BAPTIST MISSSONS I N CHINA By rev. EDMUND F. MERRI.'\M BOSTON AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION 1894 oA u] > O 3 z z p BAPTIST MISSIONS IN CHINA. COUNTRY AND PEOPLE. The immense country included within the Chinese empire comprises about one third of the habitable part of the globe. In population it is the largest empire which the world ever knew. The name China is not used by the people for their own country. One of the names they give it denotes “ the world,” another means “ The Middle Kingdom,” as the Chinese believe that their country is the centre of the earth, and all other nations are less important territories on the out- side. Another name sometimes given to China by the Chinese is “ Heaven,” from which the people are sometimes called “ Celestials.” The empire is divided into three princi- pal parts, of which that commonly known to other nations as China is called the Eighteen Provinces. It is the only part entirely settled by the Chinese. Its scenery is beautiful, its soil fertile, its climate salubrious, its rivers magnificent and navigable, and its productions various and abundant. The Chinese are largely engaged in agriculture, and although they are ignorant of many of the operations of fertilizing and have few and simple implements, they make up for these disad- vantages by their indefatigable industry. This and the favor- able conditions of soil, climate, and irrigation have rendered the country so productive that it has always supplied all the wants of its people and been quite independent of foreign nations. The Chinese are conservative and proud of their country and customs. They claim the oldest authentic and continuous history of any people on earth, running back to 2,852 years be- fore Christ, or only 363 years after the Deluge. The popula- tion of the empire is generally estimated at 400,000,000, all of whom read the same language ; but the spoken dialects are 4 very numerous, especially in the south. The Chinese have more \irtues than most pagan nations. They have never offered human sacrifices, nor deified vice. The govern- ment of China is the most purely patriarchal of those now existing on the earth. All the land belongs nominally to the emperor, and he is the father of the people. Every officer is strictly responsible for the good order and welfare of the terri- CHINESE MANDARINS. tory committed to his care, as every father is held responsible for the good conduct of every other member of the family. This principle secures a system of accountability so perfect that it is difficult for a criminal to escape detection and pun- ishment, and disorder in any part of the empire is impossible except by the connivance of both officials and people. There is no caste in China. There is a system of sla\ ery, but it is not so degrading as in other countries. It is not allowable to separate married slaves, nor to sell their children 5 when very young. Girls are more readily sold than boys. The Chinese have a great admiration for learning ; and education of a certain kind is very general. The offices of government are open only to those who have passed literary examinations, and the literary class is the most influential in the country. It is from this class that the chief opposition to Christianity comes, in accordance with the words of Christ, “ Not many wise, not many noble, are called.” As far as all human stand- ards can measure, the Chinese are so far above any other heathen nation in importance that their conversion is beyond all comparison the greatest work before the Church of Christ. When China is converted one half of the heathen world will have been conquered for Christianity. In China, as in all heathen countries, woman occupies an inferior position, yet literary attainments are considered cred- itable to a woman. Neither Confucius nor Buddha assigns to the wife a position of honor. According to the latter she is in all respects inferior to her husband, and can only wish that on her re-entry into life, in the next state of existence, she may be born as a man. According to Confucius, she has duties, but no rights. The three great duties which, in accord- ance with the principles of the Chinese philosopher, were im- pressed on every woman, from her youth up, were, obedience to her parents, her husband, and to her oldest son. The hus- band has full rights over the person and property of his wife. The sorrows of married life in China are so great that girls often commit suicide just before the wedding. These sorrows result not from the character of the people, but from the superstitions and practices of heathenism, and can be removed alone by the light of the gospel. There is little intermingling of men and women in social life, therefore the labors of female missionaries are likely to be the principal means of reaching their sex for a long time to come. RELIGIONS. There is no generic term for religion in the Chinese lan- guage, but there are three nominal religions in the country, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. These three forms do not interfere with