The Boxer Rebellion From the Standpoint of a Christian Chinese (1900), Jee Gam

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The present crisis in China from the standpoint of a
Christian Chinese by Reverend g. Gam. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
reading by Rob Waters. Ever since the Boxer outbreak, I

(00:26):
have been repeatedly asked by friends far and near to
express my opinion of the matter. I have kept silent
for a long time, but still their requests come, and
I feel constrained to endeavor to set forth some of
the facts which cause the uprising, and which have resulted
in the massacre of so many missionaries and other foreigners,
and thousands of Chinese Christians. Those who have survived the

(00:51):
massacre are destitute and homeless. Our hearts ache with sorrow
for the occurrence of these outrages. We know of no
words that are adequate to express our horror at them.
Every instigator of these cruel wrongs should be severely punished
in proportion to the enormity of his crimes, and by
this means make them a lasting warning to the people.

(01:12):
As to the poor, ignorant people who perpetrated the crimes,
they are more sinned against than sinning. They are ignorant.
They have been deceived by the lies of men who
knew they were lying, and who thus sent them into
the work of the mob and into battle with the Westerners,
to be thousands of them slaughtered and tortured, while the

(01:36):
real criminals stayed in the rear. To the relatives and
friends of those missionaries and other foreigners, together with the
many Christians who were massacred, we extend our heartfelt sympathy,
and we cannot but rejoice to say that all these
martyrs are happy with their Lord in Heaven. Today we

(01:59):
also re joice to know that the blood of these
martyrs will become the seed of the Church. The Christian
Chinese in San Francisco and many other cities in the
United States have held meetings every Tuesday evening from nine
thirty to ten thirty o'clock to pray for China. Moreover,
they have given many liberal contributions to relieve the suffering

(02:20):
Christians in North China, the cause of the trouble. The
Chinese claim they have many good reasons for this uprising.
It has often been charged by many non Christian people
in California that the missionaries were to blame for the
present outbreak. I think this is unjust. I believe they
are truly good men who have the good of China

(02:43):
at heart. They have wrought a wonderful work. In fact,
whatever China has accomplished is due to the preaching and
teaching of these faithful missionaries. It is true that Romish
missions have sometimes become political machines and have joined the
Romish Church, and even whole villages have turned their ancestral

(03:04):
halls into Romish chapels in order to further their causes
and the courts through the influence of French consuls. I
can give you many incidents of this character, but one
is sufficient. Several of the Congregational and Presbyterian Christians in
the village of Longhu Lee of the Hoiping District, not
far from Canton, had a piece of land there and

(03:26):
were building a free schoolhouse, which was almost completed when
the enemies of the mission rose and destroyed the building.
Worse than this, several of the Rioters met and outraged
a girl relative of one of the Christians. This girl,
because of her disgrace, committed suicide by hanging. The Christians

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had the perpetrators before the district magistrate, who was about
to punish them, when suddenly all of their relatives, together
with the accomplices, about seventy in number, went to Canton
and joined the Catholic Church. They then got their priests
and the French consul to plead for the imprisoned relatives

(04:06):
before the Chinese governor. The result was that every one
of the culprits was released and their cases dismissed. These
infamous criminals, as soon as they were set at liberty,
committed further outrages. They attacked the Christians, drove them from
their homes and village, and plundered all they had. All

(04:30):
these crimes were committed before the eyes of the Catholic priests.
How could they tolerate such detestable acts. It makes our
blood boil to see such outrages. We are at a
loss to understand why the Catholic priests admitted such people
to their churches, and why the French consul so blindly

(04:53):
used his influence to liberate such criminals. These things have
not only occurred heatedly in Guangdong Province in South China,
but throughout the whole Empire. The Catholic people have not
only wronged the Christians, but also the non Christians, and
thus a strong sentiment is created against them. Whenever there

(05:16):
is a chance to pay back, these people will inflict
a heavy blow. In fact, the Catholics have already suffered
the consequences of their wrongdoing. This is why there were
so many more Catholics massacred than Protestants in the recent uprising.
But why should people have killed Christians at all? Well,
in times of anti foreign uprising, the people are easily misled.

