CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE

Section I: East Asia Missions

Part 20: East Asia General, 1935-1949 and Annual letters for Japan, China and Canada, 1917-1949

Introduction to Part 20

The majority of this part is devoted to bound volumes of Annual Letters sent by missionaries and other workers for CMS to headquarters in London. The first reel however contains general information for the East Asia missions, 1935-1949. There is a wide range of material to be found: correspondence re wills of missionaries and “the abominable behaviour” of Colonel Skinner, Secretary of CEZMS in Madras who refused to send to England the luggage of Miss Isabel Frodsham, a CEZMS missionary in Madras; reports on the former CMS Children’s Home in England; circulars re grants, missionary housing, CMS funds, evacuation of missionaries from China in 1949, emergency plans for the China missions in 1948, donations to Chinese schools; memos re conferences, CMS work in the missions, the functions of the Executive Committee, the filing system of the Foreign Department; property insurance; applications to the Henry Venn Fund and Walter Jones Native Pastorate Fund.

There are also papers concerning outside organisations such as the Church Army, Dublin University Fukien Mission and the Presbyterian Episcopal Church in the USA.

The Annual Letters for Japan, China and Canada, 1917-1949 are from male and female missionaries, bishops, nurses, doctors and native ministers relating their work and experiences. The majority of the letters are from China as CMS had more workers in that country but there are many letters from Japan also. Letters from Canada are small in number and are included in East Asia Missions because the Canada mission was administered by the East Asia Committee in London.

As well as relating a missionary’s evangelical, medical or educational work the letters contain much on the customs and everyday life of the people they worked among and also on the political events which they lived through - for example the war between Japan and China, World War I, World War II and Communist China.

The missionaries and others are arranged alphabetically in each volume. The lists of missionaries give the dates the letters were written in chronological order, the name of the country and the mission station they worked in. Example of missionaries included are: Rev C I Blanchett, Canton, China; Edith M Bryant, Hokkaido, Japan; E J Clark, Ningpo, China; Alice M Cox, Ashuya, Japan; S L Hollis, Kowloon, Hong Kong; J R Lucas, Canada; Rev Sheldon Painter, Kumamoto, Japan; Rev John J Scott, Hiroshima, Japan; Rev Archdeacon J W Tims, Sarcee, Canada; Rev J R Wilson, Kweilin, China.

If the reader is interested in earlier Annual Letters from CMS missionaries the ones covering 1886-1912 can be found in CMS Section III Part 4.

The following extracts will give an idea of the wide ranging content of the annual letters:

Reel 421 Letter from Miss Eleanor Anderson, Chengtu, China
July 13 1933

… I would like to describe a very happy experience with a group of (Chinese) women, leading to much closer friendships….

They were anxious to learn some foreign cooking, largely because they said it was so hard with Chinese food to have something handy to give their children between meals. So a group of nine equipped themselves with ovens which could be used with Chinese stoves, made after a pattern we use in the mountains. They decided some of the things they wanted to learn and chose the women they felt most at home with for teachers.

These six foreign women had tea together one day and chose the things they would like to teach, also arranging the way they would carry out the teaching…. After the six lessons every Chinese woman was able to make good bread, cakes and biscuits, pies, soups and jam, and their husbands and guests proved most appreciative!

This very simple thing brought the Chinese wives much closer together, so that a proposal to have a Homemaking course met with very ready response. A visiting Chinese speaker gave a good impetus at a tea party to which all the wives were invited and they appointed a small committee to arrange the subjects for demonstration or discussion and arrange for the foreign women who were to take the classes. This group took its duties quite seriously and drew up a very good outline, taking in subjects like Simpler Entertaining; Training the difficult child; Games for the home; Saving for children’s education; Home Decoration and so on. About 14 people attended these courses and a very warm and friendly spirit began to grow up in a group which was originally much divided by jealousies and gossip….

