Carl Schmuser in Amoy

Over recent months, several descendants of Colonial Amoy foreigners (such as the Joselands, Talmages, etc.), have found relatives through this blog, and now I've received a note from Derek Schmuser , who is seeking info on his ancestors in Amoy. Please contact him if you have any info (several descendants. And, as I've mentioned earlier, I could greatly use any old photos or info on Amoy that you have.

Bill Brown

Letter from Derek

In 1911, my grandfather, CARL SCHMÜSER, was working for the Chinese Imperial Customs Service. His office was at the Custom House on or next to Chung Shan Lu, Amoy.

He lived at the Customs Quarters (accommodation for officers) on Gulangyu islet. His house may have been on Zhong Hua Lu near to the Masonic Hall which was at 5 Zhong Wah Road.

This is a postcard dated 25^th March 1911 on which (lower right) the site of the residence is marked with an X.

My mother, Elisabeth Herta Emma SCHMUSER (1911-1986), is registered as having been born in Amoy on the 8th August 1911. I expect that, although there would have been other available sites, it is possible that she was born at the Hope Hospital on Gulangyu.

I am writing to ask if anyone might know whether birth records still exist for the Hope Hospital from that period and where I might be able to look for them.

Derek Greenland

derekgreenland@hotmail.com

Bill Brown
Xiamen University

www.amoymagic.com

View of the Capture of Amoy, by Crawford

Bill Brown   ... Xiamen University

I just came across a great hand colored engraving by Crawford entitled, "View of the Capture of Amoy."  I'd love to use it in the book I'm working on, "Old Amoy in Foreigner's Eyes," 《老外看老厦门》， but the few sources I've seen want a fortune for permission to use it.   If anyone has a copy that I could have a scan of, I'd really appreciate it--and, of course, will imprint your name on it, and acknowledge you in the book as supplying the image.

Thanks!

Bill

www.amoymagic.com

James Hyslop -- Amoy Medical Pioneer

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I was delighted to hear today from Stephen Due, Editor of the Australian Medical Pioneers Index, Barwon Health Library Service. He is seeking information on Dr. James Hyslop, who served in Amoy from 1848 to 1851.

Hyslop, like many missionaries and doctors, was from Scotland, so it is no wonder that he stayed on in Amoy after he decided to pursue private practice. Many from Scotland called Amoy the Scotland of China. But ill health moved Hyslop to visit Australia, leaving his wife in China. He was shipwrecked off the Great Barrier Reef on 17 April, 1852, while enroute from Sydney to Manila, and killed by aboriginals.

Read more on the Australian Medical Pioneers Index site, and please share any information you have (especially photos) with us, or with Mr. Due.

Dr. James Hyslop Bio (from Wylie's "Memorial of Protestant Missionaries," Pp.191,192:

CXXII. JAMES HYSLOP studied medicine, and graduated as M. B. in Scotland. He was married to Miss James, and practised his profession for a time in his native land. Being accepted by the London Missionary Society, he was appointed a medical missionary to China, and left Portsmouth with Mrs. Hyslop, a child and sister, in the Ferozepore, on the 19th of March, 1848, accompanied by the Revs. Dr. Legge, B. Kay and W. Young with their wives, and the Revs. J. Edkins and T. Gilfillan, arriving at Hongkong on July 22nd.
He reached Amoy on December 5th, and resumed in part the medical operations which had been suspended by the departure of Drs. Hepburn and Cumming. He sustained that duty till 1851, when he retired from the missionary service, but still continued to reside in Amoy in private practice.
In 1853 he left for Australia, and was wrecked on that coast, when he fell into the hands of the natives, by whom he was massacred.

See Scottish Medical Secretaries

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In Memoriam--Mrs. Frank P. Joseland

Bill Brown ..The Amoy Mission.
by Sadler, Rev. J., in Chinese Recorder, Vol. 40, 1909, pp. 45-46

OUR beloved friend and fellow-worker, Mrs. Frank P. Joseland, has been translated to the higher service. We are bowed in spirit for the stricken husband and children, as well as for ourselves, our schools, the Chinese Christians and for all who knew her kindness and care.

The loss is deeply felt both in Amoy and Chiang-chiu and in the districts inland. Mrs. Joseland has been connected with the L. M. S. for twenty years. She has proved a valued teacher, wife, mother, and friend. Her experience of human life was considerable, and she knew how to say the "word in season" to those who were in trouble.

Coming from a well-known ministerial family in England (her father being a Congregational minister for long years, still hale and hearty at seventy-eight years of age), and having received a valuable training in the Milton Congregational College for Girls at Gravesend, she was eminently fitted to do good service in teaching. She improved her powers and endeared herself to the schools of boys, girls, and women, where she regularly taught. Her efforts were carried on even in spite of physical suffering and with much self-denial.

She was born forty-five years ago at Barnard Castle in Durham, when her father was minister there, and lived at Haverill, Honiton, and Devizes, at which places her father had pastoral charge. She was married to Mr. Joseland in the Union Church, Hongkong, by the Rev. G. H. Bondfield, in November, 1888, and so has had just twenty years of married life and mutual service with her husband, with two furloughs in the home land.

So far as the L. M. S. in Amoy itself was concerned, Mrs. Joseland was the only married lady in the Mission, and was thus the more valued, especially as she was given to hospitality- and exercised a gracious influence over those who needed a friend. Hence her loss will be most keenly felt. Her elder brother, the Rev. C. E. Darwent, M.A., of the Union Church, Shanghai, is famous as an example of the ability of the family. To him, also, the news of his sister's early death is truly bitter. There are four children—two elder boys, nineteen and seventeen years old, and two other children, a girl of thirteen and a boy of eight, at home at school. All these have now the burden of being motherless to bear, while yet young. May God give them the needed strength to endure.

The saddest and most tragic feature of the unexpected loss was the fact that the afflicted husband was travelling in a distant part of the very extensive inland region under his charge, where neither letters nor messengers could reach him in time. Thus our brother, who left his wife in good health in October, returned at the end of November to her not only dead, but buried.

The illness began with dysentery on November 8th, but it yielded to remedies, and nothing was feared till the 20th, when more serious symptoms intervened, and Mrs. Joseland passed peacefully away on Tuesday, November 24th. She was buried the day after in the Community Cemetery on Kulangsu, followed to the grave by the largest number of people, both foreigners and Chinese, ever seen at a funeral in Amoy. A number of foreign gentlemen carried the coffin from the Mortuary Chapel to the grave. The Rev. J. Macgowan read the service in English, and the Rev. J. Sadler addressed the Chinese assembled and offered prayer. Suitable hymns were sung in both languages, ''Jesus, Lover of my Soul", and ''There is a Happy Land". Thus, amidst grief and pain, the note of Resurrection Joy was struck, and our hearts followed our sainted sister to her heaventy home.

Her work lives after her, and the memory of her gracious, kindly presence is enshrined in the hearts of hundreds of those who knew her. For to know^ her was to love her. "She, being dead, yet speaketh."

