ZHILLI
Background to the Province of Zhilli
Before describing the missionary activity
in the province it seems important to put this area into context by briefly
describing its defining characteristics.
Although Zhilli is only a small part of China it still covers a vast
area – 60,000 square miles, which is larger than England and Wales combined and
is situated in the North of China with a population of 28 million.[i] It is an area of great physical
diversity. In the North, mountains form
the boundary between itself and the neighbouring province of Mongolia. Along the coast the land gently rises to
form a level and fertile alluvial plain through which the Yellow River
flows. The climate varies temporally:
hot in summer and cold in winter.
Economically, the province relies heavily on agriculture growing wheat
and the mining of minerals, such as iron and coal.
More specifically to the topic of this
website the province was claimed by 18 different missionary societies,[ii]
about two thirds of these were American missionary groups. The area was affected greatly by the Boxer
Uprising. In 1900, practically all
missionary property was destroyed and in Peking in June the Boxers besieged
several hundred missionaries. However,
the year of the Boxer uprising was really only a temporary set back. Larger and more modern plants were erected
and the siege had also made the relationships between missionary groups
stronger. The participation amongst
Chinese Christians increased too. The
American Board of Commission of Foreign Missions gave full responsibility to
Chinese Christians in the Paotungfu station and Chinese workers soon
outnumbered foreign workers with a ratio of three to one. In the early
twentieth century sixty-seven missions were reported, located in thirty-nine
centres.[iii]
The province benefited from the
missionary presence in many ways, especially by the social based services that
they provided. Zhilli was one of the
five best areas for the number of missionary hospitals and many schools and
training centres were set up to educate Chinese citizens and the foreigners
posted in the province. The education
was not solely about the Christian faith but stretched to medicinal education
and general teaching too.
Missionary Societies stationed in Zhilli
Many missionary groups were stationed in
Zhilli, Protestant and Catholic, British and American. Many centred on Tientsin, a treaty port
situated to the southeast of Peking. A
brief description of five of the organisations is given below.
1.American Board of Commission of
Foreign Missions:
This missionary group had stations
throughout the province: in Tientsin, Peking, Kalgan and T’ungchow.[iv] They preached the gospel and were helped by
native pastors, preachers and teachers.
In the stations men and women were invited to come for a few weeks to be
instructed on the Bible. This led to
the establishment of boarding and day schools, such as the Bridgman School and
North China College.
2. Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel:
No direct report was received about this
missionary group but information has been gathered from published reports to
reveal that they settled in 1862 and were established by Rev. JS Bardon.[v] During the great famine of 1878 many
missionaries joined and the native citizens were favourably impressed. Effort was made constantly to increase the
number of missionaries in Zhilli and give money to the Christian cause. For example, an anonymous grant of £10,000
was given to endow a bishopric in North China.
3.London Missionary School:
This was arguably the main missionary
group to become established in Zhilli and the history and personal achievements
of the founder, Rev. J Edkins shall be studied in more detail presently. In the formative years of the group
evangelical tours were made into the extreme North but these were soon
discontinued. The group then made a large effort to improve the lives of the
local community building schools, medical centres and having prayer meetings,
as well as try to save the native’s souls from eternal damnation through
conversion.
4.Method Episcopal Mission:
Messrs. Wheeler and Lowry founded the
mission in 1869.[vi] Like the above missionary they focused on
helping the local community. A training
school was opened for natives and a boy’s boarding school was founded in Peking
in 1878. During the famine 1,200 Taels
were distributed for relief and the hospitals that they had built were heavily
relied on in times of need.
5. English Methodist New Connection:
The original founders were a married
couple and they tried to establish a centre in Soochou but with the
interference from the Tai-ping Rebellion this was impossible. Instead they made their base in
Tientsin. The mission began in a small
preaching room before building a Church in 1864, which was used as a place of
public worship for foreigners.
A Closer look at one society: The History
of the London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society can be
taken as a good example of the characteristic life and work of a missionary in
the Zhilli province. Often their
intervention in China has been subject to bad press but from this report I hope
that perhaps the good work that was achieved will become evident, although
there are moments where there true Christian values do seem to diminish. Centres were established in Tientsin and
Peking but it was the former that was considered the great northern centre of
life and power. The founder, Mr. Edkins, also thought that it was an
important centre of communication as the two branches of the Pei Ho River met
there and it was the end of the Grand Canal.
