p. 3 | Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

Editorial

By Editor

Editorial Letter

Jottings from the Editor's Note-Book

TIENTSIN really comprises two parts,—Tientsin settlement where the foreigners reside, and Tientsin city where the Chinese live. Electric cars connect the two parts, and are operated in both of them. The native city was formerly surrounded by a wall, but after the Boxer uprising this wall was demolished, and the street-cars now run around the city on the site of the old wall. This is a striking change from the old to the new.

Tientsin was the base of operations for the allied troops of the different nations which united to suppress the Boxer uprising, and some severe fighting was done at this point. Brother Pilquist, who visited the place just after the conflict, was able to give much information of interest, and to point out some of the most important positions of the opposing forces.

Quite a number of the missionary societies which operate in north China have their headquarters in Tientsin settlement. I visited the headquarters of the missionaries working under the American Board in search of a classmate who had been in China for more than twenty-five years, but learned that he had returned to America only a short time before I called.

Immediately after the Boxer uprising, and as a direct consequence of that unfortunate event, the different foreign powers demanded, and of course secured, additional concessions of land, and by this means Tientsin settlement was considerably enlarged. The English, Americans, Germans, French, Austrians, Russians, and Japanese are all represented, and the guards of these different nationalities are in evidence throughout the town.

Here I came to understand more clearly the attitude of the business men of the far East and of the missionaries toward each other. The traders and the concessionaires have very little use for the missionary, and the missionaries find in the money-making class one of the greatest hindrances, if not the greatest, to their efforts to persuade the Chinese to accept the Christian religion. It does not take long to discover the reason for this antagonism. Those who look upon China as a sort of lawful prey to be seized and devoured are not particular as to the methods employed in securing the spoil, and they present to the Chinese the worst side of a so-called Christian civilization. While there may be, and doubtless are, many individual exceptions, yet it is still true that the unscrupulous methods of dealing, and the fast, and in many cases immoral, lives of these foreigners nullify some of the best efforts of the missionaries to present to the Chinese the higher standard and the greater blessings of Christianity as compared with Buddhism or Confucianism. On the other hand, the teachings of the missionaries are a constant rebuke to the lives of the money getters, and thus a great gulf is fixed between them. Those who wish correct information concerning missionary operations in the far East should apply to others besides traders and officers of steamships, and ought to visit some other places besides Shanghai and Hongkong, the two leading business centers in China.

On Sunday morning, January 20, we left Tientsin for Peking, a ride of four or five hours. After the uprising the line was extended within the wall of the Chinese city, so that we left the train near the principal gate of the Tartar city, and entered at the same place as the troops who rescued the besieged foreigners. Then there was simply a conduit through which water flowed, but this opening was afterward enlarged into a gate.

We passed along Legation Street, where the foreign legations are located, and found accommodations at a hotel near Hartamen, another large gate. In the afternoon we walked through one of the principal streets from the south to the north wall of the Tartar city. This street has been widened until it is nearly one hundred feet in width the most of the distance, but it still falls far short of the ideal street of the Western world. It is dirty and uneven, and for a large part of the distance both sides are lined with small shops and shanties of every description, and some that defy description. It was on this street that Baron Ketteler, the German ambassador, was shot at the time of the uprising, and we passed under the elaborate memorial arch extending across the street, which the German kaiser required the Chinese to erect at their own expense as a part of the indemnity for the murder.

At the north end of this street is the Llama temple, a celebrated center of heathenism. Here we found priests and attendants in large numbers, all bent upon extracting as much money as possible from foreigners. In one of the buildings we saw an image of Buddha seventy feet in height carved from one piece of wood. Near the Llama temple is the Hall of Confucius, a place much frequented by the devotees of that heathen sage.

In explanation of what I have already written I ought to say that nearly three centuries ago the Manchus or Tartars from the north conquered the Chinese, and have been the rulers of the Middle Kingdom since that time. In some of the cities these two peoples occupy separate quarters, one of which is called the Tartar city and the other the Chinese city. This is the case in Peking. The principal city is the Tartar city, which is wholly surrounded by a substantial wall. The Chinese city, built on the south of the Tartar city, comprises a large territory, but much of it is open ground. In the Chinese city are found the Temple of Heaven, a very interesting structure where the emperor goes once each year to pray to Heaven (whatever that may mean), and the Temple of Agriculture where the emperor plows a furrow each spring, and thus advertises himself as the patron of agriculture. We visited both of these places.

One spot rendered historic by the uprising and the attendant siege of the foreigners is the British legation. Here nearly all the foreigners took refuge at the time of the outbreak, and for many days, with the help of a few troops, defended themselves against the attacks of the Boxers. We saw a portion of the

wall, riddled with cannon balls, on which had been painted in large letters the suggestive words, “LEST WE FORGET.” It is not likely that either China or the foreign powers will forget this outbreak which cost the lives of several scores of missionaries, and entailed the payment of a large indemnity which will burden China for nearly a generation to come.

The one thing which troubled our minds during our stay in Tientsin and Peking was the fact that we have no workers to represent this message in either city. In fact, we traveled from Chingwangtao to southern Honan before we found even one lone preacher of the third angel's message to the Chinese. If the recommendation adopted at the Shanghai conference is carried out, the next visitor to China will be able to report differently. Let us hope that it may be so. We long for the time to come speedily when the banner of this truth will be uplifted in every one of the eighteen provinces of the Great Pure Kingdom, but at present only four provinces have been entered, and in one of these there are only two workers. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” W. W. P.