U HINA'S 
 DEMPTION 
 
 'CHINA 
 
The illustration on the front cover has 
 attached to it the following story: 
 
 Three years ago the mother of this little 
 girl came to the missionary begging her to 
 adopt the child. The missionary replied : 
 “Your child may come to school,” which 
 pleased the mother. The child came and 
 soon learned to read the Bible and read to 
 her parents at home. The father before 
 long began to study the Book and soon 
 joined the church, and a year later the 
 mother took the same step. Both are earn- 
 est Christians, the mother is a member of 
 the Women’s Bible Training School, hoping 
 to serve later as a Bible woman. 
 
The Redemption of China 
 
 OF THE SPIRIT 
 
 What is meant by “the redemption of 
 China”? It may mean the planting of the 
 Church of the Living God, composed of dis- 
 ciples “in the midst of a crooked and per- 
 verse generation, among whom they shine 
 as lights in the world.” Or, it may mean the 
 creation of a social condition in which good- 
 ness and mutual service are triumphant. 
 These two views of personal and social sal- 
 vation are not necessarily in conflict, but 
 the latter, if it is to come, must wait for 
 and depend on the former. 
 
 After twenty centuries of Christianity in 
 the lands where it is most dominant there 
 exist depths of vice and shame as horrible 
 as any that may be found in China. The 
 reason is obvious; it is the refusal of the 
 individuals concerned or responsible to yield 
 to the personal sway of the Christ. Mean- 
 while, both in America and in China, “the 
 Gospel is the power of God unto salvation 
 to everyone that believeth.” 
 
 There are things which are not essential 
 to the redemption of China, and which 
 though they appear as benefits may even 
 hinder that redemption. The first of these 
 is political reformation. Not only the 
 Chinese, but many friends of China from 
 other lands fondly expected the revolution 
 to resolve itself into a great moral revival. 
 But many Chinese who were ardent republi- 
 cans testify that corruption is as rife as 
 during Manchu rule. The ideals have come, 
 but the dynamic is not sufficient. 
 
 The second non-essential is a new indus- 
 trial or economic order. Agriculture is the 
 
 1 
 
great vocation of China and for the most 
 part depends on primitive methods. In in- 
 dustrial life both artisans and merchants 
 are largely in the era of the small shop with 
 a personal bond between the proprietor and 
 his few workmen. Now graft on this social 
 order the factory system of the Occident, 
 with the bitterness of its impersonal con- 
 flict between capital and labor, and who 
 dares to say it will be for the best? If be- 
 coming rich will make the Chinese good, it 
 will be the first time that this old world has 
 witnessed that miracle. It is so easy and 
 yet so fatal to confuse material progress 
 with moral power. The fact that China has 
 6,300 miles of railroad and 40,000 miles of 
 telegraph does not of necessity help to bind 
 its people closer to the throne of God. 
 These may even become chains to drag them 
 further down. 
 
 The third non-essential to the redemption 
 of China is that it should become a strong 
 military nation. It is still being said that 
 China lacks the essentials of greatness be- 
 cause it is not prepared to defend itself in 
 fight against any invader. The Chinese 
 are a peace-loving race accustomed to mind 
 their own business, who prefer earning a 
 living to running amuck in conquest. Can- 
 not China be great, or, what is still better, 
 useful in the world without striding into the 
 arena of nations like a pirate in the main? 
 Say to the Chinese that you come to make 
 his nation like those of the West, and he is 
 apt to thank you to spare your pains. But 
 hold up the mirror of the Bible, showing 
 what man is and what he ought to be, and 
 tell him that you long to make his people 
 like Jesus of the Orient and you meet him 
 on a different plane. 
 
 The Christian Church is under no obliga- 
 tion to supply all the needs of China, but it 
 is the only agency able to provide the 
 
 2 
 
spiritual needs of that land, able to infuse 
 the life and dynamic without which these 
 other things either will not come or com- 
 ing will be curses. 
 
 The essential item in the redemption of 
 China is giving the Gospel to every one who 
 mil accept. The fact of sin and its results 
 are writ deep in the hearts of the Chinese 
 and wide across their land. Though they 
 sometimes try to dodge the statement “You 
 are a sinner,” put it in the form of “All 
 men are sinners” and it is universally ad- 
 mitted. The battle of the will must be 
 fought out, the proud, rebellious human will 
 must be brought to yield itself to the Divine 
 will. What all our mission work in China 
 needs is the inrushing of a deeper, simpler, 
 more direct tide of evangelistic service. And 
 the one whose hands manage the Board’s 
 treasury, and whose eyes have seen the 
 Lord’s doings in China says — “Extension of 
 the evangelistic work and the gathering to- 
 gether of small congregations in a large 
 number of cities and towns, under the young 
 men who have had training in our own 
 theological schools, seems to be just what 
 ought to be done.” 
 
