AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF K. A. Wedel for the Master of Arts (name of student) ( degree) in Worid History presented on 5 May 19a.9. (major) (da te) " An Oracle in China: On the History of the West China Title: General Conference M:n~e Mission, ~aoki and Chengtu, 1947-1951 Abstract a~proved: (A succ.inct summary of/the thesis not to exceed 300 words in length.) For what seemed to be one of history's shorter interludes, the Christian mission movement to China resurrected itself after World War II. As resurrections go, it did not appear much, for just as quickly, its subject died again, this time the victim of Chinese, not Japanese, hands, and this time rebuffed not for Confucious, but for Mao. Along with other denominations, General Conference Mennonites watched the denoument of that Western Christian effort which had actually begun thirteen centuries before, and also like the others, they wondered how well their _.message would survive out on its own. The West China General Conference Mennonite Mission, first to Paoki, Shensi, then to Chengtu, Szechwan, was a Mennonite attempt to give that message a chance; in its brief tenure from 1947 to 1951, it experienced the confrontation of East and West under wartime duress. It has been said that people only recoil in horror when Christianity is attacked or practiced, and a recent upsurge of Christian following in China has given cause for a reexamination of the mission era. Indeed, however far from China those missionaries fled, their legacy remains--for good or ill--and their story sometimes rings of tales they used to tell themselves. AN ORACLE IN CHINA ON THE HISTORY OF THE WEST CHINA GENE·RAL CONFERENCE MENNONITE MISSION PAOKI AND CHENGTU 1947-1951 A Thesis Presented to the Division of Social Sciences EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by K. A. Wedel May 1989 /; , ; J l..l~ for the Graduate Council 468493 Df DEC 05 '89 lJ PREFACE Following World War II, Mennonite missionaries who had worked 'in China before the war returned, ostensibly to reopen their old mission fields in the east, but discouraged by Communist advances, ultimately to begin new fields in the west. One such effort, the West China General Conference Mennonite Mission in Shensi and Szechwan--a last ditch attempt to preserve Mennonite work during the Chinese Civil War--lasted from 1947 to 1951. A prophetic Bertrand Russell once suggested that "if Europe and America kill themselves off in a war, it will not necessarily mean the destruction of the human species, nor even an end to civilization. There will still be a considerable number of Chinese left."l With somewhat sadder conclusions, mission historians have traditionally asked why the China missions failed, but laden with assumptions, their question was unfair; indeed, they could have just as easily asked, why did the missions not succeed more than they did? To be sure, by early 1952, only twenty out of 637 China Inland Mission (C.I.M.) workers remained, only seven of 571 Lutherans, and only three of 350 lBertrand Russell, Interview in New York World, May 4, 1924. iv Methodistsi 2 but despite these figures, and despite the lofty goals of missionary rhetoric, the burden these workers carried, namely Christianity, remained, and to this day, continues to expand. Just as the missionaries' encounter with Chinese civilization often resulted in misunderstandings, or even direct animosity, so historians have often failed to understand how the missionaries' religion could succeed or fail independent of its purveyors' fate. Western scholars, acutely conscious of the dichotomy between morality and reason, must remember that the children of Confucious never knew that model, and that they contemplated more heavily on virtue--a responsibility bound, ultimately, in the individual, even if directed at a larger body. Neither absolute doctrine, as with the missionaries, nor absolute doubt, as with the scholars, were fundamental to Chinese thought, for as the Chinese saw it, and as Flannery O'Connor once phrased it, "free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man."3 Thus missionary dogma failed to the Chinese only when it forgot its own compassion, and reason's self-inflicted doubting seemed absurd. Above all, virtue, schizophrenically containing both the situationalism of reason and the 2Richard C. Bush, Jr., Religion in Communist China (Nashville, Tenn., 1970), 46. 