soft and 
 marshy. Travelling is then slow and precarious. 
 The cart sticks in the mud, or gets upset in the 
 water, and not seldom the mules have to be 
 levered out of the slime with poles to prevent 
 
SETTING OUT ON A JOURNEY 
 
 INTERIOR OF INN 
 
On Circuit 99 
 
 them from drowning. Theoretically each 
 farmer is responsible for the upkeep of the 
 road that skirts his property, but it is a law 
 more honoured in the breach than in the 
 observance. And carters often show their 
 contempt for this neglect of duty by leaving 
 the road and running across their ploughed 
 fields. 
 
 The Chinese are early risers. They are on 
 the roads with their carts a couple of hours 
 before dawn. " Pull early ; don't pull late " (la 
 tsao, pu la wan) is the carter's maxim. As he 
 loves an early start, so he dislikes a late arrival, 
 for then the inns may be crowded, and it is 
 difficult to attend to his cattle in the dark. 
 Two meals must suffice the traveller in the 
 short winter day. He stops usually for ta 
 chien (dejeuner) at eleven, and has his second 
 meal at sundown, when he turns in for the 
 night. The inn-yards are very large, as they 
 have frequently to accommodate hundreds of 
 carts and their teams. The sleep of the weary 
 traveller is often rudely broken by the braying 
 of donkeys, the kicking of mules, or the clapper 
 of the watchman as he goes his eerie round in 
 the dark. 
 
 The interior of a Chinese inn is not an 
 attractive sight to the visitor from the West 
 accustomed to the comfort, not to say luxury, 
 of a European hotel. It is dark and dirty. 
 Smoke and steam greet him at the door on 
 
lOO East of the Barrier 
 
 entering, for the cooking is done within sight 
 of the guests. Cobwebs of years hang from 
 the grimy rafters, the air is laden with smells 
 that baffle description, and a continual babel of 
 sound rises from the crowd of gathering 
 inmates. It takes some degree of fortitude 
 to be able to pass a comfortable night inside. 
 But all this comes in time. The people sleep 
 on the kang, a species of brick bed heated by 
 means of a flue that passes from the cooking 
 stove at one end, the smoke from which escapes 
 by means of a chimney at the other. These 
 kangs run the length of the inn on both sides. 
 They extend from the wall a little over six feet 
 — the length of a man — and are about three 
 feet high. During the daytime the bed-rugs 
 are cleared off, and meals are taken, sitting 
 tailor fashion, from off a small table on the 
 kang. Pigs are frequent visitors in the inns, 
 and an occasional invasion of rats is not 
 unknown. 
 
 Travelling brings us into contact with some 
 of the lowest classes in the country. The 
 Chinese themselves have a proverb to the effect 
 that " carters, boatmen, innkeepers, chair- 
 bearers, Yamen-runners, even though not found 
 guilty (of some particular delinquency), ought 
 all to be killed, for they are generally guilty." 
 (Ch'iian, che, tien, chiao, ya, wu tsui, yieh kai 
 shah). The experience of every foreigner who 
 has travelled far in China will enable him to 
 
On Circuit loi 
 
 bear ample testimony to the truth of native dis- 
 crimination in this respect. 
 
 Such are some of the conditions under which 
 the missionary in Manchuria has to prosecute 
 his calling while on circuit. For the most part 
 his time is passed at the centre, where the 
 course of the work follows the lines already 
 indicated, but three or four times each year he 
 has to travel over his diocese for the purpose of 
 examining inquirers, baptising converts, stimu- 
 lating small Christian communities, and generally 
 taking effective oversight of the district under 
 his charge. I propose to give notes of two 
 itineraries. The first describes a short journey 
 which I took after I had been a few months in 
 the country, while one's mind was yet susceptible 
 to fresh impressions. The second describes 
 a journey through the Korean valleys, made 
 some years later, when the movement towards 
 Christianity in the East was beginning to attract 
 our attention. 
 
 It was on Friday afternoon, nth September 
 1896, that I set out from Moukden for the 
 north, in company with Mr. Inglis, on what 
 was practically my first missionary journey. 
 As we intended riding, we allowed our carts to 
 start a few hours ahead of us. The day was 
 not promising. There had been much heavy 
 rain, and we knew the roads would be bad. 
 Our worst fears on that point were more than 
 realised. We had only proceeded a short 
 
I02 East of the Barrier 
 
 distance when suddenly, without warning, we 
 were caught in a sharp thunderstorm. Fortun- 
 ately we were just in time to get into a small 
 inn at Yii-lin-pu (Oak Forest village) twelve 
 /z'l from Moukden. The rain came down in 
 torrents. Our ponies had to stand outside, and 
 the saddles were soon soaked. It was im- 
 possible to proceed, so I had my first glimpse 
 of a Chinese inn. The chang-kwei-ti (inn- 
 keeper) at once stepped forward and invited us 
 to be seated on the kang. He conducted us to 
 the innermost place — the seat of honour. 
 Groups of people, caught like us in the storm, 
 squatted about, smoking their long pipes and 
 chatting to each other. Our clothes were 
 carefully examined. I was asked why I had 
 buttons on both sides of my double-breasted 
 coat? what my boots cost? what was my 
 honourable name ? where I had come from ? 
 whither I was going? It is not rude to ask 
 such questions ; it would be rude not to answer 
 them. In this inn I first saw Chinamen smoke 
 opium. There were two of them. They had 
 evidently made up their minds that they could 
 not travel farther that night, so they began to 
 make themselves comfortable. A little vessel, 
 resembling a spirit-lamp, was handed to them 
 by a servant, over the flame of which a small 
 piece of opium was held between finger and 
 thumb, till it melted somewhat. It resembled 
 
 ^ Three /; = one mile. 
 
On Circuit 103 
 
 a piece of brown sealing-wax, and was the size 
 of a marble. After it had been heated to the 
 proper consistency, it was placed in the bowl 
 of a large wooden pipe, and the fumes inhaled. 
 These men looked supremely happy ; quite 
 oblivious to their sordid environment. We did 
 not stay long enough to see the full effect. I 
 suppose in the morning they would awake from 
 their dreams to the stern realities of earth again. 
 The ravages of opium-smoking are not always 
 apparent to the eye of sense. They have to be 
 read in the man's loss of character and will, and 
 in his utter insensibility to higher things. 
 
 But the storm is nearly over. We have 
 already lost two hours, and cannot stay longer 
 if we are to catch up on the carts. So without 
 waterproofs or umbrellas (all which are in the 
 carts) we mount our dripping saddles and ride 
 through the rain to Da-wa. Da-wa means the 
 " great hollow," and is some twenty li from 
 Moukden — " great ditch " would be a more 
 appropriate description of it to-day. The little 
 stream at the village had swollen very high. 
 There was a stone bridge, but it was neither 
 broad enough nor high enough to allow the 
 volume of water to pass under it. Our carters, 
 who had not got farther than this place, came 
 down to pilot us across, crying directions from 
 the farther side. We managed to ford it, but 
 paid the penalty in the shape of a good 
 wetting. 
 
I04 East of the Barrier 
 
 This was my first night in a Chinese inn, 
 and I confess to a feehng of uneasiness. Not 
 a movement could one make without being 
 closely scrutinised. Eating or dressing — no 
 matter what — look up where one liked, the 
 holes in the paper windows were studded with 
 eyes. I had heard so much of the filth of 
 Chinese inns that it was not to be wondered at 
 if my imagination littered the place with rats 
 and vermin. Judge of my surprise, therefore, 
 when I awoke in the morning to find that I 
 had slept as soundly and rested as comfortably 
 as if I had been in my bed at home. 
 
 We had hoped for fair weather, but how 
 vain was the hope ! Think of the worst of 
 Scotch mists, with roads that baffle description, 
 and you will have some faint idea of the 
 elements against which we had to do battle for 
 the whole of the next day. We reached Yilu 
 about five o'clock in the afternoon — the place we 
 should have reached, under ordinary conditions, 
 the first evening. Here we found Dr. and Mrs. 
 Ross, and four Zenana ladies who had preceded 
 us the day before. Dr. Ross was in the midst 
 of a great work that had just sprung up in 
 Yilu and the neighbourhood. For miles around 
 inquirers were pressing in, anxious to be ex- 
 amined for baptism. The work in this region 
 began about two years ago, and was now taxing 
 Dr. Ross's energies. It was most cheering. The 
 inn where we were staying was full of country 
 
On Circuit 105 
 
 people who had stopped work and had come 
 long distances in order to be present at the 
 services, and we were told that very many more 
 inquirers were to be found in the villages to 
 the west. It was Saturday evening when we 
 arrived ; and as Dr. Ross was on the ground, we 
 decided to push on to Fan-hoa-pu (Fan River 
 village) on Sunday morning, and endeavour to 
 be in time for service there. Accordingly we 
 started at six on Sabbath morning. I don't 
 think I ever travelled on Sunday before, but I 
 never felt happier to do so than just then. There 
 is a fine hill, a little to the north of Yilu, which 
 we had to cross. At the summit there is a 
 good Buddhist temple. It is quite noticeable 
 the farther north one goes, how nearly every 
 hill is crowned with a Buddhist temple. These 
 places witness to a truth that was once living, 
 but which is now as dead as the stone and 
 lime of the buildings. For centuries the people 
 had set all their hopes for eternity on what 
 this place had to teach. Look within. It is 
 stuffed full of idols of the most hideous shape ! 
 I could not help contrasting this symbol of the 
 old faith with the new one that was busy in 
 the town lying at our feet. Blessed be God 
 there are souls in Yilu to-day who lift up their 
 eyes above this hill, even to the Living God 
 from whence cometh their help ! 
 
 When we arrived at Fan-hoa (twenty-five li 
 from Yilu) service was over ; after waiting a short 
 
io6 East of the Barrier 
 
 time, however, the congregation reassembled, 
 and we had worship with them. Fan-hoa is 
 just a small out-station from Yilu, so when I 
 speak of congregation do not think of a crowd. 
 I think there were only ten members, a few 
 inquirers, but numberless heathen. Mr. Inglis 
 preached. I could not follow all he said, but 
 I did understand the satisfaction on the faces 
 of the people. They drank in every word, and 
 looked as though they could have listened all 
 day. We tried to teach them a new hymn, 
 and after some intercourse started again for 
 the main road to catch up on our carts. Thus 
 closed one of the most peaceful and quiet 
 Sabbaths that I ever spent. 
 
 On Monday (14th September) we reached 
 Tiehling, saw the new church, climbed the hill 
 behind the town, and had a superb view. The 
 character of the scenery reminded me of Perth- 
 shire. Two lovely rivers are visible from the 
 Iron Hill, and add variety to the scene — the 
 Tsai and the Liao. We now entered the Tsai 
 valley, taking the south side of the river, while 
 we instructed our carters to take the north side. 
 This was unfortunate, as we afterwards dis- 
 covered. We agreed to meet at nightfall at 
 Tsai-hoa-kow village (mouth of Tsai River) ; but 
 when we arrived at the village, we were coolly 
 told that they had not seen a cart for months. 
 The roads were quite impassable. We were in 
 a fix. We had neither bedding nor food. We 
 
On Circuit 107 
 
 were confidently assured that the carts could 
 not possibly arrive that night. We asked 
 them to give us what food they had : small 
 millet, eggs, and garlic. There was a soldier 
 in the inn who made himself particularly agree- 
 able to us. He gave us his rugs to squat on, 
 offered me his ivory chopsticks to eat with, and 
 explained to the country people, who crowded 
 around to look at us, what important person- 
 ages we were. It was highly convenient, since 
 it saved us the trouble. He was a blustering 
 sort of fellow, but we were grateful to him for 
 his kindness. It was my first attempt to eat 
 Chinese food, but in spite of an excellent 
 appetite, the experiment was not a success. 
 Mr. Inglis, of course, felt quite at home. We 
 were just in the middle of our meal, when to 
 the astonishment of everyone, and to my un- 
 bounded delight, we heard the rumbling of 
 approaching carts. I at once dropped the 
 chopsticks from my cramped fingers, and bade 
 adieu to Chinese food. The carts had had a 
 bad time. They had come to a bit of the road 
 worn away by the action of the river, and had 
 to make an extended detour across fields in 
 order to circumvent it. It was now pitch dark 
 and another thunderstorm was brewing. Gradu- 
 ally the inn settled down to rest. But I could 
 hear one voice still speaking far into the night. 
 It was Sung, our native evangelist, with a group 
 of eager listeners around him — our soldier friend 
 
io8 East of the Barrier 
 
 amongst them. Hewas explaining "the doctrine." 
 It is only some two years since his own feet 
 began to travel in the way of life. It would 
 seem as if he did not wish to tread it alone. 
 
 Tuesday morning, i^th September. — Rain, 
 rain, rain ! We have had rain every day since 
 we started. But we must press forward, rain or 
 no rain. The carters are lazy, and have a 
 most tantalising way of putting us off when 
 they don't wish to start. At last we are on 
 our way to Tsai-hoa-pu (Tsai River village). It 
 is a dreary ride, over mountain passes, through 
 narrow gorges, and along the beds of tributary 
 streams. The only thing that enlivens the 
 proceedings is the spectacle of some cart axle- 
 deep in mud, the drivers shouting at the stolid 
 cattle to urge them forward. We turn a corner 
 and here is one such, just outside the village 
 whither we are going. We are seen by the 
 drivers, and though desperate over their sunken 
 cart, a gleam of glad recognition lights up their 
 faces. " It is the pastor," they exclaim, " he is 
 come.'' Instantly Mr. Inglis dismounts, though 
 the mud takes him up to the top of his boots. 
 I regret to say that my appreciation of Chinese 
 etiquette was not keen enough to draw me out 
 of the saddle. A few words are exchanged, 
 and we pass on. At the village there is a 
 chapel where we can put up ; a pleasant 
 change from the inns. Many people come 
 from long distances to meet with us. Our 
 
On Circuit 
 
 [09 
 
 carter friend actually turned back and cleaned 
 himself up, and came to the chapel to talk with 
 us. When he entered, we did not at first re- 
 cognise him, till he explained that he was the 
 man we had met on the road. Our brief stay 
 at this station was very encouraging. The 
 members turned out in large numbers in spite 
 of the rain. Many stay at long distances from 
 the chapel, and could not possibly be present 
 on account of the bad roads. The Tsai valley 
 is not thickly populated. The people are 
 nearly all farmers and live widely apart. This 
 makes cohesion in the work difficult. But 
 they are an earnest, industrious, and simple 
 people. The day after the meetings were over, 
 as we were proceeding on our journey, we hap- 
 pened to see three men fording the river. It 
 was very high and cost them some trouble. 
 We did not pay much attention to them at 
 first. They, however, had recognised who we 
 were and ran after us. They were inquirers 
 on their way to meet with us at the village we 
 had just left. They had been misinformed of 
 the day of our arrival, and had come a day 
 late. One of them was dressed in the white 
 sackcloth of mourning; as he approached us 
 he knelt on the ground and made the kow-tow. 
 The only cloud that threatens the work here is 
 the persecution that comes from the Roman 
 Catholics. They are strong in this valley. In 
 one of the villages (which is almost wholly 
 
no East of the Barrier 
 
 Catholic) a French priest resides. Last year 
 they pulled down the village temple ; this year 
 they have built a chapel on the ruins, with a 
 cross conspicuously placed on the top of it. 
 
 At Shang fei ti, a distance of one hundred 
 and thirty li up the Tsai valley, Mr. Inglis and 
 I parted company, he to go to the far east, and 
 I to cross the watershed into the Ching valley, 
 en route to Kaiyuan. Up till this time I had 
 not required to speak much. Now I should 
 have to use my own tongue. It was like 
 learning to swim by being thrown into deep 
 water. Again we had fearful torrents of rain. 
 My carter wished to stop twenty li short of 
 Ba-ka-shu, but I would not hear of it. It was 
 a sharp thunderstorm we had got into — grand 
 among those lonely hills. About five o'clock 
 in the afternoon the sky cleared and the sun 
 shone out, spreading a sheen of golden light 
 over the tall brown stalks of the millet. The 
 sun would be down in less than an hour, and 
 we had yet a long way to go. Darkness falls 
 almost immediately after sunset. I had not 
 seen the cart for a while, having ridden ahead. 
 As I stood among those fine hills in the 
 twilight, involuntarily the words of Newman's 
 hymn came to my lips, and I began to sing — 
 
 "O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, 
 Till the night is gone." 
 
 It was quite dark when I arrived at the inn. 
 
On Circuit 1 1 1 
 
 They declined to open the big gate to let 
 the cart through, but I just walked inside and 
 sat down, and when they saw I was a 
 foreigner, the gate was quickly opened and 
 everything done for my comfort. I was not 
 long in the inn when a number of people came 
 in saying " Ping - an Mushih " (peace to the 
 pastor). News travels quickly in China. 
 Some Christians in the village had heard that 
 a foreigner had arrived. Thinking it was 
 either Mr. Webster or Mr. Inglis, they had 
 come to pay their respects. It was a great 
 disappointment when they came to the end of 
 my Chinese. But they took it in good part, 
 and my " boy " more than made up for my 
 deficiencies. 
 
 We were on the road next morning by six 
 o'clock. This was Friday ( I 8th September). It 
 was eighty li down the Ching valley to Kaiyuan, 
 and as the roads were bad, I did not think I 
 could reach it in one day, so meant to take 
 two. This bit of the road proved to be a 
 miniature chapter of accidents. When I was 
 riding along the side of a ditch, suddenly I saw 
 a huge adder. I dismounted to have a look 
 at him. There he was basking in the sun, 
 working his fangs and keeping his eye fixed 
 upon me. I thought I should like to have 
 him. So I gave him a smart stroke over the 
 head with my whip. What the effect was I 
 do not know, for my pony, which I had 
 
112 East of the Barrier 
 
 neglected to hold, thinking the blow was 
 meant for him, bolted. Down the hill he went 
 and I after him. My " boy " who was in the 
 cart behind saw what happened and made 
 chase likewise. After half-an-hour's run the 
 "boy" brought him back. But I lost my 
 snake. The rain had gone, the sky was clear, 
 and the sun hot ; so I suggested to my " boy " 
 that I should get into the cart, and he should 
 ride for a change. Hitherto I had avoided 
 the cart, but to-day I thought I would try 
 it. I was not half an hour in it when it 
 upset in a deep pool of mud and water. I 
 had to crawl out, and found myself up to the 
 knees in slime. The mules had lain down, and 
 the poor carter was distracted. We hailed a 
 man to come and help us ; he only stood and 
 looked at us without the least sympathy or 
 response ; it was no business of his. I man- 
 aged to get him to hold the pony, whereupon 
 it took the united efforts of the carter, my 
 " boy," and myself to lift the cart up. My 
 bedding and clothes were soaked with water. 
 So my " boy " suggested that I should ride on 
 to Kaiyuan and try to reach it that night. I 
 started with fifty li of bad road to cover, and it 
 was now two o'clock. On the way towards 
 Kaiyuan, just as the sun was setting, I was 
 riding along a little footpath with the river on 
 my right, and a millet field on my left, when 
 suddenly, as I turned a corner, I was brought 
 
On Circuit 113 
 
 face to face with two human heads stuck on 
 the ends of poles. A cold shudder crept 
 over me. I whipped up my pony and passed 
 quickly. Then I realised that I was in a 
 heathen country. I learned afterwards that 
 four men had been beheaded in Kaiyuan a few 
 days before. These were the heads of two of 
 them ; both notable robbers. It is customary 
 to expose their heads at the scene of their 
 depredations as a warning to others. 
 
 It was a real pleasure to get to Kaiyuan 
 after this day's experience. I had a warm 
 welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Webster. Though 
 the youngest missionary centre, Kaiyuan has 
 a great and growing work on hand. I have a 
 pleasant recollection of a visit we paid to the 
 Confucian Temple of Literature, where we were 
 handsomely received by some of the leading 
 scholars of the town. On Monday, 21st 
 September, I retraced my steps southwards to 
 Moukden by the main road, but without further 
 incident that calls for special remark. So ended 
 my first fortnight's itinerating. 
 
