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How dear is Formosa to my heart! On that island the best of my years have been spent. How dear is Formosa to my heart! A lifetime of joy is centered here. Remembering George Leslie Mackay I love to look up to its lofty peaks, down into its yawning chasms, and away out on its surging seas. How willing I am to gaze upon these forever! My heart’s ties to Taiwan cannot be severed! To that island I devote my life. My heart’s ties to Taiwan cannot be severed! There I find my joy. I should like to find a final resting place within sound of its surf and under the shade of its waving bamboo.
— “My Final Resting Place” by George Mackay. <8® - ^ iiP ifW R - ESULl^ ZK ' M M • As a missionary, Mackay showed an extraordinary love for the road. Carrying simple baskets as luggage, he and his students would set off in all directions, fording streams and climbing mountains in order to spread the word of God.
$ Remembering George Leslie Mackay ow dear is Formosa to my heart! On The ancient Greeks had four different sit that island the best of my years have words fo r love, which separately described i t H TF been spent. love o f fa m ily, platonic love between How dear is Formosa to my heart! A life frien d s, the love between a man and
& ( x S»£ ■ 2 aasweagm time of joy is centered here. woman, and the love o f gods and deities. ’ J U >5A
2 sinorama 3 US carrying out their work, but their efforts left a IW gggj KSSUffiKSiglS big imprint on society and resulted in many - ' W S TOOK ° OTDWB praiseworthy accomplishments. B S S - ’ BIB = I W W M I f f ’ ± B K ^ » George Mackay was one such foreign The Mackay Memorial One of the churches missionary, and his name is still quite famil Hospital, which was a ^ w a t s t s i • that Mackay designed established in 1879, iar to Taiwanese. Few. however, know much himself .had a six was the first Western r^BAa®ffl ' M 8 S M about his life. storied sharply pointed medical facility in M ■ S « « » J r ^ j n - w i m pagoda-like steeple, northern Taiwan. Mackay was born in Zorra, Ontario in geometrical ornamen Mackay is standing in $ « A . » S ’ 4 A A W A • 1844, the youngest of six children. From an tation on the walls, and the doorway. early age. he aspired to become a missionary. gothic windows. It's an j r a ^ m i | f i a i ! ' 8 « R eye-catching mix of > aw *® ■ m m But when he stated his desire as a child, in Chinese and Western stead of being encouraged, he was called an elements &f^S - S A M W a S M S ■ » “excitable youth” or “religious zealot.” MB • - J Identifying with Taiwan - ¥ » - - W f 6 O 9 8 A In 1871. in the twilight years of the Qing »i»Jli'9iW ° ttBeW TtR^lffl dynasty, when men in Taiwan still sported $ pigtails and women still hobbled along on j j a j m a a : lit sit bound feet, George Mackay arrived here by represented by a written character.” him thus: “Of average height and burly- W J ° W I W I I I M W rB®SWi®£ ' WWW ' boat from across the Pacific Ocean. < After studying for five months, Mackay chested. he was bold, knowledgeable and en TF Tf ’ M«K*A But Mackay wasn’t the first foreign mis was capable of conversing in Taiwanese. Af ergetic. He had dark eyes, and his hair and A ’ m o i m s i ’ IM = » R K ttR W S B a S -J r « A sionary in Taiwan. Dr. James Maxwell had ter 20 years. Mackay published a Taiwanese- beard were black too. His voice was strong & established himself in southern Taiwan as English dictionary based on his thorough re and piercing, and he spoke with great confi early as 1865, so Mackay decided after arriv B W i ’ W S t t S ...... ° J ’ ZEiWI search. dence. He was a gifted speaker and ing to make a new start in northern Taiwan. Mackay's oldest son William described had native-like fluency in Chinese.” « w w ’ w ' iw m ’ ” irtk W A ^#HJI M I W S I B ’ In March of 1872 Mackay boarded the Open sesame BtffWA ’ i£ g $ » g f s ° M r ^ r ^ j » Hai lung (“Sea Dragon”) in Kaohsiung, and Despite all Mackay’s effort and A W i W » ’ 4 W S lfr» m ■ M J E t » J arrived in the northern port of Keelung three talent, in predominately Buddhist ’ ^IM A M o j B^ M A A ’ s i j A m M i t t i w w s « « ' days later. and Taoist Taiwan, there were As the first missionary in the area. times when crowds heckled him, or f » o o £ ’ -iw ’ ’ 3 c w • - m u Mackay faced huge obstacles to accomplish ° even threw stones or excrement at ’ B W M « W r ’ t W « ’ W J ffl i w a • M M s a ^ iia ^ a w even the smallest of tasks. We can only George Leslie Mackay’s feelings for Taiwan him. ran long and deep. After his death, his son W S M ° imagine how hard it must have been. In the George William Mackay and his wife “Many people gathered around us, shout ° r a f l W r W > view of Reverend Luo Jung-kuang, a Presby returned to Taiwan, where they worked as ing, ‘A barbarians’ religion. A barbarians’ terian minister, Mackay accomplished sev missionaries for more than 50 years. When religion. Let’s kill him .. . . ” HM** • s!