Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/ourtaskinchinaOOunse Our Task in China. A. ITS NATURE. Our task in China as well as elsewhere is set forth in the parting command of our Lord and Savior, Mark 16, 15 ; “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” These words also send us to China, to all China, and to every individual of China. Since you and I are sent there and sent to preach the Gospel, let us first investigate why this is necessary. Why does China Need the Gospel? As soon as anybody gets acquainted with the Chinese, he sees that they are not a godless nation ('“godless” in the primitive sense of the word). When our missionaries go to our Hwa Pu Kai (d^wabooguy) chapel, which is right in the heart of the native city of Hankow, they find at least four large temples within two short blocks of it. If they walk through its streets, which are so narrow that a loaded hay-wagon could hardly pass, they are sure to pass one or more shrines partially obstructing the way. If they go into the suburbs or still farther out among the farms, — more properly called gardens, because they are so carefully tilled. — they can hardly walk a mile without somewhere encountering a little temple of the Earth God and his ever-faithful spouse. Even if they flee out into the solitudes of the mountains, they will find temples in places where we would least expect them — in caves hewn into the rocks, in places of historical interest, and, without fail, at every point of extraordinary beauty. Temples are far more numerous in China than churches are in America. Almost every heathen house is a temple; for opposite its main door you will find a narrow table, which is used as a family altar and therefore bears an incense-burner, a soul-tablet, a god of wealth, or is overhung by an idol-picture or an inscription indicating who is worshiped there. Some of the temples, it is true, are no longer used for worship. They have been turned into government schools, or are used for police piirposes, or rented as dwellings and business places. Some have even been sold to private parties. Wlien one of our missionaries visited the temple of the God of War in Peking, he found the floor literally covered with dust over two inches high, and on the Altar of Heaven, the most important altar in China, weeds were growing. He actually picked a bunch of them, intending to send it to our Board (where it should have been more welcome than a bunch of American Beauties). But a servant, not knowing the value of this queer posy, threw it into the garbage-can. 4 Such sights certainly show that the Christian missionaries have not labored in vain in China. But these cases are not nearly numerous enough to prove that idolatry is dead. While it is true that temples which are in every-day use for worship are not to be found in great numbers, at least not in Hankow, there nevertheless are such. They may be seen not only out in the country, but also in the very heart of the city, not far from Christian missions. Many of them are rich in marble sculptures around the front courtyard, above which rise columns and arches of richly carved wood, covered with gold-leaf, while the roof consists of glazed tiles laid in beautiful patterns. These must have cost many thousands of dollars. Every now and then you encounter a priest or two with a sign on his back and a bell in his hand, often with a thick needle driven through his cheek or some other part of his body, canvassing every house, rich or poor, to collect money for repairing or building a temple. Though, as a rule, they do not seem to get large sums, they are seldom turned away empty-handed. The very poorest will give at least two coppers. The T’si San Hwei (tsissahndjway), or Benevolent Association, of Hankow, made up of practically all the Chinese merchants of the city, is doubt- less doing something for the relief of the sick and the orphans, but thousands upon thousands of its dollars are used to hire Buddhist priests to “nien chin,” say mass, as it were, for the welfare of the whole city. With the avowed intention of counteracting the influence of Christian institutions of mercy, they have built a grand Buddhist temple in the midst of their hospital and “orphan”-school, and over- topping the whole, in which these masses are daily and punctually attended to. Our missionaries have repeatedly witnessed the ordina- tion of Buddhist priests, especially at the Kwei Yuen Si (gway- uenssi'), a very ancient monastery southwest of Hanyang (c^ahn- yang), more than four hundred at a time. From two to eight little holes are burned into their clean-shaven foreheads with little cones of charcoal. WTiere there is such a supply, there must be a demand. This was in the winter, in the coldest part of January. On the other hand, at all times of the year, even in the hottest part of the summer season, in the evening you will see crowds standing around a man who is reading the “san hsii” (ssahnshii), or “good books,” which is also a movement for strengthening heathendom, especially Confu- cianism. But idolatry is not at all dependent upon the active work of the priests. It is deeply seated in the hearts of the people. These are everywhere performing their idolatrous rites. One can seldom pass through the streets without seeing some one burning “spirit-money,” that is, coarse yellow paper with indentations, every one of which signifies a dollar; or imitations of sycee, a sort of silver shoes, made of tin-covered paper; or even paper houses, as offerings to their 5 ancestors. Or they will insert sticks of Incense or burning candles’ between the bricks of the pavement. Again, a house but yesterday doing business will suddenly have been transformed into an impro- vised temple, in which a number of hosangs or taosi (dphssangs, doussi), i. e., Buddhist or Taoist (doiiist) priests — for a considera- tion, of course — are “reading the Sutras,” that is, saying mass. This is done for various reasons: either for some one who has died recently or years ago, that they may he delivered out of the “earth prison”; or to appease the “hungry ghosts” of those who have no' “filial” sons to burn “spirit things” for their sustenance; or because their house has not burned down in a recent fire; or for the healing: of a sick child, etc. Now and then you will hear a mysterious clangv issuing from within a house the doors of which are tightly closed, and you will wonder why it attracts no crowd. Upon inquiry you will be warned not to attempt to enter, because they are “sweeping out the ghosts.” Or you will call upon a neighbor, and he will tell you that he must absolutely not be disturbed, as he has already performed the ceremonial ablutions and donned his best clothes in order to sacrifice to his ancestors. The very children will be seen running around with amulets of cloth monkeys or cash dangling from their necks to help them across the twenty “bars” which