each other, as a Confucianist may worship 6 in a Buddhist temple and hold Taoist beliefs, without any im- peachment of his sincerity, and no one cares enough for his peculiar views to fight for them. In a certain sense it may be said that China has no religion, as Confucianism is a moral philosophy. Buddhism is atheism, and Taoism is agnosticism. That which has the strongest hold on the hearts of the people is the worship of ancestors and of the spirits of earth, air, and water. This is universal. Nestorians visited China in 505, and formed churches in several cities. The Roman Catholics began work there in 1288, and had considerable success. The arrogance of the priesthood and their interference with the politics of the country led to an edict of expulsion against Christians in 1767, and it continued until 1858, when toleration was pro- claimed. The first Protestant missionary to China was Robert Morrison, who arrived in Canton in September, 1807, and be- came official translator to the East India Company, under whose auspices he prepared his dictionary, and translated the Bible into Chinese. BAPTIST MISSIONS. The work of the American Baptist Missionary Union among the Chinese is divided into six departments : the Mission in Siam, the South China Mission, the Hakka Mission, the East China Mission, the West China Mission, and the Central China Mission. THE MISSION IN SIAM. The beginning of American Baptist missions to the Chinese was in Bangkok, Siam. In 1831 Rev. John Taylor Jones ar- rived in Burma for missionary work, but after consultation with the brethren it was decided that he should open a mission in Siam. He arrived in Bangkok March 25, 1833, and at once began labors for the Siamese. Dr. Jones was a man of great earnestness and linguistic ability. He translated the New Testament into the Siamese language and created a large Christian literature. He also acquired great influence with the higher officials, and even with the Emperor of Siam, and STKEKT SCENE IN CHINA. J 8 was greatly respected by all. Although his labors were in the Siamese language, the first converts to be baptized were three Chinese, who received the ordinance Dec. 8, 1833. From the first the work among the Chinese in Siam was more prom- ising than that for the Siamese, and special work for the latter was suspended in 1869. The work among the Chinese con- tinued to prosper. In 1851 a great disaster befell the mission in the destruction of all the missionary buildings by fire, in- volving a loss of nearly fifteen thousand dollars ; but they were soon rebuilt, and the property of the Missionary Union in Bangkok has greatly increased in value. In 1869 forty-five were baptized, a larger number than was received in all the years previous. In 1874 the baptisms amounted to one hun- dred and forty, and the work went on until at one time as many as five hundred converts were reported in the mission. Missionary work among the Chinese in Siam has, however, always been of an uncertain character. The Chinese are in that country for the purposes of trade and gain, and although many converts were received into the churches, a large number of them returned to their homes in China. At the present time the visible results of the work are small. Siam has always been open to missionary work ; the missionaries have been entirely unrestricted in their labors since 1851 ; the Chinese are numerous, but owing to the shifting character of the people the success has not been in proportion to the labor expended, and the question of removing the mission bodily to China proper has often been agitated. Three names are closely linked with the earliest history of American Baptist missions to the Chinese, — William Dean, Josiah Goddard, and William Ashmore. All began their labors in Bangkok, and each became in a very special manner the founder of departments of Chinese mission work as they exist to-day. Rev. William Dean reached Bangkok in 1835, and removed to Hongkong in 1842. He resided for a time in Macao in 1846, returned to Bangkok in 1855, and until within a few years has been the chief factor in parrying on mission work in Siam. Rev. Josiah Goddard reached Bangkok in 1840, but removed to Ningpo, China, in March, 1848, and became the founder of the evangelistic work in the East China IMission. Rev. William Ashmore, going to Siam in 1849, re- 9 moved to Hongkong m 1857. In January, 1864, he purchased and occupied the present headquarters of the mission at Kak- chieh, opposite the city of Swatow, and thus established the South China Mission in its present location. The relations between the Chinese mission in Siam and the South China Mission have always been intimate, and there have been inter- changes of missionaries and frequent removals of native con- verts and laborers from one field to the other. Miss Adele M. Fielde, reaching Bangkok in 1855, after four years of labor there and a stay in America, became the organizer of the woman’s work for woman of the South China Mission. Rev. Sylvester B. Partridge and wife, arriving in Bangkok in 1869, removed to Swatow in 1872. Thus