Reel 421 Letter from Miss K M Andrews, Kaosanshih Hospital, Foochow, China August 28 1934

My Annual Letter this year will conform to many that you will be receiving from many parts of Fukien. Though late in time compared with other districts Kaosanshih is now overrun by bandits and unquiet days and nights have been our portion for many months. Two attacks on the town, unwalled and very defenceless, took place in October 1933 but were driven back by the townsmen, and, hearing of the people’s extremity the head official in Foochow sent soldiers down just in time to avert tragedy…. Naturally this tells very much on the hospital work. The roads are rarely safe for travel….

Reel 421 Letter from Miss M Armfield, Mienchuhsien Station, China 30 Nov 1919

Shihfang - The first part of the year was spent chiefly in visiting the outstations and markets of this district. Altogether twenty one visits were paid to fourteen different places. The work has gone on steadily here. Three women have been baptized….

Tsen-tao-ch’ang – Weekly visits have been paid to this outstation and a class held with the women. … A year ago, a family here, resolved to put away their idols. While the idols were burning, the old mother who is nearly seventy and very deaf, thought of various papers she ...kept hidden away in her bedroom…. Gladly she put them on the fire and watched them reduced to ashes.

Hsiao-Ch’uen – the work at this place is very dead. There is only one Christian woman. However, it is a good centre for book-selling, as there are several markets within easy reach….

Reel 421 Letter from Dr Charlotte Bacon, Kweilin, China
31 Dec 1923

The year 1923 has seen the following events in connection with the progress of the medical work in Kweilin.

Progress in organisation of the inpatient department of the Kweilin Hospital.

Ever since my return to Kweilin in 1920 I have been more or less engaged in building operations as well as all the ordinary medical work….. there still are many things to be finished….

Sister Santler returned to Kweilin in the autumn of 1922 and at once the inpatient department began to look up in its organisation and efficiency. During the year we have had 171 inpatients.

Progress in the training of nurses. We are at present able to take seven or eight nurses. To these I have to give four hours a week of actual class teaching… The nurses here are mostly Xtians and if for any particular reason we take a heathen, thank God there are soon evidences of a changed outlook and consecration of life…. We make a great point of the nurses helping to teach the patients the things of the gospel.

Visiting the homes. This is a part of the work that I value very highly. And like to buy up all opportunities in this direction. It brings me I feel more directly into contact with the people than anything else.

Itinerating. In spite of the extremely unsettled state of the country I was able to do about a month’s itinerating ( Sister Santler was also able to go out). We used the time for vaccinations ( the Chinese 2nd month) for this and thus got good crowds and attentive hearings at the evangelistic meetings held in connection with the dispensaries…. Personally I feel it one of the most important sides of our work to demonstrate to the heathen in all of these outstations, that “preaching and healing” still go hand in hand.

Reel 421 Letter from Miss Alice M Bakewell, Limchow, China November 1925

One had heard and read much about “Changing China”. The truth of this idiom was brought home to me on my return from furlough last Autumn. In Hong Kong, Kowloon and Canton one noted many changes, and, arriving in Pakhoi one at once realised this spirit of the age had also reached the ancient, conservative, inland city of Lim-chow. Instead of a long journey by sedan chair, taking five or six hours, a new motor road had been made and the journey from Pakhoi Hospital Gate to our own compound outside the Little South Gate of Lim-chow was accomplished in one hour. This effects our work as well as our comfort by establishing easy access to the coast. The Motor Depot is exactly opposite St Barnabas Church and crowds of men, and boys collect there, therefore by ringing the bell, and, playing the organ in church a congregation can be gathered speedily and during the first half of this year the Cathedral held Gospel Meetings for men in the Church which were well attended….
Dispensary – Steady work medical and evangelistic has been undertaken three mornings each week. Already over a thousand first visits have been paid this year in spite of having to close for more than three months….

Reel 421 Letter from John Batchelor, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
6 November 1918

At the present moment, we, at Sapporo, are all down with that world-wide epidemic “Spanish Flu”, and, in my case at least, I must confess that I do not feel particularly Mark Tapleyish. Still, one must do the best he can to keep on smiling in spite of pains, and aches, and sneezes. All the schools in this city are closed as so many of the teachers and pupils are laid by.

