Archie R. Crouch

China Studies and Research

April 5-84

Dr. Thomas F. Torrance
37 Braid Farm Road
Edinburgh EH 10 6 LE
Scotland

Dear Dr. Torrance:

I hope our fortuitous meeting at Princeton will result in more
research on the Chiang people of Szechuan and their possible link
with early migrations from ancient Israel. Since you will be
going to China, hopefully to pursue the leads further, I am
providing at the bottom of this letter the addresses of persons
whom I think it would be important for you to meet.

Henry Tsui was a colleague of mine in the Border Service Department of the Church of Christ in China. He has recently been on a tour of the areas of the Chiang and Chiajung where your father did pioneer work and where the Border Service Department had small congregations and a few folks schools and clinics. He, more than anyone else, would know the persons to contact for permission to travel and the local persons for interviews.

Kiang Wen-Han is writing a comprehensive history of the Christian church in China under the auspices of the Institute of Historical Research in the Shanghai Academy of Social Science. He has just completed a volume on the Nestorians.

Peter Lee is at Tao Fong Shan in Hong Kong where he is Director of
the Ecumenical Center.

I have tried repeatedly to get in touch with Daniel Shaw in Chicago, but all I get is a busy signal on his telephone. His offer to print and distribute one million copies of the story of the Chiang in China sounds dubious to me. In the first place, both the Church and the government of China are not likely to permit such a distribution. In the second place, it would be important to check the theological orientation of the kind of material Shaw would want to print. The best check on these points will be with Peter Lee in Hongkong and Kiang Wen-Han in Shanghai.

On a more positive note, I would like to see the completion of
comprehensive research on the possibility that the Chiang are
descendents of migrants from ancient Israel. The material collected
and published by your father is convincing, but it needs to be
brought up to date, with new data added.

325 Murray Avenue

Englewood, New Jersey 07631

201-567-4873

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
SPEER LIBRARY

P.O. BOX 111
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540

April 19-84

LOUIS CHARLES WILLARD
JAMES LENOX LIBRARIAN

China Mission Resources Project

Mr. Daniel Shaw
5415 Sherman Rd. Suite #906
Chicago IL 60640

Dear Mr. Shaw:

Thank you for your telephone call last night regarding the Chiang-Min manuscripts and resource materials. As I explained to Dr. Torrance, up-dating Dr. Torrance's father's work on this subject will require extensive historical and archaeological research.

I think it is very important, especially in regard to China's interest in greater knowledge of the Chinese Minorities. Of course, the important determination is how to proceed. I am encouraged by your interest and preliminary work on the subject.

Perhaps you could come to the New York area as a guest in our home in order to discuss the matter in more detail. I will be away most of the month of June, but plan to be at work here at home and at Princeton the rest of the summer. Let me know if a trip here would be possible.

In the meantime I have enclosed a complimentary copy of *Scholars' Guide to China Mission Resources in the Libraries and Archives of the United States*. This work, which will be six volumes when finished, is locating exactly the kind of resources needed for studies such as the history of the Chiang-Min. A careful reading of the Foreword and the Introduction indicates the nature, scope, and value of the work.

Wishing you every success in your various enterprises,

I am,

07631

cc:Torrance, Willard, Woo

Daniel Shaw Co.

COMMERCIAL PRINTING - CALENDARS
BOOK MATCHES - BOOKS & MAGAZINES
ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES - OFFICE SUPPLIES
REGISTER FORMS - COLOR POST CARDS

5415 No. Sheridan Rd, Suite 906

5701 N. SHERIDAN ROAD, SUITE A29
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60660
60640

PHONE: 275-9640

May 1, 1984

Rev. A. R. Crouch
325 Murray Ave.
Englewood, New Jersey 07631

Dear Rev. Crouch:

It was a great pleasure for me to have talked to you over the phone last month, learning you had been a missionary to China and worked among the Chiang Min, the Chinese Hebrews, in Schechuan Province of central China. We are very appreciative for the strenuous effort you had made in spreading the gospel of Christ to the Chinese, so that many of them can be saved in the Kingdom of God.

As you know we are interested to reprint the book, China's First Missinoaries, the Ancient Israelites, by Rev. Thomas Torrance; however, prior to its reproduction, a right granted to us by his son, Prof. T. Torrance, we like to gather more information about these Chinese Jews. We have heard about the Chinese Jews in Kaifang, Honan who came to Cathay around the 11th A. D. and not prior to the Christian era as the ancient Israelites arriving in China 4th century B. C. or earlier. Now, since you had ministered among the Chiang Min for many years, your information about them to us will be very useful, a contribution to the study of Chinese history: Above all, your testimony will verify the inerrancy of the text of Isiah 49:12 regarding the meaning of the word, Sinim, which is none other than China. Some critics do not accept that Sinim is China but Syene in Egypt, and enclosed please find comments expressing these views. Enclosed please find also the clipping, papers, etc. concerning the book of China's First Missionary, mailed to us by Prof. T. Torrance in his assistance for our plan to republish his father's book. It will be considered very valuable to us if any materials you can impart to us concerning the Chiang Min.

