The Chinese Union Mission Field
By J. N. ANDERSON
“I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us.” Isa. 63:7. In the spirit of this text I would present to you our report of this quadrennial period. In the many divine benefits and the tender care vouchsafed to us during this period there is cause for deep gratitude and thankfulness on our part. Especially is this true in the preservation of the lives of our workers, both Chinese and foreign. During this period not one of our workers has been called to rest, though we have had no little sickness. At different times nearly all our workers have been in the clutches of malaria, while others have been called to face the more deadly attacks of dysentery, sprue, and the like; and in consequence some have had to retire for a time from the field. Yet it means much that in a land where our knowledge of entirely new conditions was nil, which necessarily has led to some mistakes in the matter of caring for our health, our force of workers remains intact during the entire quadrennial period. With the Father’s continued blessing, and a greater vigilance on our part in guarding the health of our workers, may we not expect an even better showing in the future? Progress, Present Status, and Comparative Gains in the Field
We are glad to report progress in every respect in the field,—not striking or extraordinary, but steady and permanent. At the time of our last General Conference, our work in China was just fairly beginning. We had foreign workers in two provinces, Kwang-tung and Honan, and the conversion of a Chinese evangelist was inviting us through a wide-open door into the third, Fu-kien. This province now has two foreign workers with their wives, and a substantial work has been inaugurated. In addition to this we have entered two other provinces, Hunan and Kiangsu, and the foundation for aggressive work is being laid. In the former we have one man and his wife located in the provincial capital, Changsha; and in Kiangsu we have seven workers stationed in the city of Shanghai, where our general headquarters have been fixed. The locating of our printing interest and mission headquarters in Shanghai was the occasion of our entering this last province, giving us a new language and a population of about thirty millions. Four years ago our total force of foreign workers was fourteen, located in the provinces of Honan and Kwang-tung; to-day we have, all told, thirty-seven (including wives) distributed in five provinces, though at present eleven of these workers are in the home land. Our force of Chinese assistants has increased from nine to forty, and it must not be forgotten that this means a largely multiplied increase in efficiency on the part of both foreign and native workers. Our foreign workers had at that time made a small beginning in two Chinese languages,—the Cantonese and the Mandarin. To-day we have workers whose knowledge of Mandarin, Cantonese, Amoyese, and Hakka, makes them efficient teachers of the message in those languages. Other workers are now nearly prepared to take up active work in the language spoken in the section where Shanghai is located. Thus we have active work carried on by foreigners in five distinct languages, and the sixth is urging us forward in the person of a Chinese worker who speaks Hoklo, the language of the region about Swatow, in the province of Kwang-tung. Four years ago we had five main stations at which foreign workers were located, and one out-station. At present we have eight main stations, stronger and better manned, and ten out-stations directed and successfully worked by the combined efforts of the foreign and Chinese laborers. At that time we had only three schools, scantily attended, and conducted by ill-prepared teachers, as against eight schools to-day, with an attendance of about one hundred fifty, taught and trained by a corps of teachers of considerable ability, and with no little preparation for their work. We had one organized church with one native member (Brother Keh), and a scattered and uncertain number of baptized converts not yet gathered into church fellowship. Now we have a Chinese church-membership of ninety-four, all of whom are gathered into one or another of the five local churches. Of this number the greater part were Christian converts to the faith, though a fair percentage came directly out of idolatry and heathenism. As a rule they are faithful in paying tithes, and take an active interest in the progress of the truth among their own people. This is not a large constituency; but it is a precious seed, which, under the fostering care of the Holy Spirit, will yield an abundant harvest in that land. Our publishing interest has been developed almost entirely within the past four years. Two small tracts had been translated at the instance of Brother La Rue, and two others had been prepared and given a small circulation. To-day we have twelve tracts in circulation, and several others in manuscript ready for the press. Our mission paper, the Gospel Herald, is issued monthly. The subscription list, which at the beginning of the year stood at two thousand, is constantly increasing. In her deep sin and alienation from God, China’s cup of physical suffering is not only full but overflowing. This suffering, so often the direct result of ignorance and superstition, is ever-present; and the missionary never escapes the almost intolerable sight of