The Missions in Manchuria

Anna Bog said of the mission in Siuyen on her arrival: "Pioneer missionaries had labored for 20 years already. There was a small congregation . . . a Boys' and Girls' School, a Hospital, a Street Chapel, and there were some dear Christians . . . I started to teach English in the Boys' High School and the Girls' Normal School."

The history of Christianity in Manchuria is a long and interesting one. The heretical Nestorians, who denied that Jesus is one divine person with both a divine and a human nature, were active in China in the 7th century, and penetrated even into Manchuria -- in 1928, a Japanese archaeologist found Nestorian crosses in some ancient graves there.

In 1245, Pope Innocent IV sent the Franciscan, Friar Giovanni Carpini, as an envoy to Mongolia in an effort to discourage further attacks on Europe by the Mongols. Friar Carpini was one of the first Europeans in China.

Writing in The Long White Mountain about his travels in Manchuria in 1886, James related, "There is a man above middle age in Liaoyang whose family have been Christians for nine generations." According to James, the first Catholic priest in Manchuria came there on a visit during the reign of Wanli, an Emperor of the Ming dynasty who died in 1620. James does not identify the priest but it is likely that he was either the Italian Jesuit, Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), or a missionary priest sent there at Father Ricci's direction.

Father Ricci arrived in China in 1582 and remained there until his death in Beijing in 1610. A scholar fluent in Chinese and knowledgeable about classical Chinese literature and Confucianism, Father Ricci became the first Westerner invited into the Forbidden City. Although Father Ricci never actually met Emperor Wanli, in 1601 the Emperor granted Father Ricci patronage that permitted him to evangelize freely and by the time of Father Ricci's death in 1610, there were more than 300 Roman Catholic churches in China.

Until 1838, Manchuria remained part of the diocese of Beijing. In that year, however, Pope Gregory XVI created a separate diocese for Manchuria and placed it in the care of the French Societe des Missions Etrangeres. Monsignor Verrolles, the first bishop of Manchuria, arrived in 1840 to find a widely-dispersed community of between 2,500 and 4,000 Christians. Most of the Manchurian Catholics of that time, however, were not Manchus but rather immigrants from the area of Beijing and from Shantung province. By 1880, there were somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 Catholics in Manchuria.

Protestant missionary efforts in Manchuria began in 1861 when the Scottish Bible Society sent a colporteur (traveling distributor of Bibles and religious tracts) to the region. Next, the English Presbyterians sent a missionary, followed by the Irish United Presbyterians. And the Scotch followed up their initial effort by establishing a mission in 1872.

In 1891, the Danish Missionary Society (D.M.S.) decided to extend its activities to China, and in 1893, sent out its first three China missionaries. The missionaries from various denominations ordinarily worked in different geographical areas rather than the same towns and cities. Thus, in 1896, D.M.S. agreed with the Scottish and Irish Presbyterians that the D.M.S. would focus on the southeastern part of the Liaoning peninsula.

Although the Danish missionary work in Manchuria began somewhat later than that of the Scottish, English, and Irish, it soon established itself. In 1912, Pastor Yen, the first Chinese Lutheran minister, was ordained in Dairen.

In 1917, O'Neill wrote in the biography of the missionary, Dr. Isabel Mitchell, "Mission work in Manchuria is conducted by the United Free Church of Scotland, the Danish Lutheran Church, and the Irish Presbyterian Church, as well as by the Paris Society of the Roman Church."

By the time Anna Bog arrived in 1920, there were Danish Lutheran missions not only in the southern Manchurian cities of Port Arthur, Dairen, Chinchou, Siuyen, Takushan, Antung, Fenhuangcheng, and Kwantien, but also in Mukden, and even as far north as Hsinking, Petune, Harbin, and Suihuafu.

The D.M.S. worked closely with the Danish Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Assocations ("K.F.U.M." and "K.F.U.K."), which conducted their own activities, independent from D.M.S. The Young Women's Christian Association sent out many single women missionaries, supporting them financially.

Danish missionary work in Siuyen was begun in 1898. It consisted of separate apostolates to men and women, religious education, secular education of children, medical services, and parish work. These efforts will be described in detail in future posts.

Sources:
Bog Madsen, "The Old Missionary's Brief Story", Nazareth Lutheran Messenger, Spring, 1971. Courtesy of Casey Welch.
Buch, Kirsten Berggren; letter to Preben Jorgensen; October 8, 1998.
Faber, Johannes Prip-Moller: A Danish Architect in China (Hong Kong, 1994), pp. 11, 22.
Gullach-Jensen, D.M.S. i Manchuriet (Copenhagen, 1937), pp. 32-40.
James, The Long White Mountain or a Journey in Manchuria [1886] (New York, 1888; First Greenwood Reprinting, 1968), pp. 197-205.
Jensen and Pedersen, "China -- a Fact-finding Visit -- April 2002", pp. 3-4.
Nyholm, Et Omstrid Land (Copenhagen, 1913), p. 281.
O'Neill, Dr. Isabel Mitchell of Manchuria (London, 1917), p. xvii.
Yosano, Travels in Manchuria and Mongolia [1928], tr. Joshua A. Fogel (New York, 2001), pp. 38-39.

Image:
Photograph of Chinese Christian girl in early 20th century Siuyen. Courtesy of H.B. Petersen.