Through the Great Wall 
 into North China 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/throughgreatwallOOyoun 
 
Wellesley in North China 
 
 Not to be ministered unto but to minister. 
 
THAT YOU MAY KNOW. 
 
 Miss Frances Taft, graduate of Wellesley, 1909. She 
 was secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement. 
 1909-1910. 
 
 Miss Taft sailed for China February 19, 1911, arriving 
 March 12th in Shanghai. 
 
 Fler support was guaranteed by several groups of 
 Wellesley friends. 
 
 She was appointed to North China and resided for 
 language study at Peking. Later, because of the revolu- 
 tion, she took up residence in Tientsin. 
 
 At Tientsin Miss Taft gave half time to Association 
 work from September, 1912, to March, 1913, working 
 especially with the students in a high class girls’ school. 
 
 In March, 1913, she was called to Shanghai as assist- 
 ant general secretary. 
 
 In July, 1913, she was appointed general secretary for 
 Shanghai. 
 
 In 1912, the Wellesley Alumnae Association officially 
 assumed her support. 
 
 This support was $1,100 a year, which includes salary 
 and the expense of house rent, physician and teacher. 
 In addition they assumed $300 yearly for the extension 
 of the National work in China. 
 
 In February, 1914, Miss Taft resigned her position in 
 Shanghai Association to return to America. 
 
 (See page 17) 
 
THROUGH THE GREAT WALL INTO NORTH 
 CHINA. 
 
 Foreword. 
 
 The great wall of China which climbs from hilltop 
 to hilltop, with audacious disregard of trend and 
 hindrance, still bounds the territory of North China. 
 From its now crumbling watch-towers one is thrilled 
 by the tide of modern enterprise which is being car- 
 ried through the widened gateways and through the 
 breaches of its foundations by rails of steel and taut 
 stretched wires. A smoke on the horizon locates the 
 vast mines whose development marks the end of clean 
 air in the cities. The light that glows out on a misty 
 night above ancient Peking betrays the passing of 
 the tallow candle. Great buildings rise above the level 
 of the housetops, indicating a growing ambition and 
 an endeavor to put China among the foremost nations 
 of the world. The modern cruiser, replacing a fleet 
 of junks, trails a cloud of smoky civilization above 
 the waters that are now the pathway of the western 
 nations. Peace, as the world knows peace, is more 
 nearly accomplished in China to-day than was thought 
 possible in her hour of national re-birth. Those who 
 are willing to listen to the missionary message and 
 to the Word of God have multiplied by millions during 
 the past two years. It is an hour of receptivity — 
 inasmuch as we are servants of a living faith have we 
 opportunity to move China to-day. A recent meeting 
 held by Dr. Mott and Mr. Eddy of North China evi- 
 denced this. In Peking, followed one meeting attend- 
 ed by more than three hundred women, ninety-seven 
 signed on for Bible study. In Tientsin scores of young 
 women from the government schools joined Bible 
 classes following the addresses. The women who hear 
 the message are a great host. Few there are to guide 
 them in their new learning. Of the message of Chris- 
 
 3 
 
tianity to mothers, to home-makers, to women in 
 industry, to women in the rural places, little has as 
 yet been said. 
 
 Language. 
 
 Work of the Association in China divides itself 
 territorially along lines of language. Mandarin is 
 spoken by three hundred millions of the Chinese 
 people, but there are of Mandarin almost as many 
 dialects as there are provinces. The variations are 
 usually classified as Northern and Southern Mandarin, 
 the North Mandarin being modeled theoretically after 
 that spoken in Peking, so that in speaking of “North 
 China" we mean that section of China where the 
 Pekinese Mandarin prevails. In this region are 
 the cities of Peking, Tientsin, Tungchow and Pao- 
 ting-fu. Practically all the personal contact with the 
 women of North China must be obtained through the 
 medium of their own dialect, d'he conservatism of 
 the north has prevented even a limited use of English 
 among the people. 
 
 PEKING. 
 
 A Near View. 
 
 To see Peking from the city wall is to look out 
 over a forest of trees, with gleaming yellow roofs of 
 the old palaces, green tiled house tops of deposed 
 princes, and the blue domes of memorial temples. 
 \'ast granaries that once held the imperial tribute are 
 now crumbling to dust. Around what was once the 
 old Imperial City runs a crimson wall with yellow 
 tiled top, called the “great red wall” by Chinese poets. 
 Beyond this wall is the outer wall of the “Tartar 
 city" and alongside the “Tartar city" what is known 
 as the “Chinese city.” The extent of the outer walls 
 is nineteen miles. On the sites of old palaces and 
 
 4 
 
wrecked temples are being constructed the modern 
 office buildings with no hint of mystery. They are 
 typical of the material renaissance which China is 
 destined to experience. The utilitarian stare of these 
 buildings is bent on broad boulevards that erstwhile 
 
 One of Thousands oi Alleys. 
 
 were glittering with cavalcades of caparisoned horse- 
 men. Within these edifices are transacted in one day 
 measures which in former times of obstructive legis- 
 lation were years in coming to fruition. 
 