disease and bodily ills, many of which he is helpless to alleviate. While we have from the beginning of our work in that field made the healing of the soul the first interest, yet we have by no means forgotten or neglected to mitigate the physical suffering all about us. Most of this work has of course been done by the workers whose preparation gave them special knowledge in that line; nevertheless, much has been done by all our workers in this particular. To-day we have five dispensaries, as against three four years ago. Only the simpler cases have been attempted, but hundreds have been reached in this way. Our workers should all be practical medical missionaries; and to effect this end, some means should be devised whereby a short course of training could be given all candidates for this field. Little progress has been made in the way of providing the work with buildings and other material facilities. One year ago last fall a building was purchased for the Bethel Girls’ School in the city of Canton at a cost of $3,200 (Mexican), or about $1,500, U. S. In the sale of the Sinyang property by the removal of our publishing interest to Shanghai, two building lots on Chikong-shan, valued at about $500, U. S., came into our possession last summer. A very good Rest Home, with three acres of land on Mokanshan was bought last fall for about $850 gold. A small piece of land has also been bought about twenty-five miles inland from Amoy for the erection of a school. This school is designed to serve the double purpose of educating the children of our own converts, and training workers for that field, which has a population of some ten millions. Only a part of the land needed has thus far been secured, at a cost of forty dollars. At least one hundred dollars more will be needed to secure the necessary additional ground for this important enterprise, and we have estimated that it will require not less than $2,000 to build and equip the school. Last January while our general meeting was in session in the city of Shanghai, a site comprising five acres of land within the limits of that city was negotiated for at a price of $6,280, U. S. This is to serve the general interests of the publishing, educational, and medical work in China. The publishing plant and the buildings for the other two interests, with suitable equipments, remain to be provided. A good mission compound has been leased and repaired as a central station in the city of Cheo Chia K’o, Honan, this is a long stride toward giving character and permanency to our work in that province. Features of Special Mention
To the glory of God and for the encouragement of us all I speak of a few items of special interest in our work in that field. In looking over the past, it is encouraging to know that in it all God has wrought for his people and his truth. By the mouth of the last of the Old Testament prophets, God says, “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto my12name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 1:11 (R. V., margin). Ours is the day of fulfilment; and in these great heathen fields we see his hand at work. In the province of Fu-kien in the city of Chinchow, seventy miles up the coast from Amoy, a dozen of the most spiritual and intelligent members of a church of long standing have taken their stand for the truth, and are to-day a strong company of believers prepared for church organization. They are well-grounded in the message, and a working body in that part of the province. This interest sprang up of itself, and yielded this large measure of fruit with almost no effort on our part. This is but the nucleus, the seed; for we believe an abundant harvest is yet to come from this spiritual planting. In the province of Honan there have been wide-spread awakenings in several of the surrounding cities adjacent to our work, and out of these much fruit has already been gathered. Last December Elder J. J. Westrup baptized twenty-three, and organized them into a church; and a large number of inquirers, many of whom give promise of becoming obedient to the word, are gathering about him for instruction. The brethren at Cheo Chia K’o, a few miles distant, report large numbers of inquirers coming to them from near and far to learn the new doctrine. In the Kwang-tung province we have had the pleasure of seeing Brother Hung, the pastor of a native church in the city of Chaochowfu, step boldly into the truth with his entire family and his wife’s sister; and while the members of his former church have not yet identified themselves with us, twenty-five or thirty meet regularly in his house on the Sabbath, and there is ground for believing that the day is not far distant when a goodly number of these will fully enlist in the cause of present truth, and so become a beacon light in that large prefectural city. And thus we have the beginning of a great work among that large class of Hoklos, numbering about six millions. During the last year more calls came to us from various parts of the province than we were able to meet, and in some instances these calls represented not only scores but hundreds of inquirers. It is not affirmed that all these openings spring from sincere and honest motives, nor need we be surprised if there be found much chaff and little wheat. Nevertheless they are signs of the Lord’s working, and we must find in them his definite call to fuller consecration and greater endeavor in this great province. Present Openings and Urgent Needs