Other Joseland Pages
Frank Joseland Describes Amoy Area

Inquiries about Joselands

The Amoy Mission Project

www.amoymagic.com

Talmage Memorial by Kip

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
From Chinese Recorder, Vol. 23, November, 1892, pp. 530...
In Memoriam--A Veteran Gone Home
by Leonard W. Kip of the Amoy Mission

When Dr. Talmage, three years ago, bade good-by to the friends at Amoy, he was also taking leave of the place where so many years of his useful life had been passed. It is forty-five years ago last August since he landed for the first time in Amoy. That was the day of small things.

The converts might be counted on the fingers of one hand. Thus it was that he bore his share, and a large part it was, in the building up of the Church, from the early beginning to the present organized Churches represented in the Tai-hoey, or native Presbytery.

While he loved preaching, into which he threw himself with all his heart and soul, he also greatly enjoyed work in his study. By this he prepared to do a great and lasting work in the instruction and training of preachers and pastors for the growing needs of the Church. When the time came, 30 years ago, to organize a native Presbytery, he took a prominent part in this preparatory step towards the ordaining and installing two native pastors over the 1st and 2nd Churches of Amoy.

The native Christians always found in him a sympathizing and kind helper, and responded by an ever increasing respect and love. Nor was this feeling confined to the natives, bat shared in by his fellow missionaries, as well as the foreign community.

Some may remember him as present at the first missionary conference at Shanghai in 1877. The general esteem in which he was held was testified by choosing him as one of the presiding officers. In this position he contributed much to the successful carrying on of the conference.

As years passed by, and his strength began to fail, he gradually left the care of the country work to the junior members of the mission. This allowed him to devote himself more carefully to theological instruction and literary work. So it came to pass that he was unknown by face to the more distant Churches.
Ten years ago he made a tour of these at the Chinese New Year season. He travelled by easy stages and met the different Churches on appointed days.

Everywhere he created a profound impression by his venerable appearance and his instruction and earnest words to the brethren and sisters w ho bad gathered to see and hear him. Since then he has never been forgotten by these Churches. Enquiries as to his condition were constantly made up to the present time, when all heard with sorrow that he had been taken away. Many inquiries were also made as to whether he would again return to China, but we have been compelled to give a discouraging answer. It was evident that his work in China was done, but not /or China. For sometime before he left, he had been engaged on a dictionary of the characters in the Chinese Bible, with the character sound and meaning given in the Romanized Colloquial.

After his return to his native country he continued to revise and perfect it, while he had strength to do so. But at last the pen was laid down. Now there only remained the waiting for the end of his earthly life and the beginning of the better life above.

And so he passed away, just as he had completed his 73rd year, on Friday,
Aug. 19th, 1892.

Thirty-one years ago he welcomed me to his Chinese home. I may be permitted to look back on those years of brotherly intercourse and communion with emotions of pleasure, as well as gratitude to God, who has so graciously given me so kind and helpful a fellow-laborer. And it is fitting that one who has so long companied with him should write these few and imperfect words of memorial.

His will be an honored name in the Chinese Church History that is yet to be written. A better memorial still will be the Church, whose foundation he helped to lay on the one foundation—Jesus Christ. He lived to see the little one become a thousand. But what is this in comparison to the Church of Jesus that is yet to fill the land. To help in this work were his best efforts given, and so he will assuredly join in the song of rejoicing in heaven and on earth, when this whole region shall have turned from idols to serve the living and true God.

Leonard W. Kip. October, 15, 1892.

www.amoymagic.com

China, AncientTeacher

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Just came across this insightful piece by John Nevius in the Chinese Recorder (Vol. 23, Nov. 1892), about why China, the ancient Teacher, had such a hard time becoming a pupil.

China a Teacher. -- From time immemorial China has been the recognized teacher of all the nations around her and the pupil of none. She may well be excused for claiming a respect which for centuries all her neighbors have accorded to her. In this respect she stands in striking contrast to Japan. Japan is accustomed to take the place of learner, having largely derived her literary culture and even her language from China. This accounts for the rapidity with which she has received foreign ideas and institutions. China would fain continue in the belief that there is no knowledge worth knowing which she does not already possess. This vis inertia which resists change and progress, is all the greater, because her immense population is, and has been for ages, homogeneous in race and culture. It is not strange that China clings tenaciously to institutions which have stood the test of millenniums and given to her such a marvelous degree of national prosperity. Can we wonder that she listens with suspicion to any suggestion of change, especially that she should regard with apprehension a new teaching confessedly exclusive and revolutionary? Serious as the obstacles above presented are, it should be added, by way of encouragement, that the Chinese are by no means unimpressible. They are as enthusiastic as any race to receive truth when apprehended. In fact, there are as many Christians in China at the present time as in Japan, and probably as many more who are heartily in favor of adopting Western sciences and arts. The fact that Japan is undergoing a rapid and complete transformation, while China as a whole is yet unmoved, though due partly, no doubt, to difference of race, is to be referred, I believe, principally to the tenfold resistance of a tenfold greater population, and also to the peculiar historical precedents and traditions alluded to above.
Dr. John L. Nevius. Chinese Recorder, Vol. 23, Nov. 1892, Pp. 513,514

www.amoymagic.com

John Lloyd--Unsung Father of Amoy Dictionary

Bill Brown ... Amoy Mission
Although Carstairs Douglas is famous for his Amoy Dictionary (Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy),he wrote in his preface that he based it on the manuscript of Rev. John Lloyd, of the American Presbyterian Mission of Amoy. Little is known of Lloyd, other than that he came to Xiamen in December, 1844, and died here just four years later, on December 5th, 1848. But it was Lloyd's brief two years of labor that made possible much of the work that followed. Douglas wrote in the Dictionary preface, "When I arrived at Amoy in 1855 I copied it for iny own use, adding the additional words in Doty's Manual,* and have been constantly enlarging and re-arranging the collection of words and phrases ever since [14 years!] A few years after copying Lloyd's Vocabulary I collated the manuscript dictionary written by the Rev. Alexander Stronach of the London Missionary Society...."

On the 6th of December Rev. John Lloyd, of the American Presbyterian mission, died of typhus fever after an illness of two weeks. Mr. Talmage makes this record of him:

"Dec. 8, 1848. Rev. John Lloyd was born in the State of Pennsylvania on the first of Oct., 1813, which made him thirty-five years, two months, and five days at the time of his death. He was a man of fine abilities. His mind was well stored with useful knowledge and was well disciplined. He was most laborious in study, very careful to improve his time. He was mastering the language with rapidity. His vocabulary was not so large as that of some of the other brethren, but he had a very large number of words and phrases at his command, and was pronounced by the Chinese to speak the language more accurately than any other foreigner in the place. They even said of him that it could not be inferred simply from his voice, unless his face was seen, that he was a foreigner. He was a man of warm heart, very strong in his friendship, very kind in his disposition, and a universal favorite among the Chinese. I never knew a man that improved more by close intimacy. His modesty, which may be called his great fault, was such that it was necessary to become well acquainted with him before he could be properly appreciated. But it has pleased the Master of the harvest to call him from the field just as he became fully qualified to be an efficient laborer. What a lesson this, that we must not overestimate our importance in the work to which God has called us. He can do without us. It seems necessary that He should give the Church lesson upon lesson that she may not forget her dependence upon Him."

