(CN 393, T4) for the Billy Graham Center Archives
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This is a complete transcript of the oral history interview with David Howard Adeney (CN 393, T4) for the Billy Graham Center Archives. No spoken words that were recorded are omitted. In a very few cases, the transcribers could not understand what was said, in which case [unclear] was inserted. Also, grunts and verbal hesitations such as “ah” or “um” are usually omitted. Readers of this transcript should remember that this is a transcript of spoken English, which follows a different rhythm and even rule than written English. Three dots indicate an interruption or break in the train of thought within the sentence of the speaker. Four dots indicate what the transcriber believes to be the end of an incomplete sentence. ( ) Word in parentheses are asides made by the speaker. [ ] Words in brackets are comments made by the transcriber. This transcription was made by Katherine Elwell and Paul Ericksen, and completed in October 1990. Please note: Underlined text in brackets [text] denotes a written addition made by Adeney to add clarity. No subtractions have been made from the spoken record. Please note: This oral history interview expresses the personal memories and opinions of the interviewee and does not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Billy Graham Center Archives or Wheaton College. BGC Archives CN 393, T4 Transcript - Page 2 Collection 393, Tape 4. Oral history interview with David Adeney by Paul Ericksen on November 14, 1988. ERICKSEN: You were discussing the popularity of the...the meetings once the communists had taken control. How long were they allowed to meet freely? ADENEY: Well, the first year in Shanghai. And...and you've got to recognize that Shanghai was different from other...other cities. There was much more freedom in Shanghai than in...than in other places. Beijing probably also. They...they [student meetings] continued quite strongly there [in Shanghai]. And [pauses] we had our fellowship meetings every week in...we had two houses which were Inter-Varsity Fellowship houses and the students met in these houses. At first they continued to have meetings on the campus, but gradually things tightened up on the campus, and they weren't able...they weren't able to have the meetings actually on campus. But they...they met in the fellowship house. And [pauses] as the time went on the pressures on the students politically were tremendous. Every student was in a political group. Every student had to write his or her life story again and again and had to discuss it with the group to...to which the student belonged. And they were going to endless political meetings, endless discussion groups, and the criticism of Christians was increasing. And [pauses] so that some students gave up and couldn't stand the strain. And so they were...the fellowship meetings were designed to strengthen the students, to help them to stand firm and to pray for those who were giving away under the...under the stress. And there were testimonies of...of God's help. And...and we would hear of students getting into trouble. Like we heard of one group where the students, because they said grace at meals, were told that if they asked God...thanked God for their food, then they should not require a scholarship. And pretty well all the students were on scholarship. And so the students were praying for these students and taking an offering to try and help...help them carry on when they lost their scholarship. So this kind of thing was...was going on all the time. And some of the students were quite active in...in their witness. The students in one university produced a little tract, which they called...it had...the outside of it was AD, because the communists changed the dating...the AD/BC. And up to the...up to the coming of the communists everything was dated according to the Sun Yet Sen revolution in 1911. So that 19...1940...49 [1949] would have been 19...it would have been 38...the...[from] the year of the...of the...of the nationalist revolution. And [But] now it was...[the communists] had gone back to the...to the whole world wide dating. And so they did a little tract with...with 19...19...I think it was 1950, and...on the...on the front and it describing how everything now is dated according to the coming of Christ. And [pauses] things like that were...were still being done. The...the students were still having evangelistic meetings. And...and yet it was becoming increasingly difficult, and there was the strain of knowing what the attitude should be. Like a student said to me, “We've got to go out on these parades.” There were endless parades and you'd hear the beating of the drums and the music of the... [unclear] [of the Yang-guo]...there was a particular dance that was being performed right across the city, and everybody was doing this dance and the particular music connected...connected with it [was very popular]. And then the students would go out on parade and they'd have to shout slogans and they would have to sing patriotic songs. And the students said, “Well, if the song is [clears throat] against America it doesn't matter. We can...we can sing...sing that. But then when it ends with 'Our eternal liberator, Mao Tse Tung, our eternal liberator, our savior,' we can't sing that,” you see. And these were the questions that used to come up to the students. © 2018. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 393, T4 Transcript - Page 3 ERICKSEN: So how were students coping with that situation? ADENEY: Well, in...in many cases, I mean that's...they would...they would...they would join in with what...what they could. And [pauses] on the whole they were quite enthusiastic about working with the...with the government. I mean, you have the great rallies of students with banners everywhere: “Go where the revolution needs you most.” And students were being sent out to serve the people [clears throat], and go[ing] into the countryside and bring[ing] help to the farmers and...and that kind of thing. And the Christian students would join in that, and they'd go...go for that. But [pauses] where they had their difficulties was in the discussion groups, where they couldn't accept the Marxist view of life. And...and they...and that [this] sometimes led to them being struggled against, because the...they...they had the...what they called [they had to join] the “Xuch-xi xiao-dzu,” which was the indoctrination meetings. And the...one girl, I remember, was very much afraid of these indoctrination meetings, because they were really tough times for the students. But the Lord strengthened her, and she said, “Now I don't call it my 'Xuch-xi xiao-dzu,' my 'education small group.' I call it my 'budao xiao-dzu,' my 'evangelism small group'“ [chuckles]. [Sound of approaching/passing train] And [pauses] so they...they...they took advantage to witness in some...some cases. There was the...the...the...what...what they called [pauses] “mutual criticism.” There was “dzi-wo piping,” which was individual criticism, when they criticized themselves. And they...they had to produce these criticisms of their past thinking, how wrong they'd been. And this had to be written out and then read to the rest of the group, and then the others would criticize it in turn. And this was “husiang-piping,” mutual criticism, where they criticized each other. And then, if they didn't respond properly, they made...might be the object of...of “dou-zheng,” which is struggle, when one person would be put up and the others would accuse him and struggle against him in order to change his...his thinking. And this was going on in every campus right across [the country]. And later on it was introduced to the churches, and these criticism meetings were started in the churches, and the Christians were expected to criticize each other, those who were backward in their thinking, and so on. ERICKSEN: What was the attitude in the groups toward people who [pauses] couldn't stand up to the pressure and would renounce their faith or buy into Marxism or...? ADENEY: [Pauses] The...the attitude of Christians? I would say it was mainly of sorrow and concern and praying that they might come back, those who had failed. And there were quite a lot who did fail. And sometimes you would even see testimonies in the newspapers of students who had given up their faith, and...and they were...they were published as...as “those who'd seen the light.” And there were even a kind of evangelistic meetings in reverse, where the communists would say, “Now how many of you've been to Christian schools?” And...and they would...they would...they would lecture them. And then they'd say, “How many of you have seen the light and...and have seen how wrong you've been in your beliefs?” And...and then they'd say, “Now how many of you are prepared to go out and fight against these evil superstitions?” Just like an evangelistic meeting. So...but I...in those first years of the revolution there was still a great deal of enthusiasm among the Christians for their faith.