 The progress of this redemption from the 
 hardest and humblest of beginnings is in- 
 spiring. To-day the missionary returns with 
 results that inspire the youth of the Church 
 to go and encourage Christians to give with 
 confidence; but what did Morrison and his 
 early successors have on which to base their 
 appeal? Nothing of success, but in one 
 hand the picture of the needs of Christless 
 lands, in the other the Word of God. Let us 
 rejoice that there were days in which faith 
 in God and love of Christ, apart from the 
 touchstone of success, could hold men to the 
 path of duty and devotion. From the time 
 of Morrison’s toiling in secret on Bible 
 translation, on to the end of thirty-five 
 
 3 
 
years of missionary labor, there were only 
 six known Chinese Christians. 
 
 But God’s geometrical progression was at 
 work and in 1900 one-tenth or more of 
 China’s one hundred thousand Protestant 
 church members died for the name of Christ. 
 Within eight years after the close of the 
 Boxer outbreak more Chinese were bap- 
 tized into the Christian church than had 
 joined it during the fifty preceding years. 
 This advance has continued to the present. 
 
 Each year in China sees Christian wit- 
 ness and worship started in an increasing 
 number of towns, where formerly the sab- 
 bath was unknown, and the only form of 
 worship was the rites offered to dead idols 
 and grimy ancestral tablets. These congre- 
 gations have their limitations, but they are 
 living and growing institutions among stag- 
 nant or decaying ones. Two facts char- 
 acterize their life : first, their characters and 
 conduct are better than those of their neigh- 
 bors ; second, their study of a doctrine throb- 
 bing with great ideals and their spiritual 
 worship are a constant rebuke to the moral 
 deficiency and craven darkness of the pre- 
 vailing worship. As these churches grow 
 in strength their numbers are taking up 
 the burden of self-support and going out 
 as witnesses in the regions around — that 
 shadow land that as yet encircles every 
 center of light. 
 
 The wonder-working Christ is walking 
 through the foreign field to-day and is re- 
 vealed to those who have eyes to see Him. 
 The Chinese Church is and will be a mis- 
 sionary church. They are going forth not 
 simply with a doctrine, but with an ex- 
 perience; to proclaim not only a Christ 
 that did, but also a Christ that does. 
 
 One of these experiences was that of Mrs. 
 Swen, the god-nurse or sorceress. She gives 
 it as follows: “At twenty-four I was not 
 
 4 
 
free, at twenty-six I began practicing the 
 black arts, at fifty-eight I was converted, 
 now I am sixty-two.” “What did you mean,” 
 asked I, “about your not being free at 
 twenty-four?” “Oh,” she said, “from that 
 time I served the devil. I know the devil 
 came upon me in the cotton field as I was 
 picking cotton. I gnashed my teeth and 
 hit my face. Two people could not hold me 
 nor keep me from hitting my face until I 
 was black and blue for days afterwards. 
 I did not fear anything when the devil 
 came upon me. I could have cut myself 
 if I had had a knife. I would have killed 
 my own son when he came before me 
 at such times, had they not prevented. In 
 the daytime I did not wish to read, that is, 
 go through the Buddhist chant, but in the 
 evening I would read. So, for several years 
 I ate medicine saying I was sick, but medi- 
 cine did not help me. Later my husband 
 said, ‘It won’t do, let us prepare. Our 
 family has worshipped now for four gen- 
 erations, we shall have to prepare.’ So we 
 got bread and food and set the table and 
 burned incense, then the Evil-one did not 
 hurt me any more, but came upon me to do 
 my bidding. People from different direc- 
 tions invited me to look after their sick. 
 Before going I always prepared the table, 
 burned incense, and at last I bowed down 
 knocking my head to the ground, asking 
 him which is the devil, to go with me. This 
 I did for years. When my son talked to me 
 about another worship, I persecuted him for 
 three years. At last I began to read the 
 catechism and my son prayed for me. After 
 I had read two pages some one invited me 
 to chant over their sick and I wished to go 
 and went. But I had lost my power with 
 the devil.” “But,” I said, “did you get 
 dreadfully angry or swear or hit or do what 
 had preceded your being overcome by the 
 