American Presbyterian Board of Amoy
* Doty: Arrived in Amoy in 1844, had two wives die here, and died within 4 days of reaching shore when he returned to the U.S. in 1864 to visit his family. Read the Memoirs of Mary Doty,his daughter, who was born here in Gulangyu in 1851 and lived here until 1859.
www.amoymagic.com

Frank Joseland Describes Amoy Area

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
“A word about the country reached from the “door” of Amoy may not be amiss, as some people seem to fancy china is one great flat plain. I venture to call the Fokien province, the “Wales” or “Scotland” of China, so diversified is it as to natural scenery. Mountains several thousand feet high are found all over the province with fertile valleys in between, well watered by good rivers. In most parts the soil is rich, yielding good crops of rice, barley, wheat, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, tobacco, as well as great varieties of vegetables. Fruit trees abound­oranges, limes, bananas, plantains, pineapples, pumaloes, mangoes, loquats, carambolas, and many other kinds with local names that have no counterpart in English. Forests of pine and fir are found on the hills; the wide-spreading banyan and the elegant bamboo on the plains among the towns and villages. Coal and iron are met with as well as many other precious metals, but this store of Heaven-provided gifts is only very partially worked owing to the firm hold that superstition has upon the people. Tea, paper, lumber, articles made from bamboo, are the principal products....
Joseland, Rev. Frank P. , in Gaunt, 1899

Gaunt, Rev. L.H., Ed., “The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, Vol. VIII – No. 85 New Series,” London, 1899

www.amoymagic.com

Frank & Annie Joseland -- Amoy Congregational Union

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Re: Frank and Annie Joseland, Amoy Mission (if you have info on them, or old photos of Amoy, please share them with us!).

Letter from R. Dixon (response follows):
March 7, 2008: Hi Dr Bill, My great great grandfather was a missionary in Amoy for about 20 years, (I think he left in 1901). Have you ever heard of the Congregational Union? I thought that your website may have some info on his work, but couldnt find anything. I was planning a trip to Amoy this year to trace the past, but there just isnt any info available! My great great grandmother died there also, but I believe that the grave site was destroyed by the Chinese in a protest of some kind in the 1930's. Any info you have about the Congregational Union would be much appreciated. His name was Rev. Frank P Joseland. Kind Regards R. Dixon.

My response:
Hi Robbie,

So nice to hear from you! Sorry that I don't have anything about Joseland yet. I do this in my spare time, and it is slow going. Only a few days ago I received some photos from a Russian Orthodox Priest in Hong Kong. Amazing what all went on here.

I will ad more info when I can, but in the meantime... the Congregational Union was formed about 1870 from a dozen churches or so of the London Missionary Society in the Amoy Mission. There are numerous accounts of this, though not much that I've found directly about the Joselands. Read about the Union in Philip Wilson Pitcher's "In and About Amoy." Also see The Chronicles of the London Missionary Society, 1901, which has Frank Joseland's article, "The Amoy Congregational Union." The 1902 issue has an article about the Amoy Congregational Union, by Una Long, of the Van Riebeeck Society

Frank is also mentioned in The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, 1896, and 1903. "Christian Faith and Life" (1906) has more information on this.

Also try, "A Century of Protestant Missions in China (1807-1907) for info on the Union (though none on Frank, I think).

I know that there are numerous mentions of Frank Joseland (and his wife Annie) in the "Chinese Recorder," which you can find probably in a library there? There are a few dozen references to Frank and Annie Joseland in Kathleen Lodwick 's Index of the Chinese Recorder. And David Cheung, in "Christianity in Modern China," references Frank's article about the Amoy work," (I'd love to have a copy of it if you ever come across it!).

Kenneth Scott Latourette's "A History of Christian Missions in China" mentions briefly the Union.

Since I'm in China, I do not have access to these. I'd love to have a digital copy of the Chinese Recorder. Someday...

If you have any information about them that you could share, and that I could upload (especially old photos of the Joselands, and Amoy), I'd really appreciate it. The more we have online, and that people share, the more likely others can find what they're looking for as well, and contribute to preserving the Amoy Mission's rich legacy.

Best wishes with your research.

Bill

REPLY to my E-mail:

Hi,

I found some more basic information:

Ordained Sep 14 1887 at Congregational Church, Angel St., Worcester
Sailed Oct 31 1887 and arrived at Amoy Jan 5 1888
Married Nov 7 1888 at Union Church Hong Kong, Annie Lucy Darwent, Church member of Congregational Church Devizes who sailed to England Sep 22 1888
In 1891 he removed to Chiang Chiu taking the place of Mr Ross
Mrs Joseland died at Amoy Nov 24 1908
Dec 1913 Mr Joseland retired, leaving Amoy and settled in Melbourne Australia

I found a lot of info located at the School of Oriental and African Studies library in London - a lot of articles he wrote, and what looks like a book: Ting-Chiu : the story of a Chinese "forward movement" / by Frank P. Joseland, of the London Mission, Amoy, South China. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate in Australia yet. I'll keep looking around in Australia. Would there be anything in Xiamen Universities library?

Answer: no! There is almost nothing in Xiamen about any of this; everything was destroyed by Japanese, Cultural Revolution, etc. That's why I have to get everything from abroad.... So, again, if anyone out there has information and photos they can share, I'd really appreciate it . And read more at the Amoy Mission pages:

http://www.amoymagic.com/Amoymission1.htm
www.amoymagic.com

Fukien Anti-Cobweb Society

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I have a copy of the delightful “Fukien Arts and Industries," put out by the Anti-Cobweb Society in Fuzhou (Foochow) in 1933. The book included essays on Fujian's tea, silk, paper, lacquer, oil, lumber and bamboo industries, Chinese porcelain, etc. And I just learned a little more about the Anti-Cobweb Society from "A Race of Green Ginger", written by Mrs. Mackenzie-Grieves, who lived on Gulangyu in the 1920s:

Before we met its members, we agreed that the Anti-Cobweb Society sounded awful. 'It's to clear away the cobwebs in our minds', an Anti-Cobweb explained, and we shuddered. But we were wrong. A handful of unusual Americans and English, they believed that to know, or to try to know China in all her aspects, was an essential prerequisite of any form of good relations with the Chinese. They felt that it was more important to learn before they taught, to know before they condemned or offered alternatives. Their lot cast in Fukien, with its strange pockets of old paganism-Fukien, nearly always the last of the provinces to be subdued and recolonized by a new dynasty, the province about which the Chinese themselves hardly bothered to know the Anti-Cobwebs set themselves to learn about it.