 Women’s Education. 
 
 The type of women’s education, as undertaken 
 by the national government, is as yet experimental. 
 Kaleidoscopic change in administration has created 
 many directors of education ; first progressive, then 
 conservative, then reactionary. A man, educated in 
 the United States, was succeeded by a gentleman 
 trained in the old system of education, he in turn was 
 superceded by a man whose only claim as director of 
 education was that he had long been an official. Nev- 
 
 5 
 
ertheless there is working out through experiment and 
 experience a policy that will eventually provide edu- 
 cation for all Chinese girls. It is very difficult to se- 
 cure women who will leave the great centers to go 
 into smaller cities or the country as teachers. 
 
 Influence of Peking. 
 
 Socially. 
 
 With all the schools that are now begun in 
 l^eking it is evident that it will become one of the 
 most important educational centers of China. The 
 influence of Peking is felt in the remotest hamlet in 
 the most distant province. A few words spoken in 
 Pekinese bring a recognition that no other dialect 
 invites. Plans and customs may and do originate in 
 other cities of the republic, but when Peking sets its 
 stamp upon a custom it becomes an established usage. 
 Moreover, this city is the center of the yet sporadic 
 woman’s movement, of literary clubs and of social 
 circles. During the perils of the revolution the Chi- 
 nese women in connection with the missionaries had 
 an organization effected whereby families and indi- 
 viduals might be protected in case of danger. Clubs 
 were organized for the preparation of Red Cross ma- 
 terials for nurses. For some years the missions have 
 had a so-called university extension work in which 
 lectures on public topics have been given by promi- 
 nent Chinese women. In short, there is no city in 
 China where the women are more ripe for organized 
 effort among themselves than are the women in 
 Peking. 
 
 It cannot be said of North China as of other cities 
 in the Republic that there are no unmarried women. 
 The classic fathers of the past generations have been 
 interested in the education and culture of their daugh- 
 ters. There are found in many homes of North China 
 
 6 
 
young women whose life is purposeful and helpful, 
 and who have remained unmarried. It has been, there- 
 fore, not as difficult in Peking as in other cities to 
 secure competent teachers from among Chinese ladies 
 to take the head of girls’ schools. Of these educated 
 women, naturally the princesses of the “Manchu” 
 dynasty were the leaders. 
 
 Educationally. 
 
 Before there were any government schools in Pe- 
 king several Manchu princesses had girls’ schools un- 
 der their patronage. These were in excellent order 
 and doing good work. The word “Manchu” has almost 
 disappeared from Chinese conversation and more 
 completely have these girls’ schools become a thing 
 of the past. These were the real beginnings of 
 women’s education in the northern capital. 
 
 Peking has a large number of women of superior 
 education and of broadened outlook, the wives of the 
 high officials of the government. These women are 
 in a small measure part of the society of the diplomatic 
 corps and their return to their home provinces carries 
 much influence among their own people. 
 
 In the Government Normal School, which typifies 
 the most advanced education to-day, a young woman 
 educated in America was employed as a teacher. Her 
 training and real worth soon made her the most popu- 
 lar teacher in the school. Not only was she this, but 
 she was successful in getting over forty young women 
 students into a Bible class. Soon after there came a 
 change of school superintendent and she was ten- 
 dered “an indefinite leave of absence.” She had been 
 too successful. 
 
 For three years there has been on file with the 
 National Committee of China a formal request from 
 the Missionary Association of Peking for secretaries 
 
 7 
 
to be provided at once for the capital. There have 
 been at various times secretaries in Peking as stu- 
 dents of the language, and the last year there was 
 opened in Peking a secretarial home in which are Miss 
 King and Miss Severin preparing for work in Peking, 
 so soon as the strengthening of the situation in other 
 cities in China makes feasible the opening of work 
 in the city. There are two student branches in Peking ; 
 one in the Women’s Union College with a membership 
 of eighty, and one in the Methodist Girls’ School. 
 
 TIENTSIN. 
 
 While Peking as capital of China is of greatest 
 importance, Tientsin is the key to that more widely 
 known city — it is the birthplace of many of the re- 
 forms, revolutions and progressive measures that 
 reach more slowly the conservative city of the rulers. 
 It has no natural beauties to commend it ; it is flat, 
 almost treeless, windswept and dusty, chill from 
 ocean winds, hot in summer and having a glorious 
 autumn and winter climate. The people of Tientsin, 
 while coming from many provinces, speak Mandarin, 
 and work with the people has more coherence than 
 in a city where the population is of many dialects. 
 The race is a northern one — hardy, stern, dependable ; 
 not given to hilarity and contention. Beasts of burden 
 and carts are employed in their business — agriculture, 
 which occupies all the men who till, and the women 
 who grind, in the vast level plain of the North. The 
 food of the people is largely wheat and millet, with 
 a few coarse vegetables and pork. The scarcity of 
 water, the dust, the need of heavy clothing that is not 
 so easily washed, make the laboring people of North 
 China often less attractive in appearance than are the 
 southern people. 
 