 5 
 
devil?” “No,” she answered, “there was 
 nothing.” Mrs. Wang, the school teacher, 
 interrupted the conversation by saying, 
 “Just think what I escaped. When I was 
 twelve years old my father was converted 
 and from the beginning he was very much 
 in earnest. I was allowed to go to school 
 and at home I heard the word of God.” 
 “Not I,” interposed Mrs. Swen, “when I 
 was little I would always go to hear the 
 women go through the Buddhist chant. I 
 do not remember the time when I could not 
 repeat that.” “Oh,” I said, “I see now you 
 had the devil’s words in your heart so finally 
 he overcame you. Jesus says, ‘If you abide 
 in me and My words abide in you, 'whatso- 
 ever ye ask shall be done unto you.’ ” “Yes,” 
 she said, “that is just it!” 
 
 For over a year this woman has been go- 
 ing to different homes telling people to re- 
 pent. Her efforts are fruitful, as many who 
 were enslaved in various ways to sin are in- 
 terested. So this faithful follower is trying 
 to live in the fifteenth of John. 
 
 Only one Mission Society, and that one 
 working exclusively in China, has as large 
 a force of missionaries as our own Church 
 in China. Presbyterians cannot evade re- 
 sponsibility for a portion of the “region be- 
 yond.” The China Continuation Committee 
 in its report on Survey of the Field urgently 
 appeals for the entry of several great sec- 
 tions. One-half or more of Yunnan prov- 
 ince is utterly untouched and it connects up 
 with vast stretches of the Lao territory, the 
 same race as those of our North Siam Mis- 
 sion for which Presbyterians are responsible. 
 This field is also the natural gateway to 
 French China and Annam, which are still 
 waiting lands. Missionaries already at work 
 are straining on the leash to enter and oc- 
 cupy, but the church at home holds back. 
 Perhaps less than $5,000 a year would suf- 
 
 6 
 
fice to lay the foundations of a new mission, 
 where never a sound wave wafts the name 
 of Jesus from lip to ear, and where the 
 printed Word is practically if not quite un- 
 known. 
 
 If America has outgrown Christ, let us 
 frankly discard Him, but if we still need 
 His robe of righteousness to appear before 
 God, then let us feel the imperative need of 
 drawing that same robe over the moral and 
 spiritual nakedness of heathendom, of the 
 nations who are, like China, standing at 
 The Parting of the Ways. 
 
 (REV.) GEORGE L. GELWICKS, 
 
 Hengchow-Hunan. 
 
OF THE BODY 
 
 The redemption of a nation is not the 
 work of a day, nor the work of any one line 
 of action, nor of any one set of influences. 
 The redemptive power we all recognize to 
 be the Spirit of the Living God, but He 
 works through many and varied agencies, 
 and every missionary from his own experi- 
 ence can give examples of how one or an- 
 other of them has been used toward the 
 accomplishment of the great end. 
 
 A medical missionary’s wife in one of the 
 interior cities of China was one day talking 
 with her teacher, a well educated Chinese 
 gentleman, about Christianity and its merits 
 as compared with the religions of China. 
 
 The teacher said, “Mrs when I 
 
 see your husband, the doctor, daily in the 
 dispensary, with his own hands washing 
 and dressing the sores and wounds on these 
 dirty, wretched patients that no Chinese 
 gentleman would touch, I know that Chris- 
 tianity has something in it which all the 
 religions of China together do not possess.” 
 
 An elderly well educated Chinese gentle- 
 man, blind with cataract in both eyes, who 
 was once well-to-do and occupied a promi- 
 nent position in society, had through the 
 defalcation of his son, a cashier in a bank, 
 lost all his money and been reduced to al- 
 most absolute poverty. An operation re- 
 stored his sight and during the days spent 
 in the hospital he eagerly drank in the 
 wonderful news of Jesus who came to open 
 the blind eyes and bring salvation to the 
 sons of men. He loved to compare the light 
 of the Sun of Righteousness coming into his 
 soul to the light of the natural sun as it 
 came into his once blind eyes. After he left 
 the hospital he went up and down the streets 
 of his city preaching Christ. He would stop 
 the boys on the street and say to them, 
 “Boys, do you see my eyes? A few months 
 
 8 
 
ago I was blind, stone blind, I couldn’t see 
 a thing; now I can see as well as you can. 
 Do you know what opened my eyes? The 
 Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
 Christ.” Thus through the work of the 
 medical missionary light is coming into the 
 blind eyes and souls of the people of this 
 great land, and when the light shall have 
 fully come the redemption of the nation will 
 have been accomplished. 
 