I am happy to say that there has been steady progress in the work in my District again this year, notwithstanding the fact that we are so terribly short handed and cut down in the means of carrying on either Evangelistic work or teaching the Christians anything like as effectually as we feel ought to be done….

In travelling among the villages one is met with great delight and the poor down-trodden Ainu in general come together well to hear, while some of the christians travel miles to attend the services, get their children Baptised, hear the Word preached, talk over their troubles, receive a word or two of comfort, get some of their ailments healed, and last, but not least, receive the Holy Communion. Though extremely poor, the Ainu are very kind and hospitable. They do their best to fill one up with peas, beans, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, cucumbers, and other garden produce, and sometimes an egg is brought along, and presented, or even a live fowl or bit of fish. This autumn I was once again offered a dish of stewed bear to eat, but as these animals are often killed by means of poison I considered it best to decline. The flesh does not appear to harm the Ainu but it might not possibly agree with me….

Reel 422 Letter from Miss S Beattie, Pakhoi, China August 13 1928

As I write we are in the middle of a typhoon so I am hoping to get this written without frequent interruptions. Being the only member of the Church Missionary Society stationed in Pakhoi my duties are many, as apart from my real duties as Superintendent nurse of the Pakhoi General, Maternity and Leper Hospitals, many other details of mission work fall to my share, all the superintendence and repair of buildings, accounts and correspondence or as Dr Sing calls it, General Business manager.

When the day often begins with preparations for operations at six am, and I do an evening round after dinner, the time for letters is limited. I returned to Pakhoi after Chinese National Day October 10th 1927. Dr Sing had preceded me by three weeks. For a short time all was peaceful, then we were suddenly startled by the sound of firing, everything was confusion crowds pouring into the compound. Poor Dr Sing, new to Pakhoi, not understanding the people or language, with a vivid remembrance of his recent stay amongst pirates, was very upset, as they said it was a party of brigands attacking the town.

However, acting on the advice of the workers, he and his family changed into ordinary coolie clothes and mixed with the crowd. Fortunately the Nationalist soldiers here were able to repulse the attack and reinforcements arrived, so the rebels were driven back to their strongholds and caves in the hills beyond Linchow. There are a large number still at a place called MA,LAAN and each new General in charge of troops tries to conquer them. Seldom a day passes without somebody is brought to us wounded during the process. The Chinese military authorities have no hospital and send all their more severely wounded to us as in-patients….

Reel 422 Letter from Rev J Bird, Chuki, Chekiang, China Letter for 1922-3

During the year under review Chuki and the surrounding portions of the country have been affected by floods bandits and famine. BANDITS Those three trials have on the one hand restricted our movements as we were unable to itinerate as much as usual. The local officials considered it unwise for us to risk travelling in the country, as there was always the danger of bandits seizing the foreigners and extorting ransom from the perplexed officials.

Eventually the bandit chief was killed and travelling became possible about the beginning of May 1923. Any itinerating with a party of Catechists was impossible previous to that date as the arrival of a party in any village would cause panic and drive the people indoors.

FAMINE Floods and famines closely follow one another in China and the heavy rains of Summer 1922 caused the embankments to break and inundate the rice fields in practically all our district. As there was no immediate cessation of rains, the rice crop was lost and all hope of replanting had to be abandoned owing the lateness of the floods…. Famine relief work was immediately taken in hand and a branch of the international organisation set up in Chuki….

Reel 422 Letter from Rev C Blanchett, Canton, China
30 November 1926

My 1925 Annual Letter was written when the Anti-British Boycott had been in vigorous operation for five months. Another twelve months have passed, and although the boycott is not entirely finished, conditions of life have improved for foreigners, and the outward appearance of things is much brighter. History alone will prove whether the changes which have come will be for the good of the common people or not. Now that the worst is over, it is only right to record that some of our missionaries have felt the strain, and I would like to mention the following who have faced special hardship: Rev and Mrs C N R Mackenzie, Miss G E Dunk, Miss S Beattie; and Rev and Mrs W W Rogers who with two small children remained at their post till the end of term without servants in the hot weather.

