THE GOSPEL IN CHINA

Evening Star, Issue 23368, 11 September 1939, Page 8

THE GOSPEL IN CHINA

WAR-WORN MISSION FIELD A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED A hundred years ago to-day (writes the Shanghai correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ on July 28) James Legge set sail for the Far East to found a tradition of scholarly missionary endeavour in China which the present hostilities, like all previous material obstacles, have quite failed to defeat. Great though the physical losses of the missionary societies in China have been during the past two years, the spiritual gains have been even greater. The mission boards are still receiving reports of. churches bombed, of hospitals occupied, of residences looted, of schools forced to close or move elsewhere. At the same time they are receiving reports of larger congregations, of increased numbers of converts, of a widespread interest in the Gospel. The war in China has been both a great challenge to Christianity and a great opportunity. Missionaries are unanimous in asserting that most of the losses have been caused by looting. The fires which have been the other main source of loss (at Nanking they were especially bad) have been caused sometimes by incendiary bombs from Japanese aeroplanes, sometimes by the Chinese in pursuance of their “ scorched earth ” policy. The London Missionary Society put their losses in Shanghai and the surrounding districts at not less than £20,000; the Methodist Episcopal Mission at not less than £8,000; the American Baptist Mission (North) at not less than £34.000; and the Methodist Episcopal Mission (South) at not less than £34,000. The two largest Protestant bodies, the China Inland Mission and the American Presbyterian (North), confess themselves unable to make even a rough estimate, although they admit that the damage has been great. The- Catholic missions (who have nearly 13,000 foreign and Chinese priests, brothers, and nuns working in China) are also unable to furnish details, but their losses, too, must run into millions of dollars. BOMBED, HOSPITALS. In a country that knows little of hygiene much practical Christianity has found expression in medical work. A survey of the damage suffered by Protestant mission hospitals was carried out by the Council on Medical Missions of the Chinese Medical Association in the autumn of 1938. The council estimated the losses at between £34,000 and £51,000. It found that 34 out of 300 hospitals had been affected ; 11 had been bombed or destroyed, 12 had been damaged or looted, seven had been occupied by troops, four had been closed. Last March three more hospitals were bombed. Nevertheless nearly all the hospitals are now functioning again. All but one of the 13 Christian universities opened as usual at the beginning of the-hostilities, Yenching University in Peking, where the actual hostilities were not so severe as in South and Central China, has been able to continue in spite of the Japanese occupation, and West China Union University in Chengtu has so far been outside the arena of hostilities. Apart from these two, however, all had to move, some to the interior, some to neutral territory. Lingnan University at Canton, for example, moved to Hongkong; Cheefoo University at Tsinan, Ginling College (the Women’s College) at Nanking, and the University of Nanking moved to Chengtu in Szechwan; Hua Chung College of Wuchang moved first to Kweilin, then to Kunming, and is now in Hsichow in Yunnan. The two colleges at Foochow, where the Japanese had' long been expected to land, moved inland to Shaowu and Yenping respectively. The universities of Hangchow and Soochow (cities under Japanese control) moved into Shanghai. The university of Shanghai and St; John’s University (also in Shanghai) moved from the danger zones of Yangtzepoo and Jessfield road into the comparative safety of the International Settlement. Enrolments have not been as large as usual, but it is amazing that these colleges should have managed to carry on at all. MISSIONARIES KILLED. The strain imposed on the missionaries themselves has been severe. Catholic missions, according to the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith, have lost 19 foreign missionaries and three Chinese priests. A' bishop and eight priests were killed at Chengting, in Hopei, on October 9, 1937, shortly after the capture of that city by the Japanese. The larger Protestant missionary groups have not had any missionaries killed, but strain and worry have taken their toll, and reports have come in of dead and missing among the Chinese workers. Two English Baptist missionaries. Dr H. G. Wyatt and Miss Beulah Glasby, were killed in Shansi on May 5, 1938, when the lorry in which they were travelling was fired on by Chinese guerrillas who thought it was Japanese. A young English Methodist missionary, Hr A. G. Leigh, was killed on March 15 during the bombardment of Pingyiang, in Hunan. Three Church of the Brethren missionaries disappeared in Shansi in the autumn of 1937 before the tide of the Japanese invasion. Dr Frank Rawlinson, of the American Board of Foreign Missions, was killed in Shanghai on August 14, 1937. that disastrous day when Chinese aeroplanes dropped bombs on the settlement. Major James Dempster, of the Salvation Army, was killed on April 28. 1938, when the Salvation Army hospital at Tinghsien, in Hopei, was attacked bv bandits. Dr O. L. Eaton, a New Zealand missionary, was killed by bandits on April 9, 1939, at Kongchuen, in Kwangtung Province. On Juno 24 the Rev. A. A. and Mrs Caswell, of the Canadian Holiness Movement’s mission at Changteh, in Western Hunan, were killed in a big air raid during which the Japanese are said to have deliberately and systematically bombed the mission. RELATIONS WITH JAPANESE. The position of the foreign missionaries vis-a-vis the Japanese is difficult. The missionaries are naturally sympathetic with those who are suffering as a result of the war. Being supported by and on rapport with organisations at Home they function unconsciously and indirectly,'as a powerful organ of propaganda’ in favour of the Chinese. In the occupied areas mission educators are very liable to come into conflict with the Japanese, especially over the question of text books, as they have done already in Japan and more especially in Korea. Both Catholic and Protestant missionaries have been charged with pro-Chinese activities. There have been cases also where missionaries have been prevented from returning to their stations, allegedly on the grounds of military necessity or where they have been' kept virtual prisoners in their stations. . The missionaries state, however, that on the whole the Japanese have be-

haved well towards them. On occupy* ing a new city the Japanese forces have usually made it one of their first dutiea to establish cordial relations. Where friction has occurred it has usually been the fault of officious subordinates or of Chinese puppet officials. Shortly after the fall of Hankow Prince Higashikum. who was commanding the Japanesa forces in Central China, remarked! u Japanese who come to live in China and shoulder the responsibility of reconstructing a new East Asia can learn a great deal from the untiring effort* of missionaries.” In spite of the material losses which thev have suffered and the difficulties which they face in their work to-day, although they admit that many of tlieir converts, if not “ rice ’’ Christians, are probably “ refugee Christians, missionareis feel that they are making real spiritual progress.