City of Fuhchau

The city of Fuhchau is the center of the missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China. It is the capital of the Fuh-kien province, belongs to the first class of Chinese cities, and contains a population of about six hundred thousand. It has long been a celebrated city among the Chinese, and its beautiful scenery has often inspired the genius of native poets, one of whom seeks to express his admiration in highly wrought hyperbole, beginning

    “Ten thousand miles around Fuhchau
    Spread out the terraced hills.”

The city has been considered one of the strong military posts of the empire; and its inhabitants have always enjoyed a high reputation for literary attainments and commercial activity. In the early history of foreign intercourse with China attention was directed to Fuhchau as an important commercial entrepot. In 1668 an agent of the English East India Company reported to the Court of Directors: “Hokchue (the local pronunciation for Fuhchau) will be a place of great resort, affording all China commodities, as tutanag, silk, raw and wrought, gold, China-root, tea, etc.; for which must be carried broadcloth, lead, amber, pepper, coral, sandal-wood, red-wood, incense, cacha, [cassia,] putchuk, etc. In 1681 the Company ordered their establishments at Formosa and Amoy to be withdrawn, with a view to opening trade at Canton and Fuhchau.” These early efforts were unsuccessful, and it was not till 1853 that foreign commerce was fully opened at Fuhchau.

The city is situated in the northern portion of an amphitheater about twenty miles in diameter, formed by the circling ranges of high mountains. The surface of this amphitheater is diversified by wooded knolls and occasional hills of considerable altitude, some of which the husbandman has cultivated to the summit, while others present to the eye immense masses of granite, relieved by intervening patches of sparse vegetation. The Min River enters the amphitheater from the northwest, through a narrow mountain pass, and flows, with a winding stream, out to the sea through a somewhat similar pass in the southeast. On the banks of this picturesque stream stands the city of Fuhchau; the portion within the walls and the greater part of the suburbs occupying and stretching away from the north bank, while the south bank is covered with a straggling suburb extending some three miles nearly parallel to the river. The general aspect of the city is pleasing. The monotony of dark roofs and dingy walls is relieved by a few picturesque hills and a plentiful supply of banians, whose perennial greenness imparts an air of freshness and beauty to the scene.

Fuhchau furnishes a fair specimen of Chinese provincial cities. The city proper is surrounded by a substantial wall, built compactly of brick, and resting on a foundation of granite. The wall is about twenty feet high and ten feet thick, surmounted by a parapet five feet high with bastions at regular intervals. The gateways are of great size and strength, and so constructed that a small force in charge of them could hold at bay almost any number of attacking troops. The public buildings comprise government offices, temples, and colleges, or halls for the literary examinations. The government offices comprise those of the viceroy, Tartar-general, governor, treasurer, judge, commissioners of rice and salt, prefect, district magistrates, etc. These buildings are one story high, constructed of wood with the aid of lath and plaster, cover an immense area, and are inclosed by a high fire-proof wall. The open courts, which form prominent features of these vast compounds, are ornamented with flowers and shrubbery and shaded with fine old trees. The buildings are constructed of very perishable materials; the workmanship is usually clumsy and tawdry, while, owing to the plan of the edifice, the rooms are almost invariably deficient in light, ventilation, and comfort.

Temples abound both within and without the wall of the city. Of those within the city wall the more prominent are the Confucian temple, the imperial temple, the Tai-seng temple, the temple of the city king, and the temples crowning the two hills Ushih-shan and U-shan. The Confucian temple was built about eight years ago, and is a fine-looking edifice; most of the other temples are dirty, gloomy, and dilapidated structures. Outside the city wall there is what foreigners designate the “Ningpo Temple.” It stands in the suburb, on the south side of the river, not far from the foreign residences, and is really a handsome edifice. It is dedicated to the goddess of seamen, and is more largely patronized than any other temple in the city. Two tall pagodas, each having nine stories, stand just within the south gate of the city, and are connected with two Budhist temples. One of them is called the “White Pagoda,” and the other the “Black Stone Pagoda.” They are both old, and the former is so much injured that no person is allowed to ascend it.