The Anti-British boycott produced an atmosphere which imposed a severe discipline upon the average Englishman: his temper has been tested and his pride of race rebuked. The Chinese man-in-the-street has looked on and seen many a proud Englishman keep his temper while he has been searched and insulted by the pickets. The onlooker has learned some good lessons from this display of self-control, but many have also come to the conclusion that the Chinese are right and the English are wrong; otherwise they would not have endured the ordeal. (I do not endorse their opinion)….

Reel 422 Letter from Miss Amy Bosanquet, Tokyo, Japan
November 1918

…. Japan is fast becoming a manufacturing country. The War has given a great impetus to the industrial tendency, directly and indirectly. Individual businessmen have discovered that huge fortunes can be made. Working men have been earning high wages at all sorts of new jobs. The nation has seen what great things can be done by countries like England and America, which are financially strong, so the latest ambition of Japan is to become a great, rich, industrial power. Factories and workshops are springing up fast and we look to the new, energetic reinforcements whom we expect to welcome when things have settled down to help us old hands to face and deal with the new problems which are coming to the front….

Reel 423 Letter from Rev G Carpenter, Hong Kong 3 February 1927

…. The chief event in the past year has been the rise of the Cantonese power, and the Cantonese armies have been spreading over most of the southern and central provinces of China…. Probably you would be interested to know what southern rule is like, and in what the south differs from the north.

Many people thought that when the great southern leader Dr Sun yat sen died, the southern cause would soon die out too. It was not so, however. Other younger leaders came forward among whom is the young military commander Chang kai-sik. Dr Sun’s influence lasts even though he himself is dead, and his will is appointed to be read once a week in all schools under the southern government. His will contains a statement of the three principles for which he worked and which are the political creed of the Kuomintang or People’s Party. The three principles may be translated roughly: nationalism, democracy, the people’s welfare. The Kuomintang is the only party in China with any ideals or breadth of vision. The northern leaders with the possible exception of Chang cio-ling in Manchuria all seem out each for his own personal ends….

Reel 425 Letter from Rev Fry, Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada
20 December 1917

…. After our visitors had gone we settled down to our Fall Work. There were endless things to be done, such as getting winter’s fuel, sealing and fishing etc. We procured, by much hard work, 36 cords of drift wood which had been washed up on the coast of the Main Land within 30 miles of the Island….

September the 7th. With an Eskimo guide I started on an itineration to the mountain Eskimos of the Herschel Island River District. (These people are all in Alaskan Territory). Previous to our departure the weather was very severe and our sleds were loaded a full week before we were able to make a start, even then we had to set off in a strong wind which increased to a blinding gale before we had travelled more than about nine miles so that we had to make an early camp. We had a small tent along with us, we erected this nside a snow house and were fairly comfortable for the night….. We travelled very much in this way for ten days before we came across any Eskimos…. The Eskimos whom we saw on our journey seldom visit the coast. They appear to have migrated from the head waters of the Alaskan Rivers which flow into the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska…. Their houses are very much larger and higher than any other Eskimo house that I have ever seen…. The houses are built of logs, covered with sod and snow and situated in the mid’st of a group of trees. The chief food of the people is deer-meat and fish. This they eat raw and frozen, seldom cooking anything but the boney parts. In the first group that we saw there were 16 people living in 3 houses. We came upon them unexpectedly and they appeared highly excited but glad to have us amongst them. That same evening they gave a dance in honour of our arrival. Men, women and children performed before us to the accompaniment of drum beating and singing….

