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CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE

Section I: East Asia Missions

Part 15: Western China Mission, 1897-1934

Part 16: Western China Mission, 1898-1934 and Fukien Mission, 1900-1934

Part 17: Fukien Mission, 1911-1934

Part 18: Fukien Mission, 1900-1934, Kwangsi-Hunan Mission, 1911-1934, China General, 1935-1951
              and South China, 1935-1951

Part 19: South China Mission, 1935-1951, Fukien Mission, 1935-1951 and Kwangsi-Hunan Mission,
              1935-1951

 

Introduction to Part 18

Part 18 continues coverage of missions to China. It consists of the Fukien Mission covering Original Papers, 1930-1934 and Précis Books, 1900-1934; the Kwangsi-Hunan Mission covering Letter Books, 1911-1934, Original Papers, 1911-1934 and the Précis Books for 1911-1934. Also included are the China General and South China Missions for 1935-1951.

Fukien Mission, 1900-1934

This covers Original papers, 1930-1934 and Précis Books 1900-1934. The Original Papers, 1930-1934 consist of the documents sent by the missionaries and the mission secretary to the CMS headquarters in London. There are letters from missionaries describing their first impressions, requesting furloughs, increases in salary, permission to marry, illness and retirement and there are vivid descriptions of their travels in the countryside and their work carried out in the missions. These are contained in the missionaries’ letters, journals and annual reports.

Other material includes: Minutes of meetings; reports on the Fukien Christian University at Foochow giving details on finance, salaries, allowances; reports on the Fukien Church Day Schools; reports on the Union Kindergarten Training School at Foochow, the CMS Mission for Blind Boys at Foochow and the Fukien Annual Missionary Conference.

There are telegrams giving the latest news for example: “Primary School has been totally destroyed by fire. Cause not yet known”; documents in Chinese; photos of schoolchildren.

The Précis Books, 1900-1934 contain a précis of all the incoming papers prepared for the Group Committee. The précis comprises the number, date, writer, date received, summary of contents, proposals for committee action to be taken and/or the Secretary’s remarks.

Kwangsi-Hunan Mission, 1911-1934

This covers Letter Books 1911-1934, Original Papers, 1911-1934 and one Précis Book, 1911-1934.

The Letter Books, 1911-1934 contain private and confidential letters from the Secretary in London to individual missionaries. A wide range of subjects is to be found covering all manner of missionary activity.

The Original Papers, 1911-1934 consist of the documents sent by the missionaries and the mission secretary to CMS headquarters in London. There are letters, journals and annual reports from missionaries describing their work in the mission station and their itineraries and other interesting papers such as: issues of The Newsletter of the CMS Kwangsi-Hunan Mission including vivid descriptions of the famine in China and uprisings; newspaper cuttings detailing events in the mission; maps of the mission and China; reports of missionary conferences; statistics; Executive Committee Minutes; notes on the educational work; letters in Chinese with translations.

The Précis Book, 1911-1934 contains a précis of all the incoming papers prepared for the Group Committee. The précis comprises the number, date, writer, date received, summary of contents, proposals for committee action to be taken and/or the Secretary’s remarks.

The China General Mission, 1935-1951

These papers are arranged by subject area. They begin with General material and are then divided into Finance, Outside Organisations, Politics and Miscellaneous.

The General papers contain: correspondence with the central office in Shanghai, including letters re the withdrawal of missionaries from China in 1938; letters between the Financial Secretary and the treasurers; copies of The Baptist Layman – the newsletter of the Baptist Layman Missionary movement; descriptions of tours of the China missions; details re the training and terms of service of the missionaries; reports of the committee work of the China Advisory Council.

The Finance Papers concern property matters, grants and special appeals for money.

The papers of the Outside Organisations consist of minutes, newsletters and correspondence for organisations such as Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui, Universities, Christian colleges, the National Christian Council, the National Committee for Christian Religious Education in China, Conferences for the British Missionary Societies concerning China Middle Schools and education, the Asia Christian Colleges Association and British United Aid to China. The papers include: memos re the crisis in the diocese; finance; reports on colleges such as the Ming Hua College; copies of the newsletter, CHSKH – Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui; newspaper cuttings; reports on the future of Christian missions in China; periodicals such as The China Colleges; reports on student life at the University of Nanking; descriptions of fighting near Cheeloo; copies of the newsletter of The National Christian Council of China; statistics on the growth of the church in Nigeria and Uganda; numerous copies of The Overseas Newsletter giving information on the general situation in China, the government and church, conferences, the Iron Curtain, the Ecumenical movement and Christian literature; copies of The China Christian Universities Bulletin.