 The medical missionary, wherever he goes, 
 by precept and example preaches the doc- 
 trine of cleanliness and sanitation. This in- 
 fluence is multiplied many fold by the work 
 of the Chinese Christian doctors, graduates 
 of the Mission Medical Colleges. It is largely 
 through the work of these men that a great 
 advance has been made in the sanitary con- 
 dition of the camps and barracks of the 
 army. The grounds are drained and the 
 water supply is looked after. Dining rooms 
 and kitchens are screened, and contagious 
 diseases are isolated. 
 
 In the streets of the cities, too, fruit and 
 vegetables offered for sale in the markets 
 are now often covered with a mosquito net 
 whereas they were formerly covered with 
 a swam of the ever present flies, carriers 
 of disease and death. It is too much to say 
 that things are kept clean, but the gospel of 
 “cleanliness which is next to godliness” is 
 constantly preached and is slowly getting 
 into the hearts and lives of the people. 
 
 One of the greatest needs of China to- 
 day is the well qualified Christian physician. 
 One has only to know the work and influence 
 of the ordinary Chinese doctor to realize 
 this. Here is one of their prescriptions: 
 
 “For Indigestion: Catch a toad, lay him 
 on his back, punch him three times in the 
 stomach with a stalk of the sorghum plant. 
 Then wrap the toad in yellow earth and 
 bind him tightly with a string. After bum- 
 
 9 
 
ing him to death in the fire throw the re- 
 mains of the toad away, but put the yellow 
 earth in water and take a spoonful fre- 
 quently.” 
 
 Over against this is the influence of a 
 graduate of one of our Christian medical 
 schools as he comes into the home to treat a 
 patient. In addition to the prescription he 
 writes, he shows a kindly sympathy for the 
 man. He gives him earnest advice as to the 
 necessity of cleanliness, fresh air and whole- 
 some food, and in the majority of cases be- 
 fore he goes speaks to him of the great 
 Physician to whom we should all look for 
 healing for our souls as well as for our 
 bodies. What a force in the redemption of 
 the nation it would be if all the doctors 
 were of this type instead of the other. 
 
 The Mission Medical Schools cannot hope 
 to meet this great need for Christian physi- 
 cians throughout the land. What they do 
 hope, however, and what they are actually 
 doing is to set the standard for more schools 
 to furnish men who will be leaders in this 
 work, men who will use their influence to 
 have the medical education which shall be 
 given the young men of China, a Christian 
 education also. 
 
 There are now several well equipped up- 
 to-date medical colleges, with a good corps 
 of instructors and with an aggregate of 
 between four and five hundred students who 
 are receiving a thorough medical education 
 under Christian influences. This is one of 
 the most inspiring things in all the mis- 
 sionary work now being carried on in China. 
 Would that the great Presbyterian church 
 might see the wonderful possibilities in giv- 
 ing a Christian medical education to the 
 young men of China. All will admit that a 
 Christian physician in a community is one 
 of the greatest forces for good that that 
 community can have. Every one will also 
 
 10 
 
sadly admit that an irreligious or sceptical 
 physician in a community can be a mighty 
 force for evil in that community. The 
 moral is plain. This is the time for the 
 church to stand by this great work and see 
 that the young men who go out to minister 
 to the physical ailments of the people of 
 this nation shall also be men who can do 
 great things for their spiritual and moral 
 uplift. 
 
 C. F. JOHNSON, M.D., 
 Tsinanfu, Shantung. 
 
 11 
 
OF SOCIETY AND THE HOME 
 
 The problem of how to reach China’s 
 women is still a burning one despite many 
 opening doors. The tiny-footed lady with 
 vision narrowed within the four walls like 
 a bird in a cage; the woman who has 
 nothing to do but spend hours combing her 
 hair, touching the rouge in just the right 
 spot on lip and eyelid; where shall we find 
 a point of contact with her? She may have 
 a passing interest in the barbarian from 
 far away America. She seems to listen 
 politely, but her mind is busy comparing 
 her daintily embroidered satin slippers with 
 the great leather shoes fitted for tramping 
 the vile streets which her visitor wears. 
 She compares her satin skirt with the 
 other’s wool one, her trim, neat fur-lined 
 jacket, with the other’s loose cloak. She 
 can hardly restrain her fingers from feeling 
 if the waist is boned, wondering meanwhile, 
 “Does she never comb her hair?” 
 
 She knows her soft, plump hands and 
 long finger nails are more lady-like than 
 her guests’ boney ones. The high, straight 
 nose is the only thing she finds to admire, 
 and when her efforts to converse about such 
 things are coolly met, she trails off into 
 bored silence. Where again find a point of 
 contact? 
 