The people of the deep Fukien valleys were not uncivilized in the same sense that the nomad tribes of China's northwestern territories were warlike and nomadic, with a history linked to Genghis Khan and the hordes who could scour Persia, and who range over tracts of Chinese history as great as their own Gobi desert; their dealings with the unknown were not through shamans and an explicit occultism. Their villages, behind the mountain barriers, still held their own dark, ancient magic, paid placating service to the haunting spirits in rites whose symbolism was long forgotten. Who had told the Hakkas to ransom their houses with blood, like the Jews in Egypt? Was it one of the wandering Jews who found the way to China? Was it one of the Nestorians, whose fellows found such favour with the Great Khan that he appointed one as Commissioner for Christian Affairs, and despatched another to Paris to visit Philip the Fair? They do not know. But neither they nor the scholars know whence they and their dog-headed prince came. Some say they are of aboriginal stock, others, that they are descendants of Chinese soldiers and aboriginal women ofa tribe called Ikia, yet a third theory is that they were pioneer emigrants from the north. Who was the Snake King of Chonghupan who, in some lost age, saved the region from drought and has been honoured ever since? Who were the Constables of Hell, whose memory the people of Fu-ch'ing [Fuqing, in Putian] celebrate by a procession of blood dripping devotees? It is all a long way from the rationally ordered, severely disciplined Confucian rites.

All these things and a great many more the Anti-Cobwebs pondered and discussed. In spring and autumn, they traveled as much as possible-most of them were missionaries-in the winter evenings they met to exchange the fruits of their researches, gathered mainly by patient observation, listening and questioning.

They were admirably frank. 'We try to get at the truth-the true facts,' one told us. 'Of course, we aren't impartial. We're biased by our religion and our Western culture, but we try not to be.' 'I suppose,' said another, 'we unconsciously distribute our mental and moral emphasis according to the standards we were brought up by.'

We talked about the old and the new learning.

The Fukienese, like all Chinese, revered learning and thirsted for knowledge, if not for themselves, then for their children. 'You can still find scholars' signboards on plenty of houses,' one of the American Anti-Cobwebs told us. 'Third degree, in crossroad hamlets, and Han-lin even in country villages.'

There was in the city, he said, still a school for advanced classical studies, taught by ten elderly Han-lin graduates, and in spite of the troubles, the ferment of revolutionary ideas and of educational reform, it was well attended. As he talked, I saw the ten old scholars, like the Eight Immortals in the carvers' shops, assured in their Confucian calm, expounding probably to the last generation of reverent ears the ethic which had been the life-study of their counterparts for over one thousand five hundred years. They must have belonged to the age when examination candidates were immured incommunicado for days, while they laboured at their Eight-legged essays on a classic Confucian theme. Had anyone of them revolted in his heart against his soul's destruction, against counting into rigid uniformity his words, sentences and paragraphs? Did any of them long to contradict the exacting shade of Chu Hsi [Zhu Xi; lived in Wuyi Mtn. for a time]? Or did they, and the thousands like them bred by centuries of conformity, submit to desiccation, like the smoke-seasoning of the wooden Immortals?

It was not until 1912 that the hundreds of hive-like State examination cells in Foochow were demolished. But the mentality bred by the Eight-legged Essay has died hard, and Mao Tze-tung still needs to-and does-warn his people against it. For five hundred years the historical and philosophical works
and the Confucian commentaries of the Fukienese scholar had been the standard texts for the civil service examinations all over China. He was as famous as Mencius, second only to the great Kung himself. In Fukien he was ever-present: below his image in the temples, incense smouldered, and, far from the towns, handfuls of field-flowers withered at his dusty feet.
Mackenzie-Grieves, 1959, "A Race of Green Ginger," pp. 129-131

Anti-Cobweb Society, “Fukien Arts and Industries: Papers by Members of the Anti-Cobweb Society, Foochow, Fukien, China,” Christian Herald Industrial Press, Foochow 1933.

Links:

http://www.amoymagic.com/Fuzhou1.htm
www.amoymagic.com

Amoy International Settlement--in 1988?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
International Settlements, such as that on our own Gulangyu Islet a century ago, were indeed self-governed foreign enclaves, where both foreigners and rich Chinese could live above the Chinese law. But the idea for these settlements came from the Chinese, not the foreigners! (though we did carry it much further than the Chinese intended). Even when our family arrived in Xiamen in 1988, foreigners were not allowed to live with Chinese. We were housed in the "Holiday Village", which was anything but a holiday, and was chained and padlocked every night from 11 PM to 7 AM--from the outside (for our safety, we were told). I asked what happened in case of fire and was told that they'd unlock it. Chinese visitors had to sign in, and often were later questioned as to why they'd visited the foreign enclave.

As far as we know, our family was the first in Xiamen to be allowed to live in "Chinese" housing. But happily, today it is the norm! Foreign teachers at Xiamen University are given a housing allowance and allowed to rent any place they desire; some foreigners even purchase apartments or villas. The only requirement is that they register their address with the local police (the same requirement made of Chinese).

What a change from 20 years ago--or 80 years ago, when Ann Mackenzie-Grieves wrote about international settlements in her book "A Race of Green Ginger" (she lived on Gulangyu in the 1920s):

To hear the students one would have thought that the foreign settlements had been a wicked invention of the Western traders and imperialists. Actually, since the Portuguese began trading with the southern Chinese in the sixteenth century, Chinese relationship with the foreigners had been entirely governed by China's own system of administrative responsibility. The foreigners proved far easier to control in a settlement of their own, under their own headman, who, like a Chinese civil governor, could be held entirely responsible for their behaviour. During the next two centuries the arrangement worked well. There were times when both Chinese and Westerners behaved badly: unlettered Manchu successors of the Ming scholar-officials were arbitrary and obstinate; hectoring British traders abused privileges, flouted the custom and courtesy so vital to Chinese relationships; tough sea-captains resorted to violence. On the whole, however, it was to the advantage of both sides to abide by the rules. But the immunity of extra-territoriality accorded to the foreigners in their own enclaves began to be extended to, and claimed by, Chinese living in the concessions and, with the increasing corruption and misgovernment of nineteenth-century China, Chinese ships found it safer to sail under foreign flags. Smugglers, both foreign and local, sailed profitably under any flag they could buy, and strengthened their alliance with the pirates….
Mackenzie-Grieves, 1959, pp. 101,102.

www.amoymagic.com

History of Photography in China (Terry Bennett)

Bill Brown
Mr. Terry Bennett, author of Photography in Japan 1853-1912, has kindly provided 3 excellent photos for my upcoming book, "Old Xiamen in Foreigners' Eyes", (Laowai Kan Lao Xiamen 老外看老厦门). I am also happy to learn that in April, 2009, we will have a unique chance to step back in time with Mr. Bennett's new History of Photography in China 1842-1860 (London: Bernard Quaritch Limited). He will also publish further volumes covering photography to the end of the Qing Dynasty.

