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HOUSE OCCUPIED BY DAVID ABEEL, ON KOLONGSU. 
 
SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE AMOY MISSION, 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. JOHN G. FAGG. 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions, R. C. A. 
 25 EAST 22D STREET, NEW YORK. 
 1899. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/sketchofamoyOOfagg 
 
MISSION OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE 
 REGION OF AMOY, CHINA 
 
 BY REV. JOHN G. FAGG. 
 
 Location. — The one mission of our Church in China, 
 and the oldest mission, is that known as the Amoy 
 Mission. It is situated on the southeast coast of 
 China, in the province of Fukien. The province of 
 Fukien covers an area of 47,000 srpiare miles, a little 
 less than that of the State of New York, and has an 
 estimated population of ten millions. It is a province 
 of mountains and hills and well-watered, densely- 
 populated valleys. The Fukien Chinese have a say- 
 ing, in rhyme, “Under the whole heavens there is- 
 nothing comparable to Fukien.” And the people of 
 the two districts of Chiangchiu and Chinchiu, in 
 which our work is carried on, say, “ In the whole 
 province of Fukien there is nothing to be compared 
 to Chiang and Chin.” They have not spoken with- 
 out reason. The harbor of Amoy, with its island- 
 gem Kolongsu, where the foreign population lives, 
 and other outlying islands and the encircling hills, is 
 one of the most picturesque harbors on the -China 
 coast. The Chiangchiu and Siokhe valleys are evei’- 
 green with verdure. Clumps of graceful, overhang- 
 ing bamboo line the streams and cover the hills. 
 Widespreading banyans and fruitful mango and 
 lychee trees shade the numerous villages. Great 
 stretches of ricefields, sugarcane and tobacco planta- 
 tions and banana groves give variety to the landscape. 
 
6o MILES SOUTHWEST OF AMOY, 
 
The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 Owing to the density of the pojinlation the farms 
 are small, not averaging more than two or three acres, 
 and they are cultivated with the utmost diligence. 
 Two and three crops a year are gathered from the 
 same piece of ground. No sooner is one crop rijiened 
 and garnered than another crop is put in. The farms 
 and gardens are kejit surprisingly free from weeds. 
 
 The People . — The Amoy Chinese are an enterpris- 
 ing, industrious, economical, cheerful, hospitable, 
 people. All the emigration from China is from the 
 two provinces of Canton and Fukien. Nearly all the 
 emigration from the Fukien province has been from 
 the region of Amoy. The Amoy emigration averages 
 20,01*0 a year. The Amoy Chinese have settled West- 
 ern Formosa. They are found at Manila, Singaiiore, 
 Batavia, Bangkok, Rangoon, and on the island of 
 Sumatra. They are the shopkeepers and plantation 
 workers in those regions. 
 
 Languagfe* — The Amoy dialect is spoken by five 
 million peojile. To the north of the vkmoy region 
 the Foochow and Ilinghua, and to the south and 
 west the Swatow and Hakka dialects are S 2 )oken. 
 These dialects differ from each other as much as 
 English from Cerman and German from Dutch. 
 
 Cities. — The jirincipal cities in the Amoy region 
 are Amoy, Chiangchiu, Chinchiu, Tongan and 
 Chiohbe. Amoy was one of the first five ports opened 
 to Western commerce, and has a pojiulation of at 
 least 200,000. It has an extensive coast-wise and East 
 India trade, and ships annually 20,000,000 pounds of 
 tea. The tea comes principally from the island of 
 Formosa in small steamers and is transhipped at 
 Amoy for the United States chiefly. Chiangchiu, on 
 
Kev. DAVID ABEEL, D.D. 
 
 (From an oil pamting by Prof. S* F. B. Merge.) 
 