the Chinese mission in Siam, while not largely successful in itself, has been a field of preparation for the work in China proper, and has contributed much to the early foundations of Baptist missions in the great Chinese empire. THE SOUTH CHINA MISSION. The war of 1841 between the British and the Chinese is commonly known as the Opium War. It resulted in forcing British opium on the reluctant Chinese, but this evil was in part counterbalanced by the opening of the Chinese empire to Christian missionary work. By the treaty of August, 1842, Hongkong was ceded to the British, and five ports, — Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai, — were opened to British trade. Rev. William Dean hastened^ to take advantage of this opportunity, and before the close of that year had begun mis- sionary work in Hongkong. In 1846 he resided for a time in Macao. In 1847 Rev. J. W. Johnson reached Hongkong. The missionary work was carried on with considerable success in that city for some years. Swatow was opened as a port for foreign commerce in 1857, the same year that Rev. William Ashmore and wife reached Hongkong. After laboring in that city Mr. Ashmore visited America, but returned to China in 1863 in a vessel by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The voyage was one full of alarms, there being constant fear of capture by Confederate cruisers ; but Mr. and Mrs. Ashmore safely reached Double Island at the mouth of Swatow Harbor, lO in July, 1863, to which place he had been preceded by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, who arrived in June, i860. The city of Swatow is situated on the mainland. The site is low and flat and not healthful ; for this reason the headquarters of the mission were established at Kakchieh on the southern shore of the bay, a mile across the water from Swatow. In January, 1864, Mr. Ashmore bought property at Kakchieh for $800. The site was at that time rocky, rough, and sterile, but with DR. ASHMORE’S HOUSE. care and cultivation it has become undoubtedly the most beautiful and convenient headquarters to be found in our missions, and the value has advanced from the small price paid for it in 1864 to many thousands of dollars. After the establishment of the mission at Swatow work went on with encouraging success. The first Baptist con- vert in China had been baptized at the Portuguese city of Macao on Jan. 31, 1837, by Rev. J. L Shuck, who had reached that place the previous year, thus founding the first Baptist mission in the Chinese empire. Quite a church had been gathered in Hongkong, but after the opening of the head- quarters at Swatow that place was abandoned as a residence for missionaries and was considered to be an out-station of the Swatow mission. In November, 1865, sixty-two communi- cants were reported in the church at Swatow, and in 1867 two of the converts were ordained to the gospel ministry. Thirty- five were baptized in 1870. In 1872 Rev. S. B. Partridge and HIBI.E WOME.X AT SWATOW. wife removed from Bangkok to Swatow and continued to labor in association with Dr. Ashmore, the field being divided between them. Dr. Ashmore taking the country districts more to the southwest, and Dr. Partridge, those to the north, where he has at times resided large portions of the year. Miss Adele M. Fielde, after a sojourn in America, reached Swatow in 1873 and organized the work for tire women in a manner which has become the admiration of those interested in woman’s mission- ary work for woman in heathen lands. Dr. Ashmore’s son. 12 Rev. William Ashmore, Jr., joined the mission in 1880 and has done excellent work in preparing scripture versions in the colloquial dialect and in evangelistic labor. In 1882 Rev. J. W. Carlin, D. D., opened a new station at Ungkung in the northern part of the Swatow field. Medical work carried on by ladies has formed an important feature in the mission. The mission at Swatow has been acknowledged by many to be the best organized mission in China. It has been con- ducted from the first on the fundamental principles of the New Testament. Self-support and self-dependence in the native Christians have been carefully studied. The accounts of the work among the native churches frequently remind one of the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. In all the little branch churches elders are appointed who keep up the services in the absence of a missionary or of the native preacher. Every little group of Christians is taught self-help and self-reliance. Their services, their worship, and their work go on without the constant presence and stimulus of the missionary. From the first they have been subjected to frequent persecution, but have been taught to rely not upon the political power and influence of the missionaries, but to depend upon the Lord and seek to obtain justice from their own officials. A class for Bible study has been regularly maintained at Swatow, the headquarters of the mission, not only for students preparing for the ministry or for Christian work, but leading members of the native churches have been encouraged to