The Provincial College, or Literary Examination Hall, situated in the northern part of the city proper, is an immense open compound, fined with rows of low compartments for domiciling the students during the examinations, and is surrounded by a high and thick wall. An avenue about twelve feet wide runs nearly north and south through the center of the compound, extending from the main and only entrance to the opposite side, where are the apartments fitted up for the examining committees and official visitors. At right angles to this central avenue, on each side, branch off rows of compartments or cells in which the students are incarcerated during the examinations. These rows of cells are separated from each other by brick walls about ten feet high, with a space about two feet wide between the wall and the fronts of the cells to furnish the means of communication with the central avenue. These cells are about two and a half feet deep, four feet wide, and eight feet high, and are covered with a shed-roof to protect the occupant from the weather; but as the entire front of each cell is left open, the poor students must suffer terribly from the sun and rain; and it is not surprising that at every examination some of the candidates die from exposure and excitement. It is estimated that from eight to ten thousand students can be accommodated at one time in this compound or college. The other examination halls are somewhat similar to the one we have just described, though much smaller and less substantially built.

The city is laid out with some degree of regularity, the streets in many cases running parallel to each other, or crossing each other at right angles. The principal street, called Nanka, that is, South-street, divides the city into two nearly equal portions, and runs from the south gate almost to the north gate of the city. This is a well-paved and (for China) wide street, and being the great business thoroughfare of the city, where all the best stores are located, it presents a fine appearance. The western portion of the city is largely taken up with the residences of retired officers, or other persons of wealth and influence. Some of these mansions are fitted up in a style that indicates considerable refinement of taste and artistic skill. A portion of the eastern division of the city, comprising about one-eighth of the area within the city wall, is the Tartar quarter, and is occupied by the Tartar garrison of the city. These Tartars are soldiers in the pay of the government, and are not allowed to engage in trade or intermarry with the Chinese. In general they lead an idle, listless life, and are sadly addicted to opium-smoking and other vices, fully confirming the truth of the old adage that “an idle man’s brain is the devil’s workshop.” The execution ground is just outside the north gate, and the military parade ground immediately outside the south gate of the city.

The extra-mural population is almost equal to that within the city wall, and comprises large suburbs outside the principal gates of the city. Of these suburbs, the largest and most important one extends from the south gate to the river, and is called Nantai, or southern suburb. Its population stretches some three miles from the south gate to the river, covers most densely a small island in the river; and then, on the south side of the river, spreads out into another narrow suburb some three miles in length. The approach from the south to the city of Fuhchau is very impressive. For six miles, before reaching the gate of the city, the traveler passes along an almost unbroken street, lined on both sides with shops and residences, and filled with a bustling and vociferating crowd. This southern suburb is the great center of trade, both native and foreign, in Fuhchau; and it is here, in close proximity to the river, that foreigners have erected their business hongs and most of their residences. The southern bank of the river opposite the city swells up into a pretty eminence, and foreigners have succeeded in obtaining a large part of it for their private dwellings and offices. This picturesque hill, the great temple hill on the northern bank of the river, the two stone bridges, and the winding river with its fleet of boats and junks, are the more prominent features of the scenery in this part of the city. The bridges are rude but substantial structures, built of granite. There is at this point in the river an island called Changchau, or Tongchiu, in the local dialect, which forms the connecting link between the two bridges. The bridge over the northern division of the river is caned, in popular language, “the great bridge,” to distinguish it from the smaller one over the southern division of the river; but the title on the façade, spanning the entrance to the bridge, is the grandiloquent designation, “Bridge of Ten Thousand Ages.” It is composed of twenty-six spans, each span measuring some twenty feet. The piers are built strongly of large blocks of granite, and then the spans are formed by laying from pier to pier large blocks of granite about three feet wide and deep, and some twenty-three feet long. These blocks are placed side by side, forming a surface about eight feet wide, extending the entire length of the bridge. On this solid foundation are placed, transversely, thin slabs of granite, which form the road for travelers, and on each side of the bridge is constructed a stone balustrade some two feet high. The other bridge connects Changchau to the south side of the river. It is similar in construction and appearance to the great bridge, though much shorter, comprising only nine spans. The Chinese call it the Chongseng Bridge, deriving the title from the local name of the ward at the southern extremity of the bridge.

