CVi \ via A Uve Association in the Far East Shanghai, China National Board Young Womens Christian Association 600 Lexington Avenue, New York City 1914 A LIVE ASSOCIATION IN THE FAR EAST THE PLACE Shanghai is the doorway to China, a port where all ships touch. It is a town biiilded on the silt of the Yangtse River and its tributaries. It is about two hours’ ride from the ocean, up a tidal river packed with shipping bearing the flags of all nations. It was one of the earlier cities settled by Westerners, and certain lands were set apart for their use. “The International Settlement” and the “French Settlement” are governed respectively by an International Council and by a French Council. Beyond their boundaries is the Chinese city governed by Chinese authorities. There are vast suburbs whose rights and government are the occasion of many international disputes. There is no .sharp division line between settlements, and no segregation of races. The International and French settlements have 600,000 Chinese residents. Along the famous Bubbling Well Road are many palatial homes of Chinese and Westerners. The rivers and channels throughout the city are crowded with busy barges and merchandise and are often mooring places of noisome beggar-boats. The busine.ss streets are compara- tively wide and there are many Y'estern and semi- Western buildings. HOUSING CONDITIONS The Chinese residential ]) 0 ))ulation is largely com])acted along narrow alleys onto which open row after row of houses, the front door of one house facing the back door 3 Along the River Bi nd of another. Municipal law has created some semblance of sanitation, but the ignorant customs of the masses do not conduce to the strict keeping of the law. Conditions prevail that are happily unintelligibly unfamiliar to Americans. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS Shanghai is in the latitude of Mobile, Alabama, and is subject to many climatic variations. Just as it is to be concluded that it is always rainy, and is raw and cold, the sun pours a golden radiance by day and a violet and purple twilight atones for many eventides of gloom. Summer with its capricious, destructive typhoon winds and sultry days is followed by autumn, with clear, crisp air. Western autumnal tints make sunrise and sunset feasts of radiant color, that are finally concluded at the fall of the moist, drab pall of winter. POPULATION The people of Shanghai number more than one million. Fifteen thousand includes the number of foreigners; the Japanese having approximately 6,000, the British 3,000, Germans, Americans and French approximately 2,000 each. These are nearly all engaged in commerce. The Chinese in Shanghai represent people from the eighteen provinces. Aside from the representatives of the province in which Shanghai is located, and the one contiguous. 5 the Cantonese number more than tliose from other provinces. One written language is used by all, but the spoken tongue is a medley of scores of dialects. MISSIONS There ai'e in Shanghai five mission schools under the Southern Methodist, the American Episcopal Church, the Baptist, the London, and the Presbyterian missionary societies. In the latter there is a flourishing student Assoeiation. Of gentry and government schools the number approaches fifty, varying because of the political disturbances which interfere with the opening of girls’ schools. Shanghai has the largest missionary population of any city in the Republic. There is a representation of many societies not engaged in mission work among Shanghai population, but having business offices in the city. The China Inland Mission has its receiving home in Shanghai. General societies, such as the Bible and Tract Societies, Christian Literature Society, two large Mission Presses, the Sunday School Union, Christian Endeavor, National Committees of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations are located here. YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Membership — The membership of the Association includes over three hundred and fifty Chinese women from many grades of society. There are the wives of peistors, ladies 6 of leisure, students, Christians and non-Christians who are unused to social intercourse, and through the Association are drawn into a common fellowship. A considerable portion of the time of the secretaries is given to social calling upon the membership. A recognition service is used at the reception of members, at which time each new member receives a copy of the New Testament. Bible Study — To the faithful work of Miss Mary L. Ding, since the opening of the Association on its present basis,* is to be credited a large number of students from non-Christian and Christian schools who meet weekly for Bible study. The enrollment in Miss Ding’s classes alone has been over one hundred weekly, some of these meeting in the school premises, some in neighborhood classes and some in the Association head- quarters. The classes are held in five dialects — Shanghai, Mandarin, Cantonese, Foochow and English. Nearly every woman who attends the educational classes is enrolled also in the Bible classes. *The actual besinning-s of the Chinese Association were in 190,S when Miss Berninger began work as the first Secretary to China, and there being then no government schools for girls and no awakening from old Chinese customs, she opened work among the thousands of mill women in Shanghai. P^our years she labored faithfully, living herself in the mill section of the city, but her health failing, she was obliged to leave the work. In the mean time the great awakening came— schools opened and greater social access to Chinese women of influence became possible. Committees which Miss Beininger had gathered together deemed it wise to di.scontinue the mill work and take up this open field, hoping thereby in some future time to more effectively resume efforts for women in the mills when public opinion should have educated Chinese to rally to this work, not only in financial support but as teachers and lay workers. A May Fete, 1913 Religious Meetings — Sunday vesper service is held weekly. The Assembly