If the 5-star ratings of Mr. Bennett's book on Photography in Japan are a clue, the China book should be a goldmine of thorough scholarship and never-before-seen photographs. I can't wait!

It is amazing that Mr. Bennett could even find China photos dating from 1842, given that the daguerreotype process was not perfected until 1839. But fortunately for posterity, only five days after the process was patented in Britain, the French government, which had given Daguerre a pension instead of a patent, announced that this fascinating new medium was a "free gift to the world"--and the world seized it with a passion. Foreigners fascinated with the Celestial Kingdom packed their photographic gear and boarded the slow boats to China, and now Mr. Bennett will share with us just what they discovered.

I just went online to Amazon to pre-order a copy, but it is not listed yet. So don't forget--April (just six weeks away), buy a copy of History of Photography in China 1842-1860.
Xiamen University .... www.amoymagic.com

Ancient Chinese Poetry

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
In 1899, Miss Archibald Little rather humorously compared the modern drinking songs of England--"Drink, puppies, drink!" with Chinese songs dating back 2500 years. Nice translations, too--but anyone know who W.A.P.M. was?

Adieu to the Old Year
(Chinese Drinking Song, 500 B.C.)
The voice of the cricket is heard in the hall;
The leaves of the forest are withered and sere;
My spirits they droop at those chirruping notes
So thoughtlessly sounding the knell of the year.
Yet why should we sigh at the change of a date,
When life’s flowing on in a full steady tide?
Come, let us be merry with those that we love;
For pleasure I measure there’s no one to chide.”
Translated by W.A.P.M.

Ms. Archibald Little wrote, “But this Chinese drinking song, which could without exciting any special comment appear upon a New Year’s card of to-day, was published in the Chinese Book of Odes 500 B.C. Twelve centuries later we find a decidedly prettier sentiment and finer touch in Li-tao-po, one of China’s favorite poets A.D. 720….

"This is an attempt to render the best-known ode of China’s favourite bard, A.D. 720:"

On Drinking Alone by Moonlight.
(8th century A.D.)
Here are flowers, and here is wine;
But where’s a friend with me to join
Hand to hand and heart to heart
In one full cup before we part?
Rather than to drink alone,
I’ll make bold to ask the moon
To condescend to lend her face
To grace the hour and the place.
Lo! She answers, and she brings
My shadow on her silver wings;
That makes three, and we shall be,
I ween, a merry company.
The modest moon declines the cup,
But shadow promptly takes it up;
And when I dance, my shadow fleet
Keeps measure with my flying feet.
Yet though the moon declines to tipple,
She dances in yon shining ripple;
And when I sing, my festive song
The echoes of the moon prolong.
Say, when shall we next meet together?
Surely not in cloudy weather;
For you, my boon companions dear,
Come only when the sky is clear.”
Translated by W.A.P.M.

"The fancy if not the sentiment of this song is so pretty, that it is hard to see how the nation that produced it can be rebuked for want of sentiment by the nation [England] that to this day sings, “Drink, puppies, drink.” Indeed, I think this Chinese drinking-song dating from the eighth century A.D. the very prettiest I have ever met with in any literature. It has three if not four of such graceful conceits as would alone make the success of a modern bard…."

Little, Archibald, Mrs. "Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them," Hutchinson and Company, London, 1899
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Love & Marriage in Old China

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
When our son Shannon married Miki on Jan. 1st in Xiamen's Xinjie Church (China's oldest), he faced numerous traditions he (or we) never dreamed of--but it was nothing like an Amoy marriage of 100 years ago! Dr. John Macgowan, of the Amoy Mission, and one of my favorite authors (I have 7 of his massive tomes) wrote in 1907 in Sidelights on Chinese Life:

With us it is an accepted axiom that to secure the happiness of the married couple, there must be love and there must be a thorough acquaintance with each other. The Chinese hold that all that is Platonic nonsense…They declare that neither of those two things are requisite, and they point to China, where marriage is the rule in social life, and where a Divorce Court does not exist in all the length and breadth of the land, as a convincing evidence that love at least is not at all a requisite for marriage. The young man and his wife then begin their married life without any knowledge of each other. They have never seen each other, and they have never dared to inquire from their parents what their future partners were like. To have done so would have filled the hearts of their fathers and mothers with a shame so intense as to be absolutely unspeakable.

Their first look into the faces of each other, after the bride has been carried with noise of music and firing of crackers in the crimson chair into the home of her husband, must be one in which is concentrated the agony and passion of two hearts, trying to read their fate for the years that are to come, from what a bashful glance at each other's faces can tell them. If either of them is disappointed, the wave of despair that flashes through the heart is hidden behind those sphinx-like faces, and no quivering of the lips and no glance of the coal-black eyes betrays the secret that has sprung up within them.

They are both conscious that their marriage is a settled fact and that there is no possibility of its ever being annulled, and so with the heroic patience that the Chinese often show in ordinary life, they both determine to make the best of things, knowing that in time love will grow, and tender affection for each other will ripen amid the trials and disciplines of life through which they will have to pass together.

The years go by, and without daring to show by word or look to the rest of the world that they love each other, the deepest and the purest affection has sprung up in their hearts. The Chinese language is full of tender epithets and phrases full of poetry to express the emotions of love, but the husband and wife may never use any of these excepting behind closed doors where none can hear them but themselves.
Macgowan, "Sidelights on Chinese Life", 1907

Bibliography: http://www.amoymagic.com/AMbibliography.htm
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Amoy Foreign Cemetery Photos

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I'm still scrambling to find photos of the Amoy Foreign Cemetery, and just received a promising e-mail from Marilou in Holland. Visit Marilou's Zaiton China Webshop; it offers many interesting books, including a few of my own (but don't hold that against her).

From Marilou:

"I will ask some friend here (he is from Xiamen) about photos of the cemetery.

"One of our more famous writers/poets in Holland, Slauerhoff, visted Amoy for longer time in the 1920's-'30's if I remember well. He was a doctor on a shippingline (Batavia(Djakarta)-Japan). He wrote an short story about Gulangyu, title: Spring-Island (Het Lente-eiland) . I dont think there is an English translation available. I am not sure if he also took photos himself . I can have a look on internet later. This book now is republished just last year, and illustrated with photos, however by a contemporary (Dutch) photographer."
met vriendelijke groet,
Marilou den Outer/ Geledraak.nl
-----------------------------------------
Yellow Dragon Productions Holland
Touchdown Center, #002
Leidsevaart 594
2014 HT Haarlem
SPONSORS van Geledraak.nl: VNC Asia Travel, Finnair

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Last Foreign Tombstone on Gulangyu!

