' / A STRATEGIC PLAN MISSIONARY WOfRk Among the Bainanese Speaking People in China ^ ^ By Rev. Alfred E. Street “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.’’ —John 14;12. Fort Wayne, Ii.d., June, 1906. The Kiungchow Union Mission (Incorporat- ed) has been organized as an agency through which God’s people can evangelize the Next Generation and establish a native Christian Church in the Island of Hainan and neighboring regions. (The name “Kiungchow” is the Chinese official designation of Hainan.) Board of Directors. Rev. Frank H. Heydenburk, Terre Haute, Ind. Aefred HoezworTh, John S. House, - Edward Reed, Gidbert C. Wildson, Mrs. Maude F. Waeker, Rev. Aefred E. Street, Officers. FortWarme, Ind. Fort Wayne, Ind. Fort Wayne, Ind. Fort Wayne, Ind. Fort Wayne, Ind. Kiungchow, Hainan. President, - REV. Frank H. Heydenburk. Vice-President, Alfred Holzworth. Secretary, - - Mrs. Maude F. Walker. Treasurer, - - John S. House. Superintendent, Rev. Alfred E. Street. Address all communications to Box 473, Fort Wayne, Indiana, U. S. A. A strategic plan for missionary work de- signed to reach three million people with the least expenditure of money, men, time and labor. The result of ten years spent in the island of Hainan, China, engaged in var- ious forms of missionary effort, has been to make a profound impression upon my mind of the possibilities of the line of work presented below which I am now undertaking. It is a strategic plan because it is de- signed to take advantage of a circum- stance which makes it possible to meet at one place individuals from every sec- tion of a country and class of the people. I. WHERE ? Among the Hainanese speaking people in China who live on the Island of Hainan and the adjoining peninsula. The extreme southern end of China, part of the province of Canton, consists of the Island of Hainan, 290 miles S.W. from Hongkong. It is about the same size as Formosa, 190 miles long by 100 broad, and forms the eastern boundary of the gulf of Tongking. 3 The government is in the hands of a Taotai with his capital at Kiungchow on the island, and a sub-capital for the penin- sula at Liuchiu, a city 8o miles north of Kiungchow. The people are mostly Chinese, descen- dants of emigrants from the province of Fokien. In the mountains of the interior are half-naked wild savages, nominally ruled by the Chinese, They are called the “Loi” (Black People) and are shown by similarity of language to be related to the “Lao” of Siam. A medley of languages is spoken among both Chinese and Loi, but a common means of intercommunication is found in the HAINANESE DIALECT, which thus becomes the most important mission- ary medium. This dialect is not found in any other part of China and extends north above the Erench possession of Koang- chiu Gang, being used over a region 300 miles long from the south of the Island of Hainan to the upper base of the penin- sula. II. WHAT IS THE PLAN ? A, The Opportunity. Ten thousand “students,” with forty to fifty thousand friends, come up to Kiung- chow every three years to the Imperial Civil Service Examination. 4 They are the leaders and the rulers of the people. They come from every nook and comer of the Chinese parts of the Island. Among them are men that we would not be likely to get the ears of for years, if we do not meet them at the examina- tions. These “students” are of every age and condition in life. Boys in their teens and men of sixty come year after year to be examined for a degree that confers certain rights and privileges which are a source of pecuniary gain and political power. Success in this examination is the first step on the ladder that reaches to the highest offices under the Imperial Govern- ment. Naturally such a matter is of great im- portance to every family sending a candi- date, and there are so many complicated transactions involved in the examination that each candidate desires the assistance of several friends. These friends going up to the city with the eager-eyed, anx- ious candidate are the ordinary people and Avell represent all classes of the en- tire Chinese population. The savage “Loi” do not compete for degrees ; they have almost no schools. While up at the examinations every one S has considerable leisure on his hands, and since they have an extremely narrow range of amusements, gambling the main one, there is ample time to attend our meetings so that a crowd always stops to hear us at certain hours of the day. These crowds do not disperse for sev- eral weeks, the length of time varying from 3^ear to year ; the date also is uncer- tain, since it is determined by the caprice and comfort of the “Examiner” who comes from a distance. In each cycle of three years, the third year has the “large” examination, draw- ing the largest crowds, the second year has the secondary examination drawing smaller crowds, while the first year af- fords no special excitement. On the peninsula, candidates for a de- gree meet at Luichiu, either before or af- ter the Kiungchow examination, the same “Examiner” conducting both. B. What Should Be Done? (i) Open a Chapel where the “Good News” can be given to these crowds ; and we become mutually acquainted. As among students of all countries, such a spirit of lawlessness prevails that it is best to open a chapel within which a certain degree of order can be maintained. 