As will become clear the work and inspiration of Mr. Edkins enabled the
missionary to become so well established in China and Dr. Lockhart ensured his
good work was continued.
When Mr. Edkins arrived in Tientsin, in
1861, he describes that he was surprisingly welcome, ‘I find that public
preaching in the temples here is remarkably well received.’[vii] Dr. Lockhart, who joined Edkins in
September, supports this statement as he claims that that he too was well
received which showed ‘their evident cultivation’. However, he did report that Tientsin was the ‘filthiest place I
ever put foot in.’[viii] Dr
Lockhart also seemed to view Zhilli with a slightly dictatorial eye, ‘God
has opened up a way to this part – let us go in and possess it for Him.’[ix] It is not a province, area or region but a
‘part’ suggesting it is more a piece of land to conquer rather than a
society. Mr Edkins, on the other hand,
concentrates on spreading ideas but has a more gentle aim and manner about
him. Less than a year after his arrival,
in April 1862, he describes how he had ‘the pleasure of receiving two candidates
for Church Fellowship into the Christian Church by baptism.’[x]
Once the missionary station is
established in Tientsin Mr. Edkins left for Peking, leaving Mr. Williamson and
Mr. Lees in charge. However, soon after
his departure the missionary was hit by times of trouble. In 1869 Mr Williamson died after his boat
was attacked when he had dropped anchor for the night on a journey to
Shandong. In June 1870 the Tientsin
Massacre upset peace in the area.
The mob killed the French Consul and murdered twenty other people. The short-term effect was devastating as
native Christians were terrified and missionary work was hindered. In the long-term it tended to lead to a furtherance
of the Gospels, which could only be seen as a positive result.
In 1879 Dr. Mackenzie arrived to help Mr.
Lees. He played a very active role in
furthering the importance of the missionary in the region. He established a hospital and this flourished
with his skill and due to chance and luck too.
The wife of the great Chinese statesman, Li Hung Chang, was ill and the
doctor helped her to recover. As a way
of showing his gratitude the statesman opened the building and publicly gave a
‘warm approbation of the zeal with which foreign medical skill had been so
freely bestowed.’[xi] The building was also unique because it was
erected with Chinese subscriptions rather than foreign ones. After Mackenzie’s death there was a dispute
over who had rightful ownership of the hospital. Eventually the missionary did gain control but not before much
argument. In 1893, the Chinese Medical College was opened which was another
permanent legacy of Mackenzie’s good work.
The college also accepted Chinese tutors as well as foreigners.
In Peking it was Dr. Lockhart who first
established a centre, in 1861. By the
beginning of 1861 he was in full time medical work. He treated so many people successfully that the patient numbers
kept on rising. To help try and convert
the Chinese native Christian evangelists who gave oral instructions to patients
but also distributed the Scripture accompanied him. Mr Edkins then went to Peking to join him and reported that while
‘waiting for their summons, the people sit listening to the Christian
preacher.’[xii] The connection of a hospital with spiritual
work was thought to be dangerous and so the missionaries tried to keep it in
the background. However, some had
differing views on this theory. When
Dr. Lockhart left he handed over responsibility to Dr. Dudgeon and Mr.
Thompson. Dr Dudgeon was a first class
doctor and this is where his attentions lay, rather in bringing spirituality to
the fore as Mr. Thompson wanted. As a
result, Dr Dudgeon resigned and continued in a private practice. The missionary carried on its work
concentrating more heavily on conversion than healing people physically.
In 1895, a man named Mr. Bryson, who had
lived in China for thirty years, summed up the Society very accurately. ‘Modern missions to the heathen seem to pass
through three stages. In the first the
missionary figures as evangelist, pastor and teacher and the native church
depends for nearly everything upon the foreign society. In the second…the missionary is set free to
superintend and direct large numbers of evangelists…In the third the native
church has reached the stage of independence, the foreign agents are
withdrawn.’ He then describes which
phase best fits the missionaries state, ‘In China…we are everywhere struggling
through different phases of the first stage.’[xiii] This appears to be true and it is not until
later in the twentieth century that the missionary really finds its feet.
The Story of Mr and Mrs Benjamin Bagnall
Mr. Benjamin Bagnall went to China in
1873 and spent his earlier years with the American Bible Society and later the
American Methodist Mission. He married a lady called Emily Kingsbury and they
settled in the province of Shansi.