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The rioter and those anxious to plunder would surely say
the Christians are the same as the Catholics, so they
killed them to affect robbery. It is also true that
the missionaries, especially of the Catholic faith, have often been
by ignorant people, charged with decoying children into their missionary

(06:01):
compound and killing them in order to gouge out their
eyes and secure their hearts from which to make medicines.
And again we have heard silly rumors like these. The
foreigners and their missionaries to China first in the hearts
of the people, and then came with their armies to

(06:23):
take Tenant for their own. All these different rumors have
had their origin in Buddhist and Taoist priests, who have
shown the most bitter jealousy towards Christianity and missionaries. While
these absurd rumors have done a great deal of mischief
by inciting people in the recent outbreak, they are very

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insignificant when compared to the bitter feelings aroused by the
greedy grabbing of Chinese territory by the different powers. All
praise to the United States, for she is the only
nation that does not covet Chinese territory. The other powers
are all eager and doing their utmost to have China
partitioned so that they may each seize upon the territory

(07:07):
they covet. In fact, Russia has already taken Port Arthur,
Yojang and other important places, had practically taken in possession
of the whole of Shunqing Province and Manchuria, and still
they want Bajorlei Province. Germany had taken Jajo and a
large strip of valuable land from Shandong Province, and now

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she wants more. She wants the whole province, and God
alone knows what else she is. After Great Britain took
Hong Kong and then Way Highway, and lately grabbed Kowlun,
and for some time past her covetous eye has been
firmly fixed on the Yangza Valley. France made seizure of
Anam and Tonkin several years ago, and since then she

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has been scheming to extend her northern boundary line far
into the guang Shi and Yunnan provinces. She's planning soon
to grab the beautiful island of Hainan. Japan has become insatiable.
She has already grabbed the island of Formosa, and now
she is waiting impatiently to take forcible possession of the
Fujin Province. And even Italy has become avaricious. She tried

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to grab Sanmanbei several years ago, but being single handed,
she failed in her attempt, and perhaps now she is
using the power of the allies to accomplish her greedy design.
When news of this grabbing reached from one end of
the Empire to the other, does anyone wonder why the
Chinese felt harsh towards foreigners. If anyone has any doubt

(08:39):
in this regard, let him put himself in a chinaman's place,
and he will know it at once, So I say
the greedy grabbing of territory by the different powers is
the principal cause for the recent uprising. Then again, there
is the spirit of commercialism which has brought great enmity

(09:01):
between China and the Western nations. For instance, in the
year eighteen forty, Great Britain, for greedy gain, declared war
against China. The cause of the war was the destruction
of over twenty thousand chests of opium by the Mandarins
in their efforts to prevent its introduction into the Empire.

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This opium had previously been brought into China by British merchants.
The Mandarins repeatedly objected to its introduction and made frequent
complaints to the British. The governor at Canton issued a
proclamation prohibiting the people using opium and saying all violators
would be beheaded. He afterwards found one of his sons

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a victim to its use, so taking him out to
a public space, he caused him to be beheaded before
thousands of spectators. The Mandarins continue to use every means
in their power to keep opium out of China, but
to no avail. At length in eighteen forty, when they

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destroyed twenty thousand chests of opium, England claimed a just
cause for war, and from this time on, at the
cannon's mouth, opium has been forced upon China. Just think opium,
one of the worst poisons know to mankind. Opium has

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been the source of great revenue to England, but it
is the greatest curse to China. It has ruined her
to the very core and is one of the great
causes of decay of the Empire. Many thousands of handsome,
vigorous and hopeful young men have been brought every day
by its use to untimely deaths. Oh, how the good

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people of China hate opium. How the poor fathers and
mothers weep for their opium cursed sons. How wives shed
bitter tears day and night. How many little children go
hungry because their fathers had become opium fiends. Yeay, how
many of these little ones were even sold by their

(11:16):
opium crazed fathers. What sorrow opium has brought to the
homes and England has thrived at the expense of the Chinese.
While England has been accumulating her ill gotten gains. Opium
has devastated the population of China. It seems to me

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no one but a Chinese can understand the misery. No wonder.
A Chinese official of high rank made the following ever
memorable request to a retiring British minister. I am sorry
you are going away, but as you have to, I
do wish so much that you would take your own

(12:00):
opium with you back to England. And I dare say
that was the greatest slap Great Britain has ever received.
Christian England, I beseech you to visit the homes which
your opium has ruined and desolated. Christian England. I beseech