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

I sent Mr. David Oakley in Taiwan a photo (taken by local photographer Mr. Bai Hua; click image for larger photo) of the only foreign tombstone still on Gulangyu (Kulongsoo) Island. It was discovered about two years ago. Not surprisingly, the resourceful Mr. Oakley identified the man quickly. Thanks, David, for this and much other assistance you've given over the years. Mr. Oakley's letter is below:

From Mr. Oakley:
"The Mohammeddan Tombstone. The name seems to be recorded in the British Consular records of deaths as Hormusjee Jamasjee Nandershaw (see attachment) and he presumably worked or was a partner in Nandershaw & Co. of Amoy. Unfortunately I only have the listing for 1859 for that company. With all those 'jee' endings you can be almost certain that he was a Parsee merchant.

"Thus, the 1855 date that I gave you would be correct, it seems."

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Alvin and Sue Ostrum, Amoy

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
My reply to a query:
Thanks so much for your letter, and offer to provide a few photos. I would be very happy to use any old photos of Amoy (especially the ) , and of course would acknowledge their source, and provide you a copy of the book (hopefully out this summer).

Regarding Alvin Ostrum, I'm sorry but so far I've nothing more than the Pitcher info, and a reference to him in a book that I can't find at the moment.

I do know that Harvard University's Baker Library, Graduate School of Business, which I visited a couple years ago, has the John Howard Nichol's Collection, 1856-1905. He was a China trader in the 1960s, and his collection has correspondence with missionaries, including some letters from Alvin and Sue Ostrum. Unfortunately I did not know about those letters at the time, so did not get to see them.

Alvin Ostrum is also listed in the Historical Directory of the Reformed Church of America, 1628-2000, but it is only a brief reference, ending with his death in Kohala, Hawaii, Feb. 27, 1898.

You probably already have the New York Times June 22, 1878 announcement of the 19 June marriage of Rev. Daniel Rapalje and the Ostrum's oldest daughter, Alice, in Troy, New York. Rapalje was also a Reformed Church missionary in Amoy.

I will post Alvin Ostrum's name and this info on the blog, and if anyone replied I'll let you know (a lady asked last week about an ancestor, and within a few days we had a reply from a man in Taiwan who apparently has a good deal of information (though as far as I know has yet to divulge any!).

Best regards,

Bill
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Cummings in Amoy?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

Jim Cummings had an ancestor who was in Amoy perhaps 80 or 100 years ago--a missionary, I think. If anyone has any info or photos of a Ms. Cummings in Amoy, I'd appreciate your sharing it. She left behind the photo to the right (click it for a larger image); otherwise, we can't find out anything about her.

Below the photo is an article by a Miss Gordon-Cumming.

Excerpt from "The Explosion at Amoy," in St. James’ Gazette, by Miss Gordon-Cumming. 1888, pp. 314-316 Littell’s Living Age, Feb. 4, 1888

"The excellence of the fish supply must strike the most casual observer. Both river and sea fish, salt and fresh, are conspicuous by their abundance, as is also the supply of bamboo oysters, so called because they are artificially bred on this coast, where bamboo oyster-fields are prepared more carefully than any hop-field or vineyard. Holes are bored in old oyster shells, which are then stuck into pieces of split bamboo about two feet in length. These are planted close together on sand flats between high and low water-mark, where strong tidal currents are said to bring the oyster spat. Certainly, the said spat is soon found adhering to the old shells, which in due time are covered with tiny oysters. The bamboos are then transplanted and set several inches apart; and within six months from the date when they were first planted they yield a crop of well-grown oysters ready for the market. Nor are even the shells wasted; for though Chinamen have learned to appreciate the luxury of transparent glass, a large number of oyster-shells are still scraped down till they are so thin as to be translucent, when, neatly fitted together (like the diamond panes in the casements of our ancestors), they form the ornamental windows in the inner courts of rich men’s houses."
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Chinese Tenacity

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Westerners have long admired Chinese' tenacity and fixedness of purpose, as MacGowan wrote in Sidelights on Chinese Life (1907, pp. 112-114):

CHAPTER VI THE ADAPTABILITY AND TENACITY OF PURPOSE OF
THE CHINESE

THE strength of the Chinaman lies in his power to adapt himself to the circumstances in which he may be situated. Place him in a northern climate where the sun's rays have lost their fire, and where the snow falls thickly and the ice lays its wintry hand upon the forces of nature, and he will thrive as though he had descended from an ancestry that had always lived in a frozen region. Transport him to the torrid zone, where the sun is a great ball of molten flame, where the air is as hot as though it had crossed a volcano, and where the one thought is how to get cool in this intolerable maddening heat, and he will move about with an ease and a comfort just as if a sultry climate was the very thing that his system demanded.

He is so cosmopolitan in his nature that it seems to be a matter of indifference where he may be or what his environment. He will travel along lofty peaks, where the snows of successive winters lie unmelted, or he will sleep in a grass hut where the fever-bearing mosquitoes will feast upon him the livelong night to the sound of their own music, and he will emerge from it next morning with a face that shows that the clouds of anopheles have left him a victor on the field. He will descend into the sultry tin mines of Siam, and at night he will stretch himself on the hard, uneven ground, with a clod for his pillow, and he will rise as refreshed as though he had slept on a bed of down.

You meet the Chinaman everywhere under the most varied circumstances, and he seems natural in every one of them. He walks about in an easy, unsurprised way, a first-class passenger in a crack mail steamer, or he curls himself up in a native river boat, in a space where no human being but himself could live an hour, and he sleeps a dreamless sleep the livelong night in a fetid atmosphere that would give an Occidental typhoid, from which he would perhaps never recover. Whatever the social condition of the Chinaman may be, whether merchant, or coolie, or artisan, one becomes conscious that behind those harsh and unaesthetic features there is a strength of physique and a latent power of endurance that seems to make him independent of climate, and impervious to microbes, germs, bacteria, and all the other scientific scourges that seem to exist for the destruction of all human life excepting the Chinese.

One advantage the Celestial has over the Occidental is what may be called his absence of nerves. The rush and race and competition of the West have never yet touched the East. The Orient is sober and measured, and never in a hurry. An Englishman, were all other signs wanting, could easily be distinguished, as he walks along the road, by his rapid stride, the jerky movements of his arms, and the nervous poise of his head, all so different from the unemotional crowd around him, who seem to think that they have an eternity before them in which to finish their walk, and so they need not hurry.

There is no doubt but that this absence of nerves is a very important factor in enabling the Chinaman to adapt himself so readily to the circumstances in which he may be placed. Take the matter of pain. He bears it with the composure of a saint. The heroic never seems to come out so grandly in him, as when he is bearing some awful suffering that only a martyr could endure. I have seen a man come into a hospital with an abscess that must have been giving him torture. His face was drawn, and its yellow hue had turned to a slightly livid colour, but there were no other signs that he was in agony. The surgeon drove his knife deep into the inflamed mass, but only the word "ai Ya," uttered with a prolonged emphasis, and the twisting up of the muscles of one side of his face, showed that he was conscious of any pain. An Occidental of the same class would most probably have howled, and perhaps a couple of assistants would have been required to hold him whilst the doctor was operating.