 And the other woman ! The woman rising 
 early with perhaps half of a sweet potato on 
 which to begin the day’s work; the woman 
 of whose children half are dead, and the 
 other half are cold and hungry, whose heart 
 is calloused and hard, full of superstition 
 and dread; the woman who must slave early 
 and late to keep the wolf from the door; 
 how find a point of contact with her? 
 
 MISS J. RICKETTS, 
 
 Hangchow. 
 
 12 
 
My acquaintance with Chinese women 
 began in the early eighties. Those women 
 are great grandmothers now — if any sur- 
 vive. Shall we contrast them with the 
 women of New China? 
 
 There are still millions and millions of 
 women, far removed from all churches and 
 schools and from the wide spreading in- 
 fluences of Missionary Stations — who are 
 still unchanged, in ideas, in customs or con- 
 ditions. They are still shut in; leading the 
 deadly monotonous life of the inner courts; 
 being slaves to superstitious fears of 
 ghosts, of demons, of spirits — and having 
 the deadening belief of fatalism. They suf- 
 fer dumbly, ignorant of the causes, or of a 
 cure, for their sufferings. 
 
 To illustrate this awful fear: One of our 
 humble Christian women, very poor, who 
 had to work hard to make her living, came 
 smiling into the waiting room before church 
 time. Instead of her poor, shabby clothes, 
 she was comfortably dressed — looked well 
 fed, and had a general prosperous look. 
 She explained that the “widow’s family 
 where she sometimes got work, had taken 
 her in and were treating her like a guest. 
 Because, you know, I am not afraid of any- 
 thing. Their women’s quarters are supposed 
 to be haunted by the spirit of one of their 
 family— a daughter-in-law, who committed 
 suicide in there long, long ago. When they 
 hear the least noise they are terror-stricken. 
 I just go calmly and investigate proving to 
 them that it is just some common cause — 
 nothing unusual at all and telling them that 
 we are all in Gods hands. He loves us bet- 
 ter than our own fathers and mothers and 
 watches over us. Then I read them verses 
 that say so — and that He watches over and 
 cares for us, and even the sparrows — that 
 bright-day and black-night are all the same 
 to Him. Oh, I have a splendid chance to 
 
 13 
 
preach the doctrine. They cannot hear 
 enough about it, especially at night.” The 
 widow kept her a long time, and invited me 
 to visit them frequently — eventually they 
 came to my house, and attended church, and 
 believed ! 
 
 All women influence their homes. Only 
 Christian women feel they have a duty to 
 influence outsiders. 
 
 Once, at a Women’s Conference, a Chris- 
 tian Elder, who held official rank, came in 
 to address us. When he faced that large 
 audience of women and girls literally packed 
 in tight, each with her Bible and hymn book, 
 and realized there were many delegates from 
 other churches among them and they repre- 
 sented many times that number, he ex- 
 claimed in a burst of oratory: “This is a 
 sign — a promise, an assurance of China’s 
 salvation. This is what will put a flavor 
 into the homelife — the village life of all the 
 provinces. I joy and rejoice that all of the 
 eighteen provinces have many and many 
 groups of women like you, whose lives are 
 harmonious, whose homes are happy with 
 Christian songs, and mutual love and help- 
 fulness. You take the time to come here to 
 cultivate your hearts and minds; to learn 
 more of your duties as mothers and church 
 women ; to consult together as to best means 
 to bring up your families; to conduct your 
 homes and to wait upon the Lord that He 
 may show you His will concerning you.” 
 
 In closing he said: “These nearby vil- 
 lages are all humming like swarming bees 
 in curiosity. ‘What are they doing over at 
 the church at Shin Tau?’ At the close of 
 this session this afternoon let us all walk 
 over to the nearest village and give them a 
 chance to ask us questions. You little girls 
 talk to little girls and you older girls talk 
 with the older girls, let the women seek 
 those of their own age as they will naturally, 
 
 14 
 
while I will get some Christian men and 
 boys to take care of that side of it. We will 
 go over, sing a song as we enter the village, 
 and may God guide us all to do the right 
 thing, and may their curiosity lead them to 
 look into this religion each for himself!” 
 They were cordially received and visited two 
 other villages on two other days. 
 
 For helpers in New China we must look 
 to the women who have come from Christian 
 homes; who have attended school and have 
 come to feel that they are part of a Big 
 Thing; that lots of others are helping too; 
 that other communities are receiving great 
 blessings. 
 