The boat population of Fuhchau constitutes a large and interesting class of society. The shoal water on both sides of the river, above and below the bridges, furnishes excellent anchorage, and is covered with immense fleets of all varieties of river craft. The larger boats are used for transporting merchandise to and from the interior of the country, or for discharging the cargoes of the salt and rice junks entering the port of Fuhchau, while the smaller craft are engaged in ferrying and fishing. The seagoing junks anchor below the bridges, and at this point the river is frequently crowded with them. The trade of Fuhchau embraces tea, lumber, rice, salt, sugar, charcoal, paper, sea-weed, camphor, and other commodities.

The climate of Fuhchau will compare favorably with that of any other part of China. In summer the mercury rises to about 98° Fahrenheit, and the lowest point reached in winter is 32°. It should be observed, however, that, owing to the humidity of the atmosphere in China, the same degree of temperature, whether of heat or cold, is more oppressive than in the United States. From May to the first of October the weather is warm, at times oppressively so, and foreigners generally suffer from it considerably in the loss of appetite, and the consequent prostration of physical strength. During this period, however, the extreme heat is occasionally modified by the rains, which fall copiously for days together. These rains occur most generally in May or June, about the time of the annual freshet in the river, which inundates a large portion of the suburbs of the city. From October to the middle or close of April the atmosphere is usually clear, dry, and, at times, bracing. One could scarcely desire more agreeable weather than Fuhchau affords during this season of the year. Its cool, refreshing atmosphere exerts a most salutary influence on the system prostrated by the continued heat of the preceding summer.

The people of Fuhchau are characterized, in the main, by energy and perseverance, accompanied by an independent free and easy kind of address, which frequently degenerates into coarse vulgarity and offensive impudence. Such we have found to be their deportment toward each other as well as toward foreigners. As compared with the Chinese in other parts of the empire with whom we have become acquainted, the Fuhchauans appear to exhibit more of the rough, manly, outspoken traits of character, and less of the cunning, servile, and sycophantic traits. The native Chinese hauteur is strikingly apparent among the people of this city, and this characteristic is perhaps due quite as much to the fact of their never having felt the terrible effects of foreign military power, as to their constitutional temperament. The Fuhchauans, in fact, cherish most cordially and sincerely a very exalted conception of their own importance, both collectively and individually. It would seem, indeed, that they are not singular in entertaining this opinion, for certain facts with which we have become acquainted show that the government cherishes a similar estimate of their character. During the negotiations immediately preceding the formation of the Nankin Treaty between Great Britain and China in 1842-3, it was observed that the Chinese officials were exceedingly reluctant to include Fuhchau in the list of cities to be thrown open to foreign intercourse, and it was only by the most energetic perseverance that the English plenipotentiary succeeded in carrying the point. The subsequent policy pursued by the Chinese authorities at Fuhchau indicated their determination to prevent, if possible, the growth of a foreign trade at that city, and for nearly ten years their policy was almost completely successful. In 1858, when the movements of the insurgents in the southern provinces of the empire were cutting off the revenue derived by the imperial government from the tea duties at Canton, the government authorities at Fuhchau took measures for opening a foreign trade at that city. The trade thus commenced sprang at once into a vigorous existence, and has developed rapidly, so that now Fuhchau is one of the most important points connected with foreign commerce in China. Its proximity to the black tea-producing districts enables the foreign merchant to purchase his teas here at a lower price than at any other port in China, and he is able also at the opening of each season to lay down the new teas in London, New York, or elsewhere, about a month in advance of shipments from any other port in China.