3Flanneryo'connor, "Author's Note to the Second Edition," Wise Blood (New York, 1962). v assuredness of religion, mattered to the Chinese, and when missionaries spoke of Christ as He might have lived in China, their message hit its mark. But should that really be surprising? for surely a converted Christian's contribution, in so far as he made one, lay not in his believing what would otherwise have been unbelievable, but in his doing what would otherwise have gone undone. Historian Paul A. Varg's comment that "missionaries who remained in China after 1948 felt useless"4 was therefore an overstatement, for even as the West China Mission crumbled around its instigators' feet, the hope of Christianity's continuance, and more specifically, of a local church's foundation, gave them every reason not to feel their efforts had been in vain. In the eclectic way of ancient oracles, the missionaries thrived, were snubbed and beaten back, and then proved themselves redeemed, if not on the national face of China, at least in the lives of those they touched. Indeed, if Bertrand Russell's apparently optimistic assertion was correct, a surprising number of those Chinese might be Christians. An extensive collection of the West China Mission's correspondence, and correspondence between them and their sending board in the United States, is on file at the Mennonite Archives at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. 4paul A. Varg, Missionaries, Chinese, and Diplomats: The American Protestant Missionary Movement in China, 1890-1952 (Princeton, 1958), 312. vi Quite regretfully, some of those who worked in West China recorded little of their tenure there, and if their role in the narrative seems disproportionately small, that should not be construed as to comment on their importance. As the old German proverb puts it, wer schreibt, er bleibt. Also, the thirteenth edition of the Chicago Manual of Style suggests that Chinese history pre-dating 1949 should use the older Wade-Giles system of Chinese romanization, while work covering later periods should use pinyin. As this topic spanned those boundaries, the Manual's advice did not help much, and in keeping with the project's sources, Wades­ Giles was maintained, with only a single, unavoidable exception. Additionally, all Biblical references, except those lifted directly from the missionaries' letters, are from the Bible's New International Version. Finally, to my Thesis Committee members Dr. Glenn E. Torrey, Dr. Loren E. Pennington, and Dr. Philip Kelly; to Mennonite historians Dr. James C. Juhnke and Dr. David Haury; to all the staff at Mennonite Library and Archives; and especially to Dr. Leland Lengel, whose not-so-subtle hinting led me to graduate work in the first place, I wish to make grateful acknowledgement. CONTENTS PREFACE . • iii INTRODUCTION The Son of Heaven and the Son of God • • . • . • • 1 CHAPTER ONE (May 1947 -- April 1948) Opportunities for a new field--Chinese disaffection with Chiang--Previous Mennonite missions--Settling in Paoki-­ Communist gains in Shensi--Flight to Chengtu . 21 CHAPTER TWO (May -- September 1948) The Mission Board--New missionaries leave for Chengtu--Mission Board concerns-­ Settling in Chengtu--"Battle of the Plains"--Pannabecker's six points--The missionaries' dream of expansion. • . • • . •. 46 CHAPTER THREE (October -- Christmas 1948) Cautious hope--Proselytizing and the Chinese reaction--Chinese hygene--Chinese language--Chinese and Mennonites com­ pared--Women in China--Chengtu property secured--Board remains supportive-­ Military and economic threats--Christmas 70 CHAPTER FOUR (January -- March 1949) The Tea House Chapel--Three areas of missionwork concentration--Mennonite medicine--Mennonite pedagogy--Mennonite evangelization--Disputes between Boehr and the Mission Board • . • . • • • • 95 CHAPTER FIVE (April -- June 1949) Bureaucracy--The station wagon--H. J. Brown retires--A warning to leave-­ Hurried steps toward a local church--The Wuthriches and Fast depart--Fall of Sian--Voth moves to Hong Kong-­ A two-front war • • • . • • • • . • • • • . • • 116 viii CHAPTER SIX (July -­ November 1949) Emotional stress of staying--Danger of leaving--Mao proclaims his victory--Tri­ pronged Communist drive on Szechwan--Red propaganda--The Board makes a property decision--Boehr makes a different one-­ Fall of Chungking . • . • . • • • 140 CHAPTER SEVEN (December 1949 -­ November 1950) Communism and Christianity--Drive on Chengtu--Fall of Chengtu--Work continues under new regime--A tense summer--Record baptisms--Formation of an indigenous church--Communist crackdown--A game of chess . 164 CHAPTER EIGHT (Christmas 1950 -­ July 1951) Christmas while preparing to leave--Exit visas for Kuyf and Goertz--Communist theories of religion--Detention in Chung­ king--Arrest--Imprisonment--Final days in Hong Kong--Escape--Reflections • . • . • • . • . 187 CONCLUSIONS An Oracle in China 205 BIBLIOGRAPHY 222 APPENDIX: List of Mennonites in the Narrative 226 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS General Conference mission field Hopei-Honan . · · · · · · · · · · Following page 28 General Conference mission field West China . · · · · · · · · · · Following page 43 William C. Voth's map of the Szechwan field · · · · · · · · · · Following page 57 William C. Voth's diagram of the Tea House Chapel · · · · · · · · · Following page 96 The West Suburb Chapel, Chengtu · · · · Following page 129 No more shall I seek in reverence Earth's inviolate Central Shrine; No more go to Abai, nor Olympia; If before all eyes the oracle Fit not the event! Zeus, if thou art rightly named, King and Master over all, Save thine honour! Let not this escape Thine eternal governance! Look to thy oracles of old concerning Laius; Put to nought by man, They fade, nor is Apollo glorified In worship any more.