Reel 428 Report of the CMS Japan Mission by Rev A C Hutchinson
July 1929-June 1930

NATIONAL EVENTS AND CONDITIONS

At the beginning of July, 1929 a new Cabinet was formed under Mr Hamaguchi. Leader of the Minselto. This brought a sense of relief to the country, which had become more and more dissatisfied with the Tanaka Cabinet and its “accumulated troubles”, domestic and foreign. The new Government takes a wiser and more liberal line about most matters.

In Foreign Policy it is favourable to the principles of the League of Nations, to the idea of disarmament and to the limitation of naval forces. Unfortunately its leaders and its representatives at the London Naval Conference this spring have been fiercely attacked by some of the naval authorities because of the concessions made there. Relations with China have improved.

Marxism is apparently gaining ground among working men and students. The present Government realises that it is useless to try to combat it merely by proscribing and confiscating “red” literature and making arrests of real or suspected rebels. It seems to be anxious to arrange for special instruction and guidance on social and “dangerous” topics in the colleges, which is a more hopeful course….

Reel 434 Letter from Dr H R Pakenham, Kien-ning Fu Hospital, Fukien, China 19 December 1923

Our work in KIEN-NING FU hospital in the FUKIEN Mission during the past year has been rather difficult owing to disturbed conditions and the increased amount of soldiery: we have treated men from most of the northern provinces. The difference in languages often caused inconvenience but was got over; to those of us who are confined in the preaching of the gospel, by a knowledge of only the local dialect it was trying not to be able to do much more than treat sicknesses for many for many of these fine young fellows….

Some thousands of these men have been moving up through this Province to attack CHEKIANG province, many of them utterly unfit for the road, suffering from various acute and chronic diseases, bowel troubles, unsuitable or insufficient food and the rigours of the season….

There has not been so much bubonic plague in the city during the past year – though a servant in one of our foreign houses contracted it but I am pleased to say was successfully treated early with iodine intravenous injections: but it was severe in two or three villages away to the east

Reel 439 Letter from Rev D K Akehurst, Kutien, China
September 1938

Kutien City district is divided up into eight smaller districts each smaller district being under the care in most cases of catechists (of whom we have six) and in one case a Pastor, another case a Bible woman only. Divided up among these districts are some forty or more villages and towns which have Churches and regular congregations, there are also many other villages which are touched by the catechists and from which Christians come but which as yet have no Church or distinct congregation. By making short four or five day stays at each of the smaller districts I was able in company with the Catechist or Pastor to become acquainted with the local Christians, the villages and a certain number of the non-Christian people in and around the villages….

There are certain discouraging features which are inevitable at this stage. In some villages there has been backsliding, slipping back of men and women into idolatry, marrying second wives, etc which have caused them to be cut off from the Church and has led them back into their old ways. There is a sad lack of the spirit of service on the part of Christian Church members, much too much has to be shouldered entirely by the Catechist, Bible Woman or Day school teachers because they are regarded as being “paid to do that sort of work”…. This has accounted to a large extent for the slowness with which Sunday school work has been taken up and developed in the villages. The one paid worker very rarely can be at one place every Sunday and with no real helpers he hesitates to do much in the way of Sunday schools, and yet I am convinced this is a terrific necessity…..

The war situation greatly affected our work in the school. As a result of the taking of Amoy by the Japanese the Educational authorities in Foochow became alarmed and ordered all the Middle Schools to move inland. During May Trinity College moved 120 of its students and 14 masters up to Kutien and although our own school was crammed to its utmost we managed to accommodate this large number of students….

Reel 439 Letter from Mrs Grace Akehurst, Kutien, China
September 1938

…. Kutien is a very quiet beautiful place, with lovely hills, woods, and valleys, and little villages and towns set down in huddled heaps in the midst of all the beauty. The villages are not as clean as one would wish, but the people are always so glad to see us. Whenever we visit distant places we receive a warm welcome and many offers of hospitality, and though at first it is very strange to have to eat meals, or rest, or wash under the gaze of a crowd of interested spectators, one grows used to it and accepts it all as a proof of friendly interest. I well remember one occasion on which I went to a distant village with my husband and the Bishop for a Confirmation service. I had been in China less than two months and could say only a phrase used in greeting meaning “peace to you”. A little crowd watched us wash and eat a meal, and then we all went to the service. Immediately the service was over, before my husband could take off his robes the women seized me. They realised that I couldn’t understand anything they said, so they took my arms and walked me into a room where they all sat around me as close as possible and thoroughly inspected me. My dress and everything else was felt and in return they showed me their babies and we all gesticulated and smiled our approval of each other. By the time my husband came for me to begin the return journey my pockets and hands were full of peanuts and sweets of various kinds….