 The next journey, which I propose to relate, 
 was to the Korean valleys in the winter of 
 1898. I was fortunate on that occasion in 
 having the companionship of Mr. R. T. Turley, 
 F.R.G.S., the agent of the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society, who had traversed part of the 
 road before. In addition, we were favoured 
 with the company of Mr. Sprent, of the S.P.G, 
 
114 East of the Barrier 
 
 Mission. During the two previous years there 
 had been a widespread movement towards 
 Christianity all over the eastern region, not 
 only among the Chinese, but also among the 
 Koreans living on the banks of the Yalu. It 
 was to inquire into the nature of this work, and 
 particularly to see what could be done for the 
 establishment of a mission to the Koreans that 
 this journey was undertaken. The following 
 rough notes were made on the spot, and ap- 
 peared in the Record in May i 899 : — 
 
 " I2,th December 1898. — We left Moukden 
 this afternoon in the thick of a snowstorm, 
 and reached Tungling — twenty li distant — the 
 same evening. Next morning (14th December) 
 we started at four o'clock, found the Hun River 
 not quite frozen over ; one cart went through 
 the ice. We met some large carts and ' bor- 
 rowed their light.' They knew the river better 
 than we, so we crossed in their wake all right. 
 Had breakfast at Ma-chia-wan-tzu ; innkeeper 
 and family all Christians. After food, Mr. 
 Turley and I rode on in advance of our carts 
 to a little village called Hsia-fang-shen, where 
 we saw the chapel and girls' school (nine girls). 
 ' Are there many Christians in your village ? ' 
 we asked. 'We are all Christians here,' they 
 replied, ' except one family ; they are Roman 
 Catholics.' In the evening reached Fu-shun 
 (eighty li from Moukden) ; had worship with the 
 Christians in their own chapel — thirty present. 
 
On Circuit 115 
 
 "Sunday, iStA December. — Arrived at Hsin- 
 ping-pu (two hundred and ninety/? east of Mouk- 
 den) late last evening. Had worship to-day with 
 the congregation — over fifty people present. 
 I took the service, and Mr. Sprent preached, 
 taking for his theme the four last things : Death, 
 Judgment, Heaven, Hell. Mr. Turley preached 
 in the evening. The church is very pretty 
 inside, and suitable for over one hundred people. 
 Hsin-ping-pu has a population of (say) eight 
 thousand people, and is a flourishing business 
 place. It is the focus of three large trade roads, 
 and the district is rich in wood, hemp, tobacco, 
 etc. The Romanists have also recently opened 
 a chapel here. 
 
 " i<^th December. — Arrived at Wang-ching- 
 men this afternoon ; heavy snowstorm. This 
 place (forty li east of Hsing-ping-pu) marks the 
 old boundary of what used to be No-man's- 
 Land, or the buffer territory between Koreans 
 and Chinese. There are a few Christians here, 
 and many inquirers. These we met in the 
 house of Mr. Shih, the native doctor. All 
 speak of petty persecution from the Romanists. 
 " 20th December. — Stayed over night at a 
 small village, Ying-erh-pu-kai ; very bad inn. 
 We were told by a little boy beforehand that 
 it was a tung ren Hen (an inn that froze people) ; 
 but we, unfortunately, did not take his hint, 
 and paid the penalty in the shape of heavy 
 colds. The scenery up these valleys is very 
 
1 1 6 East of the Barrier 
 
 wild in winter ; but in spring and summer it 
 must be beautiful. The hills are well wooded, 
 and every available patch of soil is assiduously- 
 cultivated. The people are largely immigrants 
 from Shantung. Allotments of land are let out 
 to them by the Government, and after four 
 years they pay a small rent. The fields are still 
 strewn with the stumps of trees that are the 
 only remaining traces of the virgin forest. 
 
 " 22nd December. — Arrived last evening at 
 Tung-hua-hsien. Beautiful little church. Tung- 
 hua is five hundred and ten li east of Moukden ; 
 a rising place ; every business house has more 
 work on hand than it can overtake. Joiners 
 very busy building new houses. This seems the 
 most suitable place for an eastern centre, should 
 it be necessary and practicable in the future 
 for us to take that step. The Romanists have 
 already established themselves here as their 
 headquarters. We called to pay our respects to 
 the priests, and they received us kindly; they 
 did not, however, return our call. On Saturday 
 afternoon we also visited the local magistrate 
 — a very nice, frank young fellow, and very 
 favourably disposed to ' the doctrine.' He asked 
 for some of our books, and especially some 
 copies of our Church Magazine (published at 
 Moukden), which we had pleasure in giving 
 him. 
 
 '^Christmas Day, 2^th December. — Rose this 
 morning at six o'clock. Mr. Sprent read the 
 
On Circuit tiy 
 
 English Church communion service and 
 dispensed communion. It was a most refresh- 
 ing service. High Church, Low Church, and 
 Presbyterian, all three had no difficulty in 
 realising our unity in Christ Jesus while at 
 His table. 
 
 " At twelve o'clock we had service with the 
 Chinese and Koreans, baptised thirty - three 
 Chinese and six Koreans. The examining of 
 the Koreans was done through an interpreter 
 with great difficulty. My heart went out to 
 these Koreans, truly they are ' sheep without 
 a shepherd.' It is greatly to be desired that 
 someone might take up this work without 
 further delay, or we may see a large migration 
 over to the Romanists. 
 
 " The magistrate returned our call this after- 
 noon; came in his 'chair' with great ceremony. 
 
 "Monday, 2.6th December. — To-day started 
 on our journey up the Loa-chuan-kow (valley), 
 and reached S'l-tao-chiang the first night, here 
 we met about twenty-five Koreans, and examined 
 a Korean school. 
 
 " Next day continuing our journey up the 
 valley, we passed coal pits and a large iron- 
 smelting foundry. On Friday morning we 
 reached Tungkow-tien-tzu, an open plain that 
 leads down to the banks of the Yalu. Just 
 over the river were the Korean hills. Tung- 
 kow is a small port on the Yalu River. There 
 are some large grain stores and distilleries. 
 
1 1 8 East of the Barrier 
 
 The town itself is scattered, but is the centre 
 of a considerable population, both Korean and 
 Chinese. In the afternoon we crossed the 
 Yalu on the ice and touched Korean soil. We 
 had now reached a point where no foreigners 
 had ever been before, and we felt that it was 
 fitting to engage in prayer, beseeching the 
 guidance of Almighty God as to the future 
 establishment of any mission for the spiritual 
 well-being of the Korean people. We entered 
 a small Korean village. The people made us 
 very welcome, and were pleased to show us the 
 inside of their dwelling-houses. The humming 
 noise of a school made us aware that the 
 education of their children was not being 
 neglected by these simple Koreans, even in 
 such an out-of-the-way region. Many of them 
 had seen our books, and had heard of our 
 church at Tunghwa. 
 
 " At Tungkow Mr. Sprent left us to take 
 a week's journey into Korea, as far as Kangkai, 
 while Mr. Turley and I struck a south-westerly 
 direction down the Hsin-kai-ho (valley). This 
 valley is more fertile and consequently more 
 thickly populated than the one we had just 
 passed through. We came upon a large and 
 flourishing Chinese town — seventy li south-west 
 of Tungkow, called Yii-shu-lin-tzu (Elm Tree 
 Forest). We did not know of the existence 
 of such a place before. There is a large Korean 
 population here also, and we met thirty-five men. 
 
On Circuit 119 
 
 all of whom were reported bond fide inquirers 
 into the ' doctrine.' 
 
 " At the mouth of the Hsin-kai-ho valley we 
 met a large number of Chinese inquirers, who 
 had fitted up a chapel for themselves, though 
 no foreigner had ever been there before, and we 
 did not so much as know of the existence of 
 this chapel. There was only one baptised 
 person in the village, and to him was due 
 the spread of the new religion in the place. 
 He had been baptised at Tung-hua-hsien on 
 Dr. Ross's last visit. The name of the place 
 was Chiu-tsai-yuan-tzu. I baptised six persons. 
 Next day at Chiang-tien-tzu, where we spent 
 a night, I was able to baptise nine men and 
 one woman, and two children. 
 
 " ^th January 1899. — From Chiang-tien-tzu 
 we reached Huai-ren-hsien on Friday morning. 
 We did not expect to find any Christians here, 
 but we were most agreeably surprised. No 
 sooner had our carts entered the city than 
 a young man came running up to my cart and 
 looking inside exclaimed, ' It's the pastor ! He's 
 come ! ' This was quite an unlooked-for wel- 
 come, for Mr. Turley had just been telling me 
 that when he passed through Huai-ren last he 
 was rather discourteously treated. We were at 
 once invited to the home of the young man, 
 whose father kept an inn. There were two 
 baptised persons in the place : a Moukden 
 member and a Liaoyang member (the latter 
 
I20 East of the Barrier 
 
 formerly studied medicine in the hospital 
 under Dr. Westwater, and is now practising 
 medicine on his own account). The two 
 members were both some time in the place 
 before they knew of each other's existence, 
 but a colporteur happening to pass along that 
 way, they were separately attracted to him, and 
 then discovered each other. I had pleasure in 
 adding to their number our enthusiastic young 
 friend above mentioned, so that made a Christian 
 community of four. They expressed themselves 
 as most anxious to have a chapel. There were 
 a number of inquirers, but these would require 
 further instruction. 
 
 " Sunday, %th J miliary. — Reached Tai-ping- 
 shao (one hundred and ten li south of Huai-ren) 
 early this morning. Last year, when Mr. Turley 
 passed this place, there were no Christians 
 and no chapel ; though there must have been 
 many secret inquirers into ' the doctrine,' for 
 in the spring of this year a deputation waited 
 on Dr. Ross and asked him to send them a 
 preacher. They undertook not only to provide 
 a chapel and all expenses, but to pay the 
 preacher's salary. To-day we had worship 
 with about thirty people in a commodious 
 building of their own. Tai-ping-shao is a 
 country town, nestling among the hills, with 
 a population of (say) three hundred families. 
 It is the centre of a large farming district. I 
 was able to baptise twelve men. 
 
On Circuit 121 
 
 " loth January 1899. — Arrived late this 
 evening at Chiu-tsai-kow, a name famous in the 
 history of our mission, and connected particularly 
 with the religious history of one family, namely, 
 that of Mr. Ku. Our mission had scarcely 
 started in the port of Newchwang when Mr. 
 Ku, now a venerable old gentleman of seventy- 
 eight, turned up. He had spent nearly all his 
 fortune in building temples, visiting monasteries, 
 and other vain attempts to store up merit so 
 as to save his soul. He came across some 
 of our books, and at once perceived that this 
 was what he was in search of. He found his 
 way to Newchwang, and stayed for some time 
 with Mr. Macintyre, who daily instructed him 
 in the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. 
 Dr. Ross also met him there, and was so 
 impressed with his religious experience that 
 he at once baptised him. Since then — nearly 
 twenty-five years ago — he has lived a steady, 
 industrious, and blameless life. He is sur- 
 rounded in his old age by four generations 
 of his children, about forty in all, and enjoys 
 the esteem of his neighbours far and near. 
 We had six baptisms here, a young wife 
 recently married into the family, and children. 
 One of our Liaoyang schoolgirls has recently 
 married into the family, who was for some time 
 assistant in the RSn-mu-yuan (women's hospital). 
 She is sorely missed in Liaoyang, but it is 
 to be hoped she will get into active work 
 
122 East of the Barrier 
 
 in Chiu-tsai-kow. Amongst so large a house- 
 hold her influence and better education should 
 tell for good. 
 
 " We picked up Mr. Sprent again at Chiu- 
 tsai-kow. Then it came to my turn to leave 
 the party. Mr. Sprent and Mr. Turley pursued 
 their journey down the Yalu, thence to New- 
 chwang, while I came due west vid Kuantien 
 to Liaoyang. 
 
 " Kuantien, which I reached on i 2th January, 
 is a large and important place, four hundred and 
 sixty li east of Liaoyang. The Ku family have 
 put a chapel at our disposal there, and I hope 
 to send a preacher after Chinese New Year. 
 We shall soon see the whole intervening space 
 between Liaoyang and Chiu-tsai-kow filled up 
 with preaching stations. 
 
 " I arrived home on Monday, 1 6th January, 
 having covered about eight hundred miles of 
 ground, baptised seventy-six people, opened three 
 new chapels, and done some little, in conjunction 
 with my fellow-travellers, towards confirming 
 the churches in the faith in those outlying and 
 needy districts through which we passed." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PRISONER OF HOPE 
 
We afterwards met from time to time many men in chains on 
 their way to the capital of the province, and I have reHable 
 authority for stating that about a thousand heads fall every 
 year.— Consul Hosie. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PRISONER OF HOPE 
 
 IT matters little what his real name was. 
 We always thought of him and spoke of 
 him as the " Prisoner of Hope." I had good 
 cause to remember him, for he was the first 
 " Celestial " I was privileged to baptise. He had 
 the misfortune (or, shall we say the distinction) 
 of being the first Christian convert of his village. 
 On that account he had many enemies. His 
 family were hostile, and indeed the whole 
 village community felt that it had " lost face " 
 through this despicable concession to the 
 " foreign devil." Yet he dared to believe, and 
 bravely struggled to follow the larger light. 
 He was quite young — about four-and-twenty — 
 and the scholar (so called) of his family. His 
 father owned a small croft, just sufficient to 
 provide for the simple wants of his numerous 
 family. 
 
 It was early autumn. The hemp had just 
 been gathered from the fields, and was deposited 
 in the bed of the river to steep — a common 
 custom. There was nothing to fear. It had 
 
126 East of the Barrier 
 
 always been done in former years. In the 
 morning when the farmer awoke his hemp 
 was gone. " This is because of tlie ' Jesus 
 religion,' " he muttered, as he found himself 
 confronted with his loss. " The gods are 
 angry," and he had bitter thoughts of all the 
 trouble that his son had brought upon the 
 household. 
 
 Under cover of night, four robbers crept up 
 the river in a boat, loosed the hemp from its 
 moorings, allowed it to glide to a convenient 
 spot, then seized it. It was a good night's 
 work. Half of it was quickly sold for a goodly 
 sum, and the robbers made merry on the 
 proceeds of their spoil. 
 
 The farmer reported the case to the village 
 headman. Search was made, and after a while 
 the culprits were found. They willingly restored 
 the unsold half of the hemp, but the money 
 for the other half was gone. The village 
 commune, unwilling to let slip so good an 
 opportunity of a squeeze, were bringing pressure 
 to bear — in which art they are masters — upon 
 the robbers. One of them, smarting under 
 the process, got muddled with wine, and think- 
 ing the farmer the cause of his torture, went 
 to his house to remonstrate. In his passion 
 he lost all control, and stabbed himself with 
 the knife he had brought to kill his enemy. 
 
 And now the poor farmer was convinced 
 that because of the " foreign religion " a curse 
 
The Prisoner of Hope 127 
 
 rested upon his house. He almost wished that 
 he himself had died in order to shield his family 
 from disgrace. For, according to Chinese law, 
 when a man commits suicide at your door, you 
 are held responsible for his death. Rumour 
 said that there must have been an old-standing 
 feud between the two men, as well as the 
 affair of the hemp, but of that there was no 
 evidence, and the farmer vigorously denied it. 
 Fate had dealt hardly with him. First his son 
 is bewitched by the foreigner, then he loses 
 half his hemp, and now crime lies at his door 
 in the person of the dead robber. 
 
 At the other end of the village there lived 
 a wealthy gentleman. He was a strict Con- 
 fucianist — a member of the literati, holding a 
 high degree. He might have held a magistrate's 
 post, but inclined to the more peaceful life of 
 a country gentleman. Such men exercise a 
 powerful influence over the village communities 
 where they live. Now, though he knew little 
 about it, this gentleman took pleasure in 
 denouncing, on all occasions, the " Jesus 
 religion." To introduce it into their village 
 he regarded as an act of impiety, and he swore 
 that he would stamp out the pest. Here was 
 his opportunity. The dead robber had at one 
 time been in his service, so he came forward as 
 the champion of the widow's cause. And so 
 zealous was he that one sometimes wondered 
 whether there might not have been some subtle 
 
128 East of the Barrier 
 
 connection between him and the theft of the 
 hemp. 
 
 The Confucianist scholar came to the city 
 to prosecute the case before the provincial 
 magistrate. 
 
 The " Prisoner of Hope " came to see me 
 and told me the whole sad story. 
 
 " There is only one way," he said, " to save 
 my father. He is an old man. The prison 
 life would kill him." 
 
 " How can you save him ? " I inquired. 
 
 " I mean to offer myself in his stead," he 
 replied. 
 
 I did not know then, but afterwards learned, 
 that Chinese law permits this, and it is regarded 
 as peculiarly virtuous when the son bears his 
 father's punishment. In China, as in ancient 
 Rome, the family, and not the individual, is the 
 unit. If the family be punished, the law is 
 satisfied, for when " one member suffers, all the 
 members suffer with it." 
 
 So when the officers of justice came, the 
 " Prisoner of Hope " offered himself, and was 
 taken away to the Yamen. His fellow- 
 Christians cheered him with what words of 
 comfort they could command, though all knew 
 that he might never come out alive. 
 
 The Confucianist scholar, animated by the 
 spirit of Saul of Tarsus when he made havoc 
 of the church and haled men and women to 
 prison, went to the Temple of Literature and 
 
The Prisoner of Hope 129 
 
 enlisted the sympathy and support of his literati 
 brethren. Unitedly they brought the might of 
 their influence to bear upon the magistrate and 
 his officials in the usual way — chiefly by bribes. 
 
 At length the day of trial came. The 
 " Prisoner of Hope " " crossed the Hall," and 
 with hands bound, knelt on the bare ground 
 before the magistrate seated on the bench. 
 But there was no attempt at examination. 
 The other parties were never called, and the 
 stealing of the hemp was never mentioned. The 
 magistrate, with his mind made up, thundered 
 at him from the bench, " Do you confess your 
 guilt ? " For no one is legally condemned till 
 he confess. Should the magistrate decide in 
 his own mind that the prisoner is guilty, he is 
 tortured till he confess. So when asked this 
 question, the " Prisoner of Hope " replied, "They 
 are guilty who stole our hemp." 
 
 Foiled in this attempt, the magistrate again 
 thundered at him, " Do you follow' the 
 foreigner ? " 
 
 " No," replied the " Prisoner of Hope " ; " but 
 I follow Christ." 
 
 " Give him a hundred blows on the mouth," 
 said the magistrate, and thus ended the trial. 
 The " Prisoner of Hope " was led away to his 
 cell. We heard from time to time of his sad 
 plight, but rejoiced to know that he was much 
 cheered during those dark days by thoughts of 
 Christ. 
 
130 East of the Barrier 
 
 My heart went out to this brave Christian 
 lad. After repeated soHcitations from his 
 friends, I approached the magistrate on his 
 behalf, and ventured, without interfering with 
 the course of justice, to bring before his notice 
 the facts that seemed to me to mitigate the 
 crime with which he and his were charged. 
 This made His Excellency pause. 
 
 I had risen early one morning to enjoy the 
 fresh cool air. Suddenly the stillness around 
 was broken by the clanging of cymbals. The 
 noise grew louder as it approached the house. 
 I soon discovered that something unusual was 
 about to happen. An outrider from the Yamen 
 dashed up to the gate, and, dismounting, handed 
 a long red strip of paper, with some hieroglyphics 
 upon it, to my servant. It was the magistrate's 
 card. In a few minutes the remaining outriders 
 had drawn up in line at the gate. Then, the 
 magistrate himself, borne in his screened palan- 
 quin by eight sturdy men, passed up the line 
 and entered my courtyard. For a moment 
 the spectacle of so much pomp unnerved me. 
 Emerging from the " chair," His Excellency 
 made a profound bow, and after a few minutes' 
 palaver as to who should first enter the house, 
 we found ourselves seated face to face in my 
 study. Our subject of conversation was, of 
 course, the " Prisoner of Hope." He applauded 
 his action in offering himself on behalf of his 
 father. So conspicuous an example of filial 
 
The Prisoner of Hope 131 
 
 piety could not fail to appeal to his imagination. 
 He discoursed on the law of the Celestial Empire 
 with regard to suicide. But I could not help 
 feeling that in reality he had come to discover 
 what weight he was to give to my opposition. 
 Probably in his heart he pitied the prisoner. 
 He had manifestly been bought over to the 
 other side. As he left I could not help feeling 
 that the "Prisoner of Hope" would not be 
 released till he had paid the uttermost farthing. 
 
 The weary months dragged past. We were 
 now in winter. All our entreaties and efforts 
 were unavailing. The " Prisoner of Hope " had 
 to shiver in his cold cell with no ray of hope to 
 cheer him. But the time was not misspent. 
 It was a time of growth. Christ became the 
 Bread of Life to his soul. And his fortitude 
 made a deep impression upon the minds of his 
 fellow-prisoners. 
 