With Christian Greetings, I am

Very respectfully yours in Christ,
Daniel Shaw

CHINA MISSION RESOURCES PROJECT

Archie R. Crouch, Director
Steven Agoratus, Research Assistant

Speer Library

Oct. 10-84

Professor Thomas F. Torrance
37 Braid Farm Road
Edinburgh EH10 6LE
Scotland

Dear Dr. Torrance:

Thank you for your confidential notes on "Bibles in China; A Proposal."

With your permission I would like to share these with Dr. Franklin

Woo, Director of the China Program of the National Council of

Churches. He has close personal ties with the church leaders in

China as well as with his counterparts in the church councils of

Europe. I trust his judgement.

I doubt if Henry Tsui is up to such a responsibility as you have
proposed. He is in his late seventies and suffers from health
problems induced by close to 20 years in a labor camp.

Also, thank you for the bibliography of your father's work in
China. Since I am totally involved in the China Mission Resources
Project for the next two or three years--and will be close to
80 when that is finished let me suggest the following:

1-That I merge my files on the Border Service Society with your father's files, plus other items which come to my attention, and place them in Speer Library at Princeton. (We could then get them listed in our Guide which will be published next summer.)

2-That I publicize the documents and their importance for research until we find a competent scholar who will undertake a thorough and definitive book on the relationship of the Ch"iang people to early Hebrew migrations.

Please include me when you prepare a report of your recent visit regarding this subject.

Louis Charles Willard, James Lenox Librarian, 609-921-8092

Princeton Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 111, Princeton, NJ 08542

May 21-85

Dear Dr. Torrance:

A few days ago Dr. McCord contacted me about what had been done
with your "Bibles in China:A Proposal."

I have enclosed a copy of my Oct. 10-84 letter to you on that
subject, fearing that it might not have reached you.

Dr. Woo has just returned from an extended trip to China where he
had conferences with many Chinese church leaders, both Protestant
and Catholic. Today is his first day back in his office at
the National Council of Churches. I will talk to him in a few
days about his most recent findings regarding the proposal.

I know that a press for the church in China has been on the agenda
of the China Program Committee several times, and they were seeking
further information.

Also, we have strong relationships to the Amity Fund through
Mr. Philip Wickeri, who is one of our Presbyterian colleagues
based in Hong Kong and assigned to half time with the Fund.

You will be interested to know that at the March meeting of the
Association for Asian Studies (about 7,000 American scholars)
we established a new group called "Christianity in China: Historical
Studies." About 30 scholars were present at the founding meeting,
and it will publish later this year a newsletter listing all
current research in this field.

This development makes our previous discussions of your father's
papers all the more important--with the suggestion that his papers
might be merged with mine from the Border Service Society and
placed in the Speer Library Archives. If this could be done within a
few months, they could be included in the first volume of the
Scholars' Guide to China Mission Resources' which we hope to have
ready for the press in late summer 1985.

I will be in touch with you again as soon as I talk to Dr. Woo.

Very sincerely,

cc: McCord, Woo, Willard

Archie R. Crouch, Project Director

Steven A. Agoratus, Research Assistant

Princeton Theological Seminary P.O. Box 111, Princeton, NJ 08542

609-921-8092

CENTER OF THEOLOGICAL INQUIRY

P. O. Box 146
PRINCETON. NEW JERSEY 08542

May 3, 1985

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN

The Reverend Dr. Archie R. Crouch
325 Murray Avenue
Englewood, New Jersey 07631

Dear Archie:

Thomas F. Torrance was here earlier this week for a meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Center of Theological Inquiry, and he indicated that you may not have received his revised copy of "Bibles in China: A Proposal." I am enclosing a copy for you.

It is my understanding that this is now being taken up by the Amity Foundation, which Bishop Ting heads. I hope to see him a little later on this month when the delegation from the United Board is in China.

Let me apologize for not getting back to you last November. For about five months my correspondence went without response because I was nursing Hazel until her death on January 2. After the first of June, when we return from China, I should be happy to talk with Charles Willard and you about the China Mission Resources Project, if you are still interested. Again I apologize for my silence, but I had a different set of priorities as long as Hazel was in need.

With cordial good wishes, I am

JIM:1ms

Enclosure

recognised) Church and be administered through the provincial and
local Christian Councils. Where these properties are being
occupied by government, educational, or industrial agencies, the
Church is entitled to receive regular rent for them until they
can be handed back. For example, the former Canadian Mission
Printing Press in Chengdu was taken cover by the Government and
has been kept in use, but today the Church receives some several
hundred yuan a month by way of rent for it.