…. In Kutien itself besides language study I have been able to help a little by teaching English in the boys school. That has been great fun…. We have had the boys in to meals whenever possible, and have enjoyed their visits very much. They are very friendly and ask many questions about our “honourable” country. They seem to have a special interest in the Royal Family. Once this shyness has worn off and they become interested in a conversation or keen on any of the games we show them they act in just the same way as a group of English boys…..

Of course the war casts a shadow over everything and only too often our senior boys are sent out by Government to country places on propaganda work, so that patriotism and hatred for Japan colours a great deal of their thought. Kutien city has twice been bombed, a horrible experience made more painful by the sight of the white terrified faces of children and mothers as they run for shelter. Very little damage was done on either occasion beyond the death of a few peaceful peasants who were working in their fields and one poor old woman who was too ill to leave her room, but while the raid lasted and for a few days afterwards the terror was acute….

Reel 439 Letter from Miss R A Barton, Kienow, China
5 August 1937

In March, 1934, it took just over a week to reach Kienow, but in January of 1937 when Bishop and Mrs Hind came up to see us the same journey took just over a day, approximately twentyeight hours. The city itself had, like most others, narrow cobble streets: that first journey from the river to the Blind Girls’ Compound seemed to be a never ending maze, but now, we have wide, well-paved, tree-lined streets with motor cars and rickshaws. The shops too are very fine, vieing with Foochow and Shanghai; large glass-fronted shops with a great variety of goods displayed including many foreign, Japanese and German makes.

Outside the city, a very fine bridge is being built to allow buses to come through the gates instead of people having the very slow journey across the ferry to and from the bus station which is practically impossible when the river is in flood.

Bus roads lead from the city to Kienyang, Pucheng and on to the rail-head and Shanghai, so that now goods come more quickly overland from Shanghai than up-river from Foochow.

All these improvements have had a great effect on the Hospital. Patients come from Hinghwa, Foochow, Shanghai, Kienyang, Chungnan, Pucheng, with their respective dialects so that sometimes I liken the Hospital to “the tower of Babel”, as, in addition to all these, patients from surrounding villages add their brogues which are many and varied….

Our nurses, as well as going to the lepers, now go out visiting former patients. One day they visited the Foundling Home where a woman lives who had been a Christian but had fallen away. They found that the children looked rather neglected and I suggested we should have a weekly clinic there. Dr Uang Dau-Bo approached the authorities and now they have appointed a native doctor to look after them, and I hear there is a decided improvement in the condition of the children now….

That bandits are still active we know because of the patients we occasionally get into the Hospital; a young girl shot through the right hand and leg, a young boy of fourteen shot through both legs, a man shot through the shoulder and another through the head.

A bus overturned brought three men into us, two with head injuries, then in the last week of June seven policemen were brought into us; there had been a riot in the streets and the policemen had been severely beaten. This was the result of the many rules being enforced and the wholesale inoculation of the people with plague vaccine, so many had had bad reactions that they thought and said “This is not good medicine”, so when an excuse presented itself they were not slow in shewing their displeasure….

Reel 440 Letter from Rev G K Carpenter, South China Mission, Hong Kong August 1938

The Sino-Japanese war has necessarily hung as a heavy cloud over the work of the past year 1937-8. The province of Kwagtung has suffered from continual air raids from August ’37 until the time of writing, and while so far we have been spared the horrors of invasion, the many bombs dropped both on the city of Canton, and on the surrounding districts, have caused severe loss of life among non-combatants and much destruction of property….

