Kratkaja Istorija Duxonvyx Missij v Kitae, (c. 1915-16)

English trans. by Jeremias Norman. Original postings: 1,73.

Tongzhou

In 1910 an oratory and school were opened in Tongzhou. Serving as priest there was Fr Michael Ming; he is also in charge of a church in the village of Dong Dingan where Christianity already existed in the 1860s under the 14th mission. At the school in Tongzhou the teacher was Matthew Yu and in the neighboring village of Sizi it was David Kang. In Wangjiazhuang there is a school with 15 students and a teacher Stephen Lyu. There are also a number of other missionary sites: Paodixiang, Qukouzhen, Xianghexiang, Zhailuocun, Renxinzhuang, Zhanjiawan, Deze Xinzhuang, Tengxinzhuang, Jiaogeshu, Xiaojier, Yuejiazhuang, Dongying and Matou. Altogether Fr Matthew has a flock of 167 people. To further the work of the mission in this area it will be necessary to erect a new church in Tongzhou because the house church there now is not large enough.

Comment: This passage shows that after the Boxer Rebellion and the martyrdom of 222 Chinese Orthodox Christians, missionary work began in earnest in Northern China. This work was obviously enhanced by the availability of native clergy like Fr Michael Tang and Fr Michael Ming. Missions were also opened in other parts of China; information on these missions will be provided gradually.

We continue to see that in the period just preceding the Russian revolution Orthodox missionary work was accelerating in several parts of China. This noble effort mostly collapsed after the revolution.