It is now clear that the Government is ready to allow, and in
some circumstances even to encourage, independently capitalised
enterprises. For example, in Chengdu, Sichuan, construction
companies have come into being financed through private
investment and local shareholdings. The Government is even ready
to welcome the setting up of enterprises that are financed, or
mainly financed, from outside China, as in the case of the new
independent Air Line, to be run in connection with the official
CAAP, but financed by wealthy Chinese abroad. It should also be
noted that in connection with World Vision International a
contribution of $1,500,000 has been made to the Chinese Cultural
Exchange Center in Beijing, and has been happily received by it,
which may suggest a way forward for the proposal set forth below,
in which a substantial contribution from sources outside China
may be made.

AN INDEPENDENT CHINESE CHRISTIAN PRESS

In these circumstances it is proposed that steps be taken to
explore the possibility of establishing in China an Independent
Press for the publication of Bibles, portions of the Holy
Scriptures, and Christian literature such as hymn books,
catechisms and books suitable for use in theological seminaries.
Such a Press would have to be fully indigenous, and completely
Chinese, fitting into the whole concept of the "self-supporting,
self-governing, self-propagating" Church. Hence it would have to
be recognised by the Christian Councils of the province and city
where it was set up, but nevertheless with an independent status
similar to that of a free market or of the new independent Air
Line recognised by CAAP. In effect, this means that such a
project would require to be recognised by Bishop Ding Guangxun,
Professor at the Nanjing Theological Seminary, who is the
President of the China Christian Council and the Christian Three
Self Patriotic Movement.

This Independent Chinese Press could be financed in part, if
not wholly, from rent accruing from occupied Church properties,
but of course such a decision would have to come from the Chinese
Christian Church itself. The American Bible Society, the British
and Foreign Bible Society, and the National Bible Society of
Scotland all turned over the custodianship of their properties to

the China Bible House in 1951. In December of 1981 the United
Bible Societies notified Bishop Ding Guangxun of their decision
not to claim compensation under the Foreign Compensation Order of
1980, and provided him with a list of all their properties in the
People's Republic of China. That is to say, they have now been
handed over legally and unconditionally to the Chinese Church.
Ownership of other former Mission properties have probably
already been transferred to the Chinese Church authorities in the
same way, but it is not clear whether the actual title deeds of
these properties have all been handed over, which the local
Churches need if they are to claim former Mission properties for
their use and/or receive rent for them. For instance, in June
1984 I handed over to the local Christian Council in Chengdu
title deeds of two Church properties in the Wenchuan prefecture.
It might be well if all Missionary Societies and Agencies would
compile an account of their former properties, so that, if it has
not already been done, they could be handed over to the Christian
Councils, with the relevant documentation, that is, legally and
unconditionally. This would encourage the local Church to claim
the properties back and/or receive rent for their occupation,
enabling it to restore destroyed Churches, and erect new
buildings for their own use. This is now being done, as in the
case of the largest Church in Chengdu, which at the moment is
being restored for use as a Theological Seminary. It may well be
that many former Mission and Church properties throughout China
remain unregistered and unclaimed. As far as I could see, this
may apply to not a few former Mission properties in Chengdu,
which could now be reclaimed with a view to establishing for
Christian use an Independent Press, but of course that would be
up to the Chinese Church and the Christian Council of China, and
it would be inappropriate for us to make any suggestion as to how
they should use former mission property or rent from them. It
may be the case of course that China Bible House already has this
in view. Certainly the reclamation of all these properties would
go very far toward financing the proposed Press, although the
most that that might be done from outside China would be through
making financial resources and technical equipment available for
them, but without any strings attached whatsoever. Evidently
there would now be no objection to financial investment from
sources outside China, provided that the Press thus established
would remain entirely independent of foreign control.

In Chengdu and in Beijing I discussed a proposal along these
lines with Mr Hua Chang-ji, the secretary of the Sichuan and
Chengdu Christian Councils, and with Professor Zhao Fusan, the
very able theologian who is Deputy Director-General of the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Both of them gave me a good
hearing, which encouraged me to put these ideas down in writing.

I also discussed with both of them the use of modern computer
technology and laser compositors, and indicated that there might
be some possibility of getting this project financed from the

Church is equipped to produce the Holy Scriptures on their own
soil with their own hands to meet their own needs. And they
agree that the establishment of a Press, if this can be
materialised, will be the first major step toward this
realisation.

I do not think outside China we can make a greater contribution
than this to the development, and rapid growth, of Christianity
in China. Bibles can be distributed throughout China in adequate
numbers, only if they are independently printed within China
itself, and if ways and means can be found for their cheap and
speedy production. Today China is steadily opening itself to
western industry, commerce and technology, but is fiercely, and
rightly, jealous of its own independence. Let us do our best to
see that the printing and publishing of the Holy Scriptures, and
of high quality Christian literature which, like the new Chinese
Catechism, is written by Chinese Christians themselves.