In 1847 the committee appointed for this purpose by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, after a protracted and prayerful examination of the subject according to the information then in their possession, decided that the Fuh-kien province, on the coast of China, was the appropriate field for the China mission of our Church; and we are happy to corroborate the wisdom of this selection by subsequent facts, and by the experience of our mission in the prosecution of its work among the Chinese. Of the eighteen provinces of China proper six are situated on its eastern sea-board, and furnish to Protestant Churches their points d’appui for the evangelization of the empire. Of these six maritime provinces four have been entered and partially occupied by American Protestant Missions. In the Canton province missions have been established at Canton, and more recently at Swatow; in the Fuh-kien province at Fuhchau and Amoy; in the Cheh-kiang province at Ningpo, and in the Kiangsu province at Shanghai. The American Board has missions at Canton, Fuhchau, and Shanghai; the Presbyterian Board at Ningpo, Canton, and Shanghai; the Baptists (North) at Hongkong and Ningpo; Baptists (South) at Shanghai and Canton. The remaining four American societies have concentrated their operations at one point, the Protestant Episcopal Board and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Shanghai, the Dutch Reformed Board at Amoy, and the Methodist Episcopal Church at Fuhchau. From this statement it appears that there has not yet been a formal assignment of Chinese territory to any societies, with a view to its efficient occupancy and evangelization by them; and yet we can discover the informal initiation of the general features of such an arrangement.

Four of the eight societies referred to have already concentrated their forces at one central point; and we think it probable that in the progress of the work the other societies will adopt a similar plan. We are not solicitous, however, with reference to the formal initiation of the above arrangement; whether or not it goes into effect, we conceive that the present tacit distribution of territory will form, in the main, the basis for future operations in China.

Taking the Fuh-kien province, then, as the starting point for our operations in China, the expansion of our work will necessarily be westward. Eastward is the sea, northward we trench on the territory occupied by the Ningpo missions, southward we enter the appropriate sphere of the Amoy missions; so that, if we grow at all, we are shut up to a westward development. The field thus indicated contains the provinces of Fuh-kien, Kiangsi, Hunan, and Szchuen, and forms a belt some three hundred miles wide, stretching through the central portion of China from its eastern sea-board to Thibet. It contains an area of 313,000 square miles, and a population of 74,000,000. Its climate is mild and salubrious, its internal resources apparently inexhaustible, and its people remarkable in China for their intelligence and enterprise. Foreigners have called Fuh-kien the “New England,” and the Fuh-kienese the “Yankees” of China. Such is the interesting and inviting field providentially assigned to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to aid in the evangelization of which she is now called upon to send out and support missionaries.

Fuhchau, the capital of Fuh-kien, has hitherto been the center of our operations in China, and its advantages in this respect are probably as many and great as those of any other city on the coast of China. Its foreign commerce brings it into direct and easy communication with the home Churches, while its native trade opens up channels of intercourse with the interior of the country. Our mission here is gradually coming into possession of the buildings and other appliances necessary for a great center of missionary operations. The Church is not to expect, in all the mission fields she may enter, precisely the same encouragements. In some fields it would seem that the work of preparation had been already performed, and that the missionary has only to gather in the harvest. In others the harvest so rapidly follows the seedtime that the voices of the sowers mingle with the songs of the reapers. But there are other fields where the giant oaks must be felled, the tangled undergrowth torn away, the soil broken up, the seed sown, and then the husbandman wait through long months of sunshine and storm for the reward of his toil. At Athens Paul was confronted by the caviling Stoic and Epicurean, at Lystra he was hailed as a god, at Ephesus he was set upon by an infuriated mob; while at Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians, he, with Barnabas, tarried a whole year, assembling with the Church and teaching much people. Some of the Indian tribes of North American where our own missionaries have labored, and the Karens of India, where our Baptist brethren have preached the Gospel with such success, furnish instances of fields white unto the harvest, while the efforts of the Moravians in Greenland, and of the English and American missionaries in the South Pacific, in parts of India, and in China, give US examples of earnest, faithful labor, and patient, persevering waiting for the desired result.