come to Swatow as they might be able for short periods of Bible study. In this way the Christians have been trained in efficiency in work and stability in faith. In recent years a system of Bible study at central points throughout the country districts has been in- augurated by Rev. John M. Foster, in order to reach and teach members of the churches who are notable to leave their homes for a period of study at Swatow. A larger number of converts has been gained in the Swatow mission than in other fields in China and the work from the first has been of a singularly stable and gratifying character. The ground which has been gained has been held, and as would appear from the thor- oughly scriptural methods which have obtained in the mission, there is every reason to believe that the foundations have been laid for a large, aggressive, and substantial j)rogress for the PRKACHERS AND STUDENTS AT SWATOW. i6 future. In December, 1891, the total number baptized since the beginning of the mission was 1,578. The total number of converts now reported is upwards of 1,000. Considering the number of deaths which have occurred this shows that the number of those who have fallen away after professing faith in Christ has been remark- ably small. Considera- ble work has been done by various members of the mission in translating portions of the Scripture into the colloquial Swatow dialect, of which Miss Fielde has published a dictionary. The mission is thoroughly furnished with facilities for future work, and its progress may be expected to be stable, steady, and satisfactory in the future as in the past. IN THE SWATOW COMPOUND. THE HAKKA MISSION. This is an offshoot from the Swatow Mission, and is more properly considered in immediate connection with it. In 1875, Rev. W. K. McKibben arrived at Swatow for work in the mission, but soon became interested in attempts to reach out toward the people farther in the interior. In 1879 he at- tempted to purchase property in Hu city, of which the proper name is Chau-Chau-fu, but the people rose to expel the for- eign invasion, and drove him out of the city at the peril of his life. In the extension of work from Swatow among the low- land people, or Tiechiu, by which name the population of that district is known, some converts had been gained from among the Hakkas, or highland people, who spoke a different dialect, but many of whom living on the borders between the two dia- lects, understand both. In 1881, Mr. McKibben decided to devote himself wholly to work among the Hakka people, and IIOSIMLM. AT SWATOW i8 in 1883 an out-station of the Swatow Mission, which had been opened at Munkeuliang among the Hakkas, was turned over to him as a headquarters for the extension of work for the Hakkas. After a few years of labor Mr. McKibben was compelled to return to America, but in 1887 Rev. George Campbell was sent out specially for v/ork among this people. He travelled extensively in the interior among the people on the borders of three provinces. Great difficulty was found in obtaining a location. Attempts were made to rent or purchase houses in various cities, but were repeatedly frustrated by the hostility of the people, and the timidity of the landlords. At last property was secured in the important city of Kayin, which is now the chief headquarters for work among the Hakka people. Mr. Campbell was joined, in 1890, by his sister. Miss Elia Campbell, and later by Rev. George E. Whitman and wife. Miss M. L. Ostrom, and Edward Bailey, M. D., and wife. Dr. Bailey resigned a position as surgeon in the United States Army to become a medical missionary. He rendered most efficient service in fighting the Black Plague in Hongkong, in 1894, and the opening of his medical work among the Hakkas has been attended with great success. It furnishes a most effective way of winning the confidence and the attention of the people for missionary work. THE EAST CHINA MISSION. Baptist Mission work at Ningpo, China, was begun by D. T» Macgowan, M. D. A hospital was open for three months in 1843, but was closed and not re-opened until April, 1845. Dr. Macgowan visited Calcutta in 1844, and with funds con- tributed there he established a hospital in Ningpo. The first year he prescribed for more than two thousand patients. The evangelistic work in Eastern China was opened by the removal of Rev. Josiah Goddard from Bangkok to Ningpo, where he arrived in March, 1848. Mr. Goddard was a man of intense earnestness and industry, and of great intellectual ability. He completed the translation of the New Testament into Chinese, in 1853, in a version which is still in use. In his missionary work he enjoyed the association and assistance of other able laborers. Rev. E. C. Lord, having sailed for Ningpo, in 1847, BRIDGE AT KONGKEO NEAR NINGI'f) 20 was engaged for many years in the missionary work. During a long period he served as United States Consul, but still continued his labors as a missionary while not receiving a salary from the Society. The first convert in Ningpo was bap-’ tized in May, 1849, and the work continued with encouraging