By this heading I would not be understood to mean that any part of the Chinese field is to-day closed to our efforts, or that serious and immediate entrance into every province of that mighty empire is not a most urgent need. This aspect of the situation will be dealt with in the proper place. The point in this paragraph is that a few specific openings and pressing calls are now facing us with a just and stubborn claim that refuses to be denied, and in this conviction we make our appeal to this Conference that they may be given early consideration. Brother J. P. Anderson, a single man under twenty-four years of age, has acquired a working knowledge of the Hakka language, and is to-day leading out single-handed in the work for that people, who number not less than ten millions. This is not wise; it is not economical; it is not necessary. The responsibility of continuing such a situation lies with us who have the ordering of the work in the field. A mere statement of the facts will suffice to lead us to send him immediate relief. In the city of Changsha, perhaps the most important point in the most anti-foreign province in the Chinese Empire, we have Brother P. J. Laird and wife, assisted by two good Chinese helpers. They have made an entrance into that province at no little sacrifice and expense, and it is only reasonable that we forthwith strengthen our hold, and prepare for work that shall carry the message into the entire province. Two men and their wives should be sent into that province without delay. The province is estimated to have not less than twenty-two million souls within its border; and no man who seriously faces the facts can for a moment question the wisdom as well as the urgent necessity of sending immediate re-enforcements. We have entered Hunan; there is no alternative, we must press the battle until the victory is ours. Let us make no mistake; we must hold securely all that we have gained and make it the foundation for a larger work. The city of Chaochowfu, where Pastor Hung’s acceptance of the truth opened to us a door to about six million people, is in great need of a foreign worker to connect with him, and help develop the work in that large field. There is no doubt that this opening is the Lord’s own leading; therefore it is our plain duty to follow him, and take full possession with all possible haste, lest we let slip our opportunity. The call is for only one worker, who, with the assistance of Chinese helpers, will be able successfully to look after that entire field. This opening has already waited too long; it is unsafe to delay longer. In view of the fact that in my removal to Shanghai, Brother E. H. Wilbur, who has now been in the field for almost seven years, remains the sole foreign worker in the Cantonese field, it is an absolute necessity to send one additional worker to connect with the work in Canton. That work is in itself far beyond the powers of one man, and the fact that our workers must be given some regular change out of the field, suffices to show the reasonableness of this call. For some time the members of the Chinese Mission Committee have felt the need of planning more largely for the publishing work. Our list of tracts is growing apace, and even with our present meager printing facilities we are prepared to issue a large volume of good literature; but unless these silent messengers are carried to the people, all our efforts in this direction are wasted. On the other hand we have a promising number of young men who must be trained and set to work. We all recognize the fact that to eliminate canvassing work out of our home field would be to cut off one of the most vital, as well as one of the strongest, features of our propaganda. This is no less true in the Chinese field; and we shall fall short of doing our duty if we overlook or neglect to inaugurate this work at an early day. To a certain extent, our workers are all canvassers, but there still remains a distinct field for the man who gives his entire time and strength to the work of selling our literature. The canvasser is a broadcast sower of the gospel seed, and in a population such as we have in China his work is doubly important. For the present we feel that not fewer than four young men should be sent to lead out in the four provinces where our work has taken root,—Kwang-tung, Fu-kien, Honan, Kiang-su. These provinces will readily produce faithful lieutenants if we can secure strong young men who will carefully train and direct them. The urgency of the situation leads us to believe that the Lord of the harvest has the right men to send into the field. Present Division and Organization of the Field
