Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1921-02-09
MISS PAXSON WRITES
OF WORK in China
GREAT NATION IS TRAINING
CHRISTIAN WORKERS AMONG
IT'S OWN PEOPLE.
t MORE WORKERS ARE NEEDED

Letter Gives Intensely Interesting Ac-
count Of the Manchester Girls
Work in Northern China.
The Democrat is pleased to give
space this week to highly interesting
communication by Miss Ruth Paxson,
who has spent several years as a mis-
sionary in China. Miss Paxson tells
of the progress that is being made
in bringing Christian training and
civilization to the Chinese, and how the
Chinese themselves are training lead
ers among their own people. Miss
Paxson's friends will be pleased to
learn that she contemplates spending
several months during the summer Of
1921 in the States, visiting friends In
the home town, and those living In
various parts Of the country The fol-
lowing communication is taken from
her report to the Mission Board, and
will be read with interest by friends
at her home:
Before His ascension our Lord Je-
sus rested His last commission in
these words: "But ye shall receive
power, when the Holy Spirit is come
upon you; and ye shall be my, wit
nesses both in Jerusalem and fn all
Judea and Samaria and unto the ut
termost part of the earth" The Chi
nese Home Missionary Society through
its work in Yunnan this past year has
made very splendid and really seri-
5ous beginning toward the fulfilment OF
this commission to carry the gospel of
light and love and life to the utter
most part Of China. It was a very
great joy to me to have the privilege
of working for few weeks In Yunnan
with the Chinese who went out there
under the auspices of the Chinese
Home Missionary Society year ago.
That Joy is deepened by having this
opportunity of sharing with you what
/ saw and heard of their work and Of
the great need for the gospel in that
province.
To have the proper setting for mis-
sion work there, one must know some-
thing of the country and its people.
The province of Yunnan seems mac
cessible. One reaches it by three
routes, all of which consume great
deal of time. One is by, way Of Bur-
ma; second through Szechuen and
the third by way of Hongkong through
Indo-China and up the French rail-
way to Yunnanfu. When in s. iifu,
Szechuen, in the fall was within
three hundred miles of Yunnanfu
where intended going very soon, but l
came back to Shanghai and went by
way Of Hongkong, a distance Of some
three thousand miles because the trip
could be made more quickly, comfort
ably and safely. 1t takes a. long time
for mail, newspapers and sometimes
even kilograms to reach Yunnan SO
one seems somewhat cut off from the
immediate events happening in the
rest of the world, especially when IL
the interior. The country is also very
mountainous. Mr.. Fraser, mission
ary In the far western part Of the
province, says: "Yunnan is nine parts
mountain and one part plain" This
means no extensive agriculture. The
land is, however, full Of rich, scarce
ly touched minerals There are no
large cities. Outside Of the capital
which has population of 100000 it IS
estimated that there are no cities OF
more. than $4,000 inhabitants. The
villages are few, far-between, small
and exceedingly dirty.
The population Of the province is
estimated at S,500,000 to 12,000,O0O.
About two-thirds of the people are
Chinese and one-third are tribes pe0-
Pile. The latter have been driven far
up into the mountains where the
means of subsistence are very scant.
Consequently they are very poor. But
in the last fifteen years they have
been very open to the gospel and q
very wonderful work has been done
amongst them, similar to the Mass
Movement in India. Thousands or
them have become Christians. In trav-
cling through the country districts
one feels almost lonely for the con-
slant crowds of people which one is
never far from and seldom free from
in Central and North China. One new
er misses the countless ever present
graves which are so conspicuous
part Of the landscape in the other
parts of China. The majority of the
people seem poor and not very pro-.
gressive. Thousands of them are.
constant opium smokers. The out
standing impression which one gets
in traveing through the country is
that they are careworn, heavily laden
people; carrying great burdens or
work, poverty, suffering and sin. l.
saw women carrying one hundred
pounds of salt on their backs; the
same load as that carried by mule
1t was no uncommon sight to see a
woman with six or eight five-foot
pieces of hard cordwood on her back;
this load she carries days journey
of 80 or 40 Ii, and receives thirty
cents for it. Goitre is most common
disease. One member of our party
counted one hundred people with
goitre in five Ii, less than two English
miles.
Mission work was begun forty
three years ago in Yunnan by the
China Inland Mission. Other mission
boards at work there are the. United
Methodists. the Pentecostal Mission