hinder their growth into man- hood (for instance, measles, smallpox, etc.), and if by the wayside there be a booth for selling playthings, you may be sure that among these are clay imitations of the principal gods and goddesses. Two classes of men are especially well patronized, the soothsayers and the sellers of charms, whose portable tables make the space of the none too broad alleys, here called streets, still narrower. The business of the former has been reduced to a perfect system by one of China’s foremost character-heroes. Wen Wang, more than three thousand years ago. It is therefore so universally held in awe by the adherents of all religions that even Si Hwangti (ssidjwang'dee), when he burned all the other books 213 B. 0., did not dare to interfere with this. This has made divination so respectable that there is hardly a temple which has not a carefully assorted list of printed passages from the “I Chin” (eedshin) or “Canon of Changes,” or a similar device, from which you can by lot (bamboo sticks) choose a declaration of your future fate. Of course, in the temple this is done with some ceremony and under the guidance of a priest, which makes it much more expensive than the same service furnished by a wayside stand. The fear of ghosts is so universal that it is reflected by the posi- tion of every house-door. This will never be exactly opposite that across the street, lest the ghosts, which happily can travel only in straight lines, come over from the neighbor. At a time when an epidemic of smallpox was raging in the city, due perhaps to the fact that a long stretch of an unspeakably filthy sewer beneath several of 6 the main streets was beinsr uncovered, your missionary one day saw a very fine imitation of a steamship, engine and officers not missing, exhibited along the way. During one of our evening services at the Hwa Pu Kai ((f}wahbooguy) a long procession, gay with lanterns and inscriptions, escorted the ship through the streets, inviting the ghosts to get on. Suddenly the whole ship was unmercifully cast into the Han River. Xear our Ta Chi Men ( dahdsimmen') School, however, the Smallpox God, an ugly black monster, was carried around in solemn procession, and no one dared to do him harm. You naturally ask how it is that in a place where the Gospel has now been preached for sixty years, as is the case in Hankow, and where there are large colonies of several thousand Europeans of all nations, besides thousands of Chinese who have received a good “Western” education and can converse with the Europeans in their respective languages, — how in spite of all this enlightenment so much superstition and darkness and idolatry can still survive, sometimes to be practised even by the richest and most highly educated. Perhaps you may even poke fun at such nonsense and say. If the Chinese are such fools, how can they expect us to help them? My dear friend, one day your missionary was called to an epileptic who was getting an attack of fits every half hour. When one of these fits was disfiguring the poor fellow's face, a Chinese standing by burst forth into loud laughter at the sight which to him seemed so comical. Would you want to be like such an ill-bred fellow? Would you not rather have done as your missionary did — tell him, “Hush ! The poor fellow is dying. Hurry and take him to the hospital!”? So it is with these poor Chinese. If you take pains to investigate this matter further, you will find that these symptoms betray a very serious disease, a disease that means not only death, but damnation. For it means that they are without the Gospel, and that means, without Christ, their Savior. The temples that we have spoken of are not temples of the living God, but of idols. If they are Taoist (douist), it is very likely that they are erected for the worship of U Hwang Shangti (XT (f)wang ssangdi), the “Pearly Emperor” or “Master of Heaven,” a title given to one of the Taoist popes in the year 748 by Hsiian Tsung (Shiien- dsung) of the Tang djmasty. Or they may be erected in honor of any of a thousand other idols they worship. If they are Confucianist temples, they will contain no cari-ed image. But the honors given to the “Most Holy” — as such he was canonized by Chen Tsung (Dsiin Dsung), the Sung emperor, in 1012 — are nothing short of divine. If they are Buddhist temples, they are dedicated to the worship of Amitabha, or, as the Chinese call him, Omito Fu, a Bhodisattva or Buddhist saint, of the Pure Land School, who is said to have promised all that “call upon his name, be it only ten times or less, provided 7 they have not been guilty of the five heinous sins and have not vilified the true religion,” that their desire to be reborn in his “Paradise of the West” will be surely fulfilled. Or, possibly, they are places of worship for Kwanyin (gwanyin), the Chinese goddess of mercy, who formerly was a man-god, in India called Avalokita, thought to be able to assume any shape, “Buddha, goblin, or what not,” in order to save men from misery, and who for some seven hundred years has per- manently changed into a w’oman-god, because the Buddhist priests, ever careful of “public opinion,” found that this vastly increased her popularity. So none of these gods is any better than Dagon or Baal, or even Moloch, in whose red-hot arms the Canaanites used to sacrifice their children. Goddess of Mercy, Kwanyin (gwanyin), in the Imperial Palace at Peking. This goddess has 1,000 hands and 1,000 heads. It was the favorite goddess of Empress T'si Hsii (tsishii), who had some 200 missionaries and about 2,000 Chinese Christians murdered. The priests of whom we have spoken, if devotees of Buddhism, may at times appear in richly embroidered satins, and by chanting their Sutras, or “holy” books, or by marching in figures and carrying out their whole elaborate ritual, may very much impress the ignorant multitude ; yet all their rosaries, robes, masses, monasteries, and nunneries, together with their mock holiness of an unmarried life, has no other object than to draw men away from Christ, the true Savior. In order more thoroughly to mislead the multitude, the devil makes such men willing to undergo suffering. But that will not open heaven’s doors to them. The priests of Baal, too, cut themselves till the blood gushed forth. Therefore, even if one of them, as it is said. 8 sat with his face to a wall for nine years, in rapt meditation, or if one of the Hanyang hosangs had themselves burned alive in order to go directly into the ‘Ture Land” of the “Western Paradise,” they neither entered nor led people there, but both deceiver and deceived went to the place of eternal torment. To see the Chinese so often and so reverently think of their dead, especially their deceased parents and teachers, is, indeed, very impressive, and it is to be hoped that what is good in this may not be lost when they become Christians. But the honor they give to their