What is to be the way forward? Quite clearly the proposal
must be kept very private until it meets with ready indigenous
acceptance and general as well as some financial support, and
until there is some assurance that that financial and material
contributions from outside China, along the lines indicated,
would be regarded as helpful.

It might be wise to speak about this matter privately to
Professor Zhao Fusan in the first place, as he is such an
understanding and shrewd person, who is far-sighted and realist
at the same time. He is one of the leaders in the TSPM who is in
a position to be an immense help in such a project, and one who
is very sympathetic to our evangelical concern that all China
should be won for Christ and his Church. Moreover, he would
probably be the best person through who we might approach Bishop
Ding Guangxun whose support would be surely necessary as he is
such an influential member of the people's Congress. That we
should think of Professor Zhao Fusan in a key role here is the
suggestion of the Rev.G.I.F.Thomson, quondam Chaplain of all
Souls College, Oxford, and former Director of the Bible Reading
Fellowship, who knows Zhao Fusan well. In this event we might
have him invited over to lecture, let us say, in connection with
All Souls College or the British Academy where he is well known
and which would be 'neutral ground'.

Another suggestion (made by the Rev. Tom Houston of World
Vision International and formerly of The British and Foreign
Bible Society in London) is that we try to find a Chinese
Christian business man or industrialist who has influence inside,
and perhaps outside, China, but who is not particularly connected
with the TSPM or identified with the House Church movement. If
we could find such a person he might help us greatly to see the
way forward. It might even be possible to find a professional
person deeply interested in modern science and technology in

China who would undertake setting up a Chinese Christian Independent Press. Certainly a connection with China's deep interest in scientific development and technological modernisation would be of considerable advantage to such a project.

Is it possible that Hong Kong may now be the best entry point for this project? The Rev. Fergus Macdonald, General Secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland, suggests that Hong Kong may be the way in, and has already raised the matter with the Regional Centre of the Bible Societies there, which has elicited the response indicated above, in the light of which modifications have now been introduced into this document. World Vision International also has a centre in Hong Kong. There is no doubt that they could be a considerable help, and also the leaders of a new movement in Hong Kong Protestant Churches committed to working out how they may now best serve the Christian Church in China before and after 1997. While welcoming all this help in Hong Kong, in my view it would be best, with their help, to look for a way to launch this project through an independent business or financial concern within China itself, though of course it might well have a base, like many other Chinese concerns today, in Hong Kong as well. If some such way could be found, it would help to win the assurance that an Independent Chinese Christian Press was not just another means of reintroducing western influence back into China, but at the same time it might somewhat freer than otherwise possible from the kind of bureaucratic regulations within which the TSPM and CCC have to operate.

I have one further suggestion: that Chengdu might be the best place in which to begin establishing an Independent Chinese Press. WE may get advice and help here from some Canadians who have been asked to teach modern business methods in Chengdu, one of whom, Mr George Flewman was born in Chengdu when his father was the Missionary who built up the Mission Printing Press there. We visited that Press together in June this year, and found it a hive of industry. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan, which is the most populous province in China, and the province which has led the way in the remarkable economic developments in agriculture, industry and commerce that have profoundly affected the whole of China. Moreover, it is in Chengdu that we can see today, evidently more than anywhere else, the emergence of an open, buoyant society, where, I believe, an Independent Christian Chinese Press would flourish. Once such a Press was established there or elsewhere, it would doubtless be easier for similar printing and publishing centres to be established in strategic cities in China, and eventually in every province.

Thomas F. Torrance

August 27, Oct.3, and Oct.26, 1984

Addendum, Oct.21, 1984

The fact that under Deng Xiaoping China has now moved sharply away from "strict excessive control" maintained by the State over industrial, commercial and other enterprises, lends considerable encouragement and even urgency to the above proposal, for it means that the establishment of an Independent Chinese Christian Press will now receive much more support within its developing free market system than had been anticipated. There will be more opportunity for free, private, profitable enterprise, with encouragement to businessmen, freer rein for managers, and incentives to workers.

Here is a note from my elder son, Dr. T. S. Torrance, Economist in the University of Aberdeen, in evaluation of the new state of affairs.

"The decision taken at the Central Committee meeting of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China on the 20th October 1984 to encourage the development of a large free-enterprise economic sector will eventually have far-reaching repercussions. Most noticeably, a thriving free-enterprise sector spells the end of the power of the State to exercise totalitarian control over the range of thoughts and ideas deemed permissible.

"The reasons are not hard to discern. A free-enterprise economy provides employees, and prospective employees, with a choice of employers, thus depriving the State of its all-embracing and penetrating power that it possesses as a monopoly employer. Where the State ceases to be the only employer within society it is automatically divested of its most effective means of conducting 'thought control', which is by depriving dissidents and others of whom it disapproves, of their work and the opportunity to seek work.