 Hope twice revived. One day a prisoner 
 who had been confined for many years, was 
 passing the prison kitchen. Weary of the 
 restraint of prison life, he seized a huge knife 
 and cut his throat. Should he die, the law 
 would be turned against the magistrate by the 
 prisoner's friends — a suicide at his door ! They 
 sent post-haste to the hospital. The doctor 
 went, sewed up the wound, and the unfortunate 
 man lived long enough to save the magistrate's 
 " face." Was it the handwriting on the wall ? 
 If so, it conveyed no message to the magistrate's 
 
132 East of the Barrier 
 
 soul. He hardened his heart after his own 
 deliverance, and refused to liberate the " Prisoner 
 of Hope." 
 
 Once again, a bank failed. The magistrate 
 was to blame, for he allowed the bank to 
 issue notes out of all proportion to its capital. 
 The manager of the bank drank opium and 
 tried to poison himself. Should he die, the 
 bank could not be re-established, and the people 
 would demand the magistrate's dismissal and 
 degradation. Again the medical aid of the 
 foreigner was sought, and the life of the 
 manager saved. The bank weathered the 
 storm, and the affair was hushed up. Was it 
 the voice of Providence ? If so, it fell upon 
 unheeding ears. 
 
 The limits of human endurance had been 
 reached. After five months' confinement and 
 payment of a large sum, the " Prisoner of 
 Hope" was set free. It was Sunday morning. 
 He came straight to church. The service had 
 commenced. As he entered, looking pale and 
 emaciated, many eyes were turned tenderly 
 upon him, and many a silent thanksgiving for 
 his deliverance went up to God. Shortly 
 afterwards the " Prisoner of Hope " became a 
 preacher, and showed by his consistent life how 
 deep was his attachment to his Lord. 
 
 A year passed. I was going up the river 
 Liao in a pea-boat. On the Sabbath day we 
 moored by the river's bank, and I wended my 
 
The Prisoner of Hope 133 
 
 way to the village, where I knew there was a 
 " place of prayer." When I arrived the service 
 had already begun. At my sudden appearance 
 there was a slight commotion among the devout 
 worshippers, some of whom in their desire to 
 greet me, seemed likely to forget the solemnity 
 of worship. A voice from the platform, " tsoa- 
 li-J>ai" (" make worship"), held the wavering 
 congregation in check. It was the " Prisoner 
 of Hope." He was beginning his sermon from 
 the text : " For God sent not His Son into the 
 world to condemn the world, but that the world 
 through Him might be saved." It was to me 
 a fountain of water opened in a dry and desert 
 land. I was spiritually refreshed. I blessed 
 God for the testimony of the " Prisoner of 
 Hope," and took fresh heart in my work for 
 this people. In his own village he no longer 
 stands alone, but through his witness there are 
 many who name the name of the Crucified. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 WOMEN'S WORK AND WITNESS 
 
 135 
 
There is no country in the world where the symbol denoting 
 happiness is so constantly before the eye as in China. But it 
 requires no long experience to discover that Chinese happiness 
 is all on the outside. We believe it to be a criticism sub- 
 stantially just that there are no homes in Asia. — Dr. Arthur 
 H. Smith. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 women's work and witness 
 
 IT is said of the mother of Mencius that 
 she thrice changed her place of abode, 
 in order that her gifted son might escape 
 the contaminating influences of a bad locality. 
 That such maternal solicitude for the moral 
 training of her child should be singled out 
 by Chinese writers for special remark only 
 tends to show that amongst the mothers of 
 China the opposite is the rule, abundantly 
 proved by this solitary and classical exception. 
 The definition of the ordinary Chinese mother, 
 which one sometimes hears, as " an ignorant 
 woman with babies " contains a due amount 
 of truth to give point to the sarcasm. Indeed, 
 amongst ourselves, the title of the children 
 to full recognition may be said to be a 
 Christian discovery of the last century. We 
 need not greatly wonder, therefore, if in the 
 East every child that comes into the world 
 is looked upon more in the light of another 
 " mouth " to be fed than as a soul to be 
 trained. 
 
 137 
 
138 East of the Barrier 
 
 In the physical world the law obtains that 
 water cannot rise higher than its own level. 
 In the sphere of morals it is equally true that 
 the heights of character are only reached where 
 you have behind it the dynamic influences of 
 noble motherhood. The whole case for the 
 Christianising of heathen women could be made 
 to rest upon this one argument alone, for until 
 we have a race of Christian mothers in the 
 homes, we despair of producing a high type 
 of Christian character among the members of 
 the native Christian Church of China. 
 
 Two factors enter into the accomplishment 
 of this task. These are — time and teaching. 
 Converts are quickly made, but Christian 
 character is of slow growth. We may plant 
 a seed in a day, but we cannot build a temple 
 in a day. Belief is easy, but the formation of 
 character is the work of generations. Every 
 missionary bears witness to the fact that the 
 second generation of Christians is better than 
 the first, and that the third will outstrip the 
 second. But teaching is equally essential. 
 Indeed it is of primary importance. And this 
 task can best be accomplished by Christian 
 women. They alone have ready access to the 
 homes ; they best can disarm the shyness of 
 their heathen sisters ; they most powerfully 
 demonstrate to the ignorant and superstitious 
 mind the latent possibilities of their sex. 
 
 The national opinion of women is probably 
 
Women's Work and Witness 139 
 
 as high as it can be where the emancipating 
 touch of Christianity has not yet penetrated. 
 Theoretically she has no standing at all ; she 
 is simply ignored. But practically she con- 
 trives to make her influence felt in a thousand 
 different ways, and she succeeds, on the whole, 
 in making her existence tolerably comfortable. 
 We see this reflected in the written language 
 of the nation. Each of the hieroglyphics in 
 which the symbol for woman appears is a 
 window through which we may look into the 
 native mind and see how popular opinion 
 regards her. Take a few illustrations.^ The 
 word " home," which is unthinkable by us 
 apart from the tender ministry of woman, is 
 represented in the Chinese language by a pig 
 under a roof. In most cases it is an accurate 
 description of the Chinese home, which to our 
 eyes is often little better than a pigsty. Of 
 course the Chinaman does not mean to satirise 
 his home. To him the pig is the symbol of 
 " plenty." Yet it unconsciously sheds a lurid 
 light on the domestic life of a people who 
 have never yet learned the art of social 
 comfort. Again, our sense of all that is sacred 
 receives a severe shock when we discover that 
 the word " marriage " is represented by a woman 
 and a pig practically under the same roof. 
 There is a certain grim humour in the com- 
 bination, not without truth, if the wit of the 
 
 ' See Chinese characters in Chap. iii. 
 
140 East of the Barrier 
 
 gentler sex first gave birth to the conception. 
 To a celestial, of course, it signifies merely the 
 adding of a woman to his home. But it is in 
 no real sense her home ; it is his mother's. 
 Her rdle is too often that of an insignificant 
 drudge. For " wife " is represented by the 
 suggestive picture of a woman under a broom ; 
 while woman is the radical of the word " slave." 
 " Peace " is one woman in isolation under a roof 
 — a triumph of felicity difficult of accomplish- 
 ment ; two women together conveys the idea of 
 a " quarrel " ; three together means " intrigue " 
 and " adultery " ; while woman under trees 
 signifies to " covet " — a fact that led the early 
 Jesuits to speculate on the possibility of a time 
 in the remote past when the Chinese may have 
 heard of the story of Eden and the sin of 
 mother Eve. 
 
 There is one character, however, in which 
 woman, in combination with her male child, 
 sums up to the Chinese mind the summum 
 bonum. The birth of her firstborn son marks 
 an epoch in the life of every Chinese mother. 
 It signalises her emancipation from a condition 
 akin to slavery, and elevates her to a position 
 of freedom and respect in the household. 
 Such is the desire for male offspring, due 
 probably to the religious importance of ancestral 
 worship, that it has given rise to the widespread 
 practice of polygamy. What the Chinese 
 mother needs in that supreme moment of her 
 
Women's Work and Witness 141 
 
 life is the illuminating spirit of the gospel, to 
 teach her how to take advantage of the new 
 position given her in the home, and to enable 
 her to put in force all the subtle influences of 
 Christian motherhood in the training of her 
 child. We shall never have noble men in 
 China till we have enlightened women. The 
 superior ignorance of the husbands is not 
 seldom the chief obstacle to the advance of 
 their wives. They speak of them continually 
 as pen, that is, stupid, foolish, dull ; and the 
 women have come to believe that they are so. 
 To disabuse their minds of this sense of their 
 own inferiority; to get them to believe that 
 they can learn, is the first step on the road 
 to knowledge, and the only way to elevate 
 national sentiment. 
 
 It is a significant fact that outside of the 
 Christian Church there are no schools for girls 
 in China, and only a few of even the better- 
 class women ever learn to read. Of the great 
 majority of our women converts it might 
 literally be said that " faith cometh by hearing," 
 though the efforts which they make, after con- 
 version, to master the intricacies of the written 
 language and acquire the difficult art of reading 
 are most praiseworthy. Under the influence of 
 mission schools a new type of woman is grow- 
 ing up in China. As girls they have received 
 a fair elementary education. From the first 
 they have been under Christian influences, and 
 
142 East of the Barrier 
 
 their characters have not been poisoned by- 
 breathing an atmosphere of superstition and 
 prejudice, such as their parents inhaled. 
 When such girls pass from the nursery of 
 the school to the wider responsibilities of the 
 home, they are able to acquit themselves in 
 a manner that is sure to leave a powerful im- 
 pression on the future of their children. The 
 conversion of individuals here and there is a 
 gain not to be despised ; but until Christianity 
 permeates the life of the home, it cannot be 
 said to have struck its roots deeply amongst 
 any people. To accomplish this end, and to 
 organise and carry on the educational machinery 
 essential to its success, would seem to demand, 
 in those who put their hands to it, some degree 
 of trained teaching capacity no less than high 
 Christian character. 
 
 Good work has been done in Manchuria in 
 past years. In Haicheng, the energy and 
 devotion of Mrs. Macintyre has woven a net- 
 work of educational agencies around that 
 centre, whilst her womanly influence has been 
 a potent factor in the elevation of the homes 
 throughout the whole district. To spend a 
 day in her compound — ■ a veritable hive of 
 industry — is to have one's eyes opened to the 
 future possibilities of the women of China. It 
 is less easy to individualise in the other centres 
 where the work is carried on by so many 
 devoted workers ; suffice it to say that in 
 
Women's Work and Witness 143 
 
 Liaoyang, in Moukden, and in Kaiyuan, girls' 
 schools, reading classes, institutions for the 
 training of Bible-women, and extensive medical 
 work have been splendidly carried on. Where- 
 ever the influence of the lady missionaries has 
 penetrated, it has lifted a cloud of darkness 
 from the life of the home. They have been 
 assisted in their labours by a noble band of 
 native women, whose hearts the Lord has 
 touched. These go out from the centres in 
 all directions, either to teach in schools or to 
 read the Scriptures in the houses, and tell 
 their sisters of the love of the Saviour. If 
 proof were needed of the reality of the change 
 that has passed over the lives of these women, 
 it could be found in the manner in which dur- 
 ing the persecution of 1900 many of them 
 suffered death rather than deny their Lord. 
 Let two examples suffice. " One fine spirited 
 woman named Hsiao, who was the soul of a 
 part of the work in Kuang-ning, was seized. 
 She was wealthy, and earnest in spreading the 
 gospel. When the ' Boxer ' trouble broke out, 
 she was a marked woman. The rascals had 
 an eye on her property, and demanded it. 
 The Deacon Wang, her manager, made his 
 escape, but she courageously stood her ground, 
 and said she was prepared to bear witness for 
 the Lord who bought her. She was offered 
 her life if she would recant. She refused, and 
 only asked that they would kill her quickly. 
 
144 East of the Barrier 
 
 She suffered death in the most cruel manner, 
 but up to the last kept praying." 
 
 "A young woman named Yin was captured. 
 As she was young and good-looking, her captor 
 offered her her life if she would renounce Christ 
 and become his wife. She replied that she had 
 a hope of Heaven, and that whether she died 
 or lived was of little moment. ' What is 
 Heaven ? ' said her captor ; ' if I kill you, 
 what then ? ' ' Then I shall go to Heaven at 
 one step.' As she was praying for her enemies, 
 she was cut short with the assassin's sword. 
 Her conduct made a great impression on the 
 community " — 
 
 " Through such souls alone, 
 God stooping, shows sufficient of His light 
 For us i' the dark to rise by." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE GREAT AWAKENING 
 
The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a 
 strong nation ; I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. — Isaiah. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE GREAT AWAKENING 
 
 THE Manchurian Mission is just thirty- 
 years old this spring. The Church 
 had been labouring for some years previous in 
 other parts of China, it is true, but the work of 
 our mission in the north dates from the arrival 
 of Dr. John Ross, in 1872, in the treaty-port 
 of Newchwang. The Irish Mission was estab- 
 lished some three years earlier. Looking 
 broadly at the history of those thirty years 
 we may observe three well-defined periods : — ■ 
 
 I. The period of pioneering. From 1874 
 (when Dr. Ross may be said to have acquired 
 the language, and fairly begun work in the 
 capital of Moukden) to 1894 — in short, from 
 the start of the mission to the outbreak of the 
 war with Japan. No one can ever know, 
 except those veteran men and women who 
 passed through the experience, the amount of 
 patient toil and heroic self-sacrifice, that lies 
 embedded in those twenty odd years when the 
 foundations of the mission were being deeply 
 and securely laid. To a large extent it was 
 a time of quiet waiting and preparation ; but 
 
 147 
 
148 East of the Barrier 
 
 not without fruit. The opposition of the 
 people — to the messenger no less than to his 
 message — had to be lived down and gradually 
 overcome. This of itself taxed to the full the 
 wisdom and forbearance of the missionaries. 
 As not unfrequently happens in the beginnings 
 of mission work, God greatly encouraged His 
 servants by raising up almost at the first, a few 
 choice converts of sterling character and apostolic 
 zeal. Of such was old Wang, whose memory 
 is enshrined in the heart of the native Church to 
 this hour. Not less notable were blind Chang, 
 Elder Hsii, Elder Ch'en, and Pastor Liu — all of 
 them fruits of the early pioneering days. 
 
 At the close of those twenty years the 
 membership of the Scotch Mission numbered 
 2341 souls. The Irish Mission had about an 
 equal number, accordingly some 5000 souls at 
 the close of 1894 represented the total Pro- 
 testant community out of a population of 
 17,000,000. Then came the war with Japan. 
 It was with much prayerful foreboding that the 
 missionaries left their little flocks in the interior. 
 It was a severe trial for the infant Church to be 
 thus bereft of its leaders. But the converts 
 stood the test well. When the missionaries 
 were permitted to return a year later, to their 
 great joy they found not a diminished Church, 
 but one that had actually grown in their 
 absence. The experience had revealed of what 
 order it was, and it cheered the missionaries 
 
The Great Awakening 
 
 149 
 
 and nerved them for fresh efforts in the future. 
 They had not laboured in vain. The Church 
 had divine life in itself. 
 
 At the close of the war with Japan, the mission 
 entered upon a new phase of its existence. 
 
 2. The period of pioneering was, in a 
 manner, over. The period of popularity had 
 begun. This lasted from 1895 to 1900 — 
 from the close of the Japanese War to the 
 outbreak of " Boxerism " — and is perhaps one 
 of the brightest pages in the annals of mission- 
 ary enterprise. This chapter is an attempt to 
 describe the spiritual awakening of those five 
 years, during which time the Church not only 
 grew, but multiplied. 
 
 The following statistics will give some idea 
 of the rapidity of the Church's growth : — 
 
 
 1896. 
 
 1897. 
 
 1898. 
 
 1899. 
 
 Pastors . 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 Elders . 
 
 17 
 
 27 
 
 37 
 
 40 
 
 Deacons . 
 
 171 
 
 294 
 
 414 
 
 414 
 
 Chapels . 
 
 104 
 
 181 
 
 246 
 
 92 1 
 
 Churches . 
 
 
 
 
 42 I 
 
 Prayer places 
 
 
 
 
 117J 
 
 Members. 
 
 '. 578S 
 
 io>25S 
 
 15,490 
 
 19,646 
 
 Catechumens 
 
 6300 
 
 9.442 
 
 8,875 
 
 7,126 
 
 Schools . 
 
 59 
 
 64 
 
 93 
 
 93 
 
 Scholars — Boy. 
 
 334 
 
 626 
 
 700 
 
 784 
 
 Girl; 
 
 157 
 
 306 
 
 354 
 
 396 
 
 Contributions 
 
 . ;^26i 
 
 ^877, 103. 
 
 /fi,345 
 
 ;f2,000 
 
 The above are the statistics of the United Missions — Irish 
 and Scotch. 
 
150 East of the Barrier 
 
 It is a great privilege to have lived through 
 a movement like this. One can never think 
 of it without mingled feelings of awe and 
 thankfulness. It grew with such rapidity that 
 it taxed the energies of the mission staff to 
 the utmost. The above statistics represent 
 only the fruit gathered. They give no con- 
 ception of the widespread character of the 
 movement ; that cannot be tabulated. Our 
 difficulties arose out of the embarrassments 
 occasioned by an overwhelming and sudden 
 success. Instead of the old indifference to the 
 gospel message, it seemed as though the people 
 would take the Kingdom of Heaven by force. 
 We found ourselves confronted by a mass of 
 confessing humanity knocking for admittance 
 at the door of the Christian Church. We ex- 
 amined candidates for baptism far into the night, 
 yet crowds had to go away unseen. On circuit 
 we would pass a village where last year there 
 had been only a few inquirers, now we found 
 hundreds awaiting our arrival, and these had 
 travelled for long distances. The movement 
 was not confined to any one class of society. It 
 touched all, except perhaps the very highest, 
 but even from this class also there were not 
 wanting a few who came to us by night, and 
 who in their hearts believed, but secretly, so to 
 speak, " for fear of the Jews." 
 
 While yet in its beginnings, Mr. Inglis thus 
 wrote of the new movement : " There is some- 
 
The Great Awakening 151 
 
 thing to make the heart rise, when, after a 
 day's journey, you come in sight of the crowd 
 gathered to welcome you ; when from point to 
 point you find the same willing audiences ; and 
 when you meet men who say that Christ is in 
 their hearts. The feeling must grow that here 
 we are in the midst of a mighty stream, swelling 
 from year to year and ever receiving new 
 affluents. Checks and disappointments there 
 are, but they are only the eddies at the bank, 
 which must not take our attention from the 
 onward rush of the main stream." 
 
 A year later the same eye-witness wrote 
 when the stream had swollen into full flood : 
 " A river in flood carries away in its course 
 whatever lies along its banks, both clean things 
 and foul. So it is in the advance of Christianity 
 — the greater the stream, the larger the ad- 
 mixture of baser elements and the more turbid 
 the current. It remains, then, for the Church 
 and her ministers to do their part to keep the 
 stream pure." 
 
 How explain a phenomenon of this kind? 
 " Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire 
 by what means the Christian faith obtained 
 so remarkable a victory over the established 
 religions. To this inquiry an obvious but 
 satisfactory answer may be returned ; that it 
 was owing to the convincing evidence of the 
 doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of 
 its Great Author. But as truth and reason 
 
152 East of the Barrier 
 
 seldom find so favourable a reception in the 
 world, and as the wisdom of providence 
 frequently condescends to use the passions of 
 the human heart, and the general circumstances 
 of mankind, as instruments to execute its 
 purpose ; we may still be permitted, though 
 with becoming submission, to ask not, indeed, 
 what were the first, but what were the secondary 
 causes of the rapid growth of the Christian 
 Church?"! 
 
 And first of all let us be clear as to what 
 it was not. While it could obviously never 
 have taken place without the previous labours 
 of God's messengers, it was apparently not due 
 to the direct instrumentality of any one man 
 or group of men. Similar movements at home 
 can frequently be traced to the commanding 
 personality of some individual, who, by his 
 sanctity of life or overmastering eloquence, can 
 powerfully influence large numbers of his fellow- 
 men ; but it was not so in Manchuria. The 
 movement was not confined to any one locality. 
 It sprang up almost simultaneously in widely- 
 scattered and separated districts. In the quiet 
 country hamlets and market-towns, no less than 
 in the larger cities ; in the north as in the south, 
 on the western plains and up into the remote 
 Korean valleys in the east — everywhere the 
 new spirit spread, and men felt and owned its 
 sway. 
 
 ■■ Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xv. 
 