ancestors under Confucian influence in burning incense and candles to them, sacriflcing and praying to them, is most certainly far beyond what is proper. It is idolatrous. As to their childish fear of ghosts and the ridiculous ways of getting rid of them, we had better not ridicule such things. Let us rather remember that things but little less ridiculous have happened and are happening in the most enlightened countries. They only go to show that these people are really sitting in darkness, in the valley of the shadow of death, which none can enlighten but Jesus, the Light of the World, by Ilis Gospel. Perhaps you will say: But I have read that the Chinese have many very excellent qualities. This is true. Your missionaries have seen them. The Chinese children treat their parents with respect and honor, likewise the pupils their teachers, and the younger submit themselves to the elder. They are polite to a fault. Their desire not to hurt your feelings will actually make them appear deceitful. Upon the whole, they are patient, persevering, and peaceful. If they do get into a flght, and you step in to make peace and, in doing so, show good judgment, you may not only succeed, but you may earn their heartfelt gratitude. They are certainly a sober people. For two cents they can get whisky enough to get drunk, but cases of drunken- ness are exceedingly rare. When they want to talk politics, they do it over a cup of hot tea. The chastity of the betrothed is so jealously guarded that young people when about to be married are not allowed to see each other until the day of their wedding. Most Chinese are married. Bachelors and old maids are almost unknown. Chinese, doing business with Chinese, generally deal honestly, perhaps because they realize that they must. If a Chinese sees proflt in any undertaking, he is generally a hard worker, and, if there is careful supervision, the work done is also dependable. A Chinese garden is about as perfect in being free from weeds as it can be made. Having earned money, the Chinese also knows how to save. In our country lawyers and politicians are usually elected to high office, but the Chinese prefer men of knowledge and learning. H we could only get them to revere the true God as faithfully as they do their ancestors and their idols, erecting Christian churches as flne and spacious as 9 their temples, worshiping the true God in every house as they do their idols, rejoicing over the birth of Christ and the other great deeds of God, as they do at New Year, no one would deny that they would be excellent Christians and Lutherans. But though as a nation the Chinese may in their natural traits of character compare favorably with any heathen nation, our own ancestors not excluded, their virtues are more than offset by glaring vices. All China is one great gambling den. The sellers of lottery tickets have of late been robbing Hankow of more money than all the robber chiefs that have become famous since the time of the Revolu- tion in 1911. No stores in the city are so gaudy in scarlet paint and electric light as those of the gamblers, because everybody is in the game, from the governor to the burden-bearer. Dishonesty is uni- versal in China. There is hardly a business but has its “large” scales for buying and its “small” scales for selling. Cloth and wire are openly stretched that they may go farther, and unless you are ever on the lookout for adulterations and makeshifts, you are sure to be deceived. As three Mohammedan merchants once said in our Hwa Pu Ivai chapel: No cheating, no business! Prostitution is very common, and the authorities are said to reap a large part of their income from it. One of our helpers said that in certain streets not far from our chapel there was hardly a woman past the menopause who would not prostitute her body for a consideration. Although public exhibitions of shameless pictures are seldom seen, and then generally in connection with some foreign enterprise, obscene pictures of the grossest kind are common in the peep-shows. Courts of law are more or less open to bribery. The man who has the “face,” that is, the standing, generally manages to get the best of any one inferior to him. Graft is general. As soon as the government shows the slightest weakness, there is some one to take advantage of it, and if only he has talent to lead, there is no lack of reckless followers. Even though a case may already be decided, there is no telling when it may be reopened and the decision reversed. Suicide is very common, especially among women who consider themselves slighted or oppressed. But when it is carried out, whether by women or men, the motive is generally revenge, because the person on whose account suicide was committed is generally made to suffer severely. The killing of newly born girl babies is now prohibited by law. But what is a law where there is no one to prosecute the criminal ? In poor families where more than two or three girl babies are bom they are almost sure to be drowned. But the worst sin of all, and the sin from which all the others spring, with the Chinese as well as with us, is the covetous heart, which looks only to itself and its own gain, thirsting so intensely for 10 profit, advancement, and power that it does not hesitate to stamp down any and every competitor or foe in the mad rush for this world’s happiness, not in the least thinking of the world to come or of the inevitable judgment of the Most High. Unless the Lord asserts Him- self through terrible calamities, calamities that are universally felt to be divine punishments, the heathen Chinese will forget that he has a soul, and that there is a final judgment and an eternity. To battle with this carnal mind, ever drawn earthward as though by a thousand devils tugging at a thousand chains, that is our never-ending task in China. No one can transform such a morass of corruption and filth into a garden of God, — no one but Christ, through His Gospel. And how many are there of those to whom we owe this Gospel? There are some four hundred millions! More than a himdred thou- sand for every pastor and teacher in our whole S 3 niod, more than six himdred for every communicant we have, male or female! What? Hoes our dear Lnrd really send us to perform such a stupendous task? He does, indeed! “All the world” includes all China. “Every creature” means also every Chinese. And a Chinese belongs to the world and to China only while he is still among the living. Once dead, he can no longer be reached by the Gospel. So we had better become active. The King’s command is urgent. Those to whom we are sent are dying at the rate of seventeen thousand a day. But shall we ever be able to accomplish it? — My dear friend, are you a Christian, a Lutheran ? If not, then this does not concern you. If, however, you are a child of God, you need only be reminded of one thing: It is Christ who sends. This is certain ; He knows