6 and the restraint of a private building- keep the cro-wds quieter than they would be in the open air. Also because of this lawlessness it is very difficult for a native to stand before the “students” and preach ; consequently the foreigner must do it in person. Men return day after day until they feel quite at home v/ith us and their faces become familiar to us. (2) Use this acquaintance as an intro- duction to the homes of the people after they have scattered to their villages. In the intervals betv/een the examina- tions there is constant work of the most fruitful nature to be done in traveling from place to place among the market towns and villages, but when a stranger approaches a village he is feared as a rob- ber or oppressor, and it is difficult to get at the people on account of this suspicion. On the other hand, one who can be recog- nized by the village school-teacher as the man who was talking doctrine at the city diiring the examinations becomes an ob- ject of curiosity, and the teacher is rather proud of being able to tell something about the stranger. (3) Have a place in Kiungchew v/here visiters to the city can come to read our books ; learn more of the nev/ cl -^ctrines ; 7 and become better acquainted with us; i.e., a place for “inquirers.” A continuous stream of “students” is going back and forth between Kiungchow and the country at all seasons, and it is a great thing for the missionary while sit- ting in the home of the country scholar to be able to cordially invite him to drop in and visit us when he comes up to the city. When the invitation is accepted, a long time is required for a satisfactory visit and provision must be made for our friend, after he is through seeing the for- eigner, to sit around and pump all the na- tives connected with us in any way as to our peculiarities and qualities, what we really are and are trying to do, especially what he can possibly make oitt of us. We are quite generally supposed to be emissaries of the U. S. Government. ( 4 ) Eventually to open a school where English is taught. The great demand for foreign learning leads many to come to the missionary for instruction. In all parts of the island we are besieged by questions as to whether a son can come to school to us, and many men make the same request for them- selves. 8 III. CAN THE PLAN BE CARRIED OUT ? It has already succeeded. Three sea- sons of experience have carried it beyond the realm of theory into effective practice. The only part of the plan to be ques- tioned is as to whether the “students” can be reached successfully by such work and at the close of this statement is an account of what has actually been done. IV. WHY THIS APPEAL? Nothing whatever is now being done to take advantage of this priceless oppor- tunity ! More than this there is nothing to indi- cate that the present forces on that field can ever do it. The American Presbyterian Mission is the only mission among the Hainanese. They have three stations with a force of 17-20 men and women, among whom 6 are clergymen and 3 are physicians, in a population of nearly four million, the pop- ulation of Greater New York, living in a region 300 miles long. There is only one well-established and well organized Mission School, and that 9 is not in the Hainanese dialect, but in the Hakka, and is located 8o miles S.W. from Kiungchow, at Nodoa. The Hakkas are clannish, and this school does not furnish men to work among the Hainanese. The native schools do not teach practical knowledge, even reading not being learn- ed by most of their pupils. V. WHAT IS NEEDED IN KIUNG- CHOW ? ( 1 ) A cliapel with book-room and resi- dence for a native helper all in one build- ing. This should be located near the exam- ination hall where the crowds are thick- est. (2) Headquarters and residence for the foreigners. (3) Buildings in connection with the headquarters for the accommodation of our visiting friends and “inquirers.” These have to be separate from our apartments and can be constructed in a much cheaper manner. There is every probability that all these buildings will have to be built by us. 10 VI. MEN NEEDED. (1) A lay missionary to assist the su- perintendent. Experience has proven that it is too much for one man to undertake building operations alone. He has to be owner, architect, contractor and general mana- ger. The purchase of materials and su- perintendence of workmen has to be