 President Yuan Shi Kai did women a won- 
 derful lot of good by issuing a proclama- 
 tion: That he should give preference to 
 men who had educated wives with unbound 
 feet, when he appointed his officials. And 
 he did, too. He made best use of men who 
 had been educated abroad. 
 
 The Republic decreed that girls’ schools 
 should be established throughout China. 
 Special School Boards of progressive men 
 were appointed to look after girls’ schools. 
 The Missions were the only sources where 
 teachers could be obtained. 
 
 The first time Christian women in China 
 realized their own numbers and ability to 
 act together as an organization was in 1894, 
 when they combined to send a beautifully 
 gotten up special edition of the New Testa- 
 ment, richly bound, to the Empress Dowager 
 on the occasion of her Jubilee celebration. 
 Printed on the gold plate that was set in 
 the silver covers was “From your most 
 loyal subjects, the Christian women of your 
 Empire,” etc. (literally translated). 
 
 Since then the idea has grown — conven- 
 tions, conferences, interdenominational 
 (what a cumbersome word! May it soon be 
 changed to United Church) meetings con- 
 
 15 
 
ducted by the women for the women, have 
 shown that the enlightened women are com- 
 ing into their own, are “making good,” as 
 Americans say. 
 
 The Christian religion and women’s 
 heaven-born virtue and ability, are the only 
 things that will crack and crumble down the 
 stone wall prisons of women’s souls erected 
 by men. 
 
 The Christian religion will do it, as peace- 
 fully, as noiselessly, as effectively as warm, 
 life-giving, sunshine will melt the thickest 
 ice, and make the women a helpful factor in 
 China’s redemption. 
 
 (Mrs. Paul D.) MARY I. BERGEN, 
 Weihsien, Shantung. 
 
 The Woman’s Society of the church at 
 Shanghai, China, is a Missionary Society, 
 an Aid Society and a Mother’s Club all in 
 one. It also combines the social element. 
 The subjects are varied, the meetings are 
 held in the homes of the members. At each 
 meeting the whole membership sews for an 
 hour on quilts and garments to be dis- 
 tributed to the poor and needy at Christmas 
 time. At that time, too, the women bring 
 outgrown garments neatly mended and re- 
 paired. These are to be given away and 
 the generosity of the women seems in some 
 cases to exceed their means. 
 
 One little widow who makes tiger shoes 
 for infants in order to support herself and 
 two small children last year donated several 
 pairs of the quaint little shoes as well as 
 some shoes and stockings for older children 
 and some new garments. Her children used 
 their own holiday money to buy the mate- 
 rial for the new garments and did as much 
 as they could to help in the sewing. In 
 fact, the small daughter helps her mother 
 
 16 
 
in the daily task of making shoes. She is 
 able to embroider the top edge. This gift 
 means great sacrifice, for they cannot at- 
 tend the Mission schools because the fees 
 are more than they can afford. 
 
 (MRS.) J. M. ESPEY, 
 
 Shanghai. 
 
 17 
 
OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL REFORM 
 The New Agricultural Movement 
 
 The inmates of the Widow’s Home in 
 Ningpo earn money for their church offer- 
 ings by making shoe soles. This is hard 
 work, the week’s output of about two pairs 
 of soles netting only ten cents of American 
 money. One of these women, almost blind, 
 made ten pairs of soles, nearly five weeks’ 
 work, and brought them to me as her offer- 
 ing to the orphans, an expression of her 
 gratitude for what she is receiving in the 
 Home. 
 
 It is good to see these women getting 
 their place ready each Monday afternoon for 
 the evangelistic meeting, inviting the neigh- 
 bors in, making tea, etc. All the work is 
 done by these five old widows, and their 
 rooms are perfectly clean and tidy, an ob- 
 ject lesson to the heathen neighbors. 
 
 (MISS) EDITH C. DICKIE, 
 Ningpo. 
 
 During the winter of 1911 a great famine 
 came upon all the region north of the 
 Yangtse River. Thousands of people 
 perished by starvation, and famine relief 
 was taken up in a most systematic way, 
 working through a central committee in 
 Shanghai. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Bailie of the Presby- 
 terian Board was then a teacher of mathe- 
 matics in the Middle School of the Univer- 
 sity at Nanking. A meeting was called at 
 the American Consulate and Mr. Bailie was 
 given the leadership of plans for local relief 
 work, some funds being made available by 
 the General Famine Relief Committee. The 
 following year land was granted by the 
 Government on the slopes of Purple Moun- 
 tain, outside the City of Nanking. 
 
