Page 69 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 69
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Lanzhou was not so badly hit as other places to the north and east, but as that has all been described
in my account of George Findlay Andrew's life, I will not repeat it here.
LIANGZHOU
Arthur and Esther with Douglas, moved on to Liangzhou and were there for the next three years.
George and Fanny returned in January 1921 to settle in Chefoo where he had been invited on to the
teaching staff, but the Gansu earthquake caused the Chinese Government and the Earthquake Relief
Commission to ask him to take charge of the relief operations. Until the end of 1922 he was fully
engaged in that work, while Fanny and the children remained in Chefoo. Esther's parents did not
return to China till February 1922, and then, because of his age and poor health, they were not sent
back to the rigours of the north west, but were asked to look after the work at Shundefu in Qili which is
much nearer the coast.
Halfway between Lanzhou and Liangzhou is the town of Bibafan which Arthur and Esther would have
to pass through. They knew it well for they had often travelled that road on their way to Xining and the
Kokonor. It is the junction of the road leading west to Xining and Tibet, and the main north west "silk
route". This silk route was opened in the first century and went on through Xinjiang, south of the
Tianshan mountains to Kashgar over the high Pamir Range and down through Persia (Iran) to
Antioch. Silk from China went one way, and glass, tapestry and metals came the other.
The last day into Liangzhou and the first two days when leaving it on the other side, can be days of
torture for the foot traveller, because of the stony nature of the roads and even of the city streets. At
the time when Arthur and Esther were again travelling that road, it had become a "via dolorosa" for the
hundreds of refugees leaving Russia after the Revolution, trying to find security and a livelihood in
China.
VISIT TO GANZHOU
Neither Arthur nor Esther had forgotten Ganzhou to which at one time they thought the Lord might be
calling them. In 1914 when Arthur had passed through on his way to Dihua with Percy Mather, he
had been impressed by the readiness of the people of Ganzhou to hear the Gospel. Since that time
not one Protestant missionary had gone over that road again to take the Gospel. Arthur's heart was
still burdened with the need and the opportunities of those great cities between Liangzhou and Dihua,
a thousand miles further on. God had not forgotten Ganzhou however, and the prayer that had gone
up for that city as a result of Arthur's trip and his letters to prayer partners was answered abundantly.
At the very time when Arthur was returning from his long trip to Dihua, God was preparing a young
Chinese doctor named Gao to minister in that place. He had trained and was now working at the
China Inland Mission Hospital in Kaifeng in Henan. It was there that God laid on his heart the needs
of the far north west. In obedience to what he knew was a call of God, he and his wife packed up and
moved with their children to Lanzhou where he worked for a time under Dr. King in the hospital there.
The call to go further was not satisfied, and he was not at peace until he found himself at last in
Ganzhou where he had the assurance that he was where God wanted him to be. His wife joined him,
and they settled there as missionaries of the Gospel with no earthly means of support except what he
could earn by his medical work. They lived by faith in God and told nobody that they had neither
funds at their disposal nor a society behind them. God honoured their faith and, though they suffered
many trials, they lived to see the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ built up in Ganzhou.
69
Amy Moore
Lanzhou was not so badly hit as other places to the north and east, but as that has all been described
in my account of George Findlay Andrew's life, I will not repeat it here.
LIANGZHOU
Arthur and Esther with Douglas, moved on to Liangzhou and were there for the next three years.
George and Fanny returned in January 1921 to settle in Chefoo where he had been invited on to the
teaching staff, but the Gansu earthquake caused the Chinese Government and the Earthquake Relief
Commission to ask him to take charge of the relief operations. Until the end of 1922 he was fully
engaged in that work, while Fanny and the children remained in Chefoo. Esther's parents did not
return to China till February 1922, and then, because of his age and poor health, they were not sent
back to the rigours of the north west, but were asked to look after the work at Shundefu in Qili which is
much nearer the coast.
Halfway between Lanzhou and Liangzhou is the town of Bibafan which Arthur and Esther would have
to pass through. They knew it well for they had often travelled that road on their way to Xining and the
Kokonor. It is the junction of the road leading west to Xining and Tibet, and the main north west "silk
route". This silk route was opened in the first century and went on through Xinjiang, south of the
Tianshan mountains to Kashgar over the high Pamir Range and down through Persia (Iran) to
Antioch. Silk from China went one way, and glass, tapestry and metals came the other.
The last day into Liangzhou and the first two days when leaving it on the other side, can be days of
torture for the foot traveller, because of the stony nature of the roads and even of the city streets. At
the time when Arthur and Esther were again travelling that road, it had become a "via dolorosa" for the
hundreds of refugees leaving Russia after the Revolution, trying to find security and a livelihood in
China.
VISIT TO GANZHOU
Neither Arthur nor Esther had forgotten Ganzhou to which at one time they thought the Lord might be
calling them. In 1914 when Arthur had passed through on his way to Dihua with Percy Mather, he
had been impressed by the readiness of the people of Ganzhou to hear the Gospel. Since that time
not one Protestant missionary had gone over that road again to take the Gospel. Arthur's heart was
still burdened with the need and the opportunities of those great cities between Liangzhou and Dihua,
a thousand miles further on. God had not forgotten Ganzhou however, and the prayer that had gone
up for that city as a result of Arthur's trip and his letters to prayer partners was answered abundantly.
At the very time when Arthur was returning from his long trip to Dihua, God was preparing a young
Chinese doctor named Gao to minister in that place. He had trained and was now working at the
China Inland Mission Hospital in Kaifeng in Henan. It was there that God laid on his heart the needs
of the far north west. In obedience to what he knew was a call of God, he and his wife packed up and
moved with their children to Lanzhou where he worked for a time under Dr. King in the hospital there.
The call to go further was not satisfied, and he was not at peace until he found himself at last in
Ganzhou where he had the assurance that he was where God wanted him to be. His wife joined him,
and they settled there as missionaries of the Gospel with no earthly means of support except what he
could earn by his medical work. They lived by faith in God and told nobody that they had neither
funds at their disposal nor a society behind them. God honoured their faith and, though they suffered
many trials, they lived to see the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ built up in Ganzhou.
69
