masters, is worked in connection with the Church Missionary Society; in 1907 there were 150 students on the books. The Diocesan Boys' School, a day and boarding school for European and Eurasian and Chinese boys, under the able direction of Mr. G. Piercy, as head-master, and a staff of masters, has had a long, useful, and successful career. The Diocesan Girls' School, a day and boarding school for the education of European and Eurasian girls, is a flourishing and growing institution which owes its origin to the work carried on for many years, under the auspices of the Female Education Society, by Miss Margaret Johnstone. The Eyre Diocesan Refuge is an institution for the reform and training of a special class of unfortunate girls, who have been sold into the slavery of sin. It is a "Door of Hope" for any who wish to escape from this degradation. Started by Miss Eyre, of the Church Missionary Society, it was taken over, as a diocesan institution, in 1908, and placed under the direction of the bishop and a strong committee of ladies, under the patronage of Her Excellency Lady Lugard. The Victoria Home and Orphanage was started by the Rev. J. B. Ost, of the Church Missionary Society, in the eighties, and after a useful career at West Point, is now situated at Kowloon Old City. It is for the protection and education of friendless and poor girls of the untainted class, who, through misfortune, find themselves homeless, and for those who are rescued from cruel mistresses or masters by the authorities. The Fairlea School, formerly under the Female Education Society, and now under the Church Missionary Society, has for many years given a Christian education to Chinese girls, Christian and others. For many years it has been associated with the name of Miss Margaret Johnstone, now retired through ill-health. Its old scholars are found all over the world wherever the Chinese dwell. To meet the new aspirations of the Chinese it is to be developed into a Chinese Girls' High School.
St. Stephen's Preparatory and Girls' School is intended for the children of the wealthy classes in Hongkong. It is hoped that it will develop into a Ladies' College with a department for small boys, as preparatory to St. Stephen's College. At present there are between thirty and forty scholars.
Diocese of Fokien.
The diocese of Fokien is the east sub-division of the original diocese of Victoria. The distance from Hongkong, the different dialect spoken, and the very extensive nature of the work, employing thirty or more European and Chinese clergy, made it absolutely necessary that a new diocese should be formed, and in 1906 this was done. The Ven. Archdeacon H. McCartie Price, of Osaka, Japan, was consecrated first Bishop of Fokien on February 2, 1906. Bishop Price is the son of a Church Missionary Society missionary, the Rev. W. Salter Price, now Vicar of Wingfield, Suffolk, and formerly a missionary in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and afterwards in Japan.
The diocese of Fokien includes the whole of the Fokien Province, and is entirely missionary, with the exception of the provision of church services for the European communities at Amoy and Foochow. The missionary work of the Church is, however, confined to the northern half of the province, beginning with the prefecture of Hing Hwa and extending to the borders of the provinces of Kiangsi and Chekiang. The history of the Church's activities in this diocese is full of interest, and the remarkable progress made since the Church Missionary Society sent its first missionaries, the Rev. W. Welton and Rev. W. Jackson, to Foochow, in 1850, is one of the most striking features of the Church's work in China.
The chief personality in the Church's expansion during the fifty-eight years of its work in the Fokien Province has been the Ven. Archdeacon J. R. Wolfe. He came out in 1862, and is still working in the diocese. When he arrived there were not ten converts, now there are twenty-four cities and towns occupied as mission stations where European missionaries reside. There are eight hospitals, in which thousands of patients are treated every year. There are four leper homes and refuges, and two homes for the blind, where industrial work is carried on. There are native Christian churches in twenty-six cities, besides those in country towns and villages.
The district of Fuh Ning, in the north-east of the province, is the field of work of the Dublin University Mission.
Two Church societies—the Church Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Society—maintain a large staff of workers. In schools and colleges, in hospitals and refuges for the blind, lepers, and the sick, they find ever widening spheres of work.
Scattered throughout a wide extent of territory, the twenty-four stations where Europeans reside are centres of Christian activities, educational and philanthropic; all witnessing to the power of the "Body of Christ." There are 220 out-stations, and about 23,000 adherents, of whom 11,300 are baptized, and there are 4,200 communicants. There are 19 native clergy. There are 200 day schools for children, and the members of the different congregations contribute in the year over £1,20O, or $12,000.