The Amoy Missiox, Chi-na. 9 
 
 the West river, thirty miles west of Amoy, with a 
 population of 200,000, is the center of a large inland 
 trade. Chinchin, sixty miles north of Amoy, is an 
 important literary and governmental center, with a 
 population of 300,000. The English Presbyterians 
 carry on a most promising work in this city. Tongan, 
 at the head of the estuary reaching out from Amoy 
 to the north, with a population of aboirt 60,000, is a 
 lively business town, shipping quite extensive quan- 
 tities of home-grown opium. Siokhe is a market 
 town, sixty miles southwest of Amoy, at the head of 
 boat navigation on the West river, with a population 
 of 6,000. 
 
 History, — The Amoy Mission was founded by Rev. 
 David Abeel, in 18-12 He had labored among the 
 seamen at Canton; he had been chaplain for the for- 
 eign community at Singa})ore for a year; he had 
 made two extensive tours to Borneo, Java, and Siam 
 with a view to the establishment of missions among 
 the Chinese, who had emigrated to those 2 )arts. But 
 when, in consequence of the Opium War, Amoy was 
 thrown open to foreign trade and settlement, he im- 
 mediately went there. He began his work in a hired 
 house, under an overshadowing banyan, on the island 
 of Kolongsu. By his courtliness, affability and 
 manly consecration he won the favor of both the 
 literary and official classes, as well as of the common 
 people. He had interested hearers from the begin- 
 ning. But his health, never vigorous, soon utterly 
 failed and he returned to the United States, in 1811, 
 where he died not many months after. Before Abeel 
 left. Rev. Elihu Doty and Rev. William Pohlman 
 came to Amoy. They kad gone out from our Church 
 

 
 Xkn. 
 
The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 11 
 
 and been engaged in missionary work among the 
 Chinese who had settled in Borneo, but the far greater 
 opportunity now open for missionary work among the 
 Chinese in China itself brought them to Amoy. 
 Pohlman will always be remembered as having solic- 
 ited and secured 13,000 for the first Protestant church 
 edifice for distinctively Chinese worshiji in China. 
 He superintended its erection at Amoy (1848), where 
 the substantial building still stands and Christian 
 congregations still assemble. He went to Hongkong 
 to escort an invalid sister, and to buy furnishings for 
 the new church building. On his return tlie ship 
 “ Omega,” in which he sailed, was wrecked off Breaker 
 Point, 120 miles north of Hongkong, and by the 
 overturning of the boat in which he and the captain 
 and part of the crew were trying to get ashore, he was 
 drowned. 
 
 Mr. Doty continued with the mission for twenty 
 years, and by his character and work left an enduring 
 impression. 
 
 But the name that stands out pre-eminently in 
 connection with the Amoy Mission is that of Rev. 
 John Van Nest Talmage, D.D. He not only helped 
 lay the foundations but built thereon, and never 
 knowingly, through upwards of forty years of service, 
 put in one trowelful of uutemjiered mortar. He was 
 a man of unusual weight and power of personality. 
 His soundness of judgment made him an adviser 
 and arbitrator whom foreigners and Chinese alike 
 sought, and from whose advice they were not cpiick 
 to turn away. He was one of the earliest advocates 
 of union and co-operation in Foreign missions, and 
 was mainly instrumental, so far as our Church was 
 
12 The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 concerned, in the establishment of an independent 
 Chinese Chnrch of the Keformed order. It embraces 
 the converts of both the English Presbyterian mission 
 and onr own mission. “ It is not an appendage of 
 either of these foreign churches, but is a genuine 
 independent Chinese Christian church, holding the 
 standards and governed by the polity of the twin- 
 sister churches that sent them the gospel by their 
 own messengers. The missionaries retain their rela- 
 tions with their own home churches, and act under 
 commissions of their own Church Boards of Missions. 
 They are not settled pastors, but are more like the 
 Apostolic Evangelists of New Testament times, 
 preachers, teachers, founders of churches, educators 
 of the native ministry, superintendents of the general 
 work of evangelization.” Dr. Talmage’s special liter- 
 ary achievement was the preparation and completion 
 of a Character-Colloquial Dictionary in the Amoy 
 dialect, intended to be of special service to the mis- 
 sionaries and the Chinese Christian Church. In the 
 midst of multiplied duties and many distractions he 
 worked at it for upwards of twenty years. Great and 
 good man, fervent preacher, inspiring teacher, wise 
 and sympathetic counsellor, generous friend, affec- 
 tionate father, the fragrance of his name cannot be 
 dissipated, the memory of his life the multiplying 
 years cannot crowd out. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Rapalje joined the mission in 1858. 
 Mr. Rapalje has just (July, 1899) returned to this 
 country after upwards of forty years of faithful and 
 efficient service, llis unusual acquaintance with the 
 Chinese language, both written and spoken, and his 
 remarkable accuracy and facility of utterance have 
 
