From Wu Shen Miao. This has been in some ways the most wonderful week of his time in China. He has been in some discomfort with his old liver complaint but has played some hard tennis most days and kept going alright. They had sixty to seventy at the synod and had a great time in almost every respect. It turns out that with the men who have been accepted this year into the ministry, they have Chinese ministers and probationers in every circuit and more than one in some. One only has to compare that situation with H B R's early years in China, when there was a single Chinese minister [Sung Shan] Tu, although he was an excellent man. Many of the younger ones have real quality. In addition there is about sixteen offering to preach, which is the healthiest situation he has ever known. The break-down in schools accounts for it, but only in part.
The disturbances have of course upset things financially but that is not as bad as was first feared. Hankow has raised all that was needed and the Hong Kong $340 debit on the Chinese Missionary Society has been met by a missionary meeting collection which amounted to over H K $100 and by the circuit yesterday morning promising to find the rest themselves by January 31st. He has just gave them liberty to talk among themselves and the matter was settled in half an hour.
Things have been happening on the political front also. Apparently a Communist plot in Canton, engineered by the Soviet Consulate has been uncovered although the position remains unclear. 'The result here is that there is a tremendous hunt for Communists. On Friday a.m. the whole of the Concessions (?with the exception of the Japanese) with the connivance of the Consuls were searched, the Russian Consulate closed & all its occupants arrested & I think similar action has been taken in Shanghai. Chiang Kai Shek is back in power & it may be that my dream will be realised[?] sooner than I hoped now that the real menace of the Communists & the world-plot of the Russians is being unmasked, that Britain will end up the great friend of China & true liberty'.
Various Christmas presents have arrived, which remind him of home - a book on Francis Asbury from J. K. Hill, Impatience of a Parson from Morley, an engagements book from Aunt Kate and Merchant's Anthology of Jesus, which he thinks must be from Carrie.
[Ernest Henry] Livesley is very busy with [unreadable word] which this year has changed hands three times and will be very difficult to sort out.
Grace is expected now and there will be lots for her to do.
There is no word yet of anti-Christian demonstrations planned for the Christmas season, but the Christian community is keeping a low profile. He thinks that with the downfall of the Communists they should be fairly safe.
'The Chinese are sadder & wiser than they were this time last year'.
Notes
- A major Communist uprising took place in Canton early on the morning of 11 December 1927. The insurgent forces consisting of dissident troops, officer cadets and workers enjoyed initial success and within a few hours controlled much of the city. There was however very little popular support for the uprising and within forty-eight hours forces loyal to the Nationalist government in Nanking reoccupied Canton after fierce fighting. The aftermath of the uprising was characterised by mass executions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Nationalist controlled China. Source: The Nationalist Revolution in China 1923-28 (1983) by C. Martin Wilbur, pp.164-170.
- Sung Shan Tu (1866-1926) was born near Lang Lo in China, of Christian parents. He was trained by missionaries as a preacher and did valuable pioneering work in new districts. He entered the ministry in 1904, one of the earliest Chinese ministers in his district. He was forced to superannuate because of ill health in 1923 but continued to do such work as his condition would allow until his death three years later. Source: Minutes of Conference 1926.