 18 
 
It was a task for giants to make soil 
 deep enough to grow crops on this moun- 
 tain, but to-day you can take a carriage and 
 ride out of the city far up the sides of 
 Purple Mountain, between thrifty fruit 
 trees, thousands of them growing sturdily, 
 and see the little homes of the farmers 
 who work the land. 
 
 In the spring of 1915 the Governor Gen- 
 eral of the Philippines sent a Yale College 
 man, who is at the head of the forestry 
 department in Manila to investigate condi- 
 tions in China with a view to co-operating 
 in a school of forestry. Through the energy, 
 skill and perseverance of Mr. Bailie cor- 
 dially and actively supported by influential 
 Chinese and by the University, a depart- 
 ment of forestry was opened in the Univer- 
 sity during the school year of 1914-15. This 
 has resulted in a College of Agriculture and 
 Forestry, as a part of Nanking University, 
 with a full-time faculty and an enrollment 
 of 52 students, 40 in the forestry classes 
 and 12 of them agricultural students. 
 
 A Chinese student, recently returned from 
 America, has taken charge of the teaching 
 of the plant sciences. Among the students 
 are those sent by the Ministry of Agricul- 
 ture and Commerce, Peking; by the Gov- 
 ernors of Anhwei, Shantung, Kweichow, 
 Szechuen, Kiangsu; and the Forest Fund 
 Committee of Shanghai. The Governor of 
 Kiangsu made a donation of $500 to the 
 University for the agricultural and forestry 
 work. 
 
 It will fall to the lot of very few to do 
 what Mr. Bailie has done in the last four 
 years; after seeing the famine out to or- 
 ganize the Colonization Association of 
 China, with two branch colonies; to open 
 the College of Agriculture in the Univer- 
 sity, to be followed in less than a year by 
 a College of Forestry, for all of which he 
 
 19 
 
has received official recognition by the Gov- 
 ernment and financial help to further his 
 work. Over 70% of the expenses of this 
 department of the University is met from 
 Chinese sources. 
 
 During the winter of 1915-16 literature 
 dealing with Chinese agricultural and for- 
 estry problems, prepared by the College of 
 Agriculture and Forestry, has been regu- 
 larly sent out to over 230 Chinese news- 
 papers and magazines, twenty-odd governors 
 and a number of Chinese agricultural ex- 
 periment stations. They have been widely 
 published and used. In a number of cases 
 the provincial governors voluntarily sent 
 them out under their own seals, as official 
 announcements to the people. 
 
 Mr. John H. Reisner of the University in 
 his report for the year says: 
 
 “By no means the least delightful part of 
 our work is to watch the new students ad- 
 just themselves to the environment of a 
 Christian school. It is a big change from 
 their previous government-school experi- 
 ence, where a number of them from all in- 
 dications had undertaken no small share in 
 the administration of affairs which is usually 
 looked after by teachers and other officers 
 of the school, and where no Christian and 
 probably no moral or ethical instruction had 
 been given. 
 
 We cannot appreciate too much how well 
 *Dr. Williams led them into the teachings 
 and spirit of Christ, displacing their sus- 
 picions and gaining their interest. After 
 his return to the United States, when the 
 class was re-organized, they elected a Presi- 
 dent and Secretary, both of whom had been 
 sent by the Ministry of Agriculture and 
 Commerce at Peking, and are glad to hold 
 and acknowledge the responsibility of such 
 
 *Dr. Williams (Rev. J. E., D.D.) is the Vice-President 
 of the University. 
 
 20 
 
offices of a Bible class. Eight of the students 
 are now church members, and we feel that 
 before long many more will come forward 
 and take a definite Christian stand. Eight 
 may not seem many, but these are numbered 
 among the strongest and most active Chris- 
 tians in the University. 
 
 I believe the missionary church of God 
 will come more and more to see that there 
 are more open gateways into the hearts of 
 China’s three hundred millions of rural pop- 
 ulation through agriculture, in which they 
 ‘live and move and have their being,’ than 
 through any other approach — for on this 
 population the self-supporting and self- 
 propagating future Chinese native Chris- 
 tian church will depend in greatest meas- 
 ure.” 
 
 Report of Nanking Station. 
 
 Educated Wives 
 
 The young men of China are asking for 
 educated wives. The father of one of the 
 students in the English School at Chefoo 
 recently received a letter as follows: 
 
 “My fiancee must be educated. If her 
 parents are not willing to send her to 
 school I will meet the expense. If necessary 
 have her come to our own home and have 
 my mother take charge of her. Failing in 
 this the betrothal must be broken. My 
 future prospects will be greatly marred by 
 an uneducated wife.” 
 