The Great Awakening 153 
 
 But it was not a revival in the sense in 
 which we understand the word. It did not 
 originate in a deepened spiritual experience on 
 the part of those already within the pale of the 
 Church, and pass from them as the media of 
 a quickened and contagious life to the heathen 
 masses outside. No : it had its origin among 
 the so-called heathen ; a power not understood 
 of themselves seemed to be laying its sweet 
 compulsion upon them, to which they readily 
 yielded. It was an awakening as from the 
 slumber of centuries. " The wind bloweth 
 where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
 thereof, yet canst not tell whence it cometh nor 
 whither it goeth." 
 
 And yet with the fullest knowledge of the 
 movement one shrinks from applying to it the 
 term " Pentecostal." It was so in the matter 
 of numbers, certainly, but except in rare 
 instances men did not come to us " pricked 
 in their hearts " and cry out to us in New 
 Testament voices, " What must we do to be 
 saved ? " Neither, on the other hand, was it 
 an ignorant stampede of heathenism into the 
 Church. The people themselves, many of them, 
 did not understand why they came. They 
 were caught up in the onward rush of the 
 movement. Recollect that they had just 
 passed through a great national crisis — a crisis 
 which had shaken their faith in old ideals. 
 They turned in their helplessness, therefore, to 
 
154 East of the Barrier 
 
 the Christian Society for social and political 
 salvation. God had " shaken " the nation ; it 
 remained for His ministers to point the suppliant 
 people to that Kingdom of God which cannot 
 be shaken. To have repressed the whole 
 movement by coldness or indifference, because 
 of the mistaken motives inseparable from it, 
 would have meant the shutting of our eyes to 
 the opportunities of God's providence in the 
 events of history. 
 
 That the people should turn at all to the 
 Church for enlightenment and guidance was due, 
 in the first instance, to the long years of patient 
 sowing and persistent preaching of the evangel 
 of Jesus over the length and breadth of the 
 land ; and to the broadcast distribution of 
 Scriptures that found their way into the homes 
 and hearts of the people. The lines of the 
 mission had been laid from the first in prayerful 
 expectation of just such a harvest, though when 
 it came it surpassed the wildest dreams of the 
 most sanguine, and touched with awe the spirit 
 of every beholder. 
 
 Those silent years of ministry on the part of 
 the missionary laid the train ; in the providence 
 of God it was the war with Japan that applied 
 the igniting spark. The effects of that war, in 
 Manchuria at least, were far - reaching. It 
 wrought nothing short of a revolution in men's 
 minds. It altered for the time their whole 
 attitude to the foreigner. It dealt a most 
 
The Great Awakening 155 
 
 salutary blow to their overweening conceit and 
 insufferable pride. It opened their eyes to the 
 rottenness of their own officials. It exposed 
 the hollowness of the national pretensions ; for 
 here was a petty state, that but yesterday paid 
 them " tribute," and to-day was their master. 
 They knew that the secret of supremacy lay 
 not so much in the character of the Japanese, 
 as in the superior arts which they had borrowed 
 from the nations of the West. The foreigner, 
 therefore, was no longer a " thing " to be toyed 
 with and despised. He possessed that which 
 they lacked — for the want of which they had 
 suffered disgrace and defeat, but with which 
 they might be able to save themselves and 
 their nation from further disaster. Hence they 
 began to look upon the foreigner with more 
 kindly eyes, to " borrow his light," to cultivate 
 friendly intercourse, and to invite his help. 
 
 Moreover, during the war with Japan the 
 Christians suffered less, not more, than their 
 heathen neighbours. Outsiders did not fail to 
 note that wherever the Japanese soldiers went 
 they threw the aegis of their protection over 
 the Christian converts and all Church property. 
 Such clemency, while it popularised the Church, 
 was not without its baneful influence upon 
 individual members. Many who were poor 
 before the war, were rich after it, and in some 
 instances their riches grew up and choked the 
 good seed of the kingdom. While there were 
 
156 East of the Barrier 
 
 many regrettable elements mixed up with the 
 new movement — which we now understand 
 better than when we were in the midst of it — 
 still it is the unanimous testimony of those 
 who witnessed it that the whole native Church 
 during those five years of its popularity and 
 success took an immense stride forward, and 
 rose to an immeasurably higher level of 
 spirituality than it had ever before attained. 
 
 Some of the characteristic features of this 
 movement towards Christianity may here be 
 noted : — 
 
 1. Although most of the members were mere 
 babes in Christ, there was everywhere manifest 
 a keen appetite for biblical instruction. To 
 meet this demand claimed all the time and 
 energies of the missionaries. Bible-classes 
 were in operation in all large centres, and a 
 uniform scheme of lessons was printed at our 
 own press in Moukden and distributed all over 
 the Church. Examinations on these lessons 
 were held at the end of the year, and the results 
 revealed were extremely gratifying. At our 
 annual Conference held in May 1900, it was 
 stated by Mr. Bonfield, the agent of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society, who then paid us a 
 visit, that of the total sales of their Society 
 in China one-third had gone to Manchuria. 
 Evidence surely that the movement was 
 grounded on the word of God. 
 
 2. There was manifest, too, in our larger 
 
The Great Awakening 157 
 
 centres an increasing desire for higher education 
 on Western lines for the children of the members. 
 A number of native teachers, trained in Dr. 
 Mateer's College at Tung-chow- Fu, were secured 
 for this work, and gave good promise that, with 
 time and effective supervision, excellent educa- 
 tional results would accrue. Many of the 
 officials showed a keen interest in the growth 
 of these institutions, and were prepared to 
 make them the model of national schools, on a 
 large scale all over the country, when the 
 opportunity for advance in that direction might 
 offer itself 
 
 3. A native monthly magazine was published 
 at Moukden, which was much appreciated, not 
 only by Church members, but by many of the 
 more enlightened and progressive officials. It 
 gave them information of events happening in 
 Europe, which they could not otherwise obtain, 
 and by means of articles on scientific, educa- 
 tional, and religious subjects was in every way 
 fitted to lift the cloud of superstition and 
 ignorance from the intellectual life of the 
 people. 
 
 4. It was gratifying to notice the develop- 
 ment of a spirit of independence amongst the 
 various congregations of the native Church. 
 The members, in most cases, voluntarily pro- 
 vided their own places of worship. They 
 managed their own elementary schools. They 
 made handsome donations to the good work 
 
158 East of the Barrier 
 
 of the hospitals. They took prominent part 
 in the dehberations of Church courts, and they 
 were prepared to call and to support their own 
 native pastors as quickly as the Theological 
 College could provide them. 
 
 It is impossible to review these five years 
 without having one's own faith strengthened. 
 The advance made during that short time by 
 the native Church inspires one with hope for 
 the evangelisation of China. But while grateful 
 for all the advance of these years, the mission- 
 aries could not shut their eyes to the fact that 
 in spite of their best efforts they had not kept 
 the stream pure. They recognised all too 
 plainly that there were many elements in the 
 Church's life that marred its usefulness, 
 weakened its witness, and hindered its advance. 
 But what the missionaries could not do, God 
 has Himself done. He who gave the years of 
 popularity, now called the native Church to pass 
 through a period of persecution. In that fiery 
 furnace of affliction much of the dross has 
 disappeared, bringing out into stronger relief 
 the pure gold of the Church's life and faith. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 "THE FIERY TRIAL" 
 
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.- 
 Tertullian. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 " THE FIERY TRIAL " 
 
 IT was the beginning of May 1900, and 
 the time of our Presbytery meetings. 
 Missionaries and native elders, to the number 
 of about one hundred, had gathered themselves 
 together at Moukden from all parts of the 
 country, to confer with one another on the 
 things concerning the Kingdom of our Lord. 
 Never before in the history of the mission had 
 we to record a year of such unparalleled 
 success. The native Church had a membership 
 of nearly twenty thousand, with, in addition, 
 some eight thousand catechumens waiting for 
 baptism. It had contributed no less a sum 
 than two thousand pounds sterling towards 
 its own support. A Theological College had 
 just been established for the better training of 
 the native ministry. The burden of the work 
 was felt by all, and it was with a keen sense 
 of personal responsibility that we faced the 
 question how best we were to minister to this 
 mass of confessing humanity. At that time 
 there was not the slightest trace of the coming 
 
i62 East of the Barrier 
 
 storm visible on the horizon. Our outlook for 
 the future, while it brought with it a deep 
 sense of responsibility, was fitted to call forth 
 in the highest degree a spirit of devout 
 thankfulness to the great Head of the 
 Church. 
 
 A tone of high seriousness pervaded all our 
 gatherings. We held a series of meetings with 
 the native Christians calculated to deepen their 
 spiritual life, whilst amongst ourselves we 
 reverently sought God's guidance as we con- 
 sidered the situation with which we found 
 ourselves confronted. Mr. Webster read a 
 timely and suggestive paper on " How best to 
 stimulate Bible Study amongst our Members " ; 
 while Mr. Macintyre, in a paper on " The 
 Present Situation," summed up the problem in 
 the following manner : — (i) " We have converted 
 people among us, but we have also a vast 
 number who, in the words of James, are ' driven 
 of the wind and tossed.' (2) We have come, 
 humanly speaking, to the usual period of 
 reaction in such movements, and must be 
 prepared for a considerable falling away. 
 What is not of the Spirit will now manifest 
 itself and return to the world, possibly more 
 friendly to us because of the temporary con- 
 tact, but possibly also as enemies who will 
 know our weakness and be able to exercise a 
 very chilling and deterrent influence on our 
 converts. (3) We have ourselves as teachers 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 163 
 
 been very earnestly at school amongst this 
 mass of confessing Christians, and we have 
 doubtless, most of us, formed new and perhaps 
 pretty stiff conclusions as to certain pronounced 
 measures which must be taken immediately if 
 the Spirit of God is to continue His work and 
 sift out a people for the Saviour." And he 
 suggested the following queries for considera- 
 tion : — {a) " Whether we are doing sufficient in 
 the way of pressing upon members the duty of 
 educating their children ? (b) whether we are 
 sufficiently pressing the duty of systematic 
 giving ? (c) whether we have done justice to the 
 Sabbath question ; (d) whether we have duly 
 grappled with the moral defects in the character 
 of our converts, so as to make them stand out 
 in their old surroundings as new creations of 
 God by the faith of His Son ? («) whether we 
 can make an advance in our present position 
 as regards the treatment of Yamen cases ? 
 (/") whether we may be said to have touched 
 the home life of the people ? " 
 
 Such were some of the problems that 
 occupied our attention in conference. Scarcely 
 had we dispersed when signs of the coming 
 storm appeared. God was about to test the 
 faith of the Manchurian Church in a way that 
 none of us had dreamed of By the beginning 
 of July there was not a single missionary 
 left in the field. The Christians were driven 
 from their homes and scattered to the four 
 
164 East of the Barrier 
 
 points of the compass. The property of the 
 missions was completely wrecked, represent- 
 ing a loss of about one hundred thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 How the native Church stood the test and 
 came through the fire it will be my object to 
 show. I rely almost entirely upon the reports 
 of those missionaries who were the first to get 
 into touch with the converts after the storm 
 had subsided. But first let me narrate how 
 it began. 
 
 It was in the beginning of June that we 
 first heard that " Boxers " had come to 
 Moukden. They began to drill nightly on 
 the streets, and to enlist large numbers of 
 the people to their ranks — chiefly from the 
 Tsai li sect, which has always been inimical to 
 the " Jesus religion." Prior to this time we 
 had only heard of the " Boxer " movement in 
 the provinces of Shantung and Chihli. When 
 they made their appearance in Moukden, the 
 Governor-General at once issued two proclama- 
 tions against them. In these they were de- 
 nounced as " rebels," and the people were 
 warned not to join them else they would be 
 punished. But no sooner were the proclama- 
 tions posted up on the Yamen gates than they 
 were scribbled all over with insulting remarks. 
 At any other time this affront to the Viceroy 
 would have cost the writers their heads ; but 
 no action was taken. My Chinese writer, who 
 
"The Fiery Tnal*' 165 
 
 went to take down a copy of these proclama- 
 tions for me, overheard a " Boxer " remark after 
 he had read them : " Oh ! is the Viceroy not 
 going to countenance us yet ? " 
 
 The enrolHng of recruits continued. Slips of 
 paper began to be circulated in the streets with 
 insulting remarks against the foreigners, while 
 big posters were displayed on the walls and 
 gates of the city, urging the people to kill and 
 burn. These had the desired effect. They 
 produced a panic amongst the people, and 
 fanned the passions of the mob into a flame. 
 We dared not show ourselves on the streets. 
 When we went outside our compounds, people 
 who used to be friendly fled from us with 
 frightened looks, as from a plague. Rumour 
 said that the date for burning the Moukden 
 church was fixed. On Sunday, when we went 
 down to church, we found some soldiers there 
 in plain clothes. They had been sent by a 
 friendly magistrate to prevent an attack being 
 made upon us. We took this as a good omen. 
 It seemed as though the officials wished to 
 protect us. The same official arrested some 
 " Boxers " and put them in prison. On the 
 evening of the same day the military governor 
 went himself to prison and liberated them. 
 From this we concluded that the officials were 
 not agreeing among themselves. Some wished 
 to put down the " Boxers " and protect us, 
 whilst others aided and abetted the " Boxers " 
 
1 66 East of the Barrier 
 
 to kill us. Up to this time (20th June) we 
 had refrained from seeking protection. The 
 strain was terrible — especially at night. We 
 were a mere handful of people, without arms, 
 in the midst of a heathen city. Never did we 
 put our trust in God as we did then 1 The 
 elders came to tell us that one of our Christians 
 had been badly beaten by a notable " Boxer." 
 They feared that if no notice were taken, it 
 would be the signal for a general persecution. 
 Dr. Christie wrote a letter to the Governor. 
 He reminded him how many years we had 
 lived peaceably amongst them. We had re- 
 spected Chinese customs, we had kept the law, 
 and we had ever urged our converts to do the 
 same. Our sole object was to preach the 
 gospel and heal the sick. Now that the whole 
 city was in panic, and we might be attacked 
 any day, what was he prepared to do to protect 
 us and our property ? We waited two anxious 
 days for his reply. When it came it was a 
 bitter disappointment. " The whole situation 
 was very difficult: he was unable to help us." 
 It was evident he was obeying Imperial in- 
 structions. Then news reached us of the 
 wrecking of the railway near Pekin, of the 
 bombarding of the Taku Forts, the siege of 
 Tientsin, and the perilous condition of the 
 Legations, and we realised for the first time 
 that what we were feeling up country was but 
 the ripple of a great wave of rebellion that was 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 167 
 
 passing all over the Empire. We waited much 
 on God in prayer, and earnestly sought His 
 guidance and protection. A neighbouring 
 magistrate — Mr. Hsien — who had always been 
 friendly, made frequent visits to the hospital. 
 He told us what was taking place in the 
 Yamen. The last time he called he said in 
 effect, " The Governor-General has received 
 secret instructions from Pekin to foster the 
 ' Boxer ' movement in every way possible. I 
 advise you to get the women and children 
 away to a place of safety at once." We now 
 know that this was the notorious edict of 17th 
 June 1900, ordering the destruction of all 
 foreign property by fire, and the extermination 
 of all foreigners and their Christian adherents 
 by torture. We also have good reason to 
 believe that the Viceroy, solicitous for our 
 safety, was cognisant of the advice given to us 
 to withdraw. He refrained from publishing 
 the deadly edict till the " Boxers " forced his 
 hand and threatened his life if he resisted them 
 longer. Our leading Christians unselfishly ad- 
 vised the same course. " You cannot protect 
 us by remaining," said they, " they can only 
 persecute us, but they will certainly kill you." 
 Hurriedly we packed a few things together, 
 and at dawn on the 23rd June all the remain- 
 ing ladies and children, with Mr. Pullar and 
 myself, made our way quietly out of the city, 
 and reached the Russian railway, ten miles 
 
1 68 East of the Barrier 
 
 distant. After three days we reached New- 
 chwang in safety. It was my purpose to have 
 returned to Moukden, but when we reached 
 Newchwang we had advice saying that, as the 
 situation had rapidly grown worse, Dr. Christie, 
 Dr. Young, and Mr. Fulton were compelled to 
 leave. Immediately afterwards the " Boxers '' 
 began to burn the railway bridges. Had we 
 been compelled to go by road, the journey 
 would have been both difficult and dangerous, 
 as the inns were now crowded with soldiers. 
 On 30th June came the sad tidings of the 
 destruction of all our property in Moukden, 
 and the massacre of many of our Christians. 
 One week later came the still sadder intelli- 
 gence of the massacre of the Roman Catholic 
 bishop, two priests, and two '' sisters." They 
 had armed their converts, fortified their com- 
 pounds, and attempted to resist the " Boxer " 
 onset — but in vain. Had we remained a week 
 longer in Moukden we should doubtless have 
 shared a like fate. Every day thereafter 
 brought tidings of the most wanton destruc- 
 tion of churches and chapels, houses and 
 hospitals, all over Manchuria. Nearly every 
 Christian merchant had his shop burned 
 and looted. A blinding sense of horror 
 comes over us as we think of the sufferings 
 and peril through which our native brethren 
 passed. 
 
 I have confined myself to the beginnings of 
 
"The Fiery Trial" i6 
 
 9 
 
 the ti-ouble in Moukden, but other stations have 
 a similar — and in some cases a sadder — tale 
 to tell. The brethren from Kaiyuan were 
 attacked by robbers whilst making their escape 
 by river. Mr. O'Neill, of the Irish Mission, 
 was the last to leave the iield. He had a 
 perilous journey from Fa-ku-men to Vladivo- 
 stock, in company with the Russian engineers, 
 who had to fight their way through a people 
 now thoroughly roused and hostile. Our 
 missionaries in the north all made their escape 
 to Vladivostock, and were much indebted to 
 the generous and timely assistance rendered 
 them by the Russian authorities. 
 
 Some time elapsed before the Russians were 
 able to put a sufficient army into the field to 
 cope with the disorders. They were as ill- 
 prepared for, and as much surprised at, the 
 turn events had taken as anyone else in China. 
 But they made a desperate effort to protect 
 their railway, which was nearing completion. 
 On 4th August they took possession of 
 Newchwang, the treaty-port, and put it under 
 military control. They then gradually pushed 
 their way up country, and before many months 
 recaptured what was left of the railway and 
 reduced the main route to order. The first 
 missionary to get into touch with the native 
 Christians was Dr. A. Macdonald Westwater. 
 Smarting under a keen personal bereavement, 
 he yet bravely returned from Japan to Port 
 
170 East of the Barrier 
 
 Arthur, where he was invited by the Russian 
 General to take charge of the Red - Cross 
 hospital work. By his knowledge of the 
 country and the language he was in a position 
 to render valuable assistance, not only to the 
 Russians, but also to the mission. When he 
 reached Liaoyang, where he had conducted 
 medical work for many years and was well 
 known to the people, he succeeded in calming 
 their fears, induced the merchants to open 
 their shops, and in this way secured the safety 
 of the inhabitants and the immunity of the city 
 from plunder. The people of Liaoyang justly 
 regard him as the " saviour of the city.'' They 
 showed their gratitude for his services by placing 
 premises at his disposal for the resumption of 
 medical work, with the promise that when the 
 trouble was over they would rebuild his old 
 hospital, then lying in ruins. 
 
 Arriving at Moukden, Dr. Westwater got 
 into touch with Pastor Liu and the Christians. 
 He hired a temporary building — an old theatre 
 - — and set up the organisation of the Church 
 once more, as far as circumstances would 
 permit. The Christians had suffered terribly, 
 most of them were in rags, but in their joy at 
 seeing the missionary back in their midst, there 
 was never heard so much as a murmur. The 
 first Sunday they repaired to the old church — 
 to all of them its very dust was dear, for many 
 could say : " I was born there ! " Over its ashes 
 

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 a 
 
 w 
 a 
 
 H 
 Q 
 
 H 
 < 
 
 Q 
 O 
 
 w 
 X 
 H 
 
"The Fiery Trial*' 171 
 
 they held their first service. It was a pathetic, 
 and yet a glad reunion — a striking testimony 
 to the fact that despite all vicissitudes the 
 continuity of the Church of Christ was assured. 
 
 Dr. Christie and Mr. Webster were the next 
 to arrive in Moukden. Their visit greatly 
 cheered the Christians, and in some cases 
 they were able to relieve pressing necessities. 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Fulton, of the Irish 
 Mission, arrived. He thus graphically de- 
 scribes the condition of the country and the 
 people : ^ — ■ 
 
 " Every step of our way from Newchwang 
 bore testimony to the fearful destruction of 
 property within the past few months. Fields 
 of the smaller grains here and there had been 
 left unreaped, and the heads of the tall millet 
 had been hurriedly snipped off — the stalks left 
 standing till a more convenient season for cutting 
 them down should present itself. All along the 
 line of march of the troops the majority of the 
 houses were empty, the owners having fled to 
 avoid extortion, or injury, or death; in most 
 cases taking their windows and doors with 
 them. Many houses were also burned down, 
 apparently no distinction being made between 
 Christians and non-Christians ; in fact, from 
 inquiries made, I should say that nine-tenths 
 of the houses burned down belonged to the 
 latter, and probably the origin of the fire in 
 1 TAe Missionary Herald, March igor. 
 