 8 
 
1 wo women shall be grinding at a mill, one taken and the other leit." 
 
 Provincial Education. 
 
 Government education for girls was first begun in 
 Tientsin. 1 he Girls’ Normal School is the oldest of 
 its type in China. The Normal in its beginning fol- 
 lowed a unique plan — young women were brought 
 from provinces of the south, expenses paid, all acces- 
 sories provided, and a few dollars monthly allowed 
 them on attainment of certain scholarship. Govern- 
 ment kindergartens have gathered in the darlings of 
 the gentry families, keen eyed, refined, alert children. 
 1 he “public school,” so-called, has many girls from 
 better homes. Some industrial work is a common 
 feature of all schools, showing a practical and sensible 
 desire of the authorities to harmonize home avocations 
 and education. Numbers of private or gentry schools 
 have existed for consecutive years in Tientsin. Nearly 
 all the schools have physical exercises in one form or 
 another, often such as are suitable only for men and 
 boys. Selected ethics are taught in schools. Classic 
 
 9 
 
readers especially written and illustrated for girls 
 are provided. These include topics of decorum, punc- 
 tuality, respect for parents, proper attitude to men, 
 etc. 
 
 THE YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN 
 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Beginnings. 
 
 Miss E. M. Saxelby began her study of the Man- 
 darin language in Tientsin in 1910, taking up her resi- 
 dence there. She was invited to teach classes in 
 physical work in two of the government girls’ schools. 
 This she did with heroic devotion and singleness of 
 purpose. During the revolution of 1912 when all 
 school work was abandoned. Miss Saxelby was called 
 to help care for Mandarin-speaking refugees in Shang- 
 hai. While on a street car, one day, she unexpectedly 
 met two Tientsin students and discovered that her 
 students in physical education were enrolled and were 
 drilling in the Women’s Army of China! Calls fol- 
 lowed and she organized some of them into a First 
 Aid class ; then, at the request of a few of them, made 
 plans for a Bible class, which did not meet, as the 
 young women were suddenly ordered to the front. But 
 they went literally with “Studies in Mark’’ under their 
 arms for the books reached them at the Shanghai- 
 Nanking Railway Station. Peace came, and the young 
 women returned to Tientsin, where Miss Saxelby soon 
 organized a Bible class of over twenty of them, as 
 well as giving intensive teaching to some of the more 
 earnest. 
 
 Organization. 
 
 Miss Paxson and Miss Taft were sent to Tientsin 
 in the fall of 1912 to be associated with Miss Saxelby 
 while they were doing half-time language study. 
 
 10 
 
Through the courtesy of the London Missionary So- 
 ciety, a house was rented in the foreign settlement. 
 Calls were made and social gatherings were held. The 
 National Committee asked several ladies, Chinese and 
 foreign, to serve as an Advisory Committee, and in 
 the spring of 1913 organization was effected ; the Ad- 
 visory Committee disbanded ; Miss Saxelby was made 
 general secretary, and a charter membership of 
 twenty-six was formed. 
 
 Student Association Methodist School. 
 
 At the meeting for organization a recognition serv- 
 ice for the reception of the members was employed. 
 The Chinese are highly appreciative of dignified forms 
 of service. Within three months from the time of 
 organization more than one hundred young women 
 were enrolled in Bible classes. The membership had 
 increased to eighty-one. The students enrolled in 
 Bible classes were from the Woman’s Law School, 
 The Government Normal, the Government Hospital 
 and Training School and from the British College. 
 The growth during the entire year has been sub- 
 
 11 
 
stantial. The total membership is now over one hun- 
 dred women who have been carefully chosen. The 
 ideal of work has been to instruct a small number of 
 members carefully as to the ideals and possibilities 
 of the Association and to add to the membership in 
 ratio as a membership can thus be taught and trained 
 for service. Every member of the Tientsin Associa- 
 tion is a factor in its life. There are besides social 
 work and Bible classes, groups in singing, sewing and 
 clubs for the study of English. 
 
 The Present. 
 
 In the summer of 1913 Miss Mayhew, National 
 Director of Physical Education, visited Tientsin and 
 Peking and presented her plan for the development of 
 the physical life in the Association. She. was cordially 
 
 Tientsin opposite Association Headquarters. 
 
 received by the authorities of the government schools 
 and gave several demonstrations of the ideal to which 
 she was working. 
 