 This is strong language for a Chinese 
 boy, but he is a fourth-generation Christian. 
 His great grandfather is Elder Lim Ching 
 San, the oldest Christian in Shantung and 
 one of the first students of theology. The 
 young man has cousins in American col- 
 leges and he is himself ambitious. What 
 he proposes are extreme measures viewed 
 from the Chinese standpoint. There is no 
 
 21 
 
school for his fiancee to attend except to go 
 to Chefoo and there she must go to the 
 Southern Baptist Girls’ School if they have 
 room for her. There are other cases like 
 this and the Presbyterians in Chefoo have 
 no school between the piumary and high- 
 school grades. 
 
 Report of Chefoo Station. 
 
 Vocational Work 
 
 The True-Model School, under the direc- 
 tion and control of the Bi-Z Church of 
 Hangchow, China, opened in March last a 
 vocational school or department. This Trade 
 School opened with twenty pupils, twelve of 
 whom were assigned to the carpenter shop 
 and eight to the printing department. After 
 a visit to the School of Industry in Shanghai 
 and seeing the rug-making classes, the Rev. 
 J. H. Judson investigated the possibilities 
 of adding this department to the Trade 
 School. A teacher was engaged to come 
 from Shantung who had been trained in 
 Shanghai. He brought with him about 600 
 pounds of yarn to begin work. In the mean- 
 time a man had been procured from a village 
 across the river from Hangchow, to come 
 and teach the preparation of the raw hair 
 and the spinning of it into yarn. Two 
 pupils were taken from the carpenter de- 
 partment and four from the printing de- 
 partment to constitute the new classes in 
 rug-making and yarn-spinning. The attempt 
 has been successful. 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties in this 
 new undertaking is to get the boys to under- 
 stand what was to be their position in this 
 new kind of school. They did not seem to 
 think at first that they were under dis- 
 cipline. This is a new feature in school life 
 in China, and something they will have to 
 learn more and more of as they go on. 
 
 22 
 
An agreement has been drawn up be- 
 tween the native Chinese church and the 
 Mission as to the use of the buildings owned 
 by the Mission and also the special Fund 
 for the Trade School. There was no squab- 
 bling whatever over small technicalities, but 
 an open, earnest desire to have all matters 
 plainly understood. It is the earnest hope 
 of all concerned that the True-Model School 
 in all its branches will prove to be so not 
 only in name, but in reality. 
 
 (REV.) J. H. JUDSON, 
 
 Hangchow. 
 
 Total Abstinence 
 
 The Presbyterian Mission Schools in 
 Shanghai, together with other schools in 
 their neighborhood, have taken a live inter- 
 est in the question of total abstinence. This 
 has been fostered by the Chinese teachers, 
 and several mass meetings have been held 
 in the Women’s Bible School. Every student 
 of this School took the pledge, albeit some 
 of the older women have in the past very 
 much liked wine and come from homes 
 where it will be very hard to have their new 
 point of view understood. 
 
 The President and Secretary of the Na- 
 tional Women’s Christian Temperance So- 
 ciety at different times visited the School 
 and held a series of meetings. “Miss Chun 
 was booked for a meeting in our church,” 
 writes Miss Silver, “the Sunday afternoon 
 Synod met with us. The gallery was opened 
 to ministers and other gentlemen who wished 
 to be present, and next morning each mem- 
 ber of the Synod was presented with an 
 envelope addressed to him personally, and 
 containing a few articles bearing on the 
 subject of the harmfulness of wine drink- 
 ing. These came from the Women’s Society 
 in the Bible School, but we felt God sent 
 
 23 
 
them through us, for that very morning, 
 unknown to us, there was presented from 
 the women of the Mission Press Church, a 
 petition to the members of the Synod to ex- 
 press themselves and to work for the aboli- 
 tion of the use of liquors, especially as now 
 the importation of foreign liquors, which are 
 much more harmful than the native wines, 
 is rapidly on the increase. This awakened 
 some discussion, as several of the ministers 
 have themselves been accustomed all their 
 lives to use the light wines of China.” 
 
 EMMA A. SILVER, 
 
 Shanghai. 
 
 24 
 


 Hospital Building in connection with the I nion Medical College 
 Tsinan. China 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the 
 
 Presbyterian Church in the l. S. A 
 156 Fifth Avenue. New York 
 
 Form 24TS 
 
 December, lain