172 East of the Barrier 
 
 most cases was due to a desire to loot. You 
 will see then, that, whatever may have been the 
 real cause of the recent upheaval in Manchuria, 
 a very large number of non-Christians have 
 suffered the loss of both life and property. At 
 the beginning of the troubles the hostility of 
 the " Boxers " was first directed against the 
 Christians and foreigners ; but as soon as their 
 ranks began to swell, and they had attracted 
 Imperial favour, they let loose the reins of 
 passion, and set no limits to their ambition. 
 Wherever their demands were not complied 
 with, neither life nor property was safe. Here, 
 in Moukden, the non- Christian merchants have 
 lost very heavily. The majority of the large 
 shops were plundered ruthlessly, and many of 
 them afterwards burnt down. The Governor- 
 General and other officers fled from the city on 
 the night of 29th September. On the follow- 
 ing morning, the representatives of law and 
 order having gone, the merchants, fearing that 
 organised looting would take place, did not 
 open their shops ; but the soldiers who had 
 been left behind, together with the evil men 
 that are always waiting to enrich themselves at 
 others' expense, armed themselves with rifles, 
 and scattered themselves throughout the business 
 part of the city, fired into the air at random to 
 create terror, and demanded that all shops should 
 forthwith be opened. Fearing death on refusal, 
 men opened their shops, and the whole rascality 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 173 
 
 of the city, and even many so-called respectable 
 people, fell upon them, and plundered without 
 let or hindrance for a whole day and a night. 
 Then on ist October, when the advance guards 
 of the Russian army arrived at the gate, the 
 looters set fire to several parts of the city and 
 fled. The Governor-General is roundly abused 
 for fleeing, as his presence would have saved 
 the city. However that may be, it is certainly 
 true that the arrival of the Russian troops saved 
 the remnant that the Chinese themselves failed 
 to destroy. 
 
 " The tales of suffering on the part of the 
 Christians we continually have to listen to are 
 simply indescribable ; and if half of them were 
 told in the ear of the Church, there would be 
 let loose such a flood of sympathy as should 
 make the salvation of China the daily thought 
 and prayer of every Christian throughout the 
 world. Our brothers and sisters in Manchuria 
 have been filling up the sufferings of Christ in 
 a measure we never should have dreamt of. 
 Had their flight taken place in winter, most of 
 the women and children must have perished of 
 cold. They lay hidden in the tall grain and in 
 the long grass, and amongst the gullies and 
 holes in the mountain sides, often for weeks, 
 picking up food as best they could. Hundreds 
 of them have had most miraculous escapes from 
 horrible torture and certain death, even in places 
 where exemption from death by purchase was 
 
174 East of the Barrier 
 
 disallowed them. Families got separated in 
 the general flight, and the slow-footed were 
 overtaken and either butchered or held for 
 ransom. And some of those who escaped 
 have found, or are now finding, an early grave 
 through fright and exposure. Women and 
 girls sometimes became the private property of 
 their captors. . . . What happened here, in 
 oNIoukden, is true of many places throughout 
 the province. An order was issued, and carried 
 from house to house, strictly forbiding anyone 
 to give the least asylum to Christians or their 
 families, and should anyone be found disobeying 
 this law their houses would be burnt down and 
 themselves treated as Christians. Consequently 
 no one dare harbour even a near relative : in 
 many places non-Christian strangers travelling 
 on the roads were suspected of being Christians, 
 and refused even a drink from the village well ; 
 and Christians, who had wandered many miles 
 from their homes to places where they were 
 quite unknown, were sometimes apprehended 
 by the villagers and robbed, and perhaps 
 handed over to the local ' Boxers.' Moreover, 
 in the case of those who did not leave their 
 homes, but made terms with the ' Boxers,' and 
 purchased their lives and freedom by a hand- 
 some sum, this did not always guarantee them 
 against further molestation at the hands of 
 others who were not ' Boxers.' Consequently 
 Christians became the prey of everyone who 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 175 
 
 for the time had taken power to do as he 
 pleased. After consenting to the exactions 
 of the ' Boxers,' the Chinese officials, from 
 the county magistrate down to the lowest 
 scoundrel who lives by evil ways, pressed their 
 claims, even to confiscating their property ; and 
 in the city of Moukden the beggars made the 
 occasion their harvest day, and went in bands 
 from door to door demanding from the 
 Christians generous gifts, otherwise they would 
 bum their houses over their heads. 
 
 " From the beginning of the troubles it would 
 seem that the Governor-General tried to do his 
 best to keep order, but the General of the 
 forces was the bitter enemy of the foreigners 
 and Christians, and demanded their extermina- 
 tion, and threatened death to all who dared to 
 oppose him. It was under his orders that his 
 troops attacked and destroyed with field-guns 
 the Roman Catholic cathedral here, and killed 
 the foreigners and natives who had taken refuge 
 therein. The ' Boxers ' flourished under his 
 patronage as long as he remained in the city, 
 and they were emboldened thereby to defy the 
 civil officials ; it was only when he had gone 
 south to oppose the advance of the Russian 
 troops that the civil officials were able to assert 
 themselves. One day a leader of the ' Boxers ' 
 was being carried in triumphal procession 
 through the city, with fifty of his subordinates 
 marching on either side with drawn swords. 
 
176 East of the Barrier 
 
 when the Governor of the city in his chair met 
 them full in the face in one of the main streets, 
 but he was obliged to move aside and let them 
 pass. On 1 1 th August, when the ' Boxers ' 
 had attained the supreme height of their power, 
 and things had reached a crisis, the city officials 
 suddenly awoke to a sense of the serious dangers 
 that threatened them, and fearing for their 
 own lives, they gave the order to exterminate 
 the ' Boxers.' The order was carried out 
 immediately, and many of them were slain, and 
 the rest fled. Had the General of the forces 
 been in the city at the time, instead of being 
 with his troops on the field, this order could 
 not have been executed, and nothing could 
 then have saved the city from being sacked, 
 and the Christians from utter extermination. 
 Eventually, when the General of the forces 
 returned from an utter defeat and rout by the 
 Russians, he threatened the lives of the 
 Governor-General and others who refused to 
 carry out his behests, and it was largely owing 
 to this threat that these officials fled from the 
 city." 
 
 From the roll of martyrs the following, who 
 sealed their confession with their life's blood, 
 are surely worthy of a high place in the annals 
 of the Christian Church. Those who have 
 hitherto sneered at the work of missions in 
 China, or have spoken of the converts as " rice 
 Christians," must feel rebuked at the spectacle 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 177 
 
 here presented of so much suffering heroism, 
 for a parallel to which we must travel back to 
 the first persecutions in the early days of the 
 Church's history. It is impossible, of course, to 
 do more than select a few names. 
 
 Among the first to win the martyr's crown 
 was Blind Chang of the "Valley of Peace" 
 (Tai-Ping-Kow). His life-story is one of the 
 gems of missionary romance ! ^ One day in 
 the year 1886 a blind man, in middle life, 
 found his way to the Mission Hospital at 
 Moukden. He had travelled over a hundred 
 miles on foot from his village home, full of 
 hope that the skill of the foreign doctor would 
 be able to give him back his sight. He 
 remained in the hospital for some months 
 under treatment, during which time he heard 
 much of the " Jesus religion." Chang was a 
 deeply religious man — a member of the Hun 
 yuen, one of the straitest sects of Buddhism. 
 It was soon apparent that there was small hope 
 of a restoration of his sight. He was too late 
 in coming — and yet not too late, for the light 
 of Heaven broke on his soul, and he saw by 
 faith visions of a new life opening up before 
 him. He earnestly besought baptism, but the 
 missionaries refused his request, deeming it 
 wise that he should first return to his home 
 and tell his friends and neighbours of the great 
 change that had passed over his life. He did 
 
 ' Blind Chang, by the Rev. James W. Inglis, M.A. id. 
 
178 East of the Barrier 
 
 so, but only after he had received the promise 
 of an early visit from the foreign pastor. In 
 obedience to this pledge Mr. Webster, some 
 months later, sought him out in his own village. 
 To his joy he found the whole country-side 
 engrossed in the study of the Gospels, as the 
 result of Blind Chang's witness. From place 
 to place he had moved, telling his story 
 with the native eloquence with which he was 
 so richly gifted, and the simple village folk 
 everywhere opened their hearts to the message, 
 and their homes to the blind evangelist. He 
 heard of the work of Mr. W. H. Murray among 
 the blind at Pekin. Ever of a roving, restless 
 disposition he set out with no guide but his staff 
 across the hills to the Imperial city. And 
 when he returned, bearing the Holy Scriptures 
 in the Braille type under his arm, oh, miracle 
 of miracles ! to hear the blind man read from 
 the tips of his fingers ! He never sought 
 to hide his light under a bushel, but set it 
 where it could shed its lustre all around. So 
 when trouble came, and the dark days of per- 
 secution and death. Blind Chang was a marked 
 man. He could not flee like others to the hills 
 or hide among the tall millet stalks of the field. 
 He could only await his appointed end. He 
 was dragged before the " Boxer " tribunal and 
 asked to worship the idols. He replied, " I 
 can only worship the one living and true God." 
 " You must repent," they cried. " I have re- 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 179 
 
 pentad already," was his answer. " Then will 
 you believe in Buddha ? " " No ; I believe in 
 Jesus Christ." " Then you must die." And 
 whilst he chanted his last earthly hymn, the 
 sword fell, and the spirit of the martyr passed 
 to the unseen world. 
 
 Dr. Ross writes : ^ 
 
 " A young man, Li Ru Tang, a painter by 
 profession, has been a diligent and an eager 
 student for some years. He was preacher at 
 Huai-ren city, but being in Hsing-ping-pu, to 
 which place he belonged, when the storm burst, 
 he was apprehended. The ' Boxers ' were 
 eager for his recantation, perhaps unwilling to 
 take his life. On the execution ground he 
 was bound as men are bound who are to be 
 beheaded. He was then asked, ' Will you 
 preach the Jesus religion ? ' 'As long as I 
 live,' was the reply. Then an eyebrow was 
 cut off with the sword, and the same question 
 was repeated ; and so was his answer. Then 
 another eyebrow, an ear, then the other ear. 
 Then his lips were cut off, and still after each 
 cut he was asked and still answered that while 
 he lived he could not but preach the way of 
 salvation to sinners. When he felt he was 
 getting weak, he said, ' I may be unable to 
 speak, but I shall never cease to believe.' Then, 
 with a terrific cross cut his heart was cut out 
 and taken away. His heart was exhibited at 
 
 ^ Missionary Record. 
 
i8o East of the Barrier 
 
 a theatrical performance for several days. The 
 ' Boxers ' themselves are now loud in praise of 
 the man who was so unnaturally brave and 
 true to his belief. His death, and the manner 
 of it, produced a greater impression on the 
 public of Hsing-ping-pu than any other. 
 
 " After her father's death Li Ru Tang's 
 only child, a bright girl of fourteen years of 
 age, fled, taking with her a New Testament. 
 Some relatives wished to save her, but she 
 must burn her book. She refused. She ran 
 with ' the book ' under her arm into the millet. 
 She was not known by any of the ' Boxers.' 
 She was discovered, however, among the millet. 
 Her book was testimony, and the only testi- 
 mony against her. She was brought to the 
 place of execution, and asked if she were a 
 believer. She replied that she was. The child 
 fearlessly stood before her tormentors, who 
 asked if she were not afraid. ' Afraid or not 
 afraid, it is all one,' she replied. But with a 
 smile she met the sword that cut her down." 
 
 In December 1898 I first met Li Ru Tang 
 in Hsing-ping-pu, where he was a student 
 preacher. While on the same journey, I had 
 the joy of baptising the first convert of the 
 Huai-ren-hsien church — the son of an inn- 
 keeper. Li Ru Tang was the first preacher of 
 the young church, and promised well. Though 
 not a great scholar he was a man of strong in- 
 dividuality. The last time I saw him was in 
 
"The Fiery Trial" i8i 
 
 Moukden. The work in Huai-ren had grown, 
 and he came thither to solicit aid for the pur- 
 chase of suitable premises for a church. " Faith- 
 ful unto death, he now wears the crown of 
 Life." 
 
 " The most uncompromising and deadly 
 form of persecution," says Dr. Ross, " was in 
 the flourishing town of Hsing-ping-pu in the 
 east. Here we had a congregation of three 
 hundred members, a large proportion being 
 merchants and comfortable farmers. The value 
 of the loss of goods and property there was 
 fully SiOO,ooo (Mexican) = ;£■ 1 0,000; every 
 man, woman, and child belonging to the Christian 
 religion who was seized was mercilessly and 
 often barbarously put to death. Those who 
 had not saved themselves by flight were all put 
 to death. I have since seen the mandarin, and 
 I can understand his attitude. He is a devoted 
 Buddhist and ignorant man. By his action 
 he had hoped to accumulate a stock of merit." 
 
 " The ablest and most intelligent member in 
 the neighbourhood of Mardun was a doctor in 
 Shangjiaho-Shih. He was apprehended, for he 
 was well known and highly respected over a 
 wide region. His ears were cut off, and as he 
 would not renounce his faith, the ' Boxers ' made 
 a crown of flour over his head, saturated it 
 with kerosene oil, and set it on fire. This 
 they called ' the lamp of heaven ' ; and under 
 its torture the poor man died. A few others 
 
1 82 East of the Barrier 
 
 were more mercifully dealt with, as their heads 
 were cut off at a stroke. A man from Hsia- 
 fangshen is in, and tells that every house in 
 that village — which was all Christian — was 
 burned down. Two people were beheaded. 
 A man named Wang, who introduced the 
 gospel to that place, was cut so deeply on the 
 neck with a sword that friend and foe believed 
 him dead. Another was so cruelly cut with a 
 sword that he was thrown out to die. But 
 like Paul in similar circumstances, they both 
 recovered. All these people are farmers, and 
 I am glad to learn they have been allowed to 
 cultivate their ground this year. In other 
 places it has not been so. 
 
 " The ' Boxers ' went to Deacon Yieh's shop 
 in Yungling, and demanded whether he was not 
 Yieh the deacon of Yungling church. ' Yes,' 
 he replied, ' I am.' ' Then,' they said ; ' your 
 doom is come.' ' I have long been a Christian,' 
 replied Yieh. ' What have I done recently to 
 deserve death ? ' ' The fact that you are a 
 Christian is your crime, and it is the will of 
 the Buddha that you die.' He was a very 
 athletic man, and a trained gymnast. It would 
 be difficult, therefore, for the ' Boxers ' to be- 
 head him. The soldiers levelled their pieces 
 at his head, and thus compelled him to stand 
 still, and the deed of blood was done. 
 
 " On the twenty-sixth of sixth moon (July) 
 the Boxers of Hsing-ping-pu went to Wang- 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 183 
 
 ching-men. The headmen of the village hunted 
 the members, seized them, and handed them 
 over to the ' Boxers.' The ' Boxers ' went thrice 
 to Wang-ching-mSn. In all, members and ap- 
 plicants for baptism, fourteen were put to 
 death. All these met their death with great 
 courage. ' There was no weak one among 
 them.' They bore witness to the truth. One, 
 Wang, was singing and praying up to the 
 moment when he was beheaded. 
 
 " An old man, Swun, formerly of consider- 
 able influence in the village, but one whom we 
 all considered a weak member, was apprehended 
 and bound. The crowd of beholders appealed 
 to him to save his life. Why should he con- 
 tinue in the Jesus religion ? ' Let him bend 
 the knee and crave their forgiveness ! ' ' No,' 
 he replied, ' I cannot. The Jesus religion is 
 true. What of my life? The religion I 
 possess is an everlasting inheritance.' He 
 continued preaching the truth in which he 
 believed till he was beheaded. 
 
 "At Hsing-ping-pu Deacon Chang was seized, 
 and asked to recant or die. He refused in 
 any way to deny the faith, and was beheaded. 
 
 " Swun Halting was brought before the 
 ' Boxers,' and asked whether he was a Roman 
 Catholic or a ' Jesus religion ' man. He there- 
 upon began to preach to them the religion in 
 which he believed, and for his ' impertinence ' 
 was beheaded. Twelve other members of his 
 
184 East of the Barrier 
 
 family died with him for their faith, which they 
 would not renounce. 
 
 " Chang Paichwan was asked to forsake the 
 faith, or die. He replied that when he became 
 a believer he counted on having to die for his 
 faith. He was executed. 
 
 " Kuo Mingchmg, a member of Yungling, 
 was hiding for a time, but was apprehended 
 and brought before the 'Boxers' of Hsing-ping- 
 pu. He was presented with the alternative, re- 
 cantation or death. To all the revilings and 
 threats he answered only one word, which he 
 continued to speak as long as he could — ' It is 
 well. It is well. It is well ' — and he was 
 beheaded. 
 
 " Deacon Miao from Yungling, had escaped 
 and was taken, like Kuo. He too made a 
 bold confession, as I would expect, for he was 
 a bold, brave man. He exhorted the perse- 
 cutors, who ended his exhortation by behead- 
 ing him. 
 
 " Mrs. Hsia, of Yungling, one of the ablest 
 women I have seen in Manchuria, was taken. 
 She would not renounce the faith. She asked 
 time to pray according to the custom of her 
 religion. She had a napkin on her head, on 
 account of some sickness. This she took off, 
 and knelt, praying for some time. She then 
 stood up and sang a hymn, ' At the gate of 
 heaven,' and, while singing with all her heart, 
 she was beheaded. 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 185 
 
 " Hsii was a member of Changtan congrega- 
 tion. He was deacon of a station ten miles 
 from that town. He was seized by the head- 
 man of this village, and threatened with death 
 if he would not recant. He refused. His feet 
 were put into the stocks, a heavy chain from 
 his neck was tied to the kang, and his hands 
 were manacled. He had been the first man 
 baptised there, and the other members, who 
 were not yet persecuted, with tears besought 
 him to come to terms with his foe. He refused. 
 He was asked to partake of some food, the 
 meat having been offered in the temple. To 
 that he made no objection. He was again 
 pleaded with to ' open his mouth ' ; that is, 
 profess non-belief in the Christian doctrine. 
 He replied that he had only one life to live, 
 and he would remain true to his Saviour. He 
 would not in any degree seem to acquiesce in 
 denial of Him. The headman sent him to 
 Moukden to the ' Boxers,' whose headquarters 
 were next door to our present church. The 
 headman went in and accused him of being a 
 Christian. The ' Boxers ' came out with their 
 swords, and hacked him to pieces on the cart ; 
 even his boots were cut to pieces." 
 
 ' ' Gladly Lord with Thee they suffered ; 
 Gladly Lord with Thee they died ; 
 And, by death to life immortal 
 They were born and glorified." 
 
 From an article by the Rev. James Webster, 
 
1 86 East of the Barrier 
 
 entitled "The Sifting Time in Manchuria," ^ 
 we quote the following. The whole article is 
 well worth careful study. It embodies reports 
 of all the districts by the various missionaries, 
 and gives the most complete account of the 
 persecution we have yet seen. 
 
 " The sufferings of the Christians in the 
 districts of Hsin-min-tun and Kuang-ning 
 (Irish Mission) were in some respects the 
 hardest of any we have yet heard of. The 
 persecution started in Hsin-min-tun in a 
 carpenter's shop. The shop was burned, and 
 in a few days twenty-five members were killed. 
 Among them were men of great influence in 
 the Church. One such man was taken early 
 and beheaded, his head being placed in front 
 of the chapel. Shortly after his wife followed 
 him. Throughout the district no houses were 
 left ; all were burned. All the people who 
 could do so fled. Some couldn't. Two 
 brothers and a nephew were all killed together. 
 The elder brother offered to give his life for 
 the others, but he too was killed. He was a 
 man who had great zeal for the Church. The 
 old mother and the wives of three men — four 
 widows in all — are left desolate. The daughter 
 of one of the men was kidnapped. It is a sad 
 case ; one of many. A man was brutally 
 murdered after seven days' torture, during 
 which he witnessed for Christ. He never 
 
 Chinese Recorder, September 1901. 
 