At our general meeting held in Shanghai last January, we were seized with a boldness and a faith that led us to plan for the immediate entrance of our work into every province and dependency of the Chinese Empire. To effect that end, we set about organizing our field and our forces; and now we come to this conference seeking your endorsement and co-operation, and that of our whole church body, in this tremendous undertaking. Instead of dealing with that vast empire as so many provinces and dependencies, it seemed good to us to recommend that the Chinese world be constituted a union mission field, formed by the organization of ten co-ordinate divisions or mission fields, as follows: (1) The North China Mission Field, comprising the three provinces of Chili, Shan-si, and Shan-tung, with a population of sixty-six millions; (2) the Northwest China Mission Field, made up of two provinces, Shen-si and Kan-su, having a population of seventeen million five hundred thousand; (3) the West China Mission, in which are grouped three provinces, Si-chuen, Yu-nan, and Kwai-chau, whose aggregate population is estimated at eighty-seven million, scattered over a vast area, and of all China the most inaccessible; (4) the South China Mission, composed of Kuang-si, Kwang-tung, and Fu-kien, with a population of fifty-seven millions; (5) the Central China Mission, into which are gathered four provinces, Honan, Hu-peh, Hunan, and Kiangsi, whose population mounts up to one hundred and one million; and (6) the East China Mission, including Kiang-su, Che-kiang, and Gan-hwuy, in which is a population of fifty-three million. These six divisions, each one of which is by itself a large field, are all carved out of what is called China proper, out of which, in point of population, could be formed the following fields: Japan, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, European Russia, Spain and Portugal, France and Algeria, Tunis and Madagascar, Austria and Brazil, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. To the north and west are the four great dependencies, Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet,13 with a population of eight millions, two millions, a million and a half, and six millions respectively. Each one of these, in our plan, constitutes a separate mission field. With the entire Chinese field divided as above indicated, it follows as a matter of course that each one of these ten main divisions must have a director, or superintendent (and it is quite as necessary that one physician be assigned to each division as well), with possibly other officers to follow later. Five men out of our mission force already in the field have been recommended to act as directors of the North, West, Central, South, and East China mission fields. Thus the present call is for fifteen men to act as directors and physicians. But this, we must not forget, is simply officering the field, not manning it. Brethren, this work in China is yours quite as much as it is ours, and we come to you in the conviction that it is in your hearts to provide sufficient men and means at this time to place an advance guard in each province and dependency of that great empire. Facing One Fourth the World
In this way we are planning for an advance move on the entire Chinese world—easily one fourth of the population of the earth. In this undertaking our feeling should not be so much that we are doing our duty, or that we are accomplishing a great work, as that we are carrying the final message of mercy and truth to a race of sin-laden souls, hopelessly bound by the cords of sin. They know nothing as they should of God, the holy and loving Father, and hence have little sense of sin, or of the need of a Saviour from guilt and its consequences. They glory in Confucianism, which is essentially self-righteousness, totally ignoring the need of an atonement for sin, and a reconciliation between sinning man and the holy God of all. As Confucianists they have no faith that lightens death, and the resurrection means nothing to them. All the religion they have consists in the deification of dead men whose spirits they both fear and worship. Buddhism and Taoism, with all their accursed teachings, hideous and senseless ceremonies, and lying promises, supply all the absent elements of a heathen religion. From all this issues the great flood of evil with which that people is deluged,—infanticide, concubinage, polygamy, civic and domestic corruption, with a multitude of other sins sufficient to sink the empire but for the long-suffering of God. Do we feel China’s burden of sin? Are we ready to extend to her the healing God has committed to us? China is to-day open to missionary endeavor as never before in all her long history,—a fact clearly recognized and reckoned with by all the missionary societies operating there. Almost to a unit the different mission boards are addressing themselves to the task of doubling their force of workers without delay; and that a large measure of success is attending their efforts in this direction is evidenced by the increasingly large influx of missionaries into China. Every steamer from Europe or America brings them. This enthusiastic, quickened pace on the part of these societies is largely the direct result of a serious endeavor on their part to effect the evangelization of the world in this generation. Some limit the time of its accomplishment to a score of years. Considered by itself, is not this great idea born of God? And if they are thus moved to great undertakings, what shall we say of Seventh-day Adventists, whose faith that Christ is at the door is the cardinal, dominating doctrine? Shall we on our part postpone the coming of our Lord by delay? Are we not now prepared seriously and adequately to lay hold of this task? In this situation we are constrained to submit to our brethren here assembled, and to the entire body of believers, the desirability, the wisdom, the necessity, of at once sending out to that great field forty strong, consecrated young married men, to enter upon the great task of carrying the advent message to the millions of the Chinese world.