Friends in China

86 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION but it ought not to be impossible. For a while longer, Holy Land Quakerism will be in need of spiritual reinforcements from abroad before it can stand on its own feet. In conclusion, it must be said that powerful, sweet, and charming personalities have enriched many lives in the East. Eli and Sibyl Jones, Theophilus Waldmeier, Thomas Little, Timothy and Anna Hussey, Absolom and Florabel Rosenberger, Alice Whittier Jones and Edward and Marion Kelsey stand out as veterans. Of the native Quakers perhaps the saintly Dr. Antonius Manasseh stands head and shoulders above the others. The young Syria and Palestine Yearly Meeting has made a beginning in spreading good Quaker literature in Arabic. There are signs of native leadership which should be encouraged. For after all, unless Quakerism becomes indigenous and takes root in this soil, its future existence is precarious. FRIENDS IN CHINA By William W. Cadbury Lingnan University, Canton, China UrflHE OBJECT of the Society (the Medical Missionary Society of China) was the course pursued by the Saviour Himself, who, while seeking first and chiefly the good of the soul, did not fail to care for the bodies of men." Thus spoke Dr. Thomas Hodgkin at a public meeting held in 1841, at the Exeter Hall, London. Dr. Peter Parker, from Canton, China, had presented the cause of medical missions for the Chinese, and Dr. Hodgkin seems to have been the first Friend to have thus endorsed the cause of missions to these people. While Friends had long been concerned over the opium trade between India and China, it was not until 1886 that Robert J. Davidson and wife established the first Friends' mission on the borders of Szechwan and later in Chungking. In 1905 work was started in Chengtu, the capital of this western province. Medical work was opened at Tungchwan and Suining and a high school near Chungking. In cooperation with three other missionary societies English Friends established West China Union University . In 1893 Friends organized a regular monthly meeting and there is now a Yearly Meeting of Friends at Chengtu. TI FRIENDS IN CHINA87 After fifteen years of service in West China, Isaac and Esther Mason were appointed to go to Shanghai in 1915, and there with Gilbert and Alice Peet a Friends' meeting was established which continues to the present day. Isaac Mason was associated with the Christian Literature Society and has translated many books and pamphlets into the Chinese language. Among Friends who have made a deep impression on the Christian Church of China no one was more outstanding than Henry T. Hodgkin, who in addition to a term of service as medical missionary in West China, acted for several years as one of the secretaries of the National Christian Council. Another important piece of work carried on by Friends was established by Esther H. Butler, of Ohio Yearly Meeting (Damascus), first at Nanking. Later this has been extended to Luhu, Kiangsu Province. A semiannual meeting is held and evangelical, educational and medical work are carried on in these two centres by eight missionaries. More than thirty years ago Lucy Beck started a mission for Chinese in Lafayette Avenue Friends Meeting, Brooklyn, New York. Some of these joined Friends and established a mission in Hokshaan, South China, which has been closed in the last year. A number of Friends have been associated with the work of Lingnan University, Canton. Among these were Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Augur and Dr. and Mrs. William W. Cadbury. The latter are still in China. Lucy Burtt for several years has been on the staff of Yenching University, Peiping, and other Friends are scattered in different parts of China, where they are quietly contributing to the Quaker way of life. The impression that Friends have made on at least one Chinese is given by Lin Yu Tang in his popular book My. Country and My People, where he writes : "The Chinese make rather poor Christian converts, and if they are to be converted they should all become Quakers, for that is the only sort of Christianity that the Chinese can understand. Christianity as a way of life can impress the Chinese...