results. The East China mission has been specially distinguished by the variety of the efforts which have been made to reach the people. Medical work, which has already been referred to, while interrupted for a few years, has been continued at Ningpo, Dr. S. P. Barchet succeeding Dr. Macgowan, and carrying on the hospital from 1875. He was joined in this work by Dr. J. S. Grant in 1889. Schools were also established in Ningpo which have been carried on continuously and effi- ciently. The villages and towns in the populous districts around Ningpo have been reached by persistent gospel work. A Biblical class for the training of native preachers was con- ducted for years by Dr. Lord, and was finally established at Shaohing. It is now under the care of Rev. Horace Jenkins, who joined the mission in March, 1859. An eminent laborer in the East China Mission was Rev. M. J. Knowlton, D. D., who arrived at Ningpo in June, 1854. Dr. Knowlton presented an unusual combination of evangelistic earnestness and schol- arly ability. He was humble and gentle in his intercourse with the people and gained their love by his treatment of them and by his eminent abilities. He was called the “ West- ern Confucius,” a high compliment both to his moral and intellectual qualities. In 1868 the mission was reinforced by Rev. J. R. Goddard, the son of Josiah Goddard the founder of evangelistic work in the mission. Mr. Goddard has been a pillar of strength in the mission at Ningpo, which many times has rested with almost its entire weight upon his single efforts. The mission has extended over a wide territory. An out- station was opened at Kinhwa in 1861, which was afterward removed to Shaohing. This was opened as a station in 1869, but the work at Kinhwa was resumed and a station was estab- lished there in 1883. For many years attempts had been made by missionaries of various societies to effect an entrance in the great and populous city of Huchau, but all had been defeated by the hostility of the people. The literary class in 21 Huchau is very strong and rules the city. Their opposition succeeded in defeating every effort to establish missionary work in the city until in 1886, Rev. George L. Mason, leaving his family at Shaohing, and assuming the Chinese dress, with one native helper quietly effected an entrance into the hostile city and established a station there. The work was carried on so quietly that for a time it escaped the enmity of the people, but in 1893 a mob was raised and an effort made to dislodge the missionaries. The purpose of the mob was defeated in answer to prayer, and the work in this great and prosperous city continues. The people in eastern China have been apparently less im- pressible than those of the South. Not so large a number of converts are reported, but the outlook is constantly brighten- ing. Foundations have been laid for future work with a good promise of success. THE WEST CHINA MISSION. Rev. William M. Upcraft had labored in China for several years as an agent of the Bible Society, and had travelled ex- tensively through central China with the Word of God. Here he encountered many dangers, and on one occasion had been stoned and left without the city for dead, as was the apostle Paul at Lystra ; but like the apostle he was raised up and went on his way. His health, however, suffered so severely that he was compelled to take a furlough and visited the United States. The young people of the State of Minnesota became especially interested in him, and organized themselves to sup- port Mr. George Warner and himself in establishing a new mission in western China, under the auspices of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Messrs. Upcraft and Warner sailed in 1889, and after a long and tedious journey up the Yangtze River a station was opened at Suichaufu, commonly known among its own people by the abbreviated name of Suifu, This city is situated in the immense and flourishing province of Szchuan, on the western tier of the provinces of China Proper. The people are independent, intelligent, and enterprising, and are less affected by the corruptions which come from contact 22 with foreign commerce than in the cities of the coast. They have shown much readiness to listen to the gospel. The West China Mission has been largely reinforced. Medical work was opened by Rev. C. H. Finch, M. D., who went out in 1891. A new station has been opened at Kiating, and others are projected. The number of missionaries connected with the ^\'est China Mission is twenty-two. Broad foundations have been laid for the establishment of an extensive work in China, reaching over toward the borders of Tibet. A small church has been gathered at Suichaufu. The remote character of the field and its great need of Christian missionary labors lend a romantic and unusual interest to the work of the West China Mission, especially since this is the nearest approach of Amer- ican Baptists to reaching the people of that hitherto unevan- gelized country, Tibet. THE CENTRAL CHINA MISSION. In 1893 a station was opened at Hankow, at the head of ocean