what He is about. And if you but do your duty, take that Gospel that He has given you and see that it reaches the Chinese, you will find that His command has been well considered; for as a machine gun is a weapon vastly different from a bow and arrow, so, too, the Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” With this Gospel in your hands, if you but do your whole duty, the battle is sure to be won. Therefore, having considered our task, let us now turn to B. ITS SOLUTION. I. What We have been Doing. At the present time we are laboring at three places: Hankow, Shihnanfu, and Ichang. The last of these stations, opened in Sep- tember, 1921, upon resolution of the conference gathered at Kuling July 11 to August 7, is Ichang (eetsang'). It is a “fu,” or departmental city, of at least 55,000 people, 200 of whom are Europeans. The town is situated on the left bank of the Yangtse, 397 miles above Hankow and ten miles 11 below the beautiful Yangtse gorges. In passing these the river forms dangerous rapids, not navigable for ordinary steamers. Therefore passengers coming here from Hankow must disembark, and goods sent through here must be rehandled. This alone would make it desirable to have a mission-station here, because we have work farther west at Shihnanfu. But the chief reason for locating a mission- station here is because Ichang is at the eastern end of a vast territory Map of China Showing Location of Hupeh Province together with Our Three Mission-Stations. Kikungshan (dshigungssahn) and Kuling (guling) are summer-resorts. At Peking Is the language school. Shanghai Is the landing-place. hardly yet touched by missionaries, as we shall see when speaking of the next station. The missionaries stationed at Ichang are Rev. Geo. O. Lillegard and his wife, members of the small Norwegian Synod, which is a member of the Synodical Conference, and which will, if possible, support this mission alone. Quite an undertaking for a body having only 33 pastors and supporting a professor at St. Paul! May God bless the plucky little band and by their example teach us that we can maintain a body of one hundred missionaries in China and India, if we try seriously. 12 When Rev. Geo. O. Lillegard was sent to Ichang, fighting between the northern and southern forces was in progress, and a battle was impending. This, however, did not deter him from going up and Map of Hankow, Wuchang, and Hanyang Showing Location of Our Ten Mission-Chapels. trying to rent a house. When he had accomplished this and returned to get his wife, his colleagues asked him how he had been able to rent a house. He answered that the impending battle had helped him. The Chinese considered their houses safer in our hands than 13 in their own. They were right. Ichang had been looted several times by soldiers who were not receiving their pay, and sometimes even foreign property had suffered. But never had any mission-property been harmed, nor any missionary. What a change compared with 1900, when the Empress Dowager, Tsi Hsii (T'sishshii) had 200 foreign missionaries and 2,000 Chinese Christians killed and wanted the Boxers to drive all the foreigners out of China! Shihnanfu (ssinnahnfu) and neighborhood have been occupied by our missionaries since March, 1920, when the Kevs. Erhard Riedel, Arnold Gebhardt, and Hugo Gihring, the first and last with their wives, went there. It is also a departmental city of some 30,000 inhabitants, situated on the western bank of the Chin Kiang (tshin- dshiang), a tributary of the Yangtse. It takes ten days to get there Our Shihnanfu School, May, 1921. To left Rev. A. Gebhardt, in center Rev. E. Riedel. Some of these children are blind ; they were taught a trade. from Ichang by the land route, afoot; up the dangerous rapids by native junks, and from Tai Chi (dye tehee) overland it used to take just about the same time. But with the powerful engines of the new Dollar Line steamers the distance of 130 miles to Tai Chi can be covered in one day, which shortens the trip from Ichang to Shihnanfu to five days. This is a great relief to our missionaries in case of sickness since there is no foreign doctor nearer than Ichang. Are we to be criticized for going into this out-of-the-way field? Such criticism would be made without a knowledge of the conditions. According to the Christian survey of China recently made by the China Continuation Committee, no region in all China is in greater need of Protestant mission-work than this. Eor on their map, shown on page 14, all the surrounding district, having a population of more than three million people, is marked dark as night, because among lOflOO heathen there is not yet one Christian communicant. It ill 14 M;jp showing progress of Protestant missions in Hupeh Province. Compare variously sliadod portions of province with the little squares, 1 — 8. In portions marked like sq. 1 there is not even one communicant to every 10,000 inhabitants ; sq. 2 = 1 — 5 communicants: sq. 3 = C — 10; sq. 4 = 11 — 20; sq. 5 = 21 — 30; sq. G = 31 — 40; sq. 7 = 41 — 50; 15 behooves a large Christian body like ours to see such conditions and yet countenance excuses. Eather should we bend all our efforts toward sending out a sufficient number of men, so that missionaries can he placed not only in Shihnanfu proper, but also in all the im- portant cities siirrounding it. At the same time we should provide those who go there with modern buildings to live in. We also ought to have a hospital and foreign doctors of our own at Shihnanfu, not only for the sake of the missionaries, but still more for the sake of the Chinese themselves. To illustrate this, let me tell you a story. Your missionary was on his way to our Ta Chi Men (dah- dsimmen') school on a cold winter’s morning. In passing one of the miserable huts lining the way, he saw a man laid out on the road to die. He spoke to the poor fellow, but there was no answer. He touched him, but he would not stir. He was just about dead. No wonder, for his clothes consisted only of a thin cotton jacket and trousers with no underwear. Your missionary had the poor fellow carried to the London Hospital. To his astonishment, when he called the next day, the man was still alive. The following day he uttered a few sounds, although still unconscious. After that he improved day by day, so that we could speak to him about the salvation of his soul. Ultimately he left the hospital a healed man. H your son would have been the physician used by God to help this poor fellow, would you not rejoice? The Episcopal Church, according to its last report (for 1920), had 51 hospitals in China, in which 411,000 Chinese in the midst of their distress found out on their own bodies the dif- ference between heathen superstition and stupidity and Christian love. We may say that is none of the Church’s business. But it certainly is a way by which the Church can make them listen to its message and imderstand. The work at Shihnanfu has been suffering much of late because the region west of Ichang has been the seat of active war operations between the northern and southern forces. Between October 27 and November 6 the city “changed hands four times, was bombarded twice, captured by force of arms twice, and once looted.” The last time a Chinese tailor, who had taken refuge in our chapel, was shot to death through our front door. Thank God, no attempt was made to harm our missionary. Brother A. Gebhardt, and that Eev. L. Schwartzkopf, who was to take the place of Eev. E. Eiedel, had been advised to stay at Ichang for the time being. Under such conditions mission-work, of course, cannot prosper. But such conditions are exceptional. Eev. E. Eiedel has already done considerable work in the city, so that, after normal conditions will have been restored, we shall doubtless soon hear of the first Christians to be baptized by us there. Eev. A. Gebhardt has been laboring in the villages to the North. 