"The Fiery Trial" 187 
 
 made any secret that to preach Christ was the 
 main business of his life. It may be truly said 
 that this man suffered because he was always 
 letting his light shine. Altogether in Hsin- 
 min-tun there have been forty-five deaths ; 
 thirty-eight were massacred and seven died, 
 either through fright or by suicide. Five girls 
 were abducted and carried away to heathen 
 homes. Sixty per cent, of the houses have 
 been burned. 
 
 " In Kuang-ning the case was even sadder. 
 In the city there were eighteen killed, and 
 twenty-eight in the surrounding districts. 
 There were three or four cases of real martyr- 
 dom, a faithfulness, even to death, that would 
 add a lustre to any church of whatever age or 
 country. Two Bible-women met their death 
 in this way. One was killed directly by the 
 ' Boxers,' one was hunted from pillar to post, 
 and after a friendly family was murdered 
 because they had given them shelter, she and 
 her husband, unable longer to bear the strain, 
 committed suicide. Another, an unpaid Bible- 
 woman, a warm friend of Mrs. Hunter, died a 
 most heroic death. She has left two little 
 children, who are almost penniless. The 
 deaths were sometimes by slow torture. Some 
 men suffered because of their ardent propaga- 
 tion of the truth, others for no particular 
 reason, except that they were connected with 
 the Church. Even of the latter class some died 
 
1 88 East of the Barrier 
 
 nobly. One man who had not, as we thought, 
 lived up to his light, yet when the trial came 
 and he was asked to disown Christ, declared 
 that he could not deny the truth, and he 
 preached up to the very last, exhorting people 
 to inquire for themselves, and see if the doctrine 
 of Jesus was not true." 
 
 " At Tien-tzu-tsai (Haicheng) the Pan family 
 were brutally attacked and eleven members 
 were killed." 
 
 It has not been possible, of course, to do 
 justice to the persecution as a whole. It is 
 questionable, indeed, if we shall ever know the 
 extent of the suffering through which the native 
 Church passed. But these facts are sufficient 
 to show the ruthless cruelty of the onslaught, 
 and the equal fortitude and heroism with 
 which it was met. It must surely be apparent 
 to the most bigoted enemy of the Christians in 
 Manchuria that Christianity has come to stay, 
 and all the powers of hell cannot crush it. 
 
 " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." 
 " Therefore are they before His throne, and 
 serve Him day and night in His Temple." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE "BOXER" CRISIS 
 
This is the crack of doom for Paganism. — Dr. Martin. 
 
 190 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE "boxer" crisis 
 
 IN the summer of 1900, by one of those 
 national con\Tilsions not uncommon in 
 her historj', China again thrust herself into 
 public prominence and crossed the path of the 
 nations of the \^'est. Seldom has there been 
 anything to equal it for sheer ferocity and 
 extent. It is of some importance that we en- 
 deavour to understand it, since it has an intimate 
 bearing upon the mission work of the future. 
 r^Ioreover, the elements that produced it, 
 though dormant, are not dead, and ma)- come 
 to life some other day, unless we profit by its 
 lessons. 
 
 My object is not so much to apportion 
 blame as to state facts, leaving these to speak 
 for themselves and to carry their o%vn convic- 
 tion to the mind. 
 
 In order to perceive the trend of events that 
 led up to the recent imbroglio, it is necessary 
 to revert for a moment to the time of the 
 Japanese War in 1894-95. Prior to that war 
 China was practically an unknown militarj- 
 
IQ2 
 
 East of the Barrier 
 
 force, and like most unknown forces was apt to 
 be overestimated. At the inception of the war 
 the bulk of opinion, even of those resident in 
 China, seemed to forecast a victory in the long- 
 run for the Celestial Empire. At the close of 
 the War, however, when the tables were so com- 
 pletely turned in favour of Japan, it was patent 
 to everyone that the imposing bubble had at 
 last burst. It was seen how worthless were 
 China's defences, how corrupt were her official 
 classes, and how apparently incapable the 
 whole Empire seemed to be of anything like 
 united and effective resistance. 
 
 As a result of the war with Japan, China 
 lost Formosa. She had to relinquish her 
 ancient suzerainty of Korea, and had in the 
 end to pay Japan an indemnity of ;^34, 000,000 
 sterling. But the most precious thing she lost 
 was her prestige. After the war, the mask she 
 had worn for centuries, dropped off, and she 
 stood forth in all her weakness to the gaze of 
 the world. Since then it is no exaggeration 
 to say that China has been a prey to various 
 forms of Western political aggression. So 
 much so that the recent disturbances may be 
 said to have arisen out of a strong feeling of 
 resentment at what Chinese statesmen con- 
 ceived to be the totally unjust way in which 
 their country was suffering at the hands of 
 Western powers. Things have been done that 
 probably would not have been attempted 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 193 
 
 had China been able to keep up the mere 
 show of military strength. Railway and min- 
 ing concessions have been wrung out of her ; 
 tracts of valuable territory have been forc- 
 ibly seized or ear-marked ; the " partition " 
 of the whole Empire has even been calmly 
 discussed, " as if such a gigantic revolution 
 could be accomplished by a stroke of the pen," 
 until a sense of wonderment seized the 
 mandarin mind as to whereunto all this policy 
 of grab would lead. It was not because of the 
 intrinsic value of the concessions. Chinese 
 statesmen are probably as sensible as we are 
 of the commercial advantages of mines and 
 railways, but they saw, or thought they saw, in 
 our political aggression an unwarrantable en- 
 croachment upon their liberties and the herald 
 of their subjugation to the foreign yoke. This 
 was what they dreaded, and against which they 
 were prepared to fight to the death. 
 
 Little more than a year after the Japanese 
 War (1897), ostensibly because of the massacre 
 of the two German priests, Nies and Henle, in 
 the province of Shantung, but in reality because 
 a strategic base was essential to German ex- 
 pansion in North China,^ the Government ot 
 the Emperor William surprised the world and 
 
 ^ " It is certain that the Government of the Emperor William 
 did not expect merely religious consequences from that event, 
 but hoped for a political and economic advantage " (Les 
 Troubles de Chine, p. 83. Raoul Allies). 
 
 13 
 
194 East of the Barrier 
 
 outraged China by the seizure of Kiaochow. 
 This was done at the instigation of Bishop 
 Anzer, the Roman Cathohc Bishop of Shan- 
 tung. In the Reichstag, on 8th February 
 1898, Count von Biilow, commenting on Ger- 
 many's action, said : " After the empire had 
 taken under its care the protection of Christian 
 missions and Cathohcs in Shantung, and since 
 we consider the exercise of that protectorate, 
 not only as a duty, but also as an honour, a 
 declaration like that of the chief of these 
 missions. Bishop Anzer, — who has told us in 
 the most peremptory manner that the occupation 
 of Kiaochow was a vital question, not only for 
 the prosperity, but also for the maintenance of 
 the Chinese Mission, — ought to be for us one 
 of very great weight." 
 
 In his ■' New Year's Greeting," written from 
 Tsi-ning on 1st December, 1899, after the 
 occupation of Kiaochow, the bishop himself 
 has described for us with admirable frankness 
 the consequences of Germany's action. It may 
 be questioned whether anyone ever penned a 
 more damaging indictment against himself than 
 this document offers. He says : — 
 
 " Before the occupation of Kiaochow the 
 mission enjoyed an excellent reputation with 
 the people and also with the Government. 
 The mandarins themselves showed to the 
 mission their appreciation in an entirely public 
 way, and the Government at that time strength- 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 195 
 
 ened on its part this token of esteem by be- 
 stowing on the bishop a button of high rank. 
 
 " But things changed after the occupation of 
 Kiaochow. The CathoHc Mission of Southern 
 Shantung, despite its youth, had behind it a 
 past and an experience of nearly twenty years. 
 No doubt during such a long space of time we 
 had often to tell about troubles and persecutions. 
 However, it is very necessary to observe that 
 before the occupation of Kiaochow these troubles 
 had a different character from those which we 
 had to endure after that event. 
 
 " Before the occupation of Kiaochow these 
 troubles, although being a boisterous enough 
 movement, were yet always of a purely local 
 nature, and were almost every time promptly 
 suppressed. They only happened in remote 
 places where we were founding new communi- 
 ties ; consequently in localities where the 
 foreigner was still unknown. From the moment 
 that the communities were founded there 
 began ordinarily a tranquil and peaceful life in 
 common between Christians and non-Christians. 
 The missionary was loved by the Christians, 
 esteemed by the pagans, and was even fre- 
 quently bound by bonds of friendship with the 
 mandarins. 
 
 "Likewise the murder itself of the two mission- 
 aries, Nies and Henle, was only an isolated 
 act of vengeance committed by some leaders of 
 a sect who believed that a missionary lodged a 
 
196 East of the Barrier 
 
 complaint [against them], and who felt them- 
 selves encouraged by the hostile attitude towards 
 the mission of the then Governor, Li Ping Heng. 
 
 " On the other hand, it is since the occupa- 
 tion of Kiaochow that the persecutions have 
 assumed body, as it shall be proved by the 
 report below. It is not a matter here of a 
 local outburst of hatred against the foreigner, 
 but of a general persecution, methodically 
 organised, and under the protection of the 
 officials against the mission in its entirety as 
 such, having in view the systematic annihila- 
 tion of Christianity. 
 
 " The first reason of the persecution and the 
 most important one, was, as the preceding 
 account has already indicated — the occupation 
 of Kiaochow. 
 
 " The taking of Kiaochow deeply and pain- 
 fully wounded the national pride of the Chinese. 
 The intentionally haughty way in which the 
 German troops planted on the Island of 
 Tsingtao, in place of the Chinese Imperial 
 standard, the German war-flag, produced then 
 and there an effect altogether disconcerting. 
 The Government felt the ground quaking under 
 its feet. The mandarins were, as Peng Taotai 
 told me, ' miliao ' — that is to say, they didn't 
 know what to lean on. ' We no longer know 
 what we ought to do.' 
 
 " It was to be anticipated that there would 
 be a reaction. For the wound which Kiaochow 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 197 
 
 had made was not yet healed for a long time, 
 [when] Port Arthur, Wei-hai-wei, the humiliat- 
 ing projects of an imminent partition of China, 
 appeared in the newspapers — all this dated from 
 Kiaochow. 
 
 " Although the common people had no great 
 interest whatever to set against such political 
 projects, nevertheless the educated Chinese, and 
 particularly the mandarins, resented profoundly 
 this outrage, and thought (that's clear) of an 
 appropriate occasion for vengeance. 
 
 " But what, it may be asked, has all this to 
 do with the missions ? A great deal ! To the 
 Chinese of medium culture, having no political 
 education, all foreigners form a conjointly re- 
 sponsible whole {un tout solidaire) — ' the foreign 
 devils.' And since it not rarely happens that 
 the missionary is the only foreigner who has 
 appeared on this horizon, they make him, 
 together with the Christians (' the devils ot the 
 second rank '), responsible for all that has always 
 happened in the wake of the foreigners, — as 
 well for the occupation of Kiaochow as for a 
 box on the ear which any European might 
 have given to a Chinese loafer. 
 
 " As for the sentiments of the educated 
 Chinese, of the mandarins. Governor Yii Hsien 
 of Shantung has openly declared them to me : 
 Because the missionaries were assassinated, the 
 Germans have come, hence Kiaochow and all 
 that follows. ' Thou hast called the Germans,' 
 
198 East of the Barrier 
 
 the Governor in question said to me ; ' if tliere 
 had been no German missionaries, nor Christians 
 ruled by them in Shantung, Kiaochow, Port 
 Arthur, etc., had not fallen into the hands 
 of foreigners. Thou art guilty of all that.' 
 
 " Likewise Li Hung Chang, with whom I 
 have had dealings for many years, and who 
 certainly counts among the men who know 
 to the bottom their country and its state of 
 mind, declared to me also in a conversation 
 of 3rd September of this year: 'Southern 
 Shantung was the pretext for the occupation 
 of Kiaochow.' The knowledge of this fact 
 has penetrated little by little into the people 
 and provoked an irritation against the missions 
 and the Christians — the risings have been the 
 natural consequence thereof" ^ 
 
 Scarcely had the sensation of Germany's 
 seizure of Kiaochow died down when, almost 
 without warning and certainly without pro- 
 vocation, Russia (1898), probably in return 
 for her services after the Japanese War, when 
 she compelled Japan to relinquish the fruits 
 of her victory in Southern Manchuria, quietly 
 took possession of Port Arthur and Talienwan, 
 and commenced the construction of the branch 
 line of her Trans-Siberian Railway from the 
 former port northwards through Manchuria. 
 
 ^ Cf. Les Troubles de Chine, p. 86, from which above trans- 
 lation is taken. For original lettter cf. Neujahrsgruss, 1st 
 December 1899, 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 199 
 
 As an offset to these movements Britain 
 stepped into Wei-hai-wei. Commenting upon 
 this, Lord Charles Beresford wrote : " I feel 
 most strongly that the pride and profession 
 of Great Britain, to be the champion and 
 chivalrous protector of weak nations, have 
 been humbled and exposed, by her acquiescing 
 and taking part in the disintegrating policy 
 of claims and counter-claims with which the 
 Chinese Empire is being bullied whilst she is 
 down. I hold that to break up a dismasted 
 craft, the timbers of which are stout and strong, 
 is the policy of the wrecker for his own gain. 
 The real seaman tows her into dock, and refits 
 her for another cruise." ^ 
 
 The next year (1899) Italy tried to obtain 
 on demand a sphere of influence in Cheh-kiang 
 and a leasehold of Sanmen Bay, but was un- 
 successful in the attempt. 
 
 Under all these trials the Chinese exhibited 
 not a little of that patience which is perhaps 
 the strongest characteristic of the race. As 
 has been remarked, the process resembled 
 nothing so much as the harpooning of a whale. 
 The first thrusts were not particularly noticed 
 by the vast creature. They were annoying, 
 
 ^ The British Government have since [loth February 1902] 
 given up the idea, v^hich they originally entertained, of fortifying 
 Wei-hai-wei and of keeping a large garrison there. They have 
 no intention, however, of abandoning the place. The Anglo- 
 Japanese Agreement [30th January 1902] is probably the expla- 
 nation of this change of policy ( The Break-up of China, p. 439). 
 
200 East of the Barrier 
 
 but they did not kill. The accumulative effect, 
 however, soon began to make even leviathan 
 wince and to lash out in his inelegant fashion 
 with his mighty tail. Even so China, goaded 
 to fury, lashed out in blind and impotent rage 
 against the whole Western world. 
 
 The following edict, issued at this time by 
 the Government, gives forcible expression to 
 the wounded pride of the nation : — 
 
 " Our Empire is now labouring under great 
 difficulties, which are daily becoming more 
 serious. The various powers cast upon us 
 looks of tiger-like voracity, hustling each other 
 in their endeavours to be the first to seize upon 
 our innermost territories. They think that 
 China, having neither money nor troops, would 
 never venture to go to war with them. They 
 fail to understand, however, that there are 
 certain things which this Empire can never 
 consent to, and that, if hardly pressed upon, 
 we have no alternative but rely upon the 
 justice of our cause, the knowledge of which 
 in our breasts strengthens our resolves, and 
 steels us to present a united front against our 
 aggressors. No one can guarantee, under such 
 circumstances, who will be the victor and who 
 the conquered in the end. ... It behoves, 
 therefore, that our Viceroys, Governors, and 
 Commanders - in - chief throughout the whole 
 Empire, unite forces and act together without 
 distinction, or particularising of jurisdictions, so 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 201 
 
 as to present a combined front to the enemy, 
 exhorting and encouraging their officers and 
 soldiers in person, to fight for the preservation 
 of their homes and native soil from the 
 encroaching footsteps of the foreign aggressor. 
 . . With such a country as ours, with her 
 vast area, stretching out several tens of 
 thousands of li, her immense natural resources, 
 and her hundreds of millions of inhabitants, if 
 only each and all of you would prove his loyalty 
 to his Emperor and love of country, what indeed 
 is there to fear from any invader? Let no one 
 think of making peace, but let each strive to 
 preserve from destruction and spoliation his 
 ancestral home and graves from the ruthless 
 hands of the invader. Let these our words be 
 known to each and all within our dominion." ^ 
 
 Two diametrically opposite currents of 
 thought grew up in China out of the political 
 situation thus created. The aim of the two 
 parties was the same, but their methods were 
 diverse : the one progressive and peaceful, the 
 other reactionary and violent. Both sought 
 to rid the Empire of the foreign oppressor, 
 but they were travelling different roads to 
 accomplish their end. The conviction was 
 slowly gaining ground, especially amongst a 
 large, educated, and influential class of young 
 men, with the Emperor Kuang Hsii at their 
 head, that China's only hope of stemming the 
 
 1 North China Herald, 2'jth Dec. 1S99. 
 
202 East of the Barrier 
 
 tide of Western influence lay in herself adopt- 
 ing Western methods of education, administra- 
 tion, and military defence. For a while it 
 seemed as if the Reform movement under the 
 Imperial patronage and leadership was going 
 to succeed. In obedience to the young 
 Emperor's edicts, schools were opened on 
 Western lines ; literary aspirants for degrees 
 were informed that the useless and antiquated 
 wen chang, or literary essay, was abolished, 
 and that they would be examined in future 
 in geography, mathematics, and elementary 
 science. The people responded nobly to the 
 new regime, and every weary toiler in China 
 rubbed his eyes and wondered if the long- 
 hoped-for renaissance of the nation had come. 
 It was too good to last. Not so easily was 
 the leopard to change his spots. The coup 
 d'etat at Pekin in September 1898 sounded 
 the death-knell of such hopes. Clearly the 
 Reformers had underestimated the conserva- 
 tive instincts of their countrymen, if they 
 imagined that they could so easily " ring out 
 the old and ring in the new," merely by the 
 publishing of a few angry and revolutionary 
 edicts. Like a bolt from the blue, the 
 Dowager-Empress swooped down upon the 
 Reform party and scattered it to the four 
 winds of heaven. She set the young Emperor 
 aside. She took the reins of government into 
 her own hands, and from that day a reign of 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 203 
 
 terror swept over the land. Much of the best 
 blood of the nation was shed to appease her 
 imperious wrath. Those in authority, who had 
 in any way sympathised with or helped on 
 the new movement, trembled lest theirs should 
 be the next head to fall at the nod of this 
 woman who wielded so despotic and deadly 
 a power. It was even feared, for a time, that 
 the life of the Emperor would not escape her 
 malignant designs. 
 
 Such was the fate of the first really serious 
 effort at internal reform ! It ended in collapse ; 
 and yet it was not altogether fruitless. What- 
 ever may be thought of the methods of the 
 Reformers, there can be no doubt that they 
 were actuated by the highest motives. The 
 dying message of one of them — Tan-Tzu 
 Tung — reveals the stuff of which they were 
 made : " They may kill my body," he said, 
 " but for each man killed there will be a 
 thousand others in whom my spirit shall 
 live." May the prophecy be fulfilled ! So 
 long as there are men who are ready to die 
 for their country in this fashion, it cannot be 
 said that patriotism in China is dead. 
 
 In effect, the Empress said to the Reformers : 
 " Yours is not the way to save the Empire. 
 The government of China is good ; has it not 
 lasted for a myriad years ? To establish 
 peace throughout the Flowery Kingdom it is 
 only necessary to drive the ' foreign devils ' 
 
204 East of the Barrier 
 
 into the sea." On 5th November 1898, 
 therefore, she issued an edict ordering the 
 formation of volunteer corps throughout the 
 country, " to turn the whole nation into an 
 armed camp in case of need." To a large 
 part of the nation — ignorant, conceited, bitterly 
 anti-foreign, and suffering at the time from 
 famine — the policy of the Empress and her 
 party appealed most powerfully. Their super- 
 stitious minds fastened upon the " foreign devil " 
 as the sole cause of their distress. The gods 
 were angry, and would visit them with famine 
 till they drove the enemy from their midst. 
 
