THE DIARIES OF ARTHUR AND MARY ELWIN née JACOB 1870-1900 Arthur: c.1870 Mary: 1867 Edited by Rev E.J.Elwin and G.Elwin © G.Elwin Thanks to Mrs A.J.Elwin for translations Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION Arthur and Mary Elwin have left diaries and letters covering their life in China from 1870 to 1900. They were going there to convert the Chinese to the English idea of Christianity. On one level they were misguided individuals, trying to convert an ancient civilisation to English beliefs – on another level they were selfless individuals going to serve a cause they believed in with the aim to help the Chinese people. Whatever the rights and wrongs of their motivation it must have taken some bravery and determination to go to a largely unknown and unstable country, suffering illness, hardship and the loss of two loved children. The surviving children also suffered, spending long periods separated from their parents. Arthur and Mary show no understanding of the value of the Buddhist religion, but they did appreciate Chinese culture: for example ancient poems and printing. They tried to improve the wellbeing of the Chinese, helping to found and run schools and hospitals, and helping opium addicts. The hospital they set up went on under Dr Galt’s supervision to provide significant benefits to the people of Hangzhou. They were hated by some and insulted and called names. The people they converted suffered badly from beatings and destruction of their property. But, Arthur and Mary were also loved by their friends, as evidenced by a beautiful tapestry given to them. As well as the hardships, it was also a fascinating experience for them, full of adventures. Overall theirs is an interesting story of the life of a European family living in China in the latter part of the 19th Century. Notes on editing: As much as possible I have tried to let Arthur and Mary tell their story in their own words. I have included most of the material from their 30 years in China: I leave it up to the reader whether you persevere to read the whole story or skim and read sections which interest you. On many days Arthur and Mary went to tea with friends, or went to church services or prayer meetings. For readability I have deleted most references to these. Mary and Arthur were clearly very religious: and again for readability I have deleted some of their religious references. The words in italics are copied from their diaries (or other material as noted in the text). The words in normal type are explanatory notes. Notes on place names: Arthur and Mary and the other missionaries in Hangchow were often visiting places for the first time visited by Europeans, hearing the placed names in strange dialects, and then translating the sounds th into Latin characters using newly invented 19 century conventions. Arthur says (Letter 11) It is very difficult to know how to spell these names. I know by experience how impossible must people find it to pronounce our Chinese names. Since the 19th Century there has been a fundamental change in the system of translation and many places names are now almost unrecognizable. I give the place names as written by Arthur and Mary and wherever I have been able to I add the modern translation. 1.2 THE ELWINS Arthur Elwin was born in 1845 in Dover, where his father was a partner in a firm of solicitors. In 1865 Arthur went to the Church Missionary College and was ordained in 1869. Mary née Jacob was born 3 days after Arthur, in India, where her father William Stephen Jacob was an astronomer in Madras. Mary has left a diary recording her travels to India in 1862-4. They both had strong religious convictions which is probably how they met. They were engaged in October 1868 and married on 23rd November 1869, by Mary’s uncle, the Rev George Jacob. On 31 January 1870 they set off for China as missionaries with the Church Missionary Society. 1.3 CHINA IN 1870 The China that the Elwins were coming to was a potentially dangerous place for foreigners. European powers had been interfering in Chinese affairs since the 1830s, when Britain started to push the opium trade in exchange for tea. Opium addiction and associate criminal and antisocial behaviour became an increasing problem, which the Chinese attempted to eliminate by destroying British opium stocks in Canton in 1839. The British retaliated by blockading Chinese ports and occupying Shanghai, and Canton. