Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/155

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THE PROVINCE OF SHANTUNG
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supposing them to be Taipings, and while engaged on this errand of mercy both were murdered. In the same year missionaries of the American Presbyterian Mission (North) began work in Tengchow, and in 1862 they established themselves in Chefoo. In 1866 the English Methodist New Connexion missionaries, reaching out from Tientsin, opened a station about 15 miles from Laoling, a departmental city in the north-west of the province. In 1873 the American Presbyterian Mission (North) began work in the provincial capital, Tsinan Fu, 300 miles south-west of Chefoo, and in 1874 the American Methodist Episcopal Mission rented premises in Taian Fu. The remaining stations of the American Presbyterian Mission were opened as follows:—Weihsien in 1882, Yichow Fu in 1891, Tsining Chow in 1892, and Kiaochow, after its occupation by the Germans, in 1898. The English Baptist Mission began work in Chefoo in the early 'sixties. In 1874 they removed to Tsingchow Fu, the ancestral home of the Emperors of the Ming dynasty, and in 1888 they added Chowping to the number of missionary centres in Shantung.

A unique feature of the work in Tsingchow Fu was the Museum, formed there by Mr. Whitewright. The contents and the building containing them would have reflected credit on any town of similar size in this country. This museum proved a great attraction, and many who came to satisfy curiosity heard within its walls the word of the truth of the Gospel. The Boxer outbreak of 1900, however, brought to destruction the result of the patient, painstaking labour of many years. Other Missions at work in Shantung are the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1880), and the Gospel Baptist Mission (U.S.A. 1892). To these should be added the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which commenced its work in Shantung in 1874. Eastward of Chefoo some unconnected workers are located in three stations—Weihaiwei, Shihtau, and Wenteng.

China Inland Mission.—Foreseeing the need of a place