Politics concerns Sino-Japanese relations and the papers describe the general situation re the invasion of China by the Japanese in 1939, letters from the Bishop, the evacuation of missionaries, reports of the International Red Cross, opinions of missionaries on the conflict, pamphlets, reports by missionaries on the bombing of missions by the Japanese, descriptions of the occupation of Chuki by the Japanese and pamphlets such as The Canton Committee for Justice to China which contains a description by a missionary doctor of the bombing of Canton. Miscellaneous papers contain items such as: a memo on “The Mui Tsai System” of slavery in China, pamphlets on Christians under the Chinese Communist State and reports on nursing schools.

South China Mission, 1935-1951

These are also arranged by subject area. They begin with General material relating to the mission and are then divided into Diocese related material and papers regarding Education. The General papers contain material as diverse as: correspondence, Committee Minutes, reports from missionaries, conference reports, reports on the Hong Kong University and the Youth and Religious Movement Mission, appeals for women recruits, accounts of missionary itineraries, lists of contributors to the CMS Birthday Fund, missionary salaries and allowances, diocesan budgets and treasurers’ reports.

The Diocese papers include: reports of the Standing Committee, the Medical Board and of Conferences. There is correspondence from the Diocesan Office, lists of new appointments of missionaries and details of the commemoration of the Diocese’s centenary. The papers for Education consist of: Minutes, reports on schools, tables showing the number of Christians compared with non-Christians attending the schools, reports of the Finance Committee, plans for new schools, arrangements for the training of women workers, the income and expenditure for the year for the establishments, newspaper cuttings. The establishments covered are: Canton Union Theological College, Canton Union Women’s Hostel, Canton St Hilda’s School Hostel, St John’s Hall and St Paul’s College in Hong Kong.

The excerpts below give a feel for the type of material to be found in the papers. The first is taken from a report of the Fukien Church Day Schools and describes troubles with bandits and superstition in the Kutien City District in 1931.

The year 1931 was, as regards chaotic conditions, about as bad a year as we have known in Kutien. For the greater part of the year the foreign missionaries were not permitted to reside in the district. For a while, apart form the city, the whole county was more or less under the control of the bandits, who instituted a regular toll on all the main roads. In face of the distress this caused to the villages, there was a great revival of superstition and the formation of secret societies to oppose the bandits; initiation was by magic rites, supposed to provide immunity from bullets, fire and water… One teacher relates that she was sent to an out of the way village, where they had never had a Church school before… The head of the house, in which the school was located, was a great believer in idols and every day there was much idol worship done, enquiries made of the idols as to the prospects for the day, causes of sickness etc…

The following is an extract from a journal of a prominent member of CMS who visited China in 1946 and 1947 on a year’s tour to see what problems confronted missionaries after World War II. He gives details on conditions in Kwangsi-Hunan.

It was an inspiration to visit this diocese which was the greatest sufferer from the war. Ten churches were completely destroyed, eleven partially destroyed and a number of others damaged. CMS and CEZMS properties also suffered severely. The Japanese were not content merely to burn out the large towns, villages and hamlets along the roads were similarly treated. I saw nothing like this amount of devastation anywhere else in China. In Kweilin, Sister Watkins had rebuilt the hospital, staff quarters, Chinese doctor’s house and missionaries house… The nearby men’s hospital still lies derelict…

The next is taken from the papers of the China General Mission describing a tour of China at the end of 1947 by a CMS representative from London. The extract below gives his views on the Civil War in China.

The most notable single fact throughout the whole visit to the East was the strength and energy and violence of Communism, a powerful challenge both to the political and religious world of today. In Japan, China, Burma, Ceylon and India, Communism has made astounding headway in the last twelve years. Communism is certainly best understood when viewed internationally rather than when isolated in any single national situation. While Communism in China is largely independent of Russia, it has a unity of outlook with Moscow, though at present more brutal and destructive in its methods. The skilful and sustained publicity campaigns of Chinese Communists to win sympathy and support for themselves and to destroy confidence in the Central Government in overseas countries, particularly the United States, have deceived even some intelligent people.