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ended the Opium Wars, and gave Britain extensive commercial rights in China. Other European powers followed, and over the next half century France, Britain, Germany, Japan, and Russia had carved out territorial spheres of influence, including control of ports, rivers and shipping, and exclusive commercial rights. Inside many port cities foreigners were exempt from Chinese laws and could only be tried by their own nation. This foreign domination contributed to a virulent anti-foreigner sentiment. As well as European interference there was significant instability in the Chinese government, with the aging Manchu led Qing dynasty in decline. From 1850 to 1864 the Taiping Rebellion devastated southern China, with 20-30 million people dying, mainly civilians. The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan, who believing he was the younger brother of Jesus, established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with its capital at Nanjing. In 1860 the rebels took Hangchow and Suzhou to the east. In 1861 they failed to take Shanghai, marking the beginning of their decline. The Qing government eventually crushed the rebellion in 1864 with the aid of French and British forces. 1.4 CHRISITANITY IN 1870 The first Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison, arrived in Macau in 1807. During the next 16 years he produced a Chinese translation of the Bible and a Chinese dictionary for Westerners. However the Chinese government was very suspicious of foreigners and Chinese laws were amended in 1814 and again in 1821, imposing the death penalty for Europeans spreading Christianity, and sending converts as slaves to Muslim cities in Xinjiang. In the 1830s foreign missionaries were strangled or expelled by the Chinese. However after the First Opium War Christian missionaries rapidly spread through the coastal cities under the protection of the Western powers. Until the 1860s the Protestant missions were confined to five coastal cities, but Treaties forced China to allow missionaries into the interior. By 1865 there were thirty different Protestant groups at work in China, affiliated with Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Wesleyans, and coming from England, the United States, Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, or the Netherlands. By the end of the century over 8000 missionaries were working in all parts of China. One of the most famous, J. Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) is estimated to have converted more people to Christianity than at any other time since the Apostle Paul. Missionaries established the first modern hospitals and founded schools offering basic education to poor boys and girls. As well as doing charitable work and distributing food to the poor, they worked to abolish practices such as foot binding and the unjust treatment of maidservants, and they opposed the opium trade and brought treatment to many who were addicted. 1.5 CHINESE SUSPISION OF CHRISTIANS The Chinese were deeply suspicious of foreign missionaries, for example believing that missionaries removed the eyes of unwitting Chinese for use in medicine, or that Baptism, which was often given to those likely to die, led death. Catholic nuns had been paying people for bringing children to their orphanages, and this led child- brokers to engage in kidnapping. On 18th June 1870, three Chinese kidnappers were arrested near Tianjin, and claimed in public to have sold at least 10 children to a Catholic orphanage for $6 each. An angry crowd gathered outside the Cathedral and smashed windows. The Chinese magistrates attempted to suppress the riot, and the French Consul visited the magistrate's quarters and lodged an angry diatribe, stabbing his sword into the table. As the consul was leaving he shot a Chinese official dead and was then murdered by the rioters. A number of Catholic institutions and foreign buildings, including the Tientsin Cathedral and four British and American churches, were burned down in the ensuing riot. Approximately 40 Chinese Christians were killed, and ten nuns were raped and mutilated by the crowd before being killed. Foreign gunboats finally restored order. For many Chinese, the fact Europeans and missionaries continued to be an elite outside Chinese law, and seemingly able to engage in actions through military force without serious repercussions, directly led to anti-foreign feeling which led to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Chapter 2. 1st TRIP TO CHINA 1870-4: ARRIVAL IN HANGCHOW, CHINA 2.1. VOYAGE TO CHINA: 1870 The Elwins travelled out to China on the S.S. Agamemnon (see model below). At 2280 tons, the S.S Agamemnon was the first Blue Funnel Line ship, launched in 1865, she sailed to China in 1866. She had the latest design of iron hull and was driven by a revolutionary compound tandem steam engine. The relatively low fuel consumption of this new engine enabled vessels of around 2000 gross tons to operate competitively on regular services from Liverpool to China. With the Suez Canal opening in 1869 these new vessels started to replace sailing ships. In 1869 the Agamemnon, carrying a massive cargo of 2,516,000 pounds of tea from Hangchow, arrived at Gravesend after only 77 days at sea. th Voyage: (Letter 1 &2) We arrived at Shanghai April 27 after a pleasant passage of 87 days - pleasant as regards the ship and captain, but very unpleasant as regards the winds and waves.