He who knows somewhat of the vastness of the work to be done in China will be neither discouraged nor surprised to find that its day of preparation is long and toilsome. The immense population of the empire, the vast extent of territory over which this population is diffused, the antiquity and power of their political and literary institutions, the interminable network of superstitions which trammels their minds, and their written language, with its unnumbered spoken dialects, all these circumstances combine to present to the Church an array of difficulties which nothing but the most implicit faith in God’s word, and the most prompt and hearty obedience to his commands, can overcome.

It is important that we recognize the greatness of the work to be done in China, if we would have our efforts for its accomplishment wisely directed and efficiently sustained. Let the Church then bear in mind that it now seeks to change the religious faith and crush the religious institutions of one third of the human race; that it proposes to strike down before their eyes the objects endeared to them by a thousand associations; that it hastens to tear from their hearts the hopes and aspirations which their depraved natures and corrupt faith have ever nourished and shielded; that it wages a war of extermination against idolatry, not sparing even that most insidious and attractive form of it embodied in ancestral worship; that it introduces to them a religious system of which they are almost totally ignorant, and the simplicity and purity of whose doctrines must necessarily excite the sternest opposition from their previously formed habits and their depraved natures; and that these doctrines are preached to them by foreigners, with whom, in consequence of a difficult language and dissimilar tastes and feelings, they cannot fully sympathize: these are some of the circumstances which suggest to the Church that the work before her in China is of no ordinary magnitude and difficulty.

What then? With the outlines of this immense field, and the greatness of the work opening up and extending before us, shall we sit down in despondency, and suffer the enemy still to enjoy undisturbed dominion in China? or shall we gird ourselves to the mighty struggle, and claim this empire for our Lord and Master, demanding for him the homage, obedience, and love of every heart? It is high time for us to consider this subject, to rise to the height of the grand argument. China at this hour demands from the Church tenfold more of men and means than she receives; and it is almost certain that within the next decadal period these demands will increase a hundredfold. The cycle of wondrous events has already commenced in China. The first throes of the approaching conflict have shaken her giant frame. It would seem that the Gospel is about to renew its youth, preparatory to the accomplishment of glorious results in this old, storied land. The age of heroism, of battle and conquest, may again return to the Church. There are indications that the Gospel is already arresting the attention of the Chinese in an extraordinary degree. The Sacred Scriptures circulated throughout the empire have opened the eyes and interested the hearts of thousands. A great movement is now going forward, and who can tell how soon other mines may be sprung under the shattered structure of heathenism as it now exists in China?

The following table, showing the names and terms of service of all the missionaries connected with this mission to the present time, is appropriately introduced here, and will prove, we trust, interesting and acceptable to the reader:

NAMES.	Sailed from U. S. A.	Died in China.	Died in U. S. A.	Left the Mission.
Rev M. C. White	1847			1854
Rev. J. D. Collins	1847		1852	1851
Mrs. J. I. White	1847	1848
Rev. H. Hickok	1847			1849
Rev. R. S. Maclay1	1847
Mrs. E. G. Hickok	1847			1849
Miss H. C. Sperry2	1850
Rev. I. W. Wiley, M.D.	1851			1854
Rev. J. Colder	1851			1854
Mrs. E. J. Wiley	1851	1853
Mrs. E. C. Colder	1851		1858	1854
Miss M. Seely3	1851			1854
Rev. E. Wentworth, D.D.	1855
Rev. O. Gibson	1855
Mrs. A. M. Wentworth	1855	1855
Mrs. E. C. Gibson	1855
Rev. S. L. Baldwin	1858			1861
Mrs. N. M. Baldwin	1858		18614
Miss B. Woolston	1858
Miss S. E. Wooston	1858
Miss P. E. Potter5	1858
Rev. C. R. Martin	1859
Mrs. Martin	1859
Rev. N. Sites	1861
Mrs. Sites	1861

1 Visited U. S. A. with his family, 1860.

2 Married to R. S. Maclay, 1850.

3 Married to M. C. White, 1851.

4 At sea, off the United States coast, March 16.

5 Married to E. Wentworth, D.D., 1859.

(First published in Rev. R. S. Maclay's book Life Among the Chinese, 1861.)