Page 31 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 31
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
When George and Jessie first went to Gansu there were only about 74 Chinese church members in
the whole province, half of whom were in Lanzhou. Beyond Gansu stretched the vast province of
Xinjiang where any missionary who started work there had to travel many long miles before they
reached another mission station. Far away on the Soviet border at Urumchi Mr. George Hunter
worked alone for some 50 years. From Lanzhou it took 54 days travel to reach Urumchi. Travel was
either on horseback or on foot or by mule cart or mule litter.
1903 was a reasonably quiet year in the often turbulent north west and George took the opportunity of
getting to know his far flung `parish' and the workers for whom he was responsible, even though at
that time only temporarily.
At Xining on the Tibetan border he found Mr. and Mrs. Ridley carrying on a difficult and often
discouraging pioneer work. George was no stranger to pioneer situations and his visit must have
been a source of encouragement to the young workers. While there he also visited, together with Mr.
James Hall, the famous Tibetan Kumbum Monastery situated not far from Xining. They had excellent
opportunities of preaching the Gospel even in the monastery itself, and sold many Christian books in
various languages to the thousands of pilgrims who were always to be found making their way to
Kumbum.
George and Jessie were in Gansu for two years and were then asked to take over the work on a more
permanent basis. George was appointed Field Superintendent for the north west, so they returned at
the end of 1904 to Chefoo to visit their two youngest boys Jim and Alf, who were in school, and to
bring back with them the luggage they had left in Shanghai two years before.
While there, they re-visited the stations on the Grand Canal before starting on the long journey to the
north west. They would realise that this move to such a far distant province and one with a more
healthy climate, would also mean less frequent visits to see their children at Chefoo. Mothers (at
least) in the humidity of the Yangtze valley were expected to go away for the worst of the summer to
Chefoo, which was regarded as a health resort. But this was not possible from the far west. Lanzhou
was to be their home for the next fifteen years.
In 1905, back in Lanzhou permanently now, George could not forget the lonely pioneers at Xining,
where for so long there had been little visible result for the work they did. As soon as he could he
took another trip to see for himself what had happened in the two years since he was last there. He
wrote to Shanghai: "The work is more encouraging than it was when we were here in 1903. The
people come about freely and the Lord's Day meetings are well attended. The group of enquirers (8
men and 10 women) give promise that the little church of three members will soon be enlarged in
numbers.
ESTHER
Meanwhile in England Esther had been preparing herself to return to China as a missionary. As well
as going through the basic Bible and medical training which the CIM provided in those days, she also
took a midwifery course, and by the end of 1906 she had been accepted as a candidate to sail with
other women candidates on 18 September on the SS "Roon".
A big public meeting was held in Exeter Hall, London on 11 September when nineteen young people
(8 men and 11 women) were farewelled to leave for China within the next week. The men's party left
on 14 September on the P & O ship SS "Mooltan" which connected at Colombo with the SS "Delhi" for
Shanghai, and four days later the party of young women left London for China also.
31
Amy Moore
When George and Jessie first went to Gansu there were only about 74 Chinese church members in
the whole province, half of whom were in Lanzhou. Beyond Gansu stretched the vast province of
Xinjiang where any missionary who started work there had to travel many long miles before they
reached another mission station. Far away on the Soviet border at Urumchi Mr. George Hunter
worked alone for some 50 years. From Lanzhou it took 54 days travel to reach Urumchi. Travel was
either on horseback or on foot or by mule cart or mule litter.
1903 was a reasonably quiet year in the often turbulent north west and George took the opportunity of
getting to know his far flung `parish' and the workers for whom he was responsible, even though at
that time only temporarily.
At Xining on the Tibetan border he found Mr. and Mrs. Ridley carrying on a difficult and often
discouraging pioneer work. George was no stranger to pioneer situations and his visit must have
been a source of encouragement to the young workers. While there he also visited, together with Mr.
James Hall, the famous Tibetan Kumbum Monastery situated not far from Xining. They had excellent
opportunities of preaching the Gospel even in the monastery itself, and sold many Christian books in
various languages to the thousands of pilgrims who were always to be found making their way to
Kumbum.
George and Jessie were in Gansu for two years and were then asked to take over the work on a more
permanent basis. George was appointed Field Superintendent for the north west, so they returned at
the end of 1904 to Chefoo to visit their two youngest boys Jim and Alf, who were in school, and to
bring back with them the luggage they had left in Shanghai two years before.
While there, they re-visited the stations on the Grand Canal before starting on the long journey to the
north west. They would realise that this move to such a far distant province and one with a more
healthy climate, would also mean less frequent visits to see their children at Chefoo. Mothers (at
least) in the humidity of the Yangtze valley were expected to go away for the worst of the summer to
Chefoo, which was regarded as a health resort. But this was not possible from the far west. Lanzhou
was to be their home for the next fifteen years.
In 1905, back in Lanzhou permanently now, George could not forget the lonely pioneers at Xining,
where for so long there had been little visible result for the work they did. As soon as he could he
took another trip to see for himself what had happened in the two years since he was last there. He
wrote to Shanghai: "The work is more encouraging than it was when we were here in 1903. The
people come about freely and the Lord's Day meetings are well attended. The group of enquirers (8
men and 10 women) give promise that the little church of three members will soon be enlarged in
numbers.
ESTHER
Meanwhile in England Esther had been preparing herself to return to China as a missionary. As well
as going through the basic Bible and medical training which the CIM provided in those days, she also
took a midwifery course, and by the end of 1906 she had been accepted as a candidate to sail with
other women candidates on 18 September on the SS "Roon".
A big public meeting was held in Exeter Hall, London on 11 September when nineteen young people
(8 men and 11 women) were farewelled to leave for China within the next week. The men's party left
on 14 September on the P & O ship SS "Mooltan" which connected at Colombo with the SS "Delhi" for
Shanghai, and four days later the party of young women left London for China also.
31