The Amoy Missiox, China. 13 
 
 made him a higdily respected and much valued mis- 
 siouary. 
 
 Eev. Leonard W. Kip, D.D., went to Amoy in 1861. 
 He has been the geographer of the mission. He put 
 as much painstaking accuracy into his maps as Dr. 
 Talmage did into his dictionary. He has been a 
 constant traveler and a pioneer in the establishment 
 of mission stations in the region beyond Chiangchiu. 
 The evangelization of the Siokhe valley and tributary 
 valleys is due principally to the unwearied tonring 
 and testimony and planning and supervision of Dr. 
 Kip. 
 
 Our missionary force in China has never been large. 
 Eeinforcements have beeii sent from time to time 
 through the years. The proportion of those who 
 conld not endure the climate and were compelled, by 
 reason of broken health to return to the United 
 States, has been relatively large. Some have passed 
 away, and others are still living, who would gladly 
 have given their whole lives to the evangelization of 
 China, but it could not be. 
 
 The Work. . — The work of the mission is three-fold. 
 Evangelistic, Educational, Medical. 
 
 Evangelistic Work. — The Amoy Mission began as 
 a preaching mission. This was indicated in the words 
 of Mr. Pohlman in 1846, in a paper in which he urged 
 all the missionaries coming to China to learn to speak 
 the language correctly, and adds, “ Be sure you are 
 understood, then preach, preach.” Of course 
 
 there is preaching in all the churches and chapels at 
 the regular services every Sunday, to stated congre- 
 gations of Christians. But more or less informal 
 preaching to the heathen by the elders, school teachers. 
 
PASTOR JAP HAN-CHIONG. 
 
The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 15 
 
 and other laymen with the gift of utterance is goiug 
 on in the churches and cha^iels all through the Sab- 
 bath-day. There are wayside chapels which are ojiened 
 every afternoon and evening, and passers-hy are at- 
 tracted by the singing of hymns and the testimony of 
 earnest men who hear witness to their repudiation of 
 idolatry and their faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Special evangelistic tours to hitherto unvisited or 
 seldom-visited villages are arranged for several days 
 of every month, when the pastors and jireachers and 
 elders of a whole valley or a portion of a valley join. 
 Christian literature is disseminated. Portions of the 
 scriptures, tracts on the fundamental truths of Chris- 
 tianity, tracts against ancestral worship and exposing 
 idolatry, are sold or given away at all the chapels, 
 and on these jireaching ton i s. The Gospel story is 
 told again and again by the lady-missionaries on their 
 house to house visits. There are at present connected 
 with our mission 1 1 self-sup^iorting churches, 41 
 preaching stations, 12 jiastors, 30 preachers. 
 
 Educational Work — The work of education began 
 with teaching the new converts how to read the 
 already-translated Scriptures. It is ^lossible, by rea- 
 son of the peculiar genius of the Chinese language, 
 for a man to know enough character to make out a 
 business announcement and write a business letter, 
 to whom the characters and combinations of char- 
 acters constituting the religious vocabulary are an 
 unexplainable puzzle. Hence more or less educative 
 work of this kind, teaching them how to read the 
 Bible intelligently, must be done among all classes all 
 the time. The children, too, must be gathered into 
 (Ihristian schools, away from the daily worshiji of 
 
NEERBOSCH HOSPITAL ; SIOKHE. 
 
