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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...

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