On the Road to Siangyang

Covenant Mission in Mainland China 1890–1949

Jack R. Lundbom

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781498235310
• eBook ISBN: 9781498235303
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

On the Road to Siangyang tells the story of a Swedish immigrant church in America undertaking, soon after its organization, a mission to central China that would last nearly sixty years, from 1890 to 1949, when Christian missionaries had to leave the Chinese Mainland upon the establishment of the People's Republic. Covenant missionary work was carried on along broad lines: preaching and evangelism; medical and benevolence work; and education for boys, girls, and adults. Missionaries labored amid turbulent years: through the Boxer Rebellion (1900), the fall of the Manchu dynasty (1911), ongoing civil war, and more than a decade of Japanese occupation (1931-1949). Three Covenant missionaries were kidnapped by the communists and held for ransom, and another three were murdered on the road from Siangyang to Kingchow. But the mission work has borne fruit, and a final chapter reports the Christian work being carried on today throughout Hubei Province.

1

The American Mission Covenant Goes to China

Expanded Vision in a Mission-Minded Church

The American Mission Covenant (Missionsförbundet i Amerika), today the Evangelical Covenant Church, has been—and still is—a small Protestant denomination, yet for nearly 60 years it carried on a significant mission work in Central China. This book will tell something about that mission, and about the men and women who evangelized, brought medical and benevolence assistance, and educated young and old with the larger purpose that the Christian gospel might transform this ancient land and its people. Their labor has borne fruit, and one chapter in the book will report visits the author has made to China in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, where evidence abounds that Christianity is fast growing in China. The yield is not yet great, but there is a yield, and it remains to be seen what this will mean for China in the days and years ahead. The Apostle Paul said to the young church at Corinth: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor 3:6).

The American Covenant Church was mission-minded from the beginning. Within five years after its organization in 1885, missionary enterprises were launched in Alaska and China. Alaska was the oldest field, work beginning there in 1887. China was targeted as a mission field three years later.

At the Covenant Annual Meeting on September 8, 1890, held in Galesburg, Illinois, Karl Petter Wallén and Per Matson were ordained and commissioned, and Mrs. Mia Wallen was later dedicated, for missionary service in China.1 Matson went on to become the Covenant’s premier China missionary, choosing the field, beginning the work there, and setting the tone of Covenant missions for 60 years to come.

Peter Matson, Pioneer China Missionary

Peter Matson was born in Lindesnäs, Dalarna, Sweden, on March 27, 1868, emigrating to America with his parents when he was 11 years old.2 The family settled on a farm in Alexandria, Minnesota.3 On a summer day in 1888, when the day’s work was done, Matson knelt by a haystack and promised the Lord that he would give half his income to missions or become a missionary himself.4 His mother, not without tears, praised God for the privilege of giving her first-born to the missionary cause.5 After study in 1888–90 at the “Skogsbergh’s School” in Minneapolis and “Risberg’s School” at the Chicago Theological Seminary, he was called by the Covenant for missionary service to China.

On October 1, 1890, Matson sailed with the Wallens out of San Francisco for China. When they arrived in Japan, Mrs. Wallen was worn out from seasickness, so she and her husband decided to remain a week in Yokohama. Matson went on ahead to Shanghai, arriving there on October 28, just two weeks ahead of the first contingent of missionaries from the Swedish Mission Covenant,6 who arrived in Shanghai on November 13. The Wallens arrived in Shanghai on November 4.

Upon arrival in Shanghai, Matson met up with a Mr. Dyer of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who took him to the headquarters of the China Inland Mission (CIM) on Woosung Road in Hongkew, the northern district of Shanghai.7 He recalled his feelings at the time: “I was all alone, nobody knew of my coming, I did not even have a letter of introduction. Fortunately I had my certificate of ordination and, of course, my passport.”8 He explained his circumstances to the CIM director, a Mr. Stevenson:

It was not only that I was a newcomer myself, I represented a new mission that nobody ever heard of. The first question was, “Where are you going to work?” The only answer I could give was that there had been some correspondence with E. Folke,9 and the understanding was that we should work in connection with him. But he was in Shansi, a four week journey from Shanghai, entirely out of reach of a newcomer who did not know one word of the language.10

After talking with Mr. Stevenson, it was decided that he and the Wallens, who had not yet arrived, should study Chinese at the CIM language school in Anking.11 Matson was also advised to shave the front part of his head and shed Western dress for Chinese dress, which he did.

While waiting for the Wallens to arrive, Matson stayed at the CIM home and received his first lessons in the Chinese language from Frederick William Baller (1852–1922), who at the time was head of the Anking Language School and considered one of the best Mandarin speakers among missionaries in China. Baller took Matson through the tones and aspirants, the initials and finals—the same old road all newcomers have to tread, and was kind enough to say, “You seem to have no difficulty at all.”12 Matson eventually became very good in the Chinese language, and it was said that he knew it better than the average Chinese.13 Many Covenant missionaries learned the language from him.14

A week later the Wallens arrived and Mr. Baller took the three of them to Anking, which was 300 miles up the Yangtze. All were dressed in Chinese clothes and traveled Chinese class on the steamer. The Wallens were given the one cabin to be had, and Matson and Baller spread their bedding on the open deck. The deck was filled with Chinese, and there was hardly enough space to lie down. The air was thick with opium fumes. Four months were spent at the language school,15 where Chinese teachers read with each person individually two hours a...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Permissions
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: The American Mission Covenant Goes to China
• Chapter 2: Preaching, Evangelism, and Establishing a Chinese Church
• Chapter 3: Medical and Benevolence Work
• Chapter 4: Educational Work
• Chapter 5: China in the Twenty-first Century
• Appendix 1: Missionaries Kidnapped by General Ho Lung’s Red Army
• Appendix 2: The Martyr of Three Missionaries in Central China, Province of Hupeh
• Appendix 3: A Brief Introduction of Christianity in Nanzhang County
• Appendix 4: Covenant Missionaries in China
• Appendix 5: Modern Place Names in China
• Bibliography