"The fact that under free-enterprise a variety of employers are available, thus making it difficult or impossible for the State to render destitute those who oppose its ideology, lies behind the claim, associated particularly with economists of the traditional liberal school such as F. A. Hayek, that free-enterprise is a necessary (even if it is not on its own quite sufficient) condition of a free society. The long-term implications for Chinese society of the changes now being initiated are literally incalculable."

May 24-85

Dear Dr. Torrance:

This morning I received a more complete report from Dr. Woo regarding current plans for a printing press in China, especially for the printing and distribution of Bibles.

The United Bible Societies are in a quiet, unpublicized conversation with Chinese church leaders--via the Amity Foundation--regarding a million dollar press to be established near Nanjing. The plan is to have a printing establishment totally controlled and operated by the Chinese which will print Bible for distribution in China, and also will export Bibles to Chinese communities in other parts of the world.

You can get further details from Dr. Franklin Woo, Director
China Program Rm. 616
National Council of Churches
475 Riverside Drive
New York NY 10115
Phone 212-870-2371
or
Mr. Philip Wickeri
P.O. Box 413
Shatin, N.T.
Hong Kong

Phone 0-6460314

Both Dr. Woo and Mr. Wickeri keep aware of what World Vision is doing in China. However, World Vision is an agency totally independent of ecumenical agencies in the United States and they generally make decisions at this end without consultation with the people we work with in the National Council of Churches.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Holocaust and Genocide Resource Center for Bergen County last night I mentioned the collection of papers I have on the early Jews in China--including your father's book. They were immediately interested, and suggested a special meeting with Jewish leaders at some time to go into this in detail. It will be interesting to get their response to the concepts your father developed and the documentation he assembled to support them.

cc:Woo, McChord

609 921 8092

Very Rev Professor Thomas F Torrance

Tel (031) 447-3050

May 29, 1985

Rev Dr Archie Crouch,
China Mission Resources Project,
Princeton Theological Seminary,
P.O.Box 111,
Princeton, NJ 08542

Dear Dr Crouch,

Thank you for your letter of May 21.

Yes, I did receive a copy of your letter to me of October 10
1984. However, I delayed replying to you, as I was not anxious
for you to speak to Dr Woo about the Bibles in China Project,
as I knew that Bishop Ding had already turned down two similar
proposals, even though there were accompanied by promises of
finance. But now things have changed somewhat.

I was in regular touch with the UBSin
Hong Kong who spoke about this proposal to the Three-Self
authorities, and helped to get from them the promise under the
Amity Fund to give priority to the printing of Bibles and
Testaments in China. While I rejoice over that, I am still
looking for independent Chinese business people to
undertake printing of Bibles in the main centres of China.

I do not know Dr Wickeri, but have heard quite
well of him. However, I fear he is 'in the pocket' of Bishop
Ding. I am more ready to trust Zhao Fusan and will be seeing
him over here in December. However, I think you should now go
ahead and speak to Dr Woo; but I am not anxious to have these
plans sabotaged. Dr Erickson of the ABS & UBS in New York warns
me that copies of letters find their way to the Religious Affairs
Bureau in Beijing, where there has not been so far a very helpful
response to efforts for outside help. However, now that Bishop
Ding seems to be wooing even Texan Baptists for funds, and
knows, as Jim McCord says, that the financial resources come
from the evangelical and conservative wings of the Churches,
especially in USA, it is possible to put some constraints on
him for a more open and helpful attitude to what in Sichuan are
called "House Worship Groups", which must room all over the place
especially in agricultural circles. Did you know that in
Chengdu the old Shi Sem Tse Church, destroyed in the cultural
revolution has now been rebuilt as a Theological College, and
already this year has ordained 19 pastors. It is these pastors
who help the "House Worship Groups" and organise them into
Churches, and in such a way that they can get Government support

in reclaiming Church property and revenue from occupied buildings.
The Former Canadian Mission Press in Chengdu, for example,
used by the Government, brings the Church 600 yuen a month,
which they use for the College several hundred yards away.

I was back there myself first year, and visited Weenchuan/
Weichou, and saw many of the tribespeople. There is still a
Church extant at Weichou, but used at the moment as a school
Library. I was able to deposit with the Church in Chengdu, the
Rector of the Pi Fang Gai Church, title deeds to two
Churches in the upper Min valley, destroyed by Mao, but
reclaimable by the Church. I was greatly heated by what I
saw in Sichuan, which is the most open and forward-looking
part of China, especially in terms of its culture.