 Hence sprang up all over North China, 
 like Jonah's gourd, almost in a night, what 
 has come to be known as the " Boxer '' 
 movement. " Boxer " is a slang translation. 
 It emanated from the treaty - ports. The 
 Chinese call them I-Ho-Chuan ; literally, 
 " Righteous-Harmony-Fists " ; or, more gener- 
 ally, " Patriotic Fists." The sect is believed 
 to be a branch of the great Triad Society 
 which has been in existence during the life- 
 time of the present dynasty. This particular 
 branch first made itselt prominent in 1897 
 at Tsaochow, in the south-west corner of 
 Shantung, and in Wei-Hsien, by its violent 
 attacks upon Roman Catholic converts. 
 Soldiers had to be called out more than 
 once to disperse them and to restore order. 
 The movement spread rapidly over the 
 
The " Boxer " Crisis 205 
 
 provinces of Shantung and Chihli. To their 
 original tenets they now added an inveterate 
 hatred of all Roman Catholics, a feeling v/hich 
 quickly developed into anti-foreign dislike 
 generally. They were secretly encouraged 
 by the Governor of Shantung — the notorious 
 Yii Hsien. As the result of representations 
 made by the Foreign Ministers at Pekin to the 
 authorities, he was deposed, but shortly after- 
 wards, so far from being degraded, he re- 
 appeared as Governor of Shansi, by Imperial 
 appointment. Relying on his protection the 
 " Boxers " followed him and flourished there 
 also. The movement spread by leaps and 
 bounds. " Boxer " agents were soon found 
 in every city and hamlet over North China, 
 penetrating even to the extreme north of 
 Manchuria. They promised to all who joined 
 their ranks invulnerability to bullets and sword- 
 thrusts. The people, prone to belief in infra- 
 naturalism, seem to have placed implicit faith 
 in such assurances. The movement was thus 
 invested with a halo of religious fanaticism. 
 They accompanied their drill with weird in- 
 cantations, praying passionately to the "spirits " 
 to possess them. It is now generally believed 
 that " Boxer " initiation consisted in nothing 
 more nor less than a species of hypnotism. 
 To a large extent this explains the popular 
 effect of the movement, and the unshakable 
 belief of sensible people in its spiritual origin. 
 
2o6 East of the Barrier 
 
 The effects produced upon the medium by 
 purely physical causes, were to them proof 
 positive of spirit possession. 
 
 Now, it was this popular movement, embrac- 
 ing some of the worst elements of the nation, 
 that the Empress and her party chose to em- 
 ploy as a valuable ally in the recent disturb- 
 ances. They did not create it, but they used 
 it. The recognition of the throne invested it 
 with more than merely local importance. At 
 any moment " Boxerism " might have been 
 nipped in the bud had the Imperial authorities 
 chosen so to act. It was not their policy to 
 do so. By secretly nourishing it they were 
 able to turn it to great popular use in stirring 
 up the anti-foreign feeling of the nation. As 
 a decoy to veil the hostile designs of the 
 Government it was a complete success, and 
 threw the authorities of Foreign Powers living 
 in Pekin entirely off their guard, and for that 
 matter foreigners generally all over the Empire. 
 The important fact to remember, therefore, is 
 that without the sanction of the Chinese 
 Government " Boxerism " would never have 
 been heard of But that there was a real 
 element of patriotism at the root of the move- 
 ment no one, I think, can deny. 
 
 These, then, were the two parties in China 
 that were struggling for the mastery. On 
 the one hand, the Reformers, with the sym- 
 pathy and goodwill of the native Christians 
 
The " Boxer " Crisis 207 
 
 and all foreigners living in China. On the 
 other hand, the conservative and reactionary 
 party of the Dowager-Empress, with " Boxer- 
 ism " as its ally. The latter gained the upper 
 hand, and brought the dynasty to the brink of 
 destruction. It is not likely that they will 
 again embark on such a hazardous enterprise. 
 It remains to be seen, however, what impres- 
 sion recent events have made upon the mind 
 of the nation. 
 
 Missionaries, of course, have not escaped their 
 share of censure. Indeed, there are not wanting 
 those who attribute the recent disturbances in 
 China solely to missionary work. It is a pity 
 that those who make such charges, or believe 
 them, do not take the trouble to study the 
 question, or at least to distinguish between 
 missionaries. The missionary body in China 
 is a very complex organism. It is composed 
 of diverse elements. It includes various 
 nationalities. It embraces widely differing 
 types of religious faith and methods of pro- 
 pagandism. That individual missionaries are 
 all actuated by high and sincere motives we 
 must in justice believe, but that their methods 
 for the carrying on of their work are all 
 prudent or wise it would be impossible perhaps 
 to expect. It would not be difficult, for 
 example, to show that the methods of the 
 Roman Catholic Church — methods which 
 differ widely from those of the Protestant 
 
2o8 East of the Barrier 
 
 Church — are to a large extent responsible for 
 a great deal of ill-feeling. I have already 
 shown their connection with the occupation 
 of Kiaochow — the root of all the trouble that 
 followed. The priests are constantly coming 
 into conflict with the native officials over the 
 law pleas of their converts. They have de- 
 manded, and have received, the better to facili- 
 tate their ends, a civil status which places them 
 on the same level as mandarins. They have 
 employed, as Church agents, men of notoriously 
 bad character, who have used their positions to 
 levy blackmail on innocent and helpless people, 
 in the name of Mother Church. All this has 
 caused much friction between priests and 
 magistrates, and it has made the name of the 
 Roman Church in many parts of China a 
 byword amongst the people for all that is un- 
 scrupulous and high-handed. 
 
 Apart from these regrettable and objection- 
 able featui'es in missionary work in China, 
 however, there is another sense in which the 
 charge is legitimate and true. To anyone who 
 understands Christianity, or has read Church 
 history, it must be apparent that there is that 
 in it which naturally excites opposition. Did 
 not our Lord say that, " He came not to send 
 peace on earth, but a sword ? " And was it 
 not said of the first missionaries that they were 
 " turning the world upside down " ? If, there- 
 fore, missionaries, in the broadest sense, have 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 209 
 
 caused trouble in China, may it not be due to 
 the very success of their labours? Ought it 
 not to be a cause of congratulation, rather than 
 of complaint? There are thousands of mis- 
 sionaries to-day spread all over the Empire, 
 each of them at the head of a large band of 
 native evangelists. They have been sowing 
 the seed of the Kingdom these many years 
 by voice and by pen, and have exemplified 
 its teaching by living blameless lives. The 
 leaven of Christianity has been leavening the 
 pagan lump. Now the fermenting process has 
 begun. Thousands have responded to Christ's 
 call. They have outgrown their old ideals. 
 Inevitably their very presence evokes intense 
 and bitter antagonism. So much is this the 
 case that the recent crisis may not untruly be 
 regarded as a conflict between the old and 
 the new beliefs, between truth and false- 
 hood, between light and darkness, between 
 Christianity and Paganism. The recent per- 
 secutions of native Christians — who have 
 played no other part in the troubles than 
 that of witnesses and martyrs to the truth — 
 recall to our minds the early struggles of the 
 Christian Church in its deadly conflict with 
 Roman Imperialism. 
 
 "Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but 
 record 
 One death-grapple in the darkness, 'twixt old systems and 
 the Word : 
 
 14 
 
no East of the Barrier 
 
 Truth for ever on the scaffold, Wrong for ever on the 
 
 throne — 
 Yet that scaffold sways the future ; and behind the dim 
 
 unlinown, 
 Standeth God, within the shadow lieeping watch above 
 
 His own." 
 
 In considering the character of the " Boxer" 
 movement two things have impressed us. On 
 the one hand, its widespread nature ; and on the 
 other, the rapidity of its growth. The country 
 was ripe for revohition. From Canton in the 
 south to the banks of the Amur in the north, 
 from the seaboard on the east to the provinces 
 of Ssu-chuan, Shansi, and Shensi on the west, 
 in an incredibly short time the movement 
 spread itself. Six months before the outbreak, 
 with the exception of a few missionaries in 
 Shantung and Chihli, everybody treated the 
 " Boxers " with contempt. What was more 
 serious, they seem to have regarded the atti- 
 tude of the Government to the " Boxers " with 
 incredulity. Even as late as the end of June 
 1900, after we had been compelled to leave 
 our station in the interior, we were coolly 
 informed by a consular authority that, in his 
 opinion, a good shower of rain would put an 
 end to the whole trouble. The unsettled con- 
 dition of the people was attributed to the dread 
 of approaching famine. So much for official 
 " understanding of the times ! " The same 
 gentleman had a rude awakening a week later, 
 when the news of the burning of our property 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 211 
 
 came to hand, and the yet sadder intelligence 
 of the massacre of Roman Catholics in 
 Moukden. 
 
 The fact is that China had been arming 
 herself with the best modern weapons for 
 some years. But the ministers at Pekin seem 
 to have as little understood the significance of 
 this warlike preparation as Britain misunder- 
 stood the intentions of the Boers prior to the 
 outbreak of hostilities in South Africa. " The 
 quantity of Mauser rifles recently imported into 
 Manchuria through the Port of Newchwang 
 alone, for use in the Feng-tien province, would 
 suffice to equip an army of about 40,000 
 men, and it must be remembered that the 
 foreign-drilled troops of the province, amount- 
 ing to 8000 men, are already provided with 
 serviceable weapons." ^ In the House of 
 Commons on 2nd August 1900 it was stated 
 that "since 1895 firms in this country had 
 supplied the Chinese Government with 74 
 guns of position and 11,740 rounds of am- 
 munition; 123 field-guns and 40,000 rounds ; 
 and 297 machine-guns with over 40,000,000 
 rounds ; and Germany had supplied nearly 
 half a million Mauser rifles with three million 
 rounds." In the face of such facts it seems 
 almost incredible that the " Boxer " outbreak 
 should have taken anyone by surprise. 
 
 1 Manchuria : Its People, Resources, and Recent History. 
 Alex. Hosie, M.A. 
 
212 East of the Barrier 
 
 The crusade was primarily anti-foreign, and 
 only secondarily anti - Christian. Pekin and 
 Tientsin, where all classes and nationalities 
 suffered alike, may be taken as proofs of the 
 former feeling, whilst the wanton destruction of 
 churches and hospitals, and the massacre of 
 missionaries and their converts, may be re- 
 garded as equally terrible illustrations of the 
 latter. The brunt of the persecution fell, of 
 course, upon the missionaries, not because they 
 were missionaries, but because they were 
 foreigners, living in the far interior and ab- 
 solutely without the means of self-defence. 
 The Chinese would probably tolerate Chris- 
 tianity in the same way as they tolerate 
 Mahommedism and Buddhism — both of which 
 are heretical sects in China — were it not for 
 the connection of the missionaries with powerful 
 states that seek to encroach upon their country. 
 The question is being eagerly discussed in 
 many quarters : " Will the ' Boxer ' uprising 
 be for the ultimate good of China ? " In the 
 month of May 1901 the subject was debated 
 at the Chinese Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion, Shanghai, in English, before a large 
 audience. The debate is interesting, for it 
 shows how keenly educated Chinese are inter- 
 ested in the welfare of their country. Some of 
 the points of the debate are well worth the 
 consideration of foreigners. The chief argu- 
 ments of the affirmative, who attempted to 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 213 
 
 show that the " Boxer " uprising would, from 
 present indications, ultimately benefit China, 
 were as follows : — 
 
 " I . ' Reform always comes through upheaval.' 
 The history of France, Japan, and England has 
 proved this point. 
 
 •' 2. The Boxer uprising ' has caused a 
 wonderful stimulus to public opinion,' which 
 makes for good government. 
 
 " 3. The Boxers themselves, ' though entirely 
 fanatical, yet demonstrated that the Chinese 
 are patriotic' Sir Robert Hart was cited to 
 prove this. 
 
 " 4. And the fact is also noted that though 
 the Russian Manchurian convention grew out 
 of the Boxer uprising, yet that ' the patriotism 
 of the Chinese was thereby roused, and was so 
 strong as to force the hand of the Manchus.' 
 This was good out of evil. 
 
 " 5 . The Boxer uprising has for good and all 
 convinced the Manchus of the foolishness of 
 their foreign-exclusion policy. 
 
 " 6. The uprising has demonstrated ' that the 
 Chinese Christians have the martyr spirit, and 
 that the hearts of the people are not dead 
 within them.' 
 
 " 7. The overthrow of Boxerdom ' has given 
 a great blow to superstition.' 
 
 " 8. ' The Conservatives have been crushed.' 
 
 " 9. The war has brought other nations closer 
 together in suppressing a common danger, and 
 
214 East of the Barrier 
 
 has therefore exerted ' a unifying effect on the 
 world.' 
 
 " As opposed to the position taken up by the 
 affirmative, the speakers of the negative held 
 that the Boxer uprising had resulted in an 
 overwhelming evil to China : — 
 
 " I. ' China has already lost her independ- 
 ence. Her foreign relations, the policing of 
 her capital, her customs and her financial 
 system are now dictated by foreigners. 
 Officials are put up and down as the foreigners 
 direct. She is only nominally independent. 
 If the loss of independence is a benefit, then 
 the '' Boxer " uprising has been a benefit, but 
 not otherwise.' 
 
 " 2. The Boxer uprising ' is probably only the 
 beginning of like troubles.' 
 
 " 3. One result of the Boxer uprising is the 
 certain ' increase of taxation to a point such as 
 the Chinese have never known before.' 
 
 " 4. The Boxer uprising has given Russia just 
 the pretext she wanted to seize Manchuria. 
 ' She will never restore Manchuria.' 
 
 " 5. ' The moral effect of this bloodthirsty 
 war, the object lesson of Western troops de- 
 scending to barbarism, will take years to 
 eradicate amongst us Chinese.' 
 
 " 6. Another detrimental result was brought 
 forward, namely, revulsion of feeling now felt 
 all over the world against the Chinese, because 
 of the Boxer outrages. 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 215 
 
 " 7. The barbarities of the foreign troops 
 have led many progressive northern Chinese 
 ' to hate foreigners, excepting the Japanese. 
 The native newspapers are constantly praising 
 the Japanese.' 
 
 " 8. Though the Yangtze Viceroys undoubtedly 
 did a wise thing in breaking with the northern 
 Conservatives, yet the result has been the mak- 
 ing of two parties, the northern party and the 
 southern party. If any nation desires to 
 secure north China, she undoubtedly will play 
 off one of the parties against the other. 
 
 " 9. The missionary problem is now much 
 more complicated than before the Boxer 
 trouble. 
 
 " 10. The Court, instead ol being led to 
 adopt reform measures, has given evidence by 
 recent appointments that it is as conservative 
 as ever. 
 
 " The negative held that for these and other 
 reasons the Boxer uprising was not for the 
 ultimate good of China, and the judges decided 
 in their favour, after long deliberation." 1 
 
 " You cannot carve rotten wood," wrote 
 Confucius two thousand years ago, and his 
 words find a startling fulfilment in the history 
 of his own country to-day. It is difficult to 
 say what impression recent events have made 
 on the governing clique at Pekin. The future 
 of China, to a large extent, will depend upon 
 ^ Report in North China Herald, 8th May 1901. 
 
2i6 East of the Barrier 
 
 that. Should these events succeed in discredit- 
 ing the conservative and reactionary party 
 around the throne, and in restoring the young 
 Emperor to his rightful position, they will not 
 have occurred in vain, and we may yet hope 
 to see some substantial advance made in the 
 direction of reform. 
 
 The " Boxer " crisis has left its mark upon 
 the native Christian Church of China. It has 
 purified it of many elements that have hitherto 
 marred its influence and hindered its advance. 
 It has given definiteness to the newly-found 
 faith of its members, and it has awakened a 
 consciousness of unity amongst believers all 
 over the Empire. Nor can we doubt that the 
 blood of its martyrs will be a seed from which 
 the fruits of holiness will yet be reaped in the 
 years to come. The fire of persecution through 
 which the native Church has passed has at 
 least convinced every unprejudiced mind of the 
 sincerity of native Christianity, and it has 
 opened the eyes of the Church at home to the 
 magnitude of the task to which she has set her 
 hand. As we review the wreckage of our 
 work, the present may seem eloquent only of 
 failure, yet it may prove to be God's way of 
 leading His Church to a wider success and a 
 more glorious triumph. " In Pekin and in the 
 treaty - ports the visitor who inquires about 
 missions and their work will always hear a 
 great deal about the ' rice Christians ' — that is 
 
The "Boxer" Crisis 217 
 
 to say, those Chinese converts whose steadfast- 
 ness depends mainly on the material benefits 
 that accrue to them from their religion. No 
 doubt there is reason for this imputation in 
 many instances, but there is also a vast amount 
 of exaggeration. Anyone who, in the recent 
 sieges of the foreign quarters in Pekin and 
 Tientsin, saw the thousands of natives that 
 stuck to their new faith, who read of the thou- 
 sands that were martyred for it in the provinces, 
 can hardly question their honesty and single- 
 heartedness. A year ago the general European 
 opinion in China was that the Chinaman was 
 a born indifferentist. The same cynical attitude 
 obtained as to his courage : he was a born 
 coward. The events of 1900 have convinced 
 most people who took part in them of the 
 radical error of these two views. Under his 
 apathetic exterior the Chinaman has after all a 
 soul. He is apparently capable of being a 
 good Christian, just as he is of being a brave 
 soldier, and the discovery is as important for 
 the ethical, as it is for the practical world." ^ 
 
 ' A Year in China, 1899-1900. Clive Bigham, C.M.G. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 AFTER THE PERSECUTION 
 
 219 
 
Say not the struggle nought availeth, 
 The labour and the wounds are vain, 
 The enemy faints not nor faileth, 
 And as things have been they remain. 
 
 If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars, 
 It may be in yon smoke concealed 
 Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers. 
 And but for you possess the field. 
 
 For while the tired waves vainly breaking 
 Seem here no painful inch to gain, 
 Far back, through creeks, and inlets making, 
 Comes silent flooding in the main. 
 
 Arthur Hugh Clough. 
 
 220 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 AFTER THE PERSECUTION 
 
 ^J OW that the storm of persecution has 
 *l spent itself, and a measure of calm has 
 ensued, it is of some importance to inquire, 
 What is the present position, and what are the 
 future prospects, of the native Christian Church ? 
 It is too early, of course, to make anything 
 like a final pronouncement, or to offer a complete 
 solution of so difficult and complex a problem. 
 Time alone will do that. Still there are a few 
 facts to hand to enable us to estimate the 
 effect of recent troubles upon the life of the 
 Church ; nor are there wanting indications that 
 may help us, if only in roughest outline, to 
 forecast the probable trend of future events. 
 
 The destruction wrought by a tempest upon 
 the trees of a forest is ever a sad spectacle. 
 On every side we trace the marks of its de- 
 vastating winds. Here, fallen trees strew the 
 ground ; there, though not altogether uprooted, 
 others are so maimed and broken that it will 
 take them years to recover from the shock. 
 Upon reflection, however, we cannot fail to be 
 
 221 
 
222 East of the Barrier 
 
 impressed by the fact that the vast majority 
 have stood firm. They have miraculously 
 weathered the storm. They have struck their 
 roots deeper into the soil, and have gained 
 strength in consequence. 
 
 It is not otherwise in the spiritual world. 
 The violent persecution that swept like a hurri- 
 cane over the native Church of Manchuria 
 wrought sad havoc. It completely obliterated 
 for a time the external marks of organisation. 
 By the wholesale destruction of property it 
 practically left the Church without a roof over 
 its head. It made many gaps in the member- 
 ship, while some who still survive, have so 
 suffered that they will never be the same again. 
 We cannot fail to be impressed, however, by 
 the fact that the majority have stood the test 
 better than some of us had even dared to hope, 
 nor can we doubt that they have gained spiritu- 
 ally by the experience. 
 
 Some featui-es of the persecution may be 
 briefly indicated. In most districts three 
 distinct stages are discernible: (i) fining; (2) 
 torture, for the purpose of exacting money, or 
 of coercing the convert to renounce his faith ; 
 (3) killing, attended often by the most revolt- 
 ing cruelty. The extent and severity of the 
 persecution were determined in most districts by 
 the personal attitude of the magistrate or village 
 headman to Christianity, or, conversely, to the 
 " Boxer " movement. Where the magistrates 
 
After the Persecution 223 
 
 were friendly disposed — and, to their honour 
 be it said, there were not a few — they did all 
 in their power to shield the Christians. To 
 further this end they issued a form of " Recanta- 
 tion Certificate," ^ upon which it was distinctly 
 stated that the purchaser " rejected the false 
 and returned to the true." Some members, in 
 order to protect their families, hung up in their 
 homes the picture of the " Kitchen-god "• — a 
 prevalent form of idolatry; others, under 
 torture, were induced to burn incense and to 
 worship idols set up by the " Boxer " leaders ; 
 while in a few cases, gambling and opium- 
 smoking, both of which are proscribed by the 
 rules of the Church, were indulged in, to prove 
 to their heathen neighbours that they had re- 
 nounced the faith. 
 
