p. 15 | Untitled article

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 2, 1915

From Far Szechuan

CHUNG-KING, in Szechuan, is a two-thousand-mile journey, much of it by house boat, from Shanghai. It is as far distant, by days, from that center as Shanghai is from New York City. Less than two years ago Brethren Allum and Warren, leaving their families in Shanghai, went on a “path finding” expedition to this inland province, which borders Tibet on the west. A few months later, they made the journey again, this time with their wives and families and a number of native workers. A letter recently received from Mrs. Allum contains a promise to “write an article for the Home department soon.” Meanwhile, knowing something of the cares that fill her days, and believing that many would be as interested in reading her letter as was the one who received it, we have decided to share it with you: —

“You would be surprised, if you could come up here, to see the number of houses that are built foreign style in this inland city. From a distance the city looks quite modern; but when one gets into it, the streets are just as narrow as in any other Chinese city. However, I must say that they are much cleaner than in any Chinese city that we have been in before. Chung-king is lighted with electricity, and as the city is built on the side of a hill, it is a very pretty sight indeed at night. We truly appreciate the blessing of electricity, but even this modern convenience is regulated by the East. The authorities charge, not for the amount of current consumed, but for each light used. Moreover, the lights come on at sunset, and are turned off at about two in the morning. The householder has no way of turning off the light, but has to wait until it is cut off by the department.

“Szechuan is certainly a very progressive province, and the Chinese here take readily to Western ideas. One sees foreign cloth everywhere, although mostly of an inferior quality. A great many of the natives accustom themselves to eating foreign food, and a number of Chinese shops do a flourishing trade in foreign foodstuffs of all kinds. The Japanese do a thriving business with all kinds of perfumes, medicines, toilet soaps, and fancy articles. There is a large glass-blowing establishment, a soap factory, and a flourmill. The Singer Sewing Machine Company has an agency here, as have also two foreign tobacco firms. There are a number of large hospitals and dispensaries, an International Institute, institutions for the blind and deformed, homes for the aged, and a large reformatory.

“The United States, England, Germany, France, and Japan have consuls here, and five missions besides our own are in operation. As far as we have been able to learn, the church members gathered out of heathenism are not of the best class. The standard does not seem to be so high as is in Honan, and the ministers themselves acknowledge that they do not expect a great deal of their converts.

“When we first came here, a great many Chinese came seeking work. We could have had many church members if we had not taken the trouble to send inquiries around to their respective churches. We found a good many were disgruntled members or attendants elsewhere, and that they were more anxious to have a change, and perhaps gain some personal advantage, than anything else. However, we are made glad to know that the Lord is gathering out his own in this place, and we now have a little company here. Not long ago four were baptized. These are all earnest Christians, and have been keeping the Sabbath for a year. One of these is a blind man from a charitable institution near by; now the authorities have turned him out, telling him that he has joined our church, and the foreigners ought to look after him. Another is a well-to-do woman, who owns a number of houses in the city. One of these houses she built with borrowed money, and now she cannot get the rent from the people who are living in it. The man from whom she borrowed wants his money immediately, though she had arranged to pay it in installments. He says that now she has joined a foreign church, she can get the money from the foreigners and pay him; and if she does not, he will have a lawsuit over it. She has not told us about this, but we have heard it from others, and that she is greatly troubled.

“Just now Mr. Allum is busy superintending the building of the mission homes. The workmen are erecting two of the houses, the third one is to be built later. We have chosen bungalows for our homes here, as we have always preferred them for convenience, and so have the Warrens and a number of others with whom we have talked about the matter. We have a splendid cellar six feet high, well lighted and ventilated. In this we have our laundry, a workroom for Mr. Allum, and storerooms. On the first floor we have a sitting room, a dining room, a kitchen, Mr. Allum’s office, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, with a ten-foot porch at the front and an eight-foot porch on one side. Upstairs there is a good attic, which opens onto a sleeping porch. The six-foot basement is of stone, the rest of the building being brick.

“These houses are being well and substantially built, and Mr. Allum does not expect them to cost more than one thousand dollars gold each. The mission property is in a beautiful location, fronting the river, within half an hour’s walk of our chapel in the city, and having a lovely view on all sides. The land, which has room for three houses, with an extra piece for a vegetable garden, did not cost quite fifteen hundred dollars gold. Most of the stone being used is taken right out of our own land. The stone-masons here do beautiful work, and it would really be cheaper to put up a stone house than any other kind, if we could wait so long.

“Our windows look out on a very busy street, and one feels tempted to spend a good deal of time studying Chinese life, for this is the only thoroughfare leading out of the city on the land side. Executions are very frequent here, and the victims, with the accompanying soldiers and crowds of people, all pass this way. As many as fifteen are executed at a time some days, political offenders being shot, while robbers and outlaws are decapitated. All funerals go past our gate, as well as a good many weddings. Some days over thirty funerals pass, with their accompanying wailing and clatter and bang. Some are quite gorgeous, as thousands of taels are spent on a single funeral where the relatives of the deceased are rich. There are some handsome stone graves outside this city, some occupying more space than our house will have, with fancy stone arches, and stone tables and chairs in the inclosures, which are bordered with pine trees. Many tall stone pillars, often thirty or forty feet high, surmounted by stone lions, have been erected by relatives of deceased persons who had secured a literary degree.

“We find a variety of good things to eat up here. In season we have had oranges, mandarins, pomelos, apples (very poor), grapes, Chinese pears, persimmons, cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, and wild raspberries, with potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peas, eggplant, cabbage, carrots, bamboo sprouts, and foreign onions. Fresh peanuts and walnuts are now in, and we are laying in a year’s supply. We make our own corn meal, wheat meal, and rice flour. Of course we make our own bread also. We do not need to get much from Shanghai except sugar, butter (in tins), oatmeal, flavorings, crisco, salt, and soap. We are planning to get an order of food from Montgomery Ward for next summer’s use; for while we get a variety here in the course of the year, no one thing is in season long at a time. Next year I shall know better how to plan. I was so delighted to find we could get foreign onions, and bought them twice, but when I tried to get them the third time, there were no more to be had. It was the same with tomatoes. There seemed to be so many, and I was planning to can some, but in two or three days they were all gone. At present (September 19) there are no vegetables at all except potatoes.

“Today the weather is fine, for the first time in six weeks. The rainy season here is surely wet—you should see Mr. Allum come home from the mission property each day. I never saw such mud. I have just finished hanging out the washing. We haven’t any yard, only a sui t’ai about eight feet square on the top of the house. At present we are living in three rooms over our chapel, with no yard for the children, and it surely keeps me busy looking after three lively boys in such narrow quarters. I keep Wallie busy with his lessons almost half the time each day, and when it is not too wet, Mr. Allum takes one of them with him. Szechuan agrees with the children, and they are all well. The baby is such a happy little fellow, running all around now, and the liveliest of the three. As I have all their sewing and my own to do, and Wallie’s lessons to hear, I keep pretty busy. Twice a week I teach for an hour in the boys’ school, have charge of the young people’s meetings, and the Sabbath school class of women, besides receiving visitors at all hours during the week. I only wish that I could do more for the Chinese, for these poor women do sorely need our help.”