16 Once well under way, th.is station, situated among a more stable population than we have in Hankow and farther away from its many temptations, may yet prove the most satisfactory. Hankow is our oldest station. It is a city of some 1,000,000 people, situated in the very heart of China, 600 miles from the sea, on the left bank of the Yan^se and the Han Eiver, at the point where both meet. Together with Wuchang (wootsang'), the capital of the province of Hupeh (c^oobeh), a city of 600,000 people, and Hanyang', the most ancient of the three cities, with more than 200,000 people, it forms the most populous center of all China, similar to Chicago in the United States. These “Wuhan” cities are the seats of considerable manufacturing industries and of a large commerce, the latter carried on chiefly by large river craft and even ocean steamers, but also by a railroad, connecting it with Peking in the north, and Changsha and beyond, in the south, not to speak of the thousands of junks and boats penetrating all the surrounding country. The chief centers of foreign trade are naturally the Concessions, British, Russian, French, former German, and Japanese. These, with their clean, well-drained, broad streets, electric lights, and running water, their excellent police system and fire protection, together with their large modern business houses and warehouses, are a constant object-lesson of civilization to the Chinese. But most of our work self-evidently must be outside the Concessions. During 1921 Rev. H. Bentrup, who had just begun work, but was much hindered by the condition of his eyes, had charge of two chapels and two schools. One was Yin Wu Chow (dso), south of Hanyang, where on Pentecost Sunday he could baptize 10 heathen. This station came into our hands by the action of three Chinese Lutheran Chris- tians who had been converted in the Norwegian Mission Society of Hunan and had applied to us for an evangelist through one of our Hunanese helpers. The other station was near the Lao Ewan Miao (Lou Gwan Miou). Both had flourishing schools. Rev. L. Meyer, who has been in active work since the autumn of 1919, has had charge of four chapels and four schools. Most of the schools have several teachers (13 in all). The first chapel to be taken over from Rev. E. Riedel by Rev. Meyer was that at the San Hsin Kai (ssahn shin guy). It has a boys’ school of 40 and a girls’ school of 20. The next to be opened was the San Yuen Li. Here he has spent most of his time, and, as a rule, employed the best teachers available, so as to make it a model for the rest of his work. It is therefore the farthest advanced (seven classes) and the best attended of all our schools, having had at one time some 190 pupils. Besides these two city chapels he has also two out in the country, one at Sen Kia Ki (ssendshiadshee'), with 40 boys and 30 girls in the school and one at Lo Kia Ten (lodshiaden'), with a single school, also ir B.ev. H. Bentrup’s Pentecost at Yinwucho'w, 1921. Ten heathen converts were baptized. Mr. Ma, the evangelist, to the right of the missionary. Some in this group were catechumens. Three Lutheran Christians at Yinwuchow, who had been converted in the Norwegian Lutheran Mission, applied to us for an evangelist and a teacher. Rev. L. Meyer’s San Yuen Li School. Boys with their teachers and Mr. Cheo to left. Girls with their teacher to right. Here Rev. Meyer spends most of his time and employs his best teachers, making it his model school. It is also our largest school, having had as many as 190 pupils. 18 prosperous. This coimtry work is rendered very difficult, because it is so hard a task to find helpers that can be depended upon to do their duty without being visited every few days. Let us all pray God to give us faithful helpers. — Both evangelists and teachers had regular meetings with their missionary. One of the features of all this work that will cause special rejoicing in the hearts of our readers is that among the pupils there were so many girls, and that at the San Yuen Li a large class for women could be maintained by Mrs. Meyer. In addition to this work Rev. L. Meyer had charge of a little hospital and dispensary with a Chinese doctor and nurse. We were enabled to open this hospital, because Mrs. Klein, formerly a physician of the Yale Mission at Changsha, now married to a Lutheran busi- ness man, offered to supervise the work free of charge. Rev. Meyer Our Girl Pupils, May 29, 1921, together with Mrs. Meyer’s Women’s Class at the San Yuen Li School. also was the secretary of our Ruling and Hankow Conference and the treasurer of our whole mission, both of which duties took much of his time. Rev. E. L. Arndt, in active work since September, 1913, also had charge of four chapels with 13 teachers. In connection with the Hwa Pu Kai (c^wahbooguy) Chapel there were 3 male and one female teacher. Their schools were attended by 55 boys and 15 girls. Con- nected with the Hai Sheo Li (diyssohlee) Chapel there were 5 teachers, one of them a woman. Their schools were attended by 87 boys and 18 girls. The Hwa Chin Kai (c^wahdshinguy) Chapel had 3 teachers, one a woman, with 46 boys and 14 girls. The Man Chwin (mahn tchwin) Chapel school had an attendance of eleven during the day and five in the evening. Besides this we had a school among the famine sufferers during April and May attended by some 20 pupils. On the 23d of May, 1921, our whole mission had the joy of wel- coming in its midst the Rev. Friedrich Brand, First Vice-President of the Missouri Synod and General Secretary of its foreign missions. 19 Haisheoli (ciiaissoli) School, Opened June 1, 1914. In center Mr. Hsieh. Having been received into a Christian orphan asylum of the Norwegian Hauge Synod, he had never known heathendom from personal experience. He is no longer living. Our Evangelists, after having been Examined in the Christian Creed by Vice-President F. Brand, Director of Missions. The examination took place June 4, 1921. Since then these men have attended an evangelists’ school. 