at- tended to by us in person, while many of the mechanical details have to be worked out by us and in some cases even executed by our hands. At all times it is best to have a layman whose main duties shall be the manage- ment of the business side of the work. He must be as spiritual as the others, for he enjoys much opportunity for the same missionary work that the clerical mem- bers of the mission perform, and it is a position not a whit less important than any other. (2) Two more men should follow so as to be on the ground as soon as the above buildings are finished. It is not wise for these men to go out at first, because of the lack of houses. A native house has to be rented for a term of years, and several hundred dollars lost in repairs and changes necessary, while at II best the buildings cannot be made sani- tary. (3) Ten more men can be put to work as fast as houses can be provided. The room for growth is practically un- limited in every direction. Especially the examination at Luichiu commands the peninsula in the same way that the one in Kiungchow commands the island. At one’s very door is every kind of work with no one to do it. VII. FINANCIAL NEEDS. The amount of financial support given and the number of men supplied will de- termine how much shall be undertaken. Quite large sums of money at once would be advantageous because this is not the beginning of a new enterprise, but rather the attempt to put approved work into such shape that it will be most effective and to lay solid foundations for sound growth. It is the Master’s work, therefore we trust Him to send the means and men that will enable us to do just those things that He wishes done now. VIII. SPIRITUAL NEEDS. Missionary work is essentially a spirit- ual contest waged with spiritual weapons 12 for spiritual results (Eph. vi. 12) ; There- fore — The most important of all needs is for friends to continually offer believing pray- er ( i ) that the Lord of the harvest thrust forth laborers, (2) that His Spirit work through those on the held. The laborers needed can be divided into three classes : (1) Earnest intercessors in the home- land to bring to the aid of those in the blackness of heathenism an atmosphere of prayer something like that which sur- rounds those engaged in Christian work in America, and to plead with the Lord that no one will be sent abroad who is not set apart to this work as Paul and Barnabas were by the Holy Spirit : also that those in the field continually receive fresh fillings with the Spirit and with fire. (2) Native helpers upon whom the burden of the salvation of a people must ultimately fall. (3) Missionaries, who serve as the vis- ible connection between the lost heathen and the spiritual forces at work for their salvation. Pray that the Spirit of God work mightily both at home and on the field giving wisdom, money, health, prudence. 13 boldness, that we may speak the truth as we ought and be workmen that need not be ashamed. IX. WHY I UNDERTAKE THIS WORK. Because I am only planning to go on from the point to which ten years’ experi- ence has brought me, and to build the foundations already prepared for at great expenditure of time, toil and money. In China no missionary can take the place of another, for each man is received among the Chinese on his personal mer- its, not by virtue of his position, and has to attain to a standing with the people. Then for a long time I have desired to do this work because of my PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES WITH THE “STUDENTS.” The peculiar character of the ignorant, conceited, proud “student” makes it a difficult task to reach him. Consequently it has been a serious problem how to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the examinations. In 1896 I made my first attempt at solv- ing the problem by holding meetings for the “students” in the guest hall of our 14 house, some distance back from the street, where the large crowds would not come. At the time there did not seem to be any encouraging results, but long after it transpired that a man who is now one of our best helpers first became interested in the truth through the meetings held at that time. Some years later it was possible to try again when increased experience made possible more extensive and effective ef- forts. We used a room opening on the street with a dirt floor, ant-eaten timbers, and general disreputable character of dirt, smoke and ruin. Three sides were bright- ened up by placards of white muslin, four feet long by half a yard wide, bearing texts of Scripture in large Chinese char- acters. Some, benches with a chair on them served for a platform, from which I addressed crowds as many hours a day as I could talk. It was a hard task to hold one’s own with the unruly pride and scorn of those who came to see the sights. A favorite amusement for them was to quote long