You may know that two of my father's writings are
being republished by Daniel Shaw Co. in Chicago, a Chinese
publisher whom I put in touch with you. But I was not very
happy about the letter you write to him, which was critical
of my father's work and research among the Ch'iang. It was for
this reason that I hesitated to contact you over my father's
material. The important items will go into the British
Museum where so much else of the evidence for the Ch'iang is-
apart from that in what is no called the Sichuan Provinial
Museum in Chengdu, which my father originally founded at the
Union University, and which still holds intact the material
he originally lodged there. I visited it myself. But most of
all this is still securely lodged in boxes.

In fact, I will send you some photostats or xerox copies
of some of my father's material, and also some offprints. I
expect to be back in Princeton in November, and Dr Mc Cord
will let you know about that.

With every good wish,

Yours sincerely,

37 Braid Farm Road
Edinburgh EH10 6LE
Tel (031) 447-3050

June 5, 1985

Rev Dr Archie Crouch,
PO Box 111,
Princeton,
NJ 08542

Dear Dr Crouch,

Thank you for your letter of May 24 which came in this morning- and also for the addresses you have given me, of Mr Wickri in Hong Kong and Dr Woo in New York. I have been in touch all along with the UBS in Hong Kong, who had my document on Bibles in China project when Mr Choi Chan went to see the Churchmen in Beijing and Nanjing, with the success we know of. But all this is not enough, much and significant as it is.

Thank you for mentioning to the Board of Directors of the Holocaust and Genocide Resource Center for Bergen County my father's discoveries about ancient Israelite decedent in Sichuan. I have had communications from Jewish Research Institutes in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and a visit from Professor Fisch of Jerusalem about this material, in which they are deeply interested- though I have pointed out to them that these people date back before the 'Jews' to Israelites! I am to see them in Jerusalem in September, namely Prof Fisch and Rabbi Avihail. They have a copy of my father's little book in Jerusalem and I have sent them other material.

I wonder if your Resource centre in the Speer Library has copies of the West China Border Research Journal and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, etc. ? And also what of the West China Missionary News, which contains so much material. I may perhaps bring over some of these to Princeton sometime.

July 8-85

Very Reverend Professor Thomas Torrance
37 Braid Farm Road
Edinburgh EH10 6LE
Scotland

Dear Dr. Torrance:

Your letter of June 5-85, as well as your previous letters and materials, came at a very opportune time. The Henry Luce Foundation has granted $500,000 for a five year study of the history of Christianity in China. This project is under the direction of Dr. Daniel Bays at the University of Kansas. He plans to employ about 40 scholars and to stage two major world conferences, the findings of which will be published in two volumes.

With your encouragement I intend to suggest to him that one section of his work be a thorough study of early Hebrew/Israelitish influences in China. Your material, and more which you may be able to point to, should be a part of their research.

As you know, this subject is a red flag among American scholars, so much so that very few, if any, approach it with the objectivity which should be the hall mark of their profession.

I firmly believe that your father's book, and other data which he collected, is a very important part of that research. That is why I felt that all energies should be focussed on more research rather than just on the reprint of one small book--however valuable.

I have talked to both Dr. Willard, Director of the Princeton Theological Seminary Library, and Dr. Peterson, Director of the Yale Divinity School Library, about the best location for a research file on the subject of your father's work. We all agree that the Yale Divinity School Library is the best place to establish such a collection. The reason for this decision is that the Yale China Mission collections are probably the most comprehensive in the country, and also the best organized.

Dr. Peterson would like to meet you when you are here in November. He says that he will photocopy all the material you bring. But better yet, by far, he suggests that as much as possible of your collections be microfilmed--at our expense.

609-921-8092

I will begin the process by sending all the material you have
sent to me, plus all my own material, including photographs,
to Mr. Peterson. You may have a better suggestion, but I will
begin by suggesting that this be called the Torrance/Ch'iang Min
Collection. As other material comes to my attention I will
notify Mr. Peterson so that he can take steps to acquire it.

In doing this, the whole collection will be described in the
New England volume of the Scholar's Guide, and it will get
students alerted to the subject and hopefully get someone started
on much more research.

Let me know the dates of your visit in November and the possible
time you would have to spend some time with Mr. Peterson and me
in a review of this proposal. I could arrange to drive you to
Yale Divinity School from Princeton, or the other way around, to
make the most of your time.

Our work is going well. We have a very good research assistant
working in our Princeton office and at the moment are screening
applicants for two more positions as bibliographers. Also,
a group of us who are members of the Association for Asian Studies
have organized a sub-group of about 30 scholars who work under
the title of CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA: HISTORICAL STUDIES.

In our Scholar's Guide we will make reference to all there is
in the British Museum related to your father's research. Can
you either send us an index or catalog of what is there, or put
us in touch with the person at the Museum who could help us.