20 who remained with us till the middle of September. He visited all our stations, examined our ten evangelists, held two meetings with our Christians, and one general rally of all our Hankow forces on May 29, which was attended by more than 160 Christians and cate- chumens and some 500 pupils of our day-schools, 100 less than had been attending them. These were absent because the Dragon Festival was approaching. From July 11 to August 7 we met in conference with Rev. Brand at Ruling, where we send our wives and children during July and August. How we rejoiced to have all of our missionaries gathered together, especially those who during the previous summer had re- Our Conference at Kuling, July 11 to August 7, 1921. Upper row. left to right ; Mrs. and Rev. L. Meyer, Mrs. and Rev. Geo. O. Lillegard, Rev. E. L. Arndt. Lower row, left to right : Rev. E. Riedel, Rev. and Mrs. Schwartzkopf and son. Rev. H. Gihring, Vice-President F. Brand, Mrs. Riedel and son, Mrs. and Rev. H. Bentrup and son. Rev. A. Gebhardt ; below ; Dorothea and Paul Riedel. mained at Shihnanfu! And what a treat it was to have a series of doctrinal discussions and common services again and to meet at the Lord’s Table! But the chief object of our deliberations naturally was : — II. What Is to Be Our Duty in the Future? In the first place, we were all agreed that our duty in China is not to extend as far as possible our work in Hankow or at Shihnanfu or at lehang, however necessary that may be to begin vnih, but that it is our duty to bring the Gospel to all China. To restrict our efforts to a small mission-field may seem very plausible wisdom to our Old Adam, but it is not right. 1) It is a clear violation of the parting command of our dear Savior. 2) It is not commensurate with the 21 superabundance of means and men wbich God’s grace has showered upon us. 3) To take a back seat when humility demands it may be ;good Lutheranism, but to lag behind others when duty calls is rank heresy and directly opposed to every symbol in the Book of Concord. 4) There is not a Chinese, no matter how filthy or far gone he may he, who is not worth having. The price that has actually been paid for his soul settles that beyond a doubt. Our motto must therefore he; All China for Christ! To accomplish this, we realized that, first of all, every one of us must do his best. We have therefore taken steps to promote among ourselves and our wives a more extensive study of the language. We have acknowledged it as a principle that even in midsummer, when the heat-equator is almost over our heads, our stations should not be left entirely vacant. We have set it down as a rule that our wives also must do as much work among Chinese women as their position permits them to do. Realizing that any army, in order to do its best, must be organized and have unity, we have tried to organize our work •on as uniform a basis as possible. On the other hand, we have also realized that to insist on all sorts of changes in the Chinese, simply because we are not used to them, would be unwise and un-Lutheran, and we have taken steps to avoid this. Above all, the conditions which prevail among all the other Christian missionaries, who were gathered at Ruling, and who are now cleft into two parties, demon- strated to our very eyes how dangerous it is to be in the least care- less about matters of doctrine, and as we are in special danger to be off our guard in this respect, we have strengthened one another in •every conceivable way for the purpose of fighting for the truth. On the other hand, since it is always necessary to win not only a man’s head, but also his heart, we have exhorted each other to deeds of love. For the same reason we believe that it is no waste of money, energy, •or men to found hospitals, orphan asylums, etc., but rather the reverse. Howevbr, in order that none of our resources be wasted, and that ■our missionaries may be able to do their best, we also considered it necessary that Synod, as soon as possible, buy property and erect suitable buildings. To make the buildings stand firmly, they must have a foundation; to make them dry, there must be air-spaces heneath the floor and in the walls ; to make it possible to heat them, they must have chimneys; and for purposes of ventilation they must have windows. This is aU the more necessary because suitable dwell- ings in Hankow are getting so rare that they can hardly be procured •even at a rent that is preposterously high, while in Shihnanfu there are no modern buildings whatever. In order that our missionaries’ time may not be wasted, it is also •clear that something will have to be done for the education of their 22 growing families. While this is not a pressing matter just now, it is necessary to make haste if we want to have property at Kuling, where such a school may be erected. We have therefore petitioned Synod to buy thirteen certain lots while they are yet to he had. Again, in order that the Word of God may spread as far as possible, we must make more use of the printed page. Small and young as our mission is, we have already made a good beginning. Revs. E. Riedel and A. Gebhardt have translated “Christian Questions and Answers.” Rev. L. Schwartzkopf has published a little prayer- book patterned after our Habermann. With the help of kind and able friends practically our whole hymn-book has been translated inte Chinese verse, 336 hymns having already been printed in “Srmg Chii Si Ko” (ssi go), a hymn-book as genuinely Lutheran as our own, and used in the whole “Lutheran Church of China.” Other works are in preparation: a complete translation of o\ar whole Synodical Catechism, the Book of Concord (one-third finished), three sermon- books on the three series of texts used in the above church, a liturgy, a trimonthly bulletin, and various tracts. All the sound Lutheran literature that we can get out is going to be a God-send not only to- our own Christians and helpers, but to the whole Lutheran Church of China, which will gladly receive and use as much of it as we can produce. Think of the influence for good that we can thus exercise! Was there ever a more glorious opportunity for God-pleasing pub- licity? But to do such work takes time, time which in the present undermanned state of our forces must be actually stolen from the- time that should be spent on the street, in the chapels, in the schools, and in Chinese homes. Our staff ought to he so well manned that we could let one brother devote his whole time to such work. And when he and the printer have finished their work, there are bills to pay; for these books cannot pay for themselves and help to support the China mission as our Concordia Publishing House does in America. Almost all such literature must either be given away or sold at a “loss.” Here is an opportunity for some one to turn this “loss” into a gain both for himself and the whole Lutheran Church of China. From two to eight hundred dollars will finance some of these undertakings, and it virtually means to preach to the Chinese- yourself in “a thousand voices,” and that to a select audience of Christians and church-workers. ISTow, who is still singing; “Oh, that I had a thousand voices!”