<®WfigE®± • 5W - the younger Mackay died, he was buried eral very difficult things, including marrying "It was at Go-ko-khi. the first station es = W % ’ # W ’ IGfUi ^ a ^ s A m w ta ° J StfWM® ’ M *® #? > next to his father in Tanshui. a Taiwanese woman and learning Taiwanese tablished in the country, that the first Chris £ $ 7 0 ’ ^ T ftk W ^ ...... J »JftfflWiAiiOiW - « f Z from cowherds. Luo believes that these acts tian marriage was celebrated. The news that r / ± 5 » i ^ ^ ...... ’ TEJ 2 .- • S O g M W B m & • K l t ! W l > 8 « 8 iffi ’ ♦ showed how strongly Mackay identified the missionary was about to perform a mar * »mf£i&AjE ° • ScttttttT'H- with Taiwan. riage ceremony spread rapidly through the 'bHWWffi'WRT-MWia ° J Mackay was a hard-working student of region: and the whole neighborhood became Taiwanese. In his diary, which he composed excited, alarmed, and enraged. The wildest - n H z ? • ? a » in romanized Taiwanese, he wrote: “I went stories were told: ‘She is going to be the WB^ TBIB^ W^ to see those cowherds again, and learned vo missionary’s wife for a week;’ ‘The amount M B W T m K - S W A l W l S ’ cabulary from them that you can’t find in to be paid the missionary will ruin the fam In 1932 Taiwan’s T A f t M K R W - textbooks. They speak the vernacular, ily.’” northern Presbyterian $ “ J whereas as the language you find in books is Learning constantly from experience, churches held a Mandarin, spoken only by officials and Mackay eventually found an opening for ceremony at the Tamkang Junior High s o a f i scholars.” Christianity: School to mark the 60th "There arc no declensions or conjugations "This ancestral feast on the last night of anniversary of f tT E W iM i ’ S A W S ' in Chinese, their place being taken by the the year is to the Chinese what Passover Mackay’s arrival in Taiwan. ’tones,’ of which there are eight in the night is to the pious Jew. It has been my cus Formosan vernacular. A word that to an En tom never to denounce or revile what is so glish ear has but one sound may mean any sacredly cherished, but rather to recognize - A - t = ¥ . B M T - i w i t one of eight things according as it is spoken whatever of truth or beauty there is in it. and i V M j . M O i f c J W f W Dr. in an abrupt, high. low. or any other of the to utilize it as an ‘open sesame.' Many, many Ringer f « ® A X f f • M fg W ffiffiK eight ‘tones.’ Each one of these ‘tones’ is times, standing on the steps of a temple, after
4 sinorama 5 w s s im a y w iK ' ra m J M W W - ° W W » raiiS ^B eK JttW - ^ ® E $ ^ T ^ M 0 9 S ^ > Mackay took this photo of warriors in the garb they wore when This Amis chief and tribesmen were good friends of Mackay. A plains aboriginal weaver. SMffiJiMBKfflMmraS - IH S tW W » hunting heads. Apart from his missionary, medical and educational work, Mackay also worked hard to compile written and visual records of the Taiwanese society of his day. These now comprise a precious historical resource. This photo taken by Mackay shows a farmer, ’ M M singing a hymn, have I repeated the fifth pulled with a strong string, or pried out with English business community in Tanshui to assisted by his wife, using a wiinnowing machine to separate the rice commandment, and the words ’Honor thy fa the blade of a pair of scissors. The traveling help him with the medical work. from the chaff. 7 ’ M O M ’ ther and thy mother’ never fail to secure re doctor uses a pair of pincers or small tongs. Mackay’s disciples and the students spectful attention.” Jaw-breaking, excessive hemorrhage, faint at the Oxford College that he estab A free dental policy ing, and even death frequently result from the lished all had to undergo medical Medicine was also one of Mackay’s most barbarous treatment.” training, so that they would be able to | I S T O W ' U TO W ’ W 7 ^ ’ useful opening gambits, for it was one of the Having studied medicine in New York offer medical advice in the course of B TO fl easiest ways to earn gratitude and trust. and Ontario, he quickly made designs for their work spreading the gospels. Mackay’s medical work mostly involved medical equipment that he had locals manu In 1880 in Tanshui, Mackay es ~ A A O ¥ ’ ^ ^ y ^ t L = I treating malaria and pulling teeth. facture for him. Then he sent away to New tablished the first true Western medi ’ Back then malaria was the most wide York fora set of state-of-the-art instruments. cal facility in northern Taiwan: the W il J ° 7 ^ ’ r o « ( J ^2^ O xford ( spread and feared disease in Taiwan: “The "Our usual custom in touring through the Mackay Clinic. It was originally named not most malignant disease, the one most com country is to take our stand in an open space, after him but after an American shipping mon and most dreaded by the people, is, as often on the stone steps of a temple, and, after captain from Detroit who was