room is often overcrowded so that there must he a division of the audience according to age, and two services conducted simultaneously. The room itself seats comfortably (if one can be comfortable without proper light and witli almost no air) about eighty women. The usual method is to crowd about twenty more than the room can hold onto a glassed-in veranda, where they shiver in cold weather and have the only cool seats in summer time. The ladies who attend these meetings are largely non-Christians. The Week of Prayer meetings are well attended and intelligent prayers made for the women of the world. Three simultaneous meetings are held at present. It is not possible to tabulate results in figures from religious meetings — sometimes results are ingathered from the work of missionaries, sometimes from Bible study classes, some- times, and usually, from all these sources. The past three months have seen three members who have united with the church, one a Mohammedan woman of mature years, one a graduate of a Christian school, one a young married woman. The sowing is for the Association— God's is the result. Educational — Under the efficient directorship of Miss Tsao, the educational work of the Association, whicli was already begun in a limited way, has been brought into the shape of a department with its own committee. Courses for the past year included English conversation. Mandarin conversation, current events, cooking classes (the making of Western candy and pastry), dressmaking, fancy sewing, typewriting, house decoration, mothers’ meetings, and the reading circle. The conversational classes are 9 for all Chinese young women who wish to speak English, and the Cantonese women who wish to learn the Mandarin conversation, that dialect being universal among educated people. The director of education is Miss Mary Chang. Physical Work — This dej)arttnent of the Association was begun under the expert direction of Miss Mayhew, the national director of pliysical work. During the year, twelve classes, some from Christian scliools, some from private schools, and some from among the ladies of leisure, were enrolled. The only room at present available for this work will accommodate twelve students. The ventilation and light are exceedingly imperfect and the ceiling is too low for games. Moreover, tlie room is often in demand for use as an audience hall. In the fall of 1913, Miss Chun took on the direction of the physical work of the Association. Social Life — Shanghai is without doubt the New York of China as regards styles and customs. The extremes of Western social life and much that has never been seen East or West is being tried out in Shanghai. Fluctuation in style is rapid and bewil- dering. Christian men and women were the first to mingle together in social intercour.se. and with Christians rests a disproportionate responsibilitj- in influencing the new social life of China. The Westerner naturally cannot be an active ])articipant in this develop- ment, but through the meetings with small groups in Bible classes, conversational classes, and social gatherings, the best that the West can give is eagerly listened to. The Association holds regular days at liome; the educational department gathers together friends and relatives of the students at various times. in Social gatherings of all sorts are wont to end with an address or lecture given either b)^ the secretary or by some other who eomes prepared to speak upon a certain topic. All the larger lectures of the Association must be held in a hired hall. • Secretaries — During 1913 Miss Coppock, who has been the effi- cient and beloved general secretary of the Association since 1908, was appointed aeting national executive. The work was then taken up by Miss Frances Taft and Miss Winifred Jacob* in conjunction with Misses Ting. Tsao and Chun, all of whom had education abroad. In a work as well established as in Shanghai, the residences of the secretaries are almost as important as the Association building for meeting places of social groups, Bible classes and individual Chinese. There are also places of conferences and prayer. Hospitality is ex- tended during the year to scores of missionary friends and to guests from America and England. Miss Tisg THE PRESSING NEED The membership of more than three hundred and fifty women center for their activi- ties in a place large enough for a family of six. In this building there are held lectures * Miss Jacob is under the British National Council and was a student of Girton College, Cambridge. 11 for small groups; there are classes in cooking, the gas oven being in a dark corner under the stairs. A group of ladies calling in the afternoon to see the Association will find no chair upon which to sit ; nor yet a room where the chair may sit. The drawing room is in use for an English class. The reception room will he in use for an educational class, or a group in sewing; the large (?) room, 30x15 feet for physical exercise; the secretaries’ office is in u.se for a Bible class, and the school on the second floor, in rooms 12 x 12 and 12 x 10, takes up the remaining space. The attic and one tiny, noisy room are used as a hostel, hut at the most five women can be accommodated. The dining room, — there is none. The ordinary conveniences of a hostel are lacking. The advent of a class usually incurs the shifting of secretaries from their desks, three of them occupying the one office room. The Gospel meetings woidd undoubtedly be two or three times as large as at present if there were proper seating capacity for such meetings. An increasing number of young women who are needing homes would find their way to the hostel if accommoda- tions were built. For three years a constant lookout has been made for a suitable building to be rented, but none is available in Shanghai. The work in all its de])art- ments is held back for lack of a suitable building. The Chinese ladies are willing to assume responsibility for buying a site upon which the building may be built. Who will provide the building? 12 A Lecture ox Aviation A&soc I cvtv on lnK PllKSENT BriI.DING SHALL THE ASSOCIATION GROW?