In the next excerpt, also from the China General papers, a member of staff at the Cheeloo University Hospital describes the fighting taking place as the Communists advanced in 1948.

Cheeloo, Tsinan, October 7, 1948


“We have come through very well. The fighting was some miles outside the city during the week-end of September 19th. We had a good deal of artillery going off around us, a very noisy gun, like an anti-aircraft gun, just to the west of the campus. On Monday the Nationalist defending troops occupied the campus and made numerous bunkers and trenches for defense – using tables, doors, etc taken from our buildings and others’, to make barricades and roofs for dig-outs, etc… On Tuesday the 21st the streets were full of soldiers who had been driven in. Their chief aim was to find food and quarters and they seemed to be badly disorganized, though not offensive to us. They tended to over-run our premises… We had a job all day keeping them out of the hospital and they did make use of our kitchen, which was no help to our over-worked cooks! We treated a large number of wounded, most of whom were taken away; a few of the worst cases were kept in.

That night and the following nights we were subjected to shelling of increasing intensity. The hospital buildings stood up to it well… Things were very difficult, with every accustomed facility disorganized. The younger nurses – students – were terror-stricken at times. It caught them like a gust of wind and they would all give way together… The changeover, in our part of Tsinen, came on Thursday, the 23rd. That afternoon the Pa Lu entered and took over. An officer with an escort made a business-like inspection of the whole hospital. They mounted sentries at the gates to keep out stragglers and occupied only the parts we mutually agreed on… The walled city was attacked that night and we were in the front line.

On Friday the 24th the battle was over, but we had a bombing raid aimed at Cheeloo… Two heavy bombs fell 100 yards or so north of the hospital and one on Saturday morning at the city gate. The bomb at the gate killed several people, one a woman with a baby in her arms…

The new administration has shown itself friendly and willing to have our work go on. The soldiers are under good discipline. There has been no looting by them and no atrocities”.

In another extract the missionary Miss H M Varley tells of the occupation of Chuki by the Japanese forces in October 1940.

On Oct 14 1940 I heard that Japanese forces had entered Lungmen and Tsang T’seng – two villages in Fuyang over 20 miles away – at once a state of tension was felt in Chuki City. Next day Oct 15 planes flew around Chuki city and dropped 4 bombs in the afternoon evidently trying to hit a neighbouring temple where there were soldiers, two civilians were then killed… I made some preparations by opening a door to a former compound of ours in which was a proper dugout. An English flag was soon prepared and fixed to the outside compound gate… At 3am of the 17th fighting became really severe on both sides and this continued until 6am when I heard a shouting apparently of triumph from the Japanese and soon they entered by the West Gate… a soldier came and took the Pastor’s watch, others carried off sweet potatoes and artichokes and because he tried to stop them was hit and kicked… On the 19th further lots came for food and relieved the Pastor of all his vegetables. One man pointing his revolver at both the Pastor and me. I retorted at once, “I shall inform your officer about this”. The reply came, “All-right, go” still aiming his revolver at me… Later on a soldier came and took off three men suspected of being soldiers. Then on the way he pulled out his bayonet and cut down a bamboo tree to show the sharpness of his weapon and was about to kill the men when I stepped forward standing between him and the three men pleading for their lives. I prayed instantly and thank God, they were spared…

The excerpt below gives a vivid description of a journey to Chung-King and beyond in South China.

We boarded a rickety truck for the twenty-mile ride into Chung-King. Two long boards each seated 12 or 13 persons, with hand baggage down the centre. Steep hills, exciting hair-pin bends and deep muddy ruts made us all bump and bounce!... My hands were stiff for hours with the effort of holding on so as not to hit the roof with head! But the country is lovely. Double cropping of rice and maize in the same fields and hill-sides might have been done just to make them artistic. Ground nuts often made low soft borders. Trees are prolific. The country is rolling and the roads wind round picturesque hills… The bumping on a narrow wooden seat from early morning till night was the “hardest part”. At the halts we could buy very cheaply apples, peaches, red plums, sugar-cane and hot corn-cobs. One city had a really fine stone bridge, very ancient, with large carved crocodiles on the supports of each arch. But what wonderful country! A rich garden all the way. Every square inch seemed to be green, except where red earth showed between the rice, maize or sugar.

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