It is this same absence of nerves that enables the Chinese to bear suffering of any kind with a patience and fortitude that is perfectly Spartan. He will live from one year's end to another on food that seems utterly inadequate for human use; he will slave at the severest toil, with no Sunday to break its wearisome monotony, and no change to give the mind rest ; and he will go on with the duties of life with a sturdy tread and with a meditative mystic look on his face, that reminds one of those images of Buddha that one sees so frequently in the Chinese monasteries or temples.

The staying power of the Chinese seems unlimited. The strong, square frames with which nature has endowed them are models of strength.
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Gulangyu Foreign Cemetery Epitaphs (1857)

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
The only foreign tombstone still remaining on Gǔlàngyǔ is of an Indian from Bombay. The rest were destroyed in the 1950s when Xiamen residents buried the Amoy foreign cemetery in protest of Britain's invasion of the Suez. Fortunately, Giles’ “A Short History of Koolangsu” (1878) records a few of the inscriptions for us:

“The following inscriptions will be found quite close to the residence of Dr. Manson:--”

"Here lieth the body of Captain Stephen Baker, who was late Commander of ye SUCCESS who Departed this life October Yeare 18, Anno Domini 1700. Aged 49 Years."

"Here lieth the body of John Duffield, Son of Henry Duffield, Commander of ye TRUMBULL Ob. Sep. 6 Anno Et. XIIL annos Dom. 1698.

"Sepultura De Domingo FANGII INAN Y otros dos Indios de Philipinas que falleeie-Ron en Oct. ano de 1759."

"Sacred to the memory of Augustus Percival Greene, F.R.A.S. Lieut. of H.M.S. "Plover" who died on board that vessel on Dec. 2, 1844. Aged 26 years 9 months 3 days."

"This Monument was erected in memory of those who perished In the British schooner "Pearl" Lost in the Typhoon off Chapel Island On the night of the 12th June 1866."

"In memory of Richard A. Breck Late a master in the U.S. navy who on Sep. 22, 1874, was drowned while bathing. Aged 26. Erected by his brother Officers of the U.S.S. "Yantic""

I will add more epitaphs when I have time. For now, here is a description of the Amoy Foreign Cemetery written by Smith, in "Consular Cities" (1857):

Indelible monuments of the recent foreign occupation remained in the crowded British cemetery, in which lay the unfortunate sufferers who fell victims to the insalubrity of the spot. This cemetery was situated at the eastern side of the island, near the landing-place, and had many elegant grave-stones, erected by the sympathy of surviving comrades. Near the northern village, screened from view by a little assemblage of trees, was situated the burial-ground of the missionaries. The unhealthiness of the climate had been severely felt by this class of the Lord’s laborers, who followed in the train of earthly conquerors, to extend the bloodless conquests of their divine Savior. During the last thirteen months, out of twenty-five members of the missionary families, eighteen had been removed by various providential events. Three missionaries had permanently left, either from the failure of their own health, or of that of their families. Two wives of missionaries had set out for their native land, on account of ill health, one of whom died on the voyage; while two others had been suddenly summoned from the scenes of their missionary work to higher employment in a better world. Two children had died, and nine others had been sent to Europe or America.

Six missionaries now remained, one of whom was married; so that there were in all seven laborers on the field. In this little retired spot of ground were interred the bodies of three female missionaries, Mrs. Boone, Mrs. Doty, and Mrs. Pohlman, with the two children of the last. They left America in the vigor of youth, to consecrate their lives to the missionary work; but were cut down, one after another, by premature death...

Note: Pohlman left Amoy for Hong Kong on December 19th, 1838, embarked the Omega schooner to return on Jan. 2nd., 1849, and pn January 5th the ship struck Breaker's Point (aptly named), and Pohlman and several others drowned when the boat they were taking to shore capsized.

Amoy Foreign Cemetery (on Gulangyu)

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

Ms. Jean Walton, Secretary of the New Jersey Postal History Society, wanted someone to check out some tombstones in the Gulangyu Foreign Cemtery (also called the Amoy Foreign Cemetery). Some of the Gulangyu Foreign Cemetery epitaphs dated to the 1700s). But that won't be easy because the Chinese buried the cemetery, and over top of it built the Xiamen Music Hall. Here's the story:

Some bad news about the Kulangsu (Koolangsu, Kulangsoo) Foreigners' Cemetery. All foreigners, except for Japanese, were buried in the foreigners' cemetery on the slopes of Huangyan road, but in the late 1957 when Britain invaded Egypt, the "masses rose up against the British imperialists who were trying to revive the empire upon which the sun never set and buried the cemetery." (Or that's what the Chinese history books say).

Perhaps burying the cemetery in which foreigners' was buried was a way of ensuring the twice-buried foreign devils stayed buried! (I've heard of burying the hatchet but burying the cemetery to boot goes a bit far).

In 1978, the government built the Xiamen Music Hall on the site of the buried cemetery. At least the dearly departed foreign devils can now enjoy some good Western and Chinese classical music as it is played above them in the 3 Million Yuan oval concert hall (begun in 1984 and finished in 1987).

There are now no foreign tombstones, but the Chinese cemetery is fascinating (on the West of Gulangyu Islet--near the 7th Day Adventist Building).

The Foreign cemetery had graves of foreigners from the 1700s to the 1900s, including members of the Amoy Mission such as David Abeel and Elihu Doty, etc.

See: Gulangyu Foreign Cemetery Epitaphs

Related Page: The Fuh-chau Cemetery (also written Fuchau, Foochow, etc.).
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Amoy Foreign Cemetery (Help!)

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I received a very welcome e-mail from Ms. Marguerite L., with a couple photos of the Amoy Foreign Cemetery, which was on Gulangyu Islet, and had stones dating back to the 1600s. Sadly, in the 1950s, in protest against Britain's invasion of the Suez, the local Chinese buried the foreign cemetery. The beautiful sculptures were offered to anyone who would haul them off, for any purpose. Today, the locals regret it deeply, but the stones are beyond recovery (lest we be too indignant, remember that during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese destroyed their own heritage as well, so at least they were fair in their destruction! Besides, we foreigners did a good bit of destruction ourselves...)

Ms. Marguerite is looking for more information about the cemetery. I will send her what I have (inscriptions I've found in old letters and books, and a couple photos). I too would really appreciate any photos or info that you have. If you can help, please write! And below is Marguerite's letter....

Hello Dr. Bill,

I am doing some genealogy and was quite sad to find that the Amoy Cemetery had been destroyed in the1950's.

I'm sending along a photograph of my great grandfather Robert John Hastings Senior's headstone who was buried in Amoy. He resided in Anping, Formosa, starting around 1861, ran Wright & Co. in his later years. I think you may be able to glean more information for other people from the photograph of his headstone as other graves are quite visible. Do you know if anyone would have a record of who was buried in that cemetery?

My great grandmother, Yuna Huang Hastings (may) have been buried there in 1895 as well.