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you to rise and call a halt to your infamous traffic.
Christian England, be quick and make amends, for unless you
do so, God will never forgive you. There are many
ways in which England can redeem the wrong she has
done to China. First of all, she should stop the

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traffic in opium. Then she can also redeem herself today
by joining the United States and Japan to bring a
speedy and peaceful settlement to the trouble in China. If
these three powers should declare that they would never permit
her dismemberment. China would certainly be preserved. If this good

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work is accomplished, the United States, England, and Japan will
be China's greatest friends. They will be rewarded with commerce
and other special privileges. In other words, they will receive
a thousandfold in return. But to grab China by the
throat and sat our give us the best you have

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is barbarous and non Christian, for it is contrary to
the teaching of Christ. To take advantage of China's weakness
is inhuman. China today is like a man who married
in the late years of his life and was blessed
by a large family of children who are too young
to be of any service to him. For the last

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few years he has been sickly and weak. The house
which he himself and family lived was a fine one
and was the only inheritance from his father. But his
many neighbors, who were rich and powerful and able to
assist and establish him if they wished, were unfortunately a
little selfish and look towards his inheritance with longing eyes.

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Five of the neighbors, with an insatiable desire for gain,
and with the forced consent of the owner took those
rooms which each deemed best for his own interest and gain.
These neighbors are now devising schemes and pretenses by which
they may grab the best remaining portions. To some minds,

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it seems best that this heritage should be thus partitioned,
and they claim that it is the only way to
develop and improve this possession, thus utterly ignoring the claims
and interest of the lawful possessors. Now, friends, China is
the inheritance, and the covetous and greeting namesabors are those

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whom I have mentioned above. How much better it would
be for all of the great civilized and Christian nations
to make a unanimous effort to help preserve and build
up in Christians China, rather than tear her to pieces.
Of course, I must admit that the Chinese government viz.

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The Empress Dowager, is also responsible for the present state
of affairs in China. She was deceived by Prince Dwan,
the great anti foreign leader, who represented to her that
the Boxers possessed the most remarkable power, by the exercise
of which they were able to close the mouths of
the foreign cannon, and also to render themselves bulletproof. They

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also told her that they were the best fighters, the
best protectors of her dynasty, and the best men to
drive out the foreigners. But lately we learned that she
greatly regrets the step she has taken, and has issued
two edicts urging the boxers to disperse to their homes

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and be law abiding subjects, that they were to be
destroyed if they should oppose the government troops in any
way whatever. If this is true, there is a great
hope for China. We sincerely hope that she will at
once abdicate and allow the Emperor guang Shu to resume control,
for he is just the man that China needs today. Oh,

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I do wish the powers would demand his return to
the throne. I am certain the powers can render no
better service to China than to make this demand and
to see that it is complied with. If the Emperor
were again in power, there would be an easy settlement
to the present trouble. The outcome of this general shakeup
will undoubtedly be the upbuilding of the Empire. I am

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sure that God will overrule this outbreak for the good
of China. I sincerely believe that God has a great
future for China. He has preserved her for nearly five
thousand years, and he will still preserve her to his glory.
The land of Sinum will be one for Christ. The
Chinese Empire will have the same footing as other nations,

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for her subjects have the making of a great people.
The Chinese who became Christians in America will also be
a great factor in building up China. God's plan is
beyond the comprehension of man. He saw that America did
not send forth missionaries fast enough, so he brought out
the secluded Chinese to this country to be Christianized by

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the Disciples of Christ, so that they may go back
as volunteer missionaries and thus hasten the conversion of China.
We are sincerely thankful to America for taking the initiative
and negotiations toward preserving the integrity of China. Now as
a friend and neighbor. Let her continue her good work,

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and may the europe powers speedily agree to a peaceful
settlement of the entire trouble. Then let America and the
other Christian nations flood China with ten thousand Protestant missionaries.
For I am sure that this is one of the
best solutions of the China question and the only way
to conquer China for Christ. Surely every patriotic and Christian

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American will weigh with thoughtful attention this earnest plea of
our honored friend, Reverend G. Gam, Editor and of the
present crisis in China from the standpoint of a Christian
Chinese by Reverend G. Gam