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Contents
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CONTENTS Foreword, by Lawrence R. Sullivan xi Preface and Acknowledgments xv Milestones in the Lives of the Ronning Family xix Author’s Note on Sources and Chinese Romanization xxiii Prologue: China’s Incredible Find 1 part i. arriving in the middle kingdom 1. Destination Shanghai 7 2. Crossing the Pacific 20 3. Sailing up the Yangtze River to Hankow 28 4. Culture Shock 38 5. The New Mission Field 49 6. Journey up the Han River 57 7. Opening the Ronning School 64 8. The Sino-Japanese War, 1894–1895 70 9. Carving up the Chinese Melon 76 10. Thea 85 11. Hundred Days of Reform, 1898 93 12. The Year of the “Boxers United in Righteousness” 100 13. The Gathering Storm 110 14. The Palace Coup in Peking 115 15. Escaping the Boxers 124 part ii. home leave and return 16. “Foreign Devils” in the Homeland 135 17. Hannah Returns Home 142 18. The Siege of Peking 155 19. The Ronnings Return to China, 1901 169 20. Roots of Revolution, 1904–1905 178 21. Sun Yat-sen 184 22. Famine 188 viii contents 23. Missionary Conference in Peking 194 24. The Old Silk Road 199 25. The Last Years 204 26. The End of the Imperial Qing Dynasty 211 part iii. settling in canada 27. New Frontiers 217 28. Vikings Go Forth 221 29. Three Greenhorns on the Edson Trail 228 30. Valhalla Homestead 235 31. Nelius 243 part iv. chester returns to china 32. In the Footsteps of Halvor, 1921 249 33. The Grand Canal 261 34. Return to Fancheng, 1923 265 35. Narrow Escape, 1927 274 36. Uncle Talbert 283 37. Camrose and Valhalla 293 38. Chungking 298 39. Chester’s Family Arrives in War-torn Nanking 308 40. Audrey and Top 325 Epilogue 339 Bibliography 349 Index 353 [3.143.168.172] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 15:14 GMT) ILLUSTRATIONS maps Imperial China during the Qing Dynasty 6 The Peace River District and Environs, Alberta 216 photogr aphs following page 132 The Reverend and Mrs. Halvor N. Ronning, 1891 Teacher Sen with young missionaries Halvor Ronning, Daniel Nelson, and Johannes Brantzaeg Hankow waterfront on the Han River Halvor’s sister Thea with Hannah, baby Nelius, and Halvor, 1893 A view of the compound of the Lutheran mission in Fancheng The Ronnings’ house in Fancheng The streets of Fancheng, 1894 Eldest son of the civil mandarin and his wife The Ronnings’ cook and amah with their children Young Nelius and Chester with servants and friends at Halvor’s mission Halvor’s professor of Chinese philosophy in Fancheng, 1894 Unbound foot of a young Chinese girl The Ronnings’ gardener taking Chester, Hannah, and Nelius riding in a wheelbarrow Halvor and Dr. Thorstein Himle with children, 1898 Reverend Li, the pastor at Fancheng, and Mr. Hsu, the doctor Halvor with students outside Fancheng city gate Belltower and wall surrounding the Lutheran mission compound in Fancheng Hannah and Halvor with Chester, Almah, and Nelius in Hankow, 1899 Members of the Red Spears secret society during the Boxer Uprising The Ronnings as they returned to China after the Boxer Uprising, 1901 Chester and Nelius in Chinese clothes, Fancheng The Ronnings on the balcony of their home in Fancheng, 1903 Halvor’s high school in Fancheng Hsu Ta-yin, one of Halvor’s former students x illustr ations Hannah’s Bible class, 1906 Teacher Huang, Halvor’s friend and a fellow pastor, holding candle Halvor standing alongside tombstones of Thea and Hannah Nelius and Chester with father Halvor in 1907, after mother Hannah’s death Reverend Ronning’s congregation gathered to bid farewell to Nelius and Chester, 1907 following page 246 The Ronning family in Bardo, Alberta, before leaving for the Peace River District, 1912 The Ronnings building the first two-story log house in Valhalla Centre, 1913 Inga Horte Chester bidding farewell to his father as he prepares to return to China, 1921 Chester at the Summer Palace in Peking Trackers pulling Chester and Inga’s houseboat through the rapids on the way to Fancheng Graduating class of the mission school at Fancheng, 1926 Talbert and wife Ella with their son Halvor, 1932 Chungking, wartime capital Chester Ronning as director of the Royal Canadian Air Force intelligence unit Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek in their mountain villa in Kuling, 1946 Audrey with local children in Peking in 1966 Mao’s “Little Red Book” in every hand, 1971 Zhou Enlai and his old friend Chester Ronning, 1971 Vice Premier...