 Miss Derry is at present in charge of the physical 
 work in the Tientsin Association. Miss Pyke is giv- 
 
 12 
 
ing half time to language study and half-time to the 
 work of the Association, and Miss Saxelby will con- 
 tinue with the Association until July. 
 
 In the Methodist Girls’ High School there is a 
 student branch organized and instructed by Miss Taft, 
 d'hese young women are from the first homes of Tient- 
 sin and will go out to the places of highest woman- 
 hood in the great city. 
 
 Their committees and cabinet are keen on develop- 
 ing student work in the way they have heard it done 
 in the United States. Already they have an extension 
 work, various members giving their time to the telling 
 of Bible stories in a private school whose pupils are 
 too young to take up Bible study. 
 
 SUMMER CONFERENCES. 
 
 It was only seven years ago that it was declared 
 unadvisable and impossible to hold a separate con- 
 ference for girl students. Last summer under the 
 direction of Miss Baxson, now student secretary for 
 China, there was gathered at the Temple of the 
 Sleeping Buddha, in the western hills beyond the walls 
 of Peking, a conference of eighty students, represent- 
 ing sixteen schools, nine denominations and eight 
 provinces. Sixteen missionaries and secretaries were 
 present as leaders of the conference. The gathering 
 was financed entirely by the friends in North China. 
 The messages to the conference were a call for a sur- 
 render of body, mind and spirit to Christ. There was 
 dehnite response to the message, the new social life 
 in China, making it possible for young women to have 
 a voice in the ordering of their own future. It is 
 safe to say that in North China the summer conference 
 will become more and more a teacher of Association 
 activity. 
 
 13 
 
Some of the young women from the non-Christian 
 schools are eager for summer camps and it lacks only 
 ^yorkers to bring to pass what the Young Men’s Chris- 
 tian Association has accomplished in North China, 
 a conference wholly for students of government 
 schools. It is impossible to o\'er-estimate this form 
 
 Physical Training, Summer Conference. 
 
 of conference. The students from the government 
 schools come with mature minds that are eager to 
 understand the foundation, the tenets and the prac- 
 tices of the Christian religion. Their reading has in- 
 cluded agnostic and rationalistic literature. A back- 
 ground of WTstern history and thought is often lack- 
 
 14 
 
THAT YOU MAY SHARE. 
 
 In February, 1914, Wellesley Alumnae Association 
 transferred its support to Miss Theresa Severin, who was 
 graduated from Wellesley College in 1909. She then 
 became their official representative on the held. 
 
 The ultimate purpose of the W'ellesley interest in China 
 focuses in Peking. It is the aim to make Peking a Welles- 
 ley station for Association work. 
 
 To do this there must be at least two secretaries in 
 command of the language before Association work is 
 possible in Peking. 
 
 The plan for the present year is as follows ; 
 a — The support of Miss Severin, who is now in Peking 
 at language study, $1,100, 
 
 b — The support of a second Wellesley secretary at $1,100 
 per year with the necessary expense of outht and 
 journey, $500. 
 
 c — To continue the gift for the extension of the National 
 work, increasing it in proportion to the number of 
 
 secretaries to $500. 
 
 Siiiiimary — 
 
 Support of Miss Severin $1,100 
 
 Support of second Wellesley secretary 1,100 
 
 Expense of outht and journey 500 
 
 Extension of National work 500 
 
 17 
 
 $3,200 
 
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ing. The conference affords an open field in which 
 to meet honest inciuiries and to present forcibly the 
 claims of Christianity. The missionaries of North 
 China are most willing to contribute of their experi- 
 ence and ability for this work. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 As the seat of government, as the center of the 
 foremost educational movement for women, and as 
 the city of final authority for customs and practices, 
 Peking is pre-eminently the most important city of 
 China. It is no doubt well that the Young Women’s 
 Christian Association has been trying out its methods 
 and studying its field in other parts of China, but 
 there is no longer delay possible if the Association ex- 
 pects to occupy that place of influence in China now 
 open to it. There must be workers for North China 
 and especially in Peking. There is probably no city 
 in the world where a Christian woman can make her 
 influence for good more widely felt than in Peking 
 at the present time. Chinese authorities, missionary 
 groups, eager iuctuiring women, and the inarticulate 
 cry of those needy ones who know not that Chinese 
 women have come to a heritage, all invite the Associa- 
 tion. Tientsin and Peking both are cities of more 
 than a million population. Shall we take incentive 
 from the indomitable courage of the builders of the 
 great wall? Shall we draw' inspiration from the Re- 
 deemer of all the earth? Shall w^e say “wdth God all 
 things are possible,” and possess the students of North 
 China for Christ! 
 
 15 
 
National Board of the 
 
 Young Women’s Christian Associations of the United Slates 
 600 Lexington Avenue, New York 
 1914