PS. Thank you for the packet of materials you sent June 3-85.
I have forwarded this, along with other material, to Mr.
Peterson at Yale.

cc: McCord, Willard, Peterson

THE SINO-JUDAIC INSTITUTE

3197 Louis Road • Palo Alto, California 94303 • 415/493-4096

August 12, 1985

Archie Crouch
325 Murray Ave.
Englewood, NJ 07631

Dear Mr. Crouch:

You have been recommended to us as someone who would be interested in the work of our new organization and possibly in becoming a member as well.

The Sino-Judaic Institute was founded on June 27, 1985, in Palo Alto, California, by a group of American Jewish scholars and activists. The purpose of the Institute is to work with the Chinese Government and the Kaifeng Jews in the study and preservation of Chinese Jewish life, culture and artifacts.

At this initial meeting, the Institute adopted the following goals and purposes:

1) To support the establishment of a Judaica section in the new Kaifeng museum.

2) To assist and promote scholarship and research regarding the history of, contacts with, and the contemporary experience of the Chinese Jews.

3) To serve as a briefing and information center for those interested in the subject and for travelers to Kaifeng.

4) To publish information and scholarly material on the Jews of China.

5) To promote friendship with and understanding of the Jews of China.

6) To develop close cooperation with Chinese and Jewish groups on matters of mutual interest.

In addition, we are investigating the possibility of assisting in the creation of a new mini-museum to be built in one of the Jewish homes on the ancient Jewish street in Kaifeng and also in providing educational and

President
Leo Gabow

Vice-President
Michael Pollak

Secretary
Anson Laytner

Treasurer
Albert Dien

Honorary Chairman
Louis Schwartz

Board of Directors
Wendy Abraham
Arnold M. Beizer
David C. Buxbaum
Mark Ejlenburg
Helaine V. Fortgang
Seymour Fromer
Ronald L. Kaye
Lawrence Kramer
Donald D. Leslie
Arthur Rosen
Joshua Stampfer

Counsel
Robert Grodsky

Aug 19-85

Rabbi Anson Laytner
The Sino-Judaic Institute
3197 Louis Road
Palo Alto CA 94303

Dear Rabbi Laytner:

Your letter of invitation to join the Institute has arrived at a propitious time, for we are now building a collection of documents at Yale Divinity School under the title "Torrance-Ch'iang Min Collection." These are papers and photographs relating to the theory that ancient Hebrew influences in China may be traced back to around 1,000 B.C.

Also, the bibliographic work we are now preparing for publication includes pre-Christian data (related to the Jews) and all data we unearth regarding the Jews in China.

In addition to that, the Henry Luce Foundation has just recently allocated $500,000 to an international study of "Christianity in China" which will be undertaken under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Bays with the assistance of about 40 international scholars. We hope that he will include early Jewish influences and presence in China as part of his work.

I am taking the liberty of sending a copy of your letter to me to Dr. T. F. Torrance of the University of Edingurgh who is the primary force behind the Yale Divinity School Collection, which will include many of his father's documents and microfilms of material already in the British Museum.

Dr. Torrance will be in the United States in November, bringing with him many more documents for the Yale collection. I feel it would be important for him to meet with you.

609-921-8092

Christianity in China
A Scholars' Guide to Resources
in the Libraries and Archives
of the United States

Oct. 18-85

Dr. Daniel Bays
Department of History
University of Kansas
Lawrence KS 66045

Dear Dr. Bays:

This is to confirm our arrangements to review our project on
Friday, Nov. 8-85. Since we do all the general management,
assemble all the database, do all the mailings, and handle all
the public relations from our Englewood office it might be good
for you to see the operation here before we go to Princeton.
We can work out the details later.

Also, I assume you will want some Chinese scholars who work
in China on your staff. The best contact in the United States
for people with the best judgement in the church in China, and
historians of the church, is Dr. Franklin Woo, whom I think
you already know. His office is in New York, and he lives just
a few houses down the street from us.

Regarding the early Hebrew and Jewish presence in China, you will
see by the copy of my letter to Dr. Torrance that I have suggested
a possible meeting in Princeton on Nov. 8th. If Rabbi Laytner
can come in from Palo Alto, it would add to the background of
that discussion.

Dr. C.T. Hu, historian at Columbia University, will be in China
at the time you are here. However, he will be an important person
for evaluations of Chinese scholars.

cc: Lautz, Woo, Willard, Agoratus

Advisory Committee

Louis Charles Willard (Chairman), Princeton Theological Seminary Library; William Brackney, American Baptist Historical Society; Gerald Gillette, Presbyterian Historical Society; Donald MacInnis, Maryknoll Fathers History Project; Robert Maloy, Smithsonian Institution Libraries; Leslie Marchant, University of Western Australia East Asian Studies; Peter Mitchell, University of Toronto/York University Centre on Modern East Asia; Stephen Peterson, Yale Divinity School Library; Nancy Sahli, National Historical Publications and Records Commission; Richard D. Spoor, Union Theological Seminary Library; Faith Johnson Vance, International Business Machines Inc.; Charles West, Princeton Theological Seminary-Christian Ethics; Edwin Winckler, Columbia University East Asian Institute; Franklin Woo, National Council of Churches China Program.