Effects of the War on the Church

The war has led to a deepening sense of national citizenship and has quite wonderfully united the people of China in the will to resist Japanese aggression. Chiang Kai Shek has won the respect and loyalty of the great majority of the nation, and holds a unique place as its leader. Amongst Christians there has been a deepening of the spiritual life, and a stimulating of prayer not only for sufferers of their own nation, but also for the Church and people of Japan. An observer has told me that in the invaded areas, hatred of Japan far exceeds the feeling against Germany during the war in Gt Britain, but my own experience of the attitude of Chinese Christians here in the south has been such as to make me amazed at their freedom from the mass-hate which war seems so inevitably to produce, and at their recognition of the fact that the mass of the Japanese people are at the mercy of their own militarist leaders….

Hong Kong

Hong Kong occupies a uniquely important position in relation to the present conflict. Its recent immense additions to its fortifications has probably been a factor of no little strength in enabling it to remain an open and neutral port through which supplies of all kinds pass into the interior of China via the Canton-Hankow Rlwy. It contains at a moderate estimate some 300,000 refugees from all parts of China, and the problems so created of housing, and public health are so big, that recently a means test has been imposed upon new arrivals. Our schools are without exception crowded, although while students have been coming in from the war areas in large numbers, a certain number of parents in Siam and the East Indies have withdrawn their children on the ground that Hong Kong itself is not safe. The number of refugees and visitors provides a wonderful opportunity for evangelism of which we have tried to take advantage within the means at our disposal, and two of our ladies unable to go back to their stations have been giving their full time to this work.

Reel 441 Letter from Canon A C Hutchinson, Fukuoka, Japan
13 July 1937

The last twelve months have been not less eventful for the Far East than for Europe. In Japan two changes of Government show the strain to which the Nation is being subjected in these “years of crisis”, by its efforts to build up its armaments to the level where it will be able to pursue its own policy on the mainland of Asia without fear of serious interference from outside. The Country appears to be distrustful of the disinterestedness of civilian politicians, while the Army undoubtedly lost face through the abortive military revolt of Feb 1936. However the Fighting Forces still hold the reins of power, and more than one incident shows that the civil Departments of the Government are unwilling or unable to risk a conflict with the military when the latter illegally forbid foreign missionaries to live in or visit certain districts of the Empire.

There have been frequent occasions of friction, and a series of such incidents as might easily lead to war with China or Russia (at the time of writing news comes of actual fighting near Pekin) but so far peace has been preserved. Perhaps the most striking event in international affairs in the Far East has been the revelation of a new national unity and strength given by China at the time of Chiang Kai-shih’s capture by the Young Marshal.

The growing strength of China is a factor which will have a profound influence upon the whole World situation….

Since I began this letter the clash near Pekin has developed into a major crisis, and the indications are that Japan and China will be at war before many days are past. We pray that even now this tragedy may be averted. In order to understand the fundamental principles of Japanese Foreign Policy it is necessary to remember that the ruling class, as a whole, have rejected the idea of God as an objective Being, and hold that the deity is only revealed in and through human personalities…. It follows that the Nation has a divine Mission to impose its culture upon other nations. It is the Japanese form of a doctrine which is only too familiar in Europe.

Reel 443 Letter from Rev D K Akehurst, Kutien, Fukien, China
29 August 1949

…. Apart from the general shock which the outbreak of the war brought to us all, we in Kutien had an unpleasant experience in September last when Japanese planes paid two visits to the City and bombed a village not more than 400-500 yards from our CMS compound. Large houses in this village had at one time been used to house army officers and, as in so many cases, although the men had moved on to other places, yet the village paid the price of its forced hospitality. The casualties were few compared with the number of houses destroyed but a great number of homes were completely wrecked. Kutien people are rather easily alarmed and these two raids had the effect of emptying the city for a number of weeks and services, poorly attended, had to be fixed at “safe” hours. At that time our Compound was accommodating nearly a thousand students and although we get good warning of visiting planes, yet it was thought necessary that two big air-raid shelters should be built burrowing deep into and under the hill. Fortunately since then we have had no further raids although planes have passed over several times and on one occasion bombed the road some 16 miles away but well within our hearing.