? If, however, we are in earnest about winning all China for Christ,, it is clear that this cannot be done by missionaries from America alone. We must train Chinese workers. As they are not laboring among an imcivilized people, it is also necessary that their education be as thorough, both in imparting knowledge and in building up- character, as it is at home. We have therefore resolved to begin ant 23 Evangelists’ School for our future pastors and a Middle School for our future teachers. The former has already been started. But how weak and how small! The three men that we have at Hankow are hardly equal to the task of keeping up and extending the mission- work already begun. How can they do justice to a new theological seminary and a normal school, both of which are more difficult to conduct in China than in America, partly because our professors themselves have yet so much to learn, partly because they have no adequate Lutheran literature to use? The very terms they are to use in discussing theological problems are often yet to be discovered. Yet, formidable as this difficulty is, it is by no means the greatest. The gi’eatest difficulty is how to procure suitable students for such an institution. Are we to start a higher course of learning and invite to study any one who may volunteer to come? If we do, our “semi- nary” will soon be filled, to be sure; for the Chinese are all very eager to get an education, especially if we engage foreigners as our teachers. They will pay us money to have the privilege, provided we teach them what they want. But what will they do with the knowl- edge acquired? They will use it in business. And even though we were inclined to let one who is ready to do it teach religion, if his heart is not in it, what will be the result? ISTothing but a sounding brass! There is no way out of this difficulty but to get more mis- sionaries to work in order to win more Christians. First Christians, then students! That is the only way. But how will we get the greater number of foreign missionaries ? We must send them. “But we sorely need them at home.” My dear friend, if we wait until they are no longer needed at home, we shall never get them. We had such a time some twenty years ago. What did we do ? Did we say ; How is our opportrmity ; now let us enlarge our territory in the heathen countries ? No. We cut down the supply. There were those who cried, “Overproduction!” And there was a veritable stampede away from our institutions. And now? We could use hundreds of pastors and teachers in Germany, in Czecho- slovakia, in Poland, in Russia, in South America, and all over the world, especially in the two great heathen countries of India and China. No, let us never again cry, “Overproduction!” There never has been such a thing as an overproduction of faithful pastors and teachers. When Wyneken once formd people in Germany who thought so, he was driven by the Spirit to exclaim: “Oh, that they might be choked by the very bread they eat, those men who can sit about here idle, waiting for a position as pastor while they know that in the American backwoods there are thousands who are hungering for the Bread of Life without a pastor ready to break it to them!” There is perhaps no Protestant body in America to-day with so large a number of young men in its institutions who have promised 24 to enter the ministry or become Christian teachers, as our Missouri Synod. Take them at their word. Show them how sorely they are needed. If any of them think of breaking away, instead of helping them to find a good excuse, ought we not to tell them that to do such a thing under the present circumstances is a sin? For that is what it is. If we do not tell them, they may yet accus<* us before the judgment-throne, when those to whom they should have ministered will rise up against them and us to remind us of our callousness and indifference with respect to their pitiable condition. How can we dare to face Him as judge, who for the sake of these benighted people, as well as for us, left the glories of heaven, bore all tbeir sins, atoned Our Latest Arrivals, November, 1921. Left to right: Rev. and Mrs. II. C. Klein, Rev. and Mrs. A. Scliolz, Rev. and Mrs. II. \V. Tlielss. Miss O. Gruen, Rev. M. Zsehlegner. The rest are San Francisco friends, who saw them off at the dock 25 for them with His own heart’s hlood, and secured for them a com- plete pardon, if, when He wanted us to do no more than to bring them the message, we, partakers of the same grace as they, sought excuses and considered our own petty business more important! Let us also not. waste any of the man-power already standing in line and at work. War times have taught us that a suit may be made to hide much more nakedness and give life-protecting warmth for a long, long time, if only we be not too particular about style and not mind a few patches. When souls are pouring down into hell in one country alone at the rate of seventeen thousand a day, we had better not insist upon style and no patches. On the contrary, ought we not do all in our power to make the pastors and teachers already in the work last as long as God’s grace enables them to serve our congregations and Christian schools ? Even when they think of laying down the burden, ought we not to encourage them to bear it longer? Let us help them to labor on. Let us bear with them. Every man persevering at his post helps to release some one who can be sent to the front trenches. Every day longer that you hold out at home has this salutary effect, that it enables the Church of God to send out some one else to the heathen. During the late war, in hunger-ridden Germany, if anybody would have deliberately taken bread, meat, or other life-preserving victuals and wasted them publicly, — would he not have been punished? Verily, he might have been mobbed, and it is doubtful whether he would have found any sympathy, even in the halls of justice, since, virtually, he was a murderer, because in conse- quence of his wastefulness somebody was being starved to death. Why, then, do we see men about to quit work in the Lord’s vineyard or already standing idle who could still very well do service? And why are we not troubled about it? If we investigate, we shall find that in the depths of our heart there is indifference to soul-murder. If there were not, would not some of the waste that has been going on in our own midst have troubled us and driven us into a rage? Let the conviction live amongst us that it is a duty to conserve our man-power, and that it is a sin to waste it, and we shall