also named has been suggested, malarial fever. It is not singing a hymn or two, proceed to extract M ackay and w hose w ife had given an uncommon thing in Formosa to find half teeth, and then preach the message of the USS3.000 to establish this hospital in honor Hi HU the inhabitants of a town prostrated by ma gospel. The sufferer usually stands while the of her recently departed husband. r f W tlJ < larial fever at once. I have used Podophyllum operation is being performed, and the tooth, Its operations were suspended for five ’ O H A 0 A 7 ’ M A M M O and Taraxacum in pill form at first, then fre when removed, is laid on his hand. To keep years after Mackay died, until 1906 when the the tooth would be to awaken suspicions re Canadian missionary doctor James Young M ± f l quent doses of quinine, followed, if neces sary, by perchlorate of iron. A liquid diet, garding us in the Chinese mind. We have fre Ferguson reopened it under the auspices of Ofi ’ M M A M » ’ M M A ° Bff exercise, and fresh air arc always insisted quently extracted a hundred teeth in less than the Canadian Presbyterian Church with the M ' 7i on.” an hour.” name Mackay Memorial Hopital. This time The image of Mackay in people’s minds In his life, how many teeth did Mackay its name was in honor of George Mackay ± ° ra ff is a man holding a Bible in one hand and a pull? According to his own records, "1 have himself, who after all had pioneered modern pair of dental forceps in the other. And he did myself, since 1873, extracted over 21,000. Western medicine in northern Taiwan. ’ ft write a fair amount about the state of den and the students and preachers have ex Oxford College was started by Mackay tistry in Taiwan: tracted nearly half that number.” with funds from people back home in ’ « » A ± O 7 M iU ' "Toothache, resulting from severe ma Captain Mackay Ontario. In 1880 Mackay returned to Canada laria and from betel-nut chewing, cigar Apart from traveling widely to pull for the first time, and people living in his smoking, and other filthy habits, is the abid people’s teeth and to treat their malaria. home county of O xford contributed ’ O xford C ollege J ing torment of tens of thousands of both Chi Mackay also established northern Taiwan’s US$6,000 for him to return to Taiwan and ( 4 # ^ ) iWIAI • - A A K ¥ ’ m m nese and aborigines. The methods by which earliest Western hospital and medical school. construct a school. The source of the money the natives extract teeth are both crude and Mackay opened his first "hospital” in is why it was named Oxford College. In 1884 7 7 ^ » ' fflU ^ J cruel. Sometimes the offending tooth is 1873, inviting a Dr. Ringer who served the Mackay went a step farther to establish a
6 A sinorama 7 women’s college, which helped to shatter the The Si no-French War was a slant the work was done. Three widely held misconception of the time that dark period for Mackay’s work as blows were required for the sec women are intellectually inferior and a missionary. ond. The head of the third was shouldn’t be educated. "In the summer of 1884 sev slowly sawed off with a long Nevertheless, even before these schools eral French war-ships appeared, knife. The fourth was taken a were established. Mackay had already and very soon the news spread quarter of a mile farther, and amid started an "outdoor education program.” He throughout North Formosa that shouts and screams and many wrote, "Our first college in North Formosa the French were coming. The protestations of innocence he was was not the handsome building that now people were both alarmed and en subjected to torture and finally overlooks the Tamsui River and bears the raged. Their anim osity was beheaded. The difference in the honored name of Oxford College, but out in aroused against all foreigners and bribe made the difference in the the open under the spreading banian-tree, those associated with them. The execution.” with God's blue sky as our vaulted roof.” missionary was at once sus "The pig is a great pet among On the road again pected. A cloud hung over our the Chinese. It is always to be Long periods traveling were a special entire mission work.” found about the door, and often characteristic of Mackay’s missionary work A mob destroyed the Taking has free access into the house. In in Taiwan. Wu Wen-hsiung, a Presbyterian tung Church, and they even went our missionary journeys we fre minister in Kuantu, points out that Mackay so far as to make a tombstone for quently found ourselves room 2ooi*3
8 sinorama 9 jiW ’ pressive numbers are due in large part to the J ' W iM m il work done by Mackay. In his 29 years as a missionary in Taiwan, he established 60 ’ tex A I- « A ’ & » ’ B^ ^ ^ ^ ^ BTO^ S churches, each with its own minister. He also M ' ° established a theological seminary, a girls' m ° B tw -ex ^ iiiW A ^ m fw fiim -« M ’ A ) ! W
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