In Foochow there is a Divinity College, founded by the late Rev. R. W. Stewart in 1878. The original building was destroyed by a mob, but the college was rebuilt on another site at Nan Sai.
There are also, at Foochow, a Boys' High School, and a Girls' Boarding School, a Women's Training Institution, and Junior Boys' Boarding School.
Diocese of Mid-China.
The diocese of Mid-China was separated in 1880 from the diocese of North China, founded in 1872. The original title of North China was given when Dr. Russell, of the Church Missionary Society was consecrated the first bishop on December 2, 1872, in Lambeth Palace Chapel. In 1880, after Bishop Russell's death, the diocese was divided into North China and Mid-China, and Dr. G. E. Moule was consecrated Bishop of Mid-China. He has now resigned, after nearly fifty years of missionary service, first as priest, and then as bishop.
Shanghai was the first station, occupied by the Rev. T. McClatchie, colleague of the Rev. G. Smith, afterwards Bishop of Victoria, in 1844. It is still the headquarters of the Church Missionary Society secretary, and for sixty-two years work has been carried on in the city and settlement of Shanghai. From this beginning the work has spread to other cities also.
Ningpo was occupied in 1848 by the Rev. R. H. Cobbold and the Rev. W. A. Russell, afterwards Bishop of North China. It has been the home and scene of work of many able missionaries, the most distinguished being the Ven. A. E. Moule, Archdeacon of Mid-China (who is still working and who still gives service, by his personal activities and by his pen, both in English and Chinese), and the late Rev. J. C. Hoare (who arrived in Ningpo in 1878, and for more than twenty years carried on the work of training catechists and clergy for the mission). The latter was the founder and first principal of Trinity College, Ningpo, where most, if not all, of the present native clergy of Mid-China were trained.
Hangchow was opened by Bishop Moule, then the Rev. G. E. Moule, in 1864, and has, up to the present time, been the residence of the bishop. He has seen the work spread to the different centres of his diocese, and has watched over the growth of the native Church, as one place after another has been occupied.
Sai Chow, farther down the coast from Ningpo, was occupied in 1887, as the result of the evangelistic work of the students of Trinity College, Ningpo, and the Rev. J. C. Hoare. There is now a growing Church with about 1,500 baptized members, and also a medical mission with a fine hospital, containing 52 beds, opened in 1905, under the charge of Dr. Babington.
Another district city, Chu Ki, is occupied by the Rev. J. B. Ost. The mission here was started by the conversion of one man who saw the sign, "Holy Religion of Jesus," over a chapel in Hangchow. After inquiring who Jesus was and what the name meant, he carried the news and his faith to the villages of his native hills in Chu Ki, where now there is a Church of 500 or 600 Christians.
The most conspicuous philanthropic work in this diocese is the large medical mission in Hangchow, so long carried on by Dr. Duncan Main and his assistants. It has the well-deserved reputation of being the largest and best equipped missionary hospital in China.
The workers of this diocese have contributed very largely to the literature of the Church, both in Chinese and English. Archdeacon Moule, the Revs. J. C. Hoare, W. S. Moule and W. G. Walsh, have given permanent contributions, in their theological, historical, and expository works, to the library of truth needed for the Church's service.
Diocese of Shanghai.
The diocese of Shanghai, comprising the province of Kiangsu, is presided over by the Right Rev. F. R. Graves, D.D., who was appointed bishop in 1893. The work of the American Episcopal Church in China was begun (as stated above) by the sending out to Canton, in 1835, of the Revs. H. Lockwood and F. R. Hanson. Unable to settle in Canton, they worked amongst the Chinese in Batavia, the capital of Java.
The Rev. W. T. Boone was sent out in 1837, and when the five Treaty ports were opened in China the mission removed to Amoy. In 1884, Bishop Boone was consecrated and returned to China with nine new missionaries, and Shanghai became the centre of the mission, and Amoy was abandoned. The first convert and the first clergyman, was Wong Kong Chai (1851–86). Bishop Graves is the fifth Bishop of Shanghai.
Work in the province of Kiangsu is carried on at six main stations, Shanghai, Soochow, Wu Sih, Kiading, Kiangwan, and Tsingpoo, each of which is a centre for work in sub-stations in the surrounding districts. There are four large churches in Shanghai, viz., Jessfield, Sinza, Honkew, and in the native city of Shanghai.