passages from the Classics. Inas- much as no one speaks the written lan- guage, it can be understood only by those who have studied and committed to mem- ory the passages quoted, and I was a fair target for them, my ignorance only serv- ing to confirm them in the feeling of su- periority to the “Foreign Devil.” Being 15 so discredited from the beginning, it did seem a hopeless task with no adequate re- sult for the severe labor involved, but those quotations set me to thinking and I decided to carry the war into the enemy’s country. Rapidly running through the principal Classics, I culled out some dozens of gold- en quotations expressing truths on which I could insist, had them written on cloth placards, hung them up on the walls in the most prominent place among the Scripture texts and committed the sounds to memory. Thus prepared, I met the scholar enter- ing the door in all his pride and glory by asking him if he were a Confucianist. This would strike the Chinese scholar much as it would you to be politely asked whether you are a gentleman. An as- tonished “Yes” was always forthcoming. Then I would tell him that I preach Con- fucius, and pointing to the selections on the wall, perfectly familiar to him, would declare that I really follow the best teachings of the sage, while he only con- fesses with his mouth to follow Confu- cius but in conduct disregards, repudi- ates and violates the moral precepts of his master. I would then address him somewhat as follows : Confucius says, “The superior man (the ideal Confucianist) is expert in i6 righteousness, the inferior man is expert in gain.” What have you come to this examination for? Only to make money. That is what you think about, talk about, plan for. Gain is the one great aim in your life. You say and believe that hap- piness consists in being wealthy. You being expert in gain are declared by Con- fucious to be inferior men. Then I never heard one of you talk about righteous- ness, neither do you care for it nor study it. Being first class experts in opium- smoking, gambling, licentiousness, you curse your ancestors continually. You are not expert in righteousness, so Con- fucius says you are not superior men. Only a few minutes of this treatment us- ually sufficed to so sicken them that they did not want to hear the word, “Classics,” and they were ready to listen to me with some show of respect since I had mani- fested a most embarrassing knowledge of their own books. RESULTS. The most important results cannot be seen, for this is foundation work. Many times men would come in full of hostility and fight, but would be quieted in one way or another and return a number of times to listen quietly. I was able to rec- ognize some men who had bitterly attack- 17 ed one year, come in during the next ex- amination and never open their mouths. One man made a profession of Christ, and may prove the entering wedge into Vunsio, v\?hich is the wildest and most disagreeable district of the thirteen dis- tricts into which the island is divided, and in which there is no Christian work. While making a tour of the entire is- land in 1903, it was most gratifying to find men everywhere who met me kindly as an acquaintance, for they had seen me in the meetings I had held during the examinations in Kiungchow. While I was making ready to return to America, an examination was being held, and every day men were inquiring after me, wanting to know if I were not going to hold meetings this year again ! As I think over the above account my heart thrills with the thought of all that can be done through this work and I ex- ult in anticipation of the precious lights that will be set to shining in places where now all is thick darkness. Anyone who is impelled by the desire to share in this most glorious of work, full of hope and rich in reward both on earth and in heaven, can communicate with me at the address given below. Wherever arrangements can be made I shall be very glad to deliver addresses 18 on missionary work, aiming to give a more vivid idea of the Chinese, the effects of heathenism on a people, etc. Yours in Christ, Alfred E. Street. 690' Eighth 7 Cve .7 WeW Ytifk’Clt^^ N.B. — This statement will naturally fall into the hands of members of the var- ioiis denominations. I pray that it may be a means of arousing some who are not now interested in foreign missions to a realization of their divine privileges in this work. It is also very desirable that those who are already interested may have their sympathies and efforts so broadened and deepened that when moved to aid this enterprise they will not suffer their share in the regular denominational work to be decreased but rather to be increased, for not many give of time, money and prayer all that it is their privilege to give. A. E. S. Copies of this booklet can be had from Rev. A. E. '^rdet, 690 Eighth- Ave., New York City.