My other great grandfather was the first headmaster of the Diocesan Boys School and Orphanage in Hong Kong (c 1870's). He was also very involved with the Free Mason's in Hong Kong and (somewhere?) I have it recorded, he held positions in Amoy as well. His name was William Monarch Burnside Arthur. ]Note from Bill: our tiny Gulangyu Islet had two freemasonry chapters).

WMB's son Harry Walter Arthur, (my grandfather) worked for, then owned Bain & Co. he also stood in as the Vice Consul in Anping when needed. Harry and the rest of the Arthur, Hastings family immigrated to Vancouver Island, Canada in 1912. Where I now reside in Victoria.

If you have any information in regards to the cemetery or where I could email to receive information I would greatly appreciate it.

I do know that my forefathers used to go to Amoy quite often. Something that is precious to me is a small amount of lace edging that was passed on to me, the lace is bundled and pinned with the price and marked Amoy. Just as if it had been purchased yesterday!

Another thing that was passed to me was a book 'Sketches from Formosa' written by the Rev. William Campbell who was a dear family friend of the Hastings' and the Arthur's. This book has given me much insight into what life was like in those very early days. Hundreds of photographs were taken by my family of their days in China so I have an extensive visual collection, which makes me very grateful.

When I was a child of course Amoy and Anping were such distant, exotic places, and here I am now traveling in seconds with my fingers!

Thank you for reading my rather rambling email. I do hope you may be able to offer me some information and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Marguerite

Read more about the Cemetery in "Discover Gulangyu"

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Thomas Meichen of Amoy>

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I received this e-mail from Roger Clark, who was browsing the Amoy Mission for info on his great grandfather, Thomas Meichen, who was born in Amoy on 24 May 1849, and in 1875 married one of his shipmate's younger sisters--"a country girl from distant Cornwall," Clarke noted in a second e-mail. If anyone has any information, please contact me. Thanks! Bill

Dear Dr. Brown,

I found your e-mail address while researching the history of the Amoy mission & have been reading with interest your your edited version online.

My own interest in Amoy goes back to 1849 when my great-grandfather (Thomas Meichen) was born there. He eventually joined he Royal Navy where his record gives his birth date as 24 May 1849. He is also described on his record as "(Chinaman)".

I am guessing that his father was English, Irish, or American & that the name Meichen originated with his mother. It's possible that his father was also called Thomas. All pure speculation.

I wonder whether you know of any records of that time (1849) that would help clarify any of this? If he was illegitimate, I assume there would be no record of his birth. Any suggestions or ideas would be most welcome.

I appreciate your time & interest.

Sincerely,

Roger Clark

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Tung Wen Institute of Amoy

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
I was delighted to receive a letter from Mr. David Weed, whose grandfather, Charles J. Weed, ran the Tung Wen Institute [Tongwen Shuyuan, 同文书院) in Amoy for about 20 years, until his retirement to Southern California in 1920. Mr. Weed is hoping to find more information about Tung Wen (and perhaps his grandfather as well?). Tung Wen was built on Kulangsu (Gulangyu Islet). To read more about Gulangyu's pioneering education, click here.

If you have anything, please contact Mr. Weed at wdweed @ gmail.com (I have separated the @ from the wdweed and the gmail.com to avoid it being used by spammers). Also please send copies to me as well at amoybill @ gmail.com Thanks!

Many retirees in Xiamen, including well known historian Hong Buren,studied at Tung Wen in their youth. It was started by Amoy's U.S. Consul Mr. Burlingame Johnson--one of the most enlightened of a long line of interesting American consuls in China.

I hope to upload a few pages of photos and info about Tung Wen when I can obtain them from Mr. Weed--or you!

Below is some information kindly provided by Mr. Weed (I have a little information from old books as well that I will collate and upload):

Enjoy Amoy!

Bill

Here is an excerpt from a 1903 paper on foreign schools:

TUNG WEN INSTITUTE

Mr. CHARLES J. WEED, A.B., Superintendent.

,OSCAR GORRELL, A.B. English and History.

,J. CHARLES RATHBUX. Mathematics and Science.

22 native male teachers, 33 boarders, and 307 day students, allmale. 318 are in the Grammar Course and 22 in the AdvancedCourse.

The Tung Wen Institute was founded in 1898 by Mr. A.Burlingame Johnson, United States Consul at Amoy, and six wealthy Chinese merchants Yap Ching-tee, Tan Ah-soon, Khoo Jeow,

Poh Luk-kuan, Khoo Chin-siong, and Tan Poh-hak.

The Tung Wen Institute is a school organized and conductedwith three principal objects : to provide opportunity for Chineseboys to get a thorough knowledge of the English language, to givethem a sound business education, and to provide elemental instruction in mathematics and the sciences. Religious teaching of allkinds is prohibited, but a respectful toleration of all the variousbeliefs is insisted upon.

Great care is exercised in the selection of teachers ; not only tohave them well equipped mentally but also morally. Particularattention is given to conversation, composition, and grammar, andthe results of the work in these branches are pointed to with pride.

BUILDING.

The building, erected in 1902, affords accommodation for six hundred day pupils, t\vo hundred boarders, and a limited number of beds. The location is high and healthful, and easily accessible

from both the city and the harbor.


Tung Wen Institute (from Pitcher)
Below is an excerpt about the Tung Wen Institute from "In and about Amoy," by Reverend Philip Wilson Pitcher, 1912 (this was the 2nd edition, with much more info and more photos).

Education Work Not Connected with Missions (pp. 242,243)

The Tung- Wen Institute was first established on Kolongsu about 1898 in a native house, and
then some three or four years after moved over to Amoy to occupy its new and commodious building erected in 1902. While this is not a missionary institution, nor in anywise connected with Missions, yet to make the history of foreign educational work in this port more complete, it may be inserted here.

The founder of this Institute was Mr. A. Burlingame Johnson, then U. S. Consul at Amoy.
He enlisted the cooperation and support of a number of wealthy Chinese gentlemen, from whom a Board of Trustees was chosen and by whom the Institute has ever since been successfully conducted. By constitutional authority the resident U. S. Consul is made President of the Board, and the Commissioner of Customs Vice President.

Speaking of educational work in the Annual Trade Report of Amoy for 1909 the Commissioner
uses these significant words : " The forward educational movement, which has made so much headway all over China, has at this port been continued with greater impetus than before. All the educational establishments report large increase in students; and the wealthy class continue to cooperate handsomely in this great work by giving large sums to the various institutions."

In this connection it should be mentioned that the natives of this port who reside in the Straits,
Manila, and elsewhere, are manifesting the keenest interest in these educational matters. A Chinese pastor has just returned (1910) from Manila bringing a handsome contribution, in cash and promises, of $10,000 Mex. for such work. Nor does this by any means exhaust the list of similar gifts from the same sources ; others have been helped in the same way by these patriotic citizens living abroad.

Links: The Amoy Mission : more info about education and mission work in early Xiamen.

"Fifty Years in Amoy: the Story of the Amoy Mission" (Philip Wilson Pitcher, 1893); the entire books is scanned and online. Enjoy
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