However, after returning from a short trip to England they moved to
Pao-ting-fu, the provincial capital of Zhilli.
It was here that the Boxers killed them in July 1900, leaving the two
boys, William and Howard as orphans.
Their good work and kindness to the
natives is clearly portrayed in the writings of a man who knew Mr. Bagnall for
twenty-four years. He wrote of him, ‘He
laboured with all his powers in most difficult and self-denying positions of
trust, for the glory of God…[and had] a deep sympathy for the poor...and with
the weak Christians.’[xiv]
Mrs Bagnall was described with equal respect, ‘she preached, not only by her
voice, but by her smiling face and winning manner, while her intense sympathy
won the confidence and love of the poor women who came for her help.’[xv] It is obvious that this couple wanted to
further the word of Christ and not take advantage of the native citizens.
The Story of The Green Family
The story of the Mr and
Mrs Green and their two children, Vera and John, is perhaps one of the most
thrilling tales of missionary capture by the Boxers. They were stationed in Hwuy-luh, which was experiencing a period
of growing unrest due to the drought and ensuing flood. As anti-foreign placards began to be
published what had been idle talk and a coldness of attitude turned to a
definite dislike and the missionaries began to fear for their safety. To avoid danger the Green family sought
refuge in a temple. They were soon
discovered by the Boxers and had to move on.
After several close encounters with the fierce bandits the family was
finally caught. The event is heart
rending to read, ‘We thought of the dear children, whose piteous queries of,
“Will they kill us?” pierced deeper than any Boxer’s knife.’[xvi] They then escaped but were soon captured
again and this time were violently treated, ‘Now we were dragged outside,
thrown down in the wet and mud and bound hand and foot, they using their feet
as much as their hands to get our arms and legs in the position they
wanted…There was much rejoicing that these “Devils” had been captured.’[xvii] The family were a spectacle to the Boxers
as, ‘many hundred of Boxers visited us from all the country round…thirsting for
our blood.’[xviii] Eventually they were set free but Vera
caught dysentery and died, the grief of which, led Mr Green to his death. They were true martyrs to the Christian
cause.
Were the Missionaries all “peace and charity”
in Zhilli?
Missionaries vied for power with the
gentry for influence in the social and cultural spheres and so too in the
political sphere, where he was a threat to the authority of the local
authorities. Throughout China there are
examples of missionaries abusing their powers but in the province of Zhilli
there is a good illustration of their tendency to interfere in local official
affairs. One of the treaties gave rise
to complex problems and one clause in particular caused many arguments in the
province. One of the clauses in Article
13 granted Chinese subjects freedom to practice Christianity without being
liable to punishment for this reason. However, it proved to be what may well have
been an infringement upon Chinese sovereignty.
In previous treaties missionaries had been refused permission to enter
the interior to preach and live.
Without missionary support, the Chinese Christian, though he had been
granted religious freedom, was usually helpless to stand up for his rights. Under the new treaty, however, the
missionary was present and able to help.
Many of the officials feared the foreigners as they ‘did not want to
become embroiled with foreigners who through their consuls and ministers could
make trouble for him with his superiors.’[xix]
An incident that occurred in 1863 in
Kiaoho hsien illustrates this power, which missionaries could wield over local
officials. A band of counterfeiters had
pillaged a temple and quickly complaints were lodged against three
Christians. Father Leboucq, a Jesuit
priest saw it as his duty to help the men.
He went to the yamen to have talks with the mandarin and soon had the
men freed. He explained that, ‘since in
the future it will be impossible for Christians to vindicate themselves before
your [the mandarin’s] tribunal, I insist today on vindicating, myself, those
whom you have jus enchained.’[xx] His manner was brusque which was what upset
the native people, but in fact he was within his rights in seeking acquittal of
his converts. Yet, Leboucq pursued a conscious policy of courting favour of the
officials and gentry. This bore him
advantages as he was decorated by the emperor for his services to the imperial
cause in 1862. The unarguable amount
of influence that he had with the high authorities enabled him to obtain prompt
and just settlements of the majority of legal cases that his converts were
involved in. One author points to him
as a prime example of the type of missionary who adopted underhand methods of
assisting the Chinese with lawsuits, provided that they first agreed to become
Christians along with the whole of their family.
By Isabel
Maitland