always have plenty of men to spare to send to the heathen. So much for o\ar task in China. We have found it to be a great task. But it is not a hopeless one. The Gospel of Christ is mighty to save the Chinese as well as the Americans. The really difficult part of our task has already been accomplished through the precious blood of the Son of God and is continually being carried through to a triumphant end by the work of the Holy Spirit. For us it but remains prayerfully and cheerfully to submit to His guidance, and the victory is won. 26 ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. Are there autos in Hankow? — Yes, for the rich business men, foreign and Chinese, in the Concessions. The missionaries can hardly use them, for the longest road available goes only seven miles out into the country. Beyond that — the wheelbarrow. What do the farmers raise ? — In China there are no farmers, only gardeners. They raise rice, wheat, oats, millet, soy-beans, sweet potatoes, and a wealth of vegetables, also many fruits. They also raise cotton, hemp, sesamum, tea, vegetable wax, and many kinds of drugs and dyestuffs; also mulberry-trees for the silkworms. Their animals are few : the water-buffalo, the donkey, the Manchurian pony, the razor-backs; also chickens and ducks< What wages do the Chinese pay ? — That depends. A common tailor or a copper-hammerer will get as low as 7 cents a day. A mill- hand gets 3 dollars a month. A carpenter, 25 cents a day. Our teachers and evangelists are paid 6 .to 7 dollars a month. But if a man can do work that will satisfy a foreigner, he expects and gets a good deal more. Is traveling cheap? — Yes, very cheap, if you put up with con- ditions. A Chinaman who will sleep anywhere on deck and eat bare rice can get from Hankow to Shanghai on a fast-running, lai^e steamer for 2 dollars. Many missionaries travel first-class Chinese, which means a good state-room and good Chinese food the same way for about 6 dollars. But their rooms are not heated in winter and have no fan in summer. Besides, they must take with them their bed-clothing, as the bunk contains only a mattress. As burden- carriers are cheaply obtained, this is no hardship. If one wants foreign food and foreign accommodations, the same trip may cost 17 to 25 dollars. Do the Chinese still wear queues ? — Barely. If so, they are liable to be chopped off when they come to Hankow. Are your evangelists all Christians? — Yes, and as far as our knowledge goes, we could ordain at least one of them. The teachers, too, are almost all Christians. The few who are not are catechumens, who are either not allowed to teach religion or help at doing it in such a way that the work is virtually done by the missionary. Are your Christians contributing any money to support the mis- sion? — Yes, a little. Perhaps we should have devoted more time and pains to teach them systematic giving in spite of the small amounts (in United States money) that they are able to pay; for if wisely and economically expended by them, they can do a great deal of church- work with a small amount of money. For school purposes our mission-pupils have probably already paid some 2,500 dollars in 27 United States gold these nine years. As to other contributions, we have been urging them continually to help us in mission-work. That counts most and has often been done. Will the Chinese stand firm in times of temptation ? — Trials and temptations sift the Chinese just as well as they do us. We have had some sad cases of backsliding where least expected. But we have also experienced the reverse. One of our first Christians persisted in praying aloud daily every morning, although beaten for it. A car- penter’s wife was so indignant because her husband wanted to become a Christian that, when the missionary called in his absence, she would follow him with vile language as long as she could see him. Yet he became a Christian. He did not even use violence to bring her to terms, although Chinese custom would have permitted that. An old lady’s son was so embittered at the idea of his mother’s becoming a Christian that he declared to her face that she was not his mother — an insult of which a decent heathen would never have become guilty. Yet at the appointed time she was there to receive baptism, and her only sorrow was that her little grandson, that father’s son, could not he baptized with her. Whenever he is not at home, the little boy is always in church at her side, and her constant hope and prayer is that he may yet come to Jesus. Even children have refused to wor- ship the idols, though beaten. They were good children, too. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. Read our synodical papers. The articles which have so far ap- peared about our China Mission are found in — Missionsbriefe, Vols. I — lY, 1911 — 1916. A small number of copies, not quite complete, are yet to be obtained from E. L. Arndt, c. o. Rev. Lor. Meyer, 11 Milan Place, French Concession, Hankow. Price, 75 cts. in United States 5-cent stamps. Missionstaube, 1913 ff., especially after 1917. Lutheraner, 1917 ff. Lutheran Witness, 1917 ff. Wanim will es in China nicht schneller licht werden? Sold by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. Good books on China can be found in every public library. H they should not have them, vT-ite to the proper officials and get them to buy them for you ; — Wells, William, The Middle Kingdom. New York. Scribner’s, 1907. Couling, Samuel, Encyclopaedia Sinica. London. Oxford Univ, Press. 1917. Bashford, J. W., China; an Interpretation. New York. Abingdon Press. 28 Hirth, Fr., The Ancient History of China. New York. Columbia University. 1908. Li Ung Bing, Outlines of Chinese History. Shanghai. Commer- cial Press. 1914. Ross, E. A., The Changing Chinese. New York. Century. 1911. King, F. H., Farmers of Forty Centuries. New York. Mac- millan. Hawkins, Geography of China. Shanghai. Commercial Press. Smith, A. H., Village Life of China. New York. Eevell. 1899. Du Bose, The Dragon, the Image, and the Demon. New York. Armstrong & Son, 714 Broadway. Soothill, W. E., The Three Religions of China. London. Hodder and Stoughton. 1913. Groot, J. J. M., The Religion of the Chinese. New York. Mac- millan. 1910. Soothill, A Mission in China. Edinburgh. Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. If you have any more questions or requests, write to any of our missionaries, whose addresses you will find in the Lutheran Annual. If your questions are of general interest, they may be answered in the synodical papers. The following sets of slides may be obtained from the Board of Foreign Missions through Rev. Herm. Hohenstein, 3506 Caroline St., St. Louis, Mo. : — 1. Our Mission in China. 2. Heathendom in China. 3. The Making of a Missionary. 4. All China for Christ. 5. China’s Only Hope. (The latter is in the possession of the Walther League, 6638 Eggleston Ave., Chicago, 111.)