China Mission: A Personal History from the Last Imperial Dynasty to the People's Republic

Milestones in the Lives of the Ronning Family

MILESTONES in the LIVES of the RONNING FAMILY March 3, 1862 Halvor N. Ronning is born in the parish of Bo, Telemark, Norway. May 18, 1865 Thea Ronning, his sister, is born in Telemark. November 6, 1871 Hannah Rorem is born in Illinois to Togrim and Anna Rorem, originally from Stavenger, Norway. Spring 1883 Halvor and his sister Thea travel to America to attend school. 1887 Halvor Ronning is ordained in the ministry at the Red Wing Lutheran Seminary in Red Wing, Minnesota. Brother Nils Ronning arrives in America. 1890 Halvor Ronning and Hannah Rorem meet in Radcliff, Iowa. November 1891 Halvor, Thea, and Hannah travel to China to become the first Lutheran missionaries with the China Inland Mission in China’s interior. December 24, 1891 Halvor and Hannah are married in Hankow. 1893–99 The Ronnings live in Wuch’ang and Fancheng, Hubei Province. 1893 First son Nelius Ronning is born in Hankow. 1894 Chester Ronning is born in Fancheng; mission schools and Mercy Institute open. 1894–95 Sino-Japanese War. 1898 Thea Ronning dies suddenly in Fancheng; Hundred Days of Reform. 1899 Palace coup in Peking against Emperor Guangxu; reformers executed. The Ronnings narrowly escape during the Boxer Uprising. 1899–90 The Ronnings return to Telemark, Norway, and to Iowa. 1900 Siege of Peking by Allied Powers; Empress Dowager Cixi and Royal Court flee to Sian (Xi’an). xx
milestones in the lives of the ronning family 1901 The Ronning family is welcomed back to China; the empress dowager returns to Peking. 1905 Famine breaks out in central China. February 9, 1907 Hannah Ronning dies in Fancheng at age thirty-six, leaving seven children. 1907 Chester and Nelius leave for school in America. 1908 Emperor Guangxu is apparently murdered by the empress dowager, who dies the next day. Reverend Halvor Ronning and his five younger children flee a China in turmoil and settle in Bardo, Alberta; the Ronnings become Canadian citizens. June 11, 1911 Halvor marries Gunhilde Horte; Chester Ronning meets Inga Horte. 1913 Halvor takes the Athabasca Ice Trail to the Peace River District in Alberta, Canada, and founds a Norwegian settlement called Valhalla; Chester and Nelius follow by way of the Edson Trail. 1918 Chester and Nelius join the Canadian armed forces during World War I; Chester and Inga are married while Chester is on home leave from the Canadian Air Force. August 20, 1920 Nelius Ronning is reported missing in the Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. He is assumed drowned. 1921–22 Chester, Inga, and five-year-old Sylvia travel to Peking. 1923 Chester returns to Fancheng to become headmaster in his father’s Hung Wen Middle School. May 13, 1924 Son Alton Nelius is born in Fancheng. September 16, 1926 Daughter Bernice Ingrid (Meme) Ronning is born. 1927 Chester and family are ordered to leave China during the Great Revolution; they return to Canada, where Chester becomes president of Camrose Lutheran College. 1928 Audrey is born in Camrose, Alberta. 1930s Kjeryn and Harmon are born. 1942–45 In World War II, Chester becomes director of Canadian air force intelligence and assists in breaking the Japanese military code. milestones in the lives of the ronning family
xxi 1943 Chester’s brother Talbert Ronning goes to China as a missionary during the Japanese occupation in World War II. 1944 Talbert escapes advancing Japanese troops and returns to the United States. 1945 Chester returns to China as a Canadian diplomat in Chungking and Nanking. 1946 Audrey, mother, and siblings join Chester in China. 1947 Audrey studies at Nanking University and becomes engaged to Seymour Topping, an American foreign correspondent . November 23, 1948 Audrey and family are evacuated by air shortly before Communist troops enter Nanking. April 1949 Chester and Top witness the fall of Nanking to the Communists . October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong announces the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. November 1949 Audrey and Top marry in Alberta, Canada. They are stationed in Saigon to cover the French Indochina War. 1951 Halvor Ronning dies in Valhalla at age eighty-eight. June 1966 Chester makes a secret mission to Hanoi to negotiate peace between the United States and North Vietnam. Audrey returns to China to report on the Cultural Revolution for the New York Times Magazine. 1967 Inga Ronning dies in Camrose at age seventy-two. 1971 Chester and Audrey return to China on invitation of Premier Zhou Enlai, the first of...