The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 17 
 
 Confucius and the contaminating influence of 
 heathen teachers. The need of evangelists and 
 teachers was felt, and the older missionaries gave 
 themselves, so far as they were able, to the training 
 of men, with the modest accommodations and limited 
 time at their command. To-day there is a well-aji- 
 pointed Theological Seminary building where the 
 students of both the English Presbyterian Mission 
 and our own Mission are given a three years’ course in 
 Systematic Theology, Exposition of Scripture, and 
 the Art of Preaching. 
 
 Men of character, ability and consecration have 
 gone out from this institution and are now serving 
 the churches. The Seminary building was put up 
 by, and is the property, of the English Presbyterian 
 Mission. 
 
 The Middle School. — On one of the most com- 
 manding sites on the island of Kolongsu, stands the 
 Talmage Memorial Hall, the funds for which were 
 raised by Rev. P. W. Pitcher. Here our Middle School 
 is housed, and upwards of sixty boys ;ind voung men 
 are given a good academic training. Besides, there is 
 a Boys’ Boarding School on the island of Kolongsu, 
 and there are boys’ schools connected with every fully 
 constituted church in the Mission. 
 
 The education of the women and girls has received 
 attention from the beginning. The Charlotte W. 
 Duryee Bible School founded in 1884 draws together 
 under its roof women from many places in the Amoy 
 region who never had an opportunity of any school- 
 ing in their childhood and wish, now that they are 
 Christians and have the opportunity, to learn to read 
 and understand the Bible for themselves. 
 

The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 19 
 
 Mrs. J. V. N. Talmage has superintended this 
 school for many years and done most excellent work. 
 There are two Boarding Schools for girls connected 
 with the Amoy Mission, one on the island of Kol- 
 ongsn, under the care of the Misses M. E. and K. M. 
 Talmage, and one at Siokhe. The influence of these 
 schools is felt far and wide for good in the homes of 
 the Christian Cliinese. There are also day schools 
 for girls at Amoy, Chiangcliin and Tongan. 
 
 Medical Work . — No work of the foreign mis- 
 sionary is more thoroughly appreciated by all classes, 
 literati, ofticials, merchants, shop-keepers, farmers, 
 than the medical wmrk. It makes a visible, tangible, 
 sympathetic, scientific appeal. China has no medical 
 colleges except those erected within recent years 
 under foreign influence. Chinese 2 )hysicians have ■ 
 learned the use of a few remedies as the result of 
 long experience, some of which are safely harmless, 
 others moderately efficient and others positively harm- 
 ful. At best Chinese medical knowledge is little 
 more than quackery. They know nothing whatever 
 of surgery. The first hosjntal opened in connection 
 with the Amoy Mission was the Neerbosch Hospital 
 at Siokhe, in 1889, under the supervision of Eev. J. 
 
 A. Otte, M.l). The hospital proved a most effective ' 
 agency in breaking down prejudice and opening the 
 way to many homes and villages for the 2 )reaching of 
 the Grospel. 
 
 On Dr. Otte's return to China in 1897, Iloiie Hos- 
 pital was built on the island of Kolongsn, the meet- 
 ing point of junk and river-boat traffic from many 
 directions, just opposite the city of Amoy. It is 
 
20 
 
 The Ahoy Mission, China. 
 
 already proving a mucli ajjpreciated pool of Siloam 
 and healing Bethesda. 
 
 Mission Comity. — The three missions at ^.moy, 
 the London Mission (Congregational), the English 
 Presbyterian Mission, the Eeformed Church Mission, 
 as an illustration of Christian comity, and for the 
 better prosecution of their respective M'ork, have 
 divided the region about Amoy — extending a hun- 
 dred miles up and down the coast and a hundred 
 miles inland, into three Avell-deflned sections within 
 whose bounds each mission is to carry on its work. 
 Til is makes the Eeformed Church specifically re- 
 sponsible for the evangelization of at least two mil- 
 lion people. 
 
 The Mission just now is seriously undermanned. A 
 strong reinforcement is greatly needed. Meanwhile 
 faithful men and women are standing guard and 
 doing earnest work. 
 
 MISSIONARIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN 
 AMERICA TO AMOY, CHINA. 
 
 WENT OUT. RETIRED. 
 