navigation on the Yangtze river. The object of the establishment of this mission is twofold. First, to furnish a link in the chain of communication between the missions on the coast and the missionaries in West China ; and, second, to have some share in responding to the immense needs of the great and populous provinces of Hupeh and Hunan in Cen- tral China. The missionaries who began this work were Rev. Joseph S. Adams and wife, who have for several years labored usefully at Kinhwa, and Rev. W. F. Gray and wife, of Iowa. They have more recently been joined by Miss Lydia J. Wyckoff, M. D., for medical work. The three adjoining cities of Hankow, Hanyang, and Wuchang form the greatest centre of population in China, having together between one and two million people. It is expected that the permanent station of the mission will be established at Hanyang, a city on the north bank of the river, where less missionary work has been done than at the other places, and which offers an equally favorable access to the people of the interior. This infant enterprise of American Baptists in the very centre of China will deeply engage our interest and our prayers. MEN OF WESTEKN CHINA 24 SOUTHERN BAPTIST MISSIONS. Rev. J. L. Shuck and wife, who reached Bangkok, July i, 1836, and removed to Macao, which was held by the Portu- guese, in September of the same year, were settled at Hong- kong in 1842. April 3, 1844, he removed to Canton, and began work in that great city, and afterwards associated with him Rev. I. J. Roberts, who had joined the Mission in 1841. After the withdrawal of the Southern Baptists from the General Convention in 1845, the Canton Mission was carried on un- der the auspices of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the work has been one of prosperity and blessing. The Missions of the Southern Baptists have been extended, and are now carried on not only in Canton and vicinity, but in Shanghai and other cities in that part of China, and also in North China at several stations in the vicinity of Chifu. ENGLISH BAPTIST MISSIONS. The English Baptists were early interested in the mission at Ningpo, but their later and principal efforts have been in the provinces of Shantung and Shansi, where the work has been carried on with great success. In Shantung there are fourteen stations and a large number of churches and converts. The mission in Shansi has been established amid great diffi- culties, yet five stations have been opened. The people are independent and vigorous and have been noted for their hos- tility to foreigners, but the mission is advancing with much blessing. CONCLUSION. The progress of missions among the Chinese can hardly be marked by statistics, since the peculiar clannish character of the Chinese prevents them from detaching themselves per- sonally from their family and social life. The real progress of Christian work among them rather consists of the impres- sion which Christianity is making upon the Chinese people as a whole. They are one immense family, with all the advan- tages as well as the obstacles implied in that closely-knit but YANGTZE RIVER AT HANYANG. 26 divinely-ordained relation. The gathering of converts from among the Chinese is made difficult by their family and national pride, by their local bonds, and by the clan relations into which every Chinese is drawn. Secret societies flourish among them to an extent hardly paralleled even in America. The missionary of the Cross contends against a complicated network of ties when he attempts to win a Chinese to the fel- lowship of the Gospel, and the progress of the missions has not been as rapid as in many other lands. On the other hand, the stability of the Chinese convert is assured by the persecution which he must brave on becoming a Christian, and his courage is peculiarly strengthened by the progress of the work. Every convert adds to the number of chains which are drawing the Chinese nation toward Christ. Every external impulse, political, military, social, or religious, which operates upon China, opens the country to the Gospel in a way impossible in other lands, and all the influences are helping to bring the day when China with its multitudinous and closely cemented mass of people shall move in a body toward the Savior of the world, and the words of prophecy shall be fulfilled, “ A nation shall be born in a day.” STATISTICS, DEC. 31, 1893. Stations. When opened. Missionaries. Ordained native 1 preachers. Unordained 1 native preachers. Native helpers. Churches. Baptized, 1893. Members. Schools. Pupils. Contributions, 1893. Bangkok, Siam, 1833 I . I I I 2 13 - - - Ningpo, China, 1843 10 3 14 7 6 20 288 13 226 $80 95 Swatow .... 1846 13 3 12 IS I 48 1,01 1 9 1 1 1 283 23 Shaohing . . 1869 6 I 3 I I 3 18 1 8 0 0 Munkeuliang, 1882 I - I - 2 5 43 - - 3 00 Kinhwa . . . 00 00 8 - 2 2 6 - 117 1 1 I 13 10 Huchau . . . 1886 4 - 3 I 2 6 40 - - 7 50 Suichaufu . . 1889 22 - 2 I I - 9 - - 26 50 Kayin .... 1890 8 - - - - - - - - - Ungkung . . . 1892 2 - 5 2 - 4 14 - - 18 00 Hankow . . . 1893 5 Totals .... 80 7 43 30 20 88 1.553 24 356 $437 28