…. The reaction of the War has not been very marked, unless one links up Japan’s actions with those of the European nations. This year has been absolutely unprecedented in respect to the price of rice. Almost a year ago in Kutien the price of rice rose to a figure unknown in living memory. Since then the price has increased to five times even that figure. This has been a direct outcome of the Sino-Japanese war, Japanese blockade etc. As rice is the staple food, all other goods have risen in proportion. Of course it has to be borne in mind that a large percentage of the people rarely buy their rice but grow it or receive their wages in rice ( if they are field workers) but there has been a good deal of real distress amongst the poorer people….

Reel 443 Letter from Monica Ansell, Kwang Chi Hospital, Hangchow, Chekiang, China 27 August 1948

It is nearly a year and a half since I returned to China, after an absence of nearly 10 years, and I must confess that it took me some time to settle down sufficiently to get a clear idea of things as they were.

…. The City of Hangchow does not seem to me to have changed much in appearance during the years, in spite of the war, very little structural damage seems to have been done, but what does impress me is the advance in Western ideas and ways – literally thousands of bicycles – many more cars and large motor trucks – neon lighting to replace the old silk banners used as shop signs – the adoption by almost all modern men of Westernstyle clothes – many more book shops and a greater amount of comparatively cheap literature, both good and bad – but together with all this modern influence there still remains the dirt, and filth and dire poverty of the poor, huddled in houses we at home would class as shacks unfit to house animals, and living on the border-line of starvation, particularly during the winter months.

There still seems to be the distinct cleavage between the two classes. The rich on the one hand, and the poor on the other. The rich are rich and want for nothing in the material way, the poor have barely a garment to cover them. Speaking generally the rich still seem to have no sense of moral responsibility towards their poorer neighbours.

Reel 443 Letter from Mabel Baggs, Fukuyama, Japan, July 1946

As I have been unable to write an annual letter since July 1941, I suppose I should give a brief report of the last five years….

….The Bishop of Kobe had planned to get me up to Kobe if war seemed imminent and had hoped to keep me out of internment, but it was not to be…. On December 9th when four plain-clothes policemen came to fetch me to the police station I was so helped to speak and act in the right way that I was treated with the utmost courtesy and kindness…. We were there for four days, and then were taken home for an hour or two to collect all the necessary furniture and necessities for running the Internment camp…. The next day we went three hours by train to Miyoshi an old town in the hills in the north of Hiroshima province. It was a Methodist Kindergarten, beautifully situated and quite comfortable…. The Commandant shewed real interest in all that concerned us, and, though not a Christian, was very sympathetic, and sometimes came, at our invitation to our services, and often asked about our Christian teaching….

At the end of exactly one year our Camp was closed and we were all sent up to Tokyo to the already established bigger camps there. At the end of September 1942, Miss Nash had been brought to join us. The Tokyo camp was not so pleasant, as there were more restrictions and many more police guards and no privacy. Also the cooking was done for us by incompetent and dirty cooks from a restaurant. If it had not been for the Red Cross parcels, which we received for Christmas 1942, we should have fared badly, as sometimes the food was uneatable…..

….When the raids became very frequent and more and more serious, the police sent Miss Nash to the Roman Catholic hospital where they could better care for her. This was a great relief to me when the time came for us to be burnt out on May 25th, 1945…. Through all these terrible raids the police and the cooks, continued to shew us the same courtesy and kindness, even when they had lost their homes and relations in the fires – a true lesson to us in forgiveness….

August 15th was a wonderful day for all when the Emperor courageously stood out and proclaimed peace. The Christians came joyfully to see us, and all the people in the streets looked relieved. Naturally we did not shew too much elation before our humiliated captors, but thanked God for answering our prayers and bringing the end without invasion.

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