 Rev. David Abeel, D.D., 
 
 Rev. Elibu Doty, 
 
 Mr.s. Elibu Doty, 
 
 Mr.s. Mary (Smitb) Doty, 
 
 Rev. W. .1. Poblman, 
 
 Mrs. Theodosia R (Scudder) 
 Poblman, 
 
 Rev. ,1. V. N. Talmage. D.D., 
 Mrs. Abby F. (Woodruff) 
 Talmage, 
 
 Mrs. iVIary E. (Van Deventer) 
 Talmage, 
 
 Rev. ,1. S. .loralmon, 
 
 Mrs. .1 S. Joralmon, 
 
 Rev. Daniel Rapalje, 
 
 1842 
 
 1845 * 
 
 1844 
 
 1865 * 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 * 
 
 1847 
 
 1858 * 
 
 1844 
 
 1849 * 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 * 
 
 1847 
 
 1892 * 
 
 1850 
 
 1862 * 
 
 1865 
 
 1855 
 
 1860 
 
 1855 
 
 1858 
 
 1860 
 
The Amoy Mission, China. 
 
 21 
 
 WENT OUT. RETIRED. 
 
 Mrs. Alice (Ostrom) Rapalje, 1878 
 
 Rev. Alviu O.strom, 1858 1864 
 
 Mrs. Susan (Webster) Ostrom, 1858 1864 
 
 Rev. John E. Watkins, 1860 I860** 
 
 Mrs. John E. Watkins, 1860 I860** 
 
 Miss Caroline E. Adriance, 1860 1863 
 
 Rev. Leonard W. Kip, D.D., 1861 
 
 Mrs. Helen (Culbertson) Kip, 1861 
 
 Rev. Augustus Blauvelt, 1861 1864 
 
 Mrs. Jennie (Zabriskie) Blauvelt 1861 1864 
 
 Rev. J. Howard Van Doren, 1864 1873 
 
 Rev. .Tohn A. Davis, 1868 1871 
 
 Mrs. Emma C. (Wyckoff) Davis 1868 1871 
 
 Miss Helen M. Van Doren, 1870 1877 
 
 Miss Mary E. Talmage, 1874 
 
 Miss Katharine M. Talmage, 1874 
 
 Rev. David M. Talmage. 1877 1880 
 
 Rev. Alexander S. Van Dyck, 1882 1897 
 
 Mrs. Alice (Kip) Van Dyck, 1886 1897 
 
 Rev. Philip W. Pitcher, 1885 
 
 Mrs. Anna F. (Merritt) Pitcher, 1885 
 
 Miss Y. May King, M.D., 1887 1889 
 
 Rev. .John A. Otte, M.D., 1887 
 
 Mrs. F. C. (Phelps) Otte, 1887 
 
 Rev. .John G. Fagg, 1887 1894 
 
 Mrs. Margaret (Gillespie) Fagg, 1889 1894 
 
 Miss Elizabeth M. Cappon, 1891 
 
 Miss Nellie Zwemer, 1891 
 
 Miss Margaret C. Morri.son, 1892 
 
 Miss Lily N. Duryee, 1894 
 
 I. S. F. Dodd, M.D . 1894 1895 
 
 Mrs. Mary (Carpenter) Dodd, 1894 1895 
 
 Rev. A. b. D. Fraser, 1895 1898 
 
 F. T. B. Fest, M.D . 1896 1898 
 
 Mrs. Emmy M. (Hartwig) Fest, 1896 1898 
 
 Rev. Hobart E. Studley, 1896 
 
 Mrs. Edith J.(Holbrow) Studley 1898 
 
 Miss M. Van B. Calkoen, 1896 
 
 C. Otto Stumpf, M.b., 1899 
 
 Mrs. Eleanor (Barwood) Stumpf 1899 
 
 IVIiss Angie M. Myers, M.D. , 1899 
 
 Miss Loui.se Brink, 1899 
 
 * Deceased. 
 
 ** Rev. John E. Watkins and his wife sailed from New York 
 to join the Mission in 1860, and were never heard from 
 
. ift' 
 

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