 The number of those who accepted " Certifi- 
 cates of Recantation " was very large — probably 
 one-third of the total membership — but it is 
 only fair to state that most of them do not 
 seem to have realised at the time the serious- 
 ness of their action. They regarded it merely 
 as a temporary expedient for the saving of life, 
 or as a means of escape from torture, but not, 
 
 ' For an interesting historical parallel, see the persecution 
 under Decius Trajan in 250 a.d. : " Many magistrates who 
 were really desirous of sparing the Christians, gladly let them 
 off . . . provided they bought a certificate or libel, as it was 
 called, attesting that they had satisfactorily complied with the 
 requisitions of the edict" (cf. Neander's Church History, 
 vol. i. p. 182). 
 
224 East of the Barrier 
 
 as in any sense, implying a final abandonment 
 of Christianity. As they themselves naively 
 confess : " By the grace of God we were 
 permitted to tell a lie." This, of course, re- 
 flects upon the imperfect development of many 
 of the members, whose Christian faith, be it 
 remembered, is but of yesterday. Only the 
 full recognition of this fact, coupled with the 
 suddenness and severity of the trial they were 
 called upon to face, can soften and temper our 
 judgment of their action. " One much-respected 
 elder, named Li, up till now looked upon as the 
 future pastor of the Liaoyang church, who was at 
 the time in charge of a country district chapel, 
 fled with wife and children and hid in the 
 millet fields for some weeks. At last he came 
 to a point when he had to choose between 
 fleeing by himself (leaving his wife and family 
 alone and unprotected, in the midst of great and 
 imminent dangers, when she was nearing the time 
 of her confinement) or accepting a certificate. 
 He accepted it, but when relating the story 
 afterwards he felt his position very keenly." ^ 
 We are in no position to condemn these 
 people. They must be judged, it seems to me, 
 not by their one single act of denial, but in the 
 light of their subsequent attitude to the Christian 
 faith. And this, we are glad to say, is all that 
 could be desired. With the full knowledge of 
 what it costs to be a Christian, they have shown 
 
 ' ' ' Sifting Time in Manchuria. " 
 
After the Persecution 225 
 
 no disposition to break with the Church, but 
 have returned almost to a man, and have will- 
 ingly submitted themselves to discipline. 
 
 In some districts where the death-roll was 
 so high we now know that they had no 
 opportunity of recanting. They were simply 
 hacked to pieces. To some extent this may 
 explain the paradox that many of those who 
 are found to have accepted " certificates," 
 previously exhibited a higher type of Christian 
 character than some who suffered death for 
 their faith. They had no means of escape. 
 Among the three hundred who were slain, 
 there were many undoubted martyrs, men and 
 women who had every opportunity given them 
 to deny their Lord, but who steadfastly refused. 
 Their heroic and noble witness has raised the 
 native Church to a higher spiritual level. We 
 have no desire, however, to parade their 
 testimony as a proof of the high sanctity of 
 the native Church. Rather would we seek to 
 emphasise the educative value of such a trial 
 to the Church as a whole. It has done for 
 Christianity what years of preaching could not 
 have accomplished. 
 
 We are pleased to note that there is manifest 
 amongst the Christians an uncomplainingaccept- 
 ance of the discipline of recent events. They 
 recognise behind all that has happened the 
 sovereign hand of God. Though they know 
 that the persecution was most unjust, in so far 
 
 15 
 
22 6 East of the Barrier 
 
 as it was directed against them, yet there is a 
 total absence of anything Hke a spirit oi 
 revenge. Though they have lost their all, 
 there is no apparent disposition to murmur, 
 nor desire to institute legal proceedings for the 
 recovery of their lost property. Such a result 
 amongst a people notorious for their love of 
 litigation, is a distinct triumph of grace. An 
 insignificant few, it must be sorrowfully con- 
 fessed, have deliberately renounced the faith, 
 and whilst the hope of forthcoming compensa- 
 tion may be determining the attitude of large 
 numbers, it cannot be doubted that the great 
 majority have risen clear above such considera- 
 tions. If indemnity is offered — and it would 
 only be an act of justice — it will be gratefully 
 accepted ; but should it be withheld, we are 
 convinced that it would not seriously influence 
 the bulk of the members. 
 
 On the whole, the native Church has emerged 
 from its baptism of fire with a much-needed 
 touch of other-worldliness upon it. To be a 
 Christian is a matter of profounder import than 
 hitherto realised. Faith has been vivified, and 
 the personal relation of each believer to the 
 Saviour more sharply defined. A deeper 
 appreciation of the means of grace, and a new- 
 born hunger for spiritual instruction now marks 
 the assemblies of believers. In a word, the 
 Church has perceptibly risen to higher spiritual 
 levels. It may be temporarily reduced in 
 
After the Persecution 227 
 
 numbers, but it has indisputably become purer 
 in spirit. Nor can we doubt that in the im- 
 mediate future the soil of Manchuria, made 
 fruitful by the blood of its martyrs, shall yet 
 bring forth an abundant harvest of souls. The 
 work of reconstruction is already well advanced. 
 Missionaries are now residing in the interior in 
 all centres formerly occupied by them. Only 
 a few of the more remote out-stations have not 
 yet been visited. The native Church is rallying 
 from the shock. The native preachers are, for 
 the most part, back at their posts, and assemblies 
 of the faithful meet statedly for worship. In 
 spite of the political shadows that still darken 
 the sky, one may reverently predict for the 
 native Church a future not less fruitful than its 
 past. 
 
 It is impossible, of course, to ignore the fact 
 that the position which Russia now occupies 
 in Manchuria has given grave cause for anxiety. 
 I have no wish to add to the general anxiety 
 by anything that I may say on so complex a 
 problem. At the same time, nothing will be 
 gained by shutting our eyes to facts. " Things 
 are what they are, and the consequences will 
 be what they will be ; why, then, should we 
 wish to deceive ourselves." We may assume, 
 I think, that in some sense Russia has come to 
 stay. It is difficult, indeed, to see how she can 
 retire from the position into which the logic of 
 events has thrust her. Whatever her objective 
 
228 East of the Barrier 
 
 may be, she certainly cannot withdraw for many 
 years without imperilling her railway. At the 
 same time, we must not forget that Russia has 
 not yet closed her hand, and that she herself 
 has repeatedly repudiated the idea of a per- 
 manent occupation. Her path is beset by 
 enormous difficulties. She has to reckon with 
 the strenuous opposition of Japan, she is limited 
 by her own financial embarrassments, and by 
 the fact that she has not the men who could 
 administer the country. In face of these facts, 
 it may be doubted whether she will seek to do 
 more for many years to come than simply 
 guard her railway and turn her attention to 
 the development of the material resources of 
 the country. The whole situation might yet 
 be saved if China herself, profiting by the lesson 
 she has just learned, awoke from her long 
 slumber and threw her whole strength into the 
 saving of this valuable part of her Empire. 
 The recent opposition of the southern viceroys 
 to the cession of Manchuria makes such a 
 consummation not impossible. 
 
 Assuming, then, that we shall have to reckon 
 with Russian influence in the future, how is 
 this likely to affect the native Christian 
 Church ? 
 
 In the course of conversation I once put this 
 question to a Russian official. He at once 
 assured me that it was foreign to the genius 
 of the Russian people to persecute any religious 
 
After the Persecution 229 
 
 sect as such. And when I reminded him of 
 the case of the Stundists, he replied that 
 wherever the Russian Government had taken 
 such action it was because political complica- 
 tions had arisen, as, for example, the refusal 
 of the Stundists to serve in the army. The 
 one thing which Russia will not tolerate is 
 proselytism amongst the members of the Greek 
 Church. Russian officials in Manchuria are 
 now well enough aware, however, that we have 
 no call to embark upon a mission of that kind, 
 and we have given them every possible assur- 
 ance that we shall not intermeddle in Chinese 
 politics. Should the Orthodox Greek Church, 
 which is at present holding services for its own 
 members throughout the country, think fit to 
 open its doors to the Chinese, it is possible 
 that many would seek admittance to her 
 communion. The advantages to be derived 
 from such a course are always present to the 
 minds of an Asiatic people who cannot well 
 afibrd to disregard the prestige which association 
 with the ascendant political power is sure to 
 confer. But, except in so far as it would tend 
 to complicate the religious problem to the 
 native mind, one could only welcome such a 
 missionary development on the part of a church 
 that has hitherto confined its operations to its 
 own people. The great mass of our converts 
 would, I am convinced, be proof against such 
 considerations, and, if not unduly interfered 
 
230 East of the Barrier 
 
 with, could maintain their protestant position 
 to the last. 
 
 But, to come to the crucial point of the whole 
 problem. What effect, let us ask, will Russian 
 occupation have upon our mission ? And here 
 I should like to say at the outset that we can 
 never forget our indebtedness to Russia. Their 
 timely and generous assistance saved the lives 
 of some of our missionaries upon the outbreak 
 of " Boxer " hostilities. They were instru- 
 mental in staying the ravages of persecution, 
 and in so far as they were able, threw the aegis 
 of their protection over the Christians. At the 
 beginning of the war they accepted the services 
 of one of our medical missionaries, and thus 
 made it possible to open early communication 
 with our distressed people. And when a 
 measure of peace had been restored, they did 
 everything in their power to facilitate the return 
 of the other missionaries, that they might visit 
 their scattered flocks in the interior. Indeed, 
 but for their present position in the country, 
 our missionaries could not now with safety 
 reside in the interior at all. Our relations 
 hitherto have been most cordial, and various 
 officials have, in an unofficial way of course, 
 repeatedly professed that the Russian Govern- 
 ment have no intention of permanently 
 interfering with our work. Where it has been 
 supposed necessary to impose restrictions, such 
 as in regard to the opening of street-chapels 
 
After the Persecution 231 
 
 for preaching to the heathen, it is only, we are 
 informed, a temporary prohibition, due to the 
 yet disturbed condition of the country and the 
 restlessness of the people. 
 
 For the present, then, we apprehend no 
 danger. We see no just cause for alarm. 
 Our missionaries have quietly moved back to 
 their posts, recognising the status quo ante as 
 still valid, and though it is becoming increas- 
 ingly plain that we shall have to reckon with 
 Russian influence in future, we are resolved 
 to do our utmost to deserve their good opinion. 
 " We are content to accept, without quarrelling 
 with it, a state of facts which we do not like, 
 but which we cannot alter ; to work in the 
 harness provided for us by an ordering which 
 is not our own ; to merge our personal mortifi- 
 cations and disappointments in larger interests 
 to which we have devoted life." The door is 
 still open. Our present duty is therefore plain. 
 We must do what we can for the people whom 
 God has intrusted to our care, in the faith that 
 " He which hath begun this good work will 
 perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ancestral Worship, 71. 
 Anzer, Bishop, 194. 
 Ascent thrmigh Christ, 50. 
 Atonement, doctrine of, 74. 
 
 Beresford, Lord Charles, 199, 
 Bigham, Clive, C.M.G., 10, 24, 
 
 38, 216. 
 Blind Chang, 177. 
 Bonfield, Rev. Mr., 156. 
 " Boxers," 24, 164, 191, 204, 
 
 212. 
 British and Foreign Bible 
 
 Society, 113, 156. 
 Billow, Count von, 194. 
 Burns, Wm. C, 22. 
 
 Carts, Chinese, 96, 97. 
 "Chairs," Chinese, 98, 130. 
 Chang, Pastor, 91. 
 Changtan, 184. 
 Chien Shan ( ' ' Thousand 
 
 Peaks"), 16. 
 Chin-chow, 22. 
 Chinese, conservatism of, 36. 
 
 dress of, 30. 
 
 ■ etiquette of, 30. 
 
 "face," 33. 
 
 ■ future of, 37. 
 
 industriousness of, 34. 
 
 literature of, 47, 48. 
 
 Recorder, 185. 
 
 Chiu-tsai-kow, 121. 
 Christianity, appreciation of, 
 
 72. 
 
 Christie, Dr. Dugald, 166, 168, 
 
 Church, institutional value of, 
 
 74- 
 Circuit, on, 95. 
 Clough, Arthur Hugh, 220. 
 Comparative religion, 76. 
 Coup d'etat, Pekin, 202. 
 
 Danish Mission, 23. 
 
 Da-wa, 103. 
 
 Dowager Empress, 202, 207. 
 
 Edict, Chinese Imperial, 200. 
 Ethics, influence of Confucian, 
 75- 
 
 Fa-ku-m^n, 23, 92, 169. 
 
 Fan-hoa-pu, 105. 
 
 Firearms, importation of, 211. 
 
 Formosa, loss of, 192. 
 
 Fulford, Consul, 24. 
 
 Fulton, Rev. T. C, 168, 171. 
 
 Germany, seizure of Kiaochow 
 
 by, 194. 
 Gibbon's Decline ana Fall, 
 
 151. 
 Giles, Dr., 28. 
 Great Wall, II. 
 
 Haicheng, 14, 15, 142, 188. 
 Harbin, 23. 
 
 Hosie, Alex. M.A. F.R.G.S., 
 II, 124. 
 
234 
 
 Index 
 
 Hsien, Mr., 167. 
 Hsin-min-tun, 23, 1S6. 
 Hsing-ping-pu, 115, 180, 181, 
 
 182, 183. 
 Hsu, Elder, 91. 
 Huai-ren-hsien, lig. 
 
 Indemnity, 192, 226. 
 
 Inglis, Rev. J. W., loi, 106, 
 
 107, 108, no, 150, 151. 
 Inns, interior of Chinese, 99. 
 Irish Presbyterian Mission, 22, 
 
 148. 
 Italy, attempt to lease Sanmen 
 
 Bay, 199. 
 
 Japanese War, 14, 154, 191. 
 Jesuits, 34. 
 
 Jubilee United Presbyterian 
 Church, 89. 
 
 Kaiyuan, 20, 113. 
 Kiaochow, 194. 
 Kitchen-god, 63, 223. 
 Korean valleys, 113. 
 
 converts, 117. 
 
 ■ village, 118. 
 
 inquirers, 1 18. 
 
 Ku family, 121. 
 Kuan-cheng-tzu, 23. 
 Kuang-ning, 23, 186. 
 
 Language, learning the, 41. 
 
 tones of, 44. 
 
 characters of, 45, 46. 
 
 Lavengro, 40. 
 Li Hung Chang, 198. 
 Li Ru Tang, 179. 
 Liaoyang, 16, 170. 
 Literati, 70, 127. 
 Litigation, 65. 
 Liu, Pastor, 86. 
 Loyalty to faith, 75- 
 
 Macintyre, Rev. John, 86, 
 121, 162. 
 
 Mrs., 142. 
 
 Mackay of Uganda, 62. 
 
 Magazine, native Christian, 116, 
 
 157- 
 Mahommedans, 15. 
 Mai-mai-kai, 20. 
 Manchuria, Chinese names for, 
 
 II. 
 
 climate of, 13. 
 
 exports of, 13. 
 
 geographical divisions of, 
 
 immigrants to, 12. 
 
 imports of, 14. 
 
 population of, 11. 
 
 produce, minerals, etc., 
 
 13- 
 Martin, Dr., 190. 
 Mateer's College, 157. 
 Mencius, mother of, 127. 
 Missionaries, responsibility for 
 
 disturbances, 207. 
 Moukden, 18, 57. 
 Murray, Mr., Pekin, 178. 
 
 Newchwang, 14, 24. 
 Nies and Henle, massacre of, 
 193- 
 
 O'Neill, Rev. F. W., 169. 
 Orthodox Greek Church, 229. 
 
 Pastors, native, 81. 
 Persecution, period of, 156, 163. 
 
 after the, 221. 
 
 Pioneering, period of, 147. 
 Ponies, Manchurian, 96. 
 Popularity, period of, 149. 
 Port Arthur, 14, 23, 197. 
 Prisoner of Hope, the, 125. 
 Pullar, Rev. H. W., 167. 
 
 Railway, new Russian, 19, 
 
 23, 24, 167, 198, 228. 
 Recantation certificates, 223. 
 Reformers, Chinese, 202, 203, 
 
 206. 
 Religions in Manchuria, 21, 
 
 22. 
 Reverence, absence of, 73. 
 
Index 
 
 235 
 
 Roads, Chinese, 96. 
 
 Roman Catholics, 23, 66, log, 
 
 114, 116, 168, 194, 204, 207. 
 Ross, Dr. John, 120, 121, 147, 
 
 179. 
 Rules of Presbytery, 69. 
 Russians, 14, 169. 
 
 at Yentai, 17. 
 
 effect of Russian occupation 
 
 on missions, 227. 
 take Port Arthur, 198. 
 
 Schools, 15, 114, 118, 141, 
 
 IS7. 
 Smith, Dr. Arthur, 30, 126. 
 Sprent, Rev. Mr., 113, 115, 
 
 116, 118, 122. 
 Statistics, 149. 
 Street chapel, 51, 52, 54. 
 Stundists, 229. 
 
 Terthllian, r6o. 
 The Shadow Christ, 60. 
 Theological College at Mouk- 
 den, 85, 161. 
 
 Tsai-hoa-pu, 108. 
 Tung-hua-hsien, 116, 119. 
 Turley, Mr. R. T., 113, 115, 
 118, 122. 
 
 United Free Church, 
 Mission of, 23. 
 
 Vladivostock, 23. 
 
 Warneck, Dr. Gustav, 80. 
 Webster, Rev. Jas., 113, 162, 
 
 171, 178, 185. 
 Wei-hai-wei, 197, 198. 
 Wen Hsiang, 19. 
 Westwater, Dr. A. Macdonald, 
 
 17, 120, 169. 
 Women, work amongst, 27. 
 
 national opinion of, 138. 
 
 martyrs, 143. 
 
 YlLU, 20, 104. 
 Young, Dr. W. A., 168. 
 Yu Hsien, 197, 205. 
 Yungling, 182, 184. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia. 
 By the Rev. Alexander Williamson, D.D. (Smith, Elder, 
 &Co. 1870.) 
 
 The Manchus. By the Rev. John Ross, D.D. (Parlane, 
 Paisley. 1880.) 
 
 The Long White Mountain. By H. E. M. James. (Long- 
 mans. 1888.) 
 
 Manchuria: Its People, Resources, and Recent History. By 
 Alexander Hosie, M. A., F.R.G.S. (Methuen. igoi.) 
 
 A Year in China (1899-1900). By Clive Bigham, C.M.G. 
 (Macmillan. 1901.) 
 
 Korea and Her Neighbours. By Isabella L. Bishop. (John 
 Murray. 1898.) 
 
 Ten Years hi Manchuria (1883-1893). By Dr. Dugald 
 Christie. (Houlston & Sons.) 
 
 The Story of Our Manchuria Mission. By Mrs. Duncan 
 M'Laren. (John Cochrane, Edinburgh. 1896.) (Deals 
 chiefly with the Mission of the United Presbyterian Church. ) 
 
 The City of the Iron Hill (Tiehling). By the Rev. James 
 Webster. (Parlane, Paisley. 1895.) 
 
 Out Mission in Manchuria. By the Rev. A. R. Crawford, 
 M.A. (Belfast Student Volunteer Mission. 1900.) (Deals 
 chiefly with the Mission of the Irish Presbyterian Church.) 
 
 Blind Chang. By the Rev. Jas. W. Inglis, M.A. (John 
 
 Cochrane, Edinburgh. 1901.) 
 237 
 
CHINA IN CONVULSION. 
 
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 China in Convfdsion: 
 
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 A Survey of the Cause and Events of the 
 
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 By ARTHUR H. SMITH, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS," "VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA," ETC. 
 
 Mr Frederick Coleman, in the Daily News, says :— " There is but 
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 yet made its appearance. Dr Smith is considered by many to be 
 the very best authority extant on the Chinese people, and those who 
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 whole book is written in such a style as to make it of absorbing interest, 
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 The Lore of Cathay : 
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 In Five Parts. Arts and Sciences, Literature, Philosophy 
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 By Rev. "W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 "'The time,' writes Dr Martin, 'is not, I trust, far distant when the language of 
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 " A most valuable work which is indispensable to every careful student of Chinese 
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 "Altogether Dr Martin's book will be esteemed <i valuable contribution to our 
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 "Dr Martin's masterly work . . . displays on every page scholarship, industry, a 
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 *' Dr Martin has enjoyed almost unique opportunities for such a study, and he treats 
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 "The writer's pages dispel many popular impressions. China is not the land of 
 obscurantism which resolutely has turned its back upon the civilisation of the western 
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 selves forward at the beginning of the new century, and it is high time that heloed hv 
 such a book as this, we should begin to weigh them in the scales of a more crir,»^rt„c 
 intelligence."— r/r^/r^-^A Times. ^^^ generous 
 
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 NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO. 
 
 Publishers of Evangelical Literature.