(609) 683-4516 or 4769

Christianity in China

Oct 18-85

Dr. Thomas F. Torrance
37 Braid Farm Road
Edinburgh EH 10 6LE
Scotland

Dear Dr. Torrance:

There is one more important person for you to meet while you are here in November. Dr. Daniel Bays, the director of the comprehensive history of Christianity in China ($500,000 funded by the Luce Foundation) will be here for a few days early in November. Since he wants to spend some time with our project in Englewood and Princeton I have promised to drive him from New York to Princeton on Friday, Nov. 8th.

I have talked to him about the Torrance-Ch'iang Min Collection and its background, and have found that he would like to know what research materials there are on early Hebrew and later Jewish presence in China for a possible area of study connected with the history of Christianity in China. Would it be possible for you to have lunch with Dr. Bays and our staff on Friday, Nov. 8th?

Also, I hope you and Rabbi Laytner can spend some time together, for the possibilities of collaboration with the Sino-Judaic Institute are important to all of us. Since I assume you will not have time to fly to California I would suggest that you try to get him to come to Princeton--for the same meeting with the rest of us, and for additional time if you desire it.

The momentum for comprehensive and scholarly study of the history of Christianity in China is growing, and this is the right time to add to that momentum.

Sincerely,

cc:McCord, Bays, Laytner, Willard, Agoratus, Lautz

Advisory Committee

(609) 683-4516 or 4769

Christianity in China

Oct. 30-85

Dr. Thomas Torrance
3 Adams House
Library Place
Princeton NJ 08542

Dear Dr. Torrance:

I have set up a luncheon meeting for Friday, Nov. 8th for
the following persons:

Thomas Torrance

Stephen Peterson (Yale Divinity School Library)

Charles Willard (Princeton Theological Seminary Library)

Daniel Bays (University of Kansas)

Andrew Plaks (East Asian Studies--Princeton University)

Steven Agoratus (my research assistant)

Archie Crouch

The purpose of the gathering is to compare notes on the
Torrance-Ch'iang Min Collection and to discuss additional
sources of data.

Rabbi Laytner would like to be with us, but he cannot make it.
Dr. Plaks has a personal interest in the subject under discussion
and is himself collecting data.

However, since Dr. Plaks teaches at 12:00 noon, he would like to
see you personally at 11:30 A.M. just before our lunch. He
will meet you in our office at Speer Library.

Call me at my home 201-567-4873 if you have any questions.

Very sincerely,

cc:Willard, Agoratus, Peterson, Plaks

Advisory Committee

(609) 683-4516 or 4769

Archie R. Crouch

China Studies and Research

Nov 1-85

Dear Ed:

Did I send you a box, or boxes, of slides of my trip through
the Lifan region of China?

They may be more important to the Yale collection than to
the family. If you want them I will make copies for the Yale
collection. If not, I may send the originals to Yale.

At any rate, if you have them, please send them to me.

I'll tell you more about the Yale collection later. We are
assembling evidence that suggests the possibility of very
early Israelite immigrations into China---dates uncertain now,
but possibly 1,000 B.C.

Affectionately,

325 Murray Avenue

Englewood, New Jersey 07631

201-567-4873

Tel (031) 447-3224

The Rev. Dr Archie Crouch,
China Missions Resources Project,
Princeton Theological Seminary,
P.O. Box 111,
Princeton,
New Jersey 08542,
USA

December 27, 1985

Dear Archie,

I am sending you three packets of material relating to my father's life and work in Sichuan. (by surface mail)

1. A packet dealing with the story of individual Chinese converted to the Christian Faith.

2. A packet dealing with "Torrance-Vale" case, over which a handful of missionaries left the CIM - it is a sad story of some rather malicious missionary gossip giving rise to entirely unfounded accusations that the CIM retracted, but not before they had done a lot of damage. Sam Moffett told me that I should not destroy this file but have it lodged with the other records- but there should, I think, be an embargo on it, as some of the descendants of the misguided missionaries, Vale, Granger, Hoste, etc, may still be alive!

3. A packet giving rather illuminating personal memoirs of my mother's life - she was not keen for first 23 pages to be made public beyond the family - but now five years after my dear mother's death, I think there is no need for an embargo on this material.

I still have a box of many hundreds of letters from my father to my mother, and from my father to his children, from 1928 to 1934/5, when he spent the last seven years of his missionary life alone - the rest of us remaining in Scotland with my mother for our education. I will have to work through this material before sending it on: but it is a most interesting and detailed packet of correspondence relating to that crucial period after Chang Kai Shek kicked us out in 1927, to the beginning of his struggle against the Communists whom he had abandoned after he confessed the Christian faith.