I grew up attending Friend's Meeting, commonly referred to as Quakers. This will not be a theological discussion, but merely serve as a point of reference.
Dr. Arthur Roberts was a professor of philosophy and religion at George Fox University from 1953 - 1987, dean of faculty from 1968 - 1972 and professor at large from 1987 until his death in 2016.
" In 1860, Adam Davidson was doing sentry duty for General Gordon, whose British and French troops had just finished sacking the Summer Palace, sending the emperor fleeing from Peking. With motives both malignant and benign, Europeans were seeking to destroy the old China and make room for 'civilization and Christianity." It sickened young Davidson. 'Why should I destroy these people and their beautiful buildings?' he asked himself. Securing release from a sympathetic officer, he returned to England vowing to make spiritual reparation. As a result of his "moment of truth" four Quaker sons subsequently went to China as medical or education missionaries."
Dr. Arthur Roberts, Final China Report, November 25, 1981
"If any religion could safely have been pronounced dead in Communist China, it would have been Christianity. After all, most forms of Christianity were introduced by foreigners, often in the wake of military force, were sustained by large foreign missionary establishments, and seemed mostly to attract "rice-bowl Christians" (drawn to the food, medicine and education the missions provided) rather than genuine converts. Christianity was particularly hated by the new Communist rulers, and ruthlessly repressed for thirty years starting in 1949."
Arthur Waldron, Religious Revivals in Communist China
I was approached by Dr. Roberts in 1980 with an idea to create a China tour that would tour cultural and historic sites with the possibility to contact and visit some Friend's Meetings and Christian House Fellowships. Keep in mind, it was only in 1972 that President Nixon made his historic visit to China which reversed years of diplomatic isolation between the two countries. Further, the Communist repression of any faith-based gathering lingered in the minds of most Chinese citizens.
In September 1981, Susanne and I left for China via Manila with a traveling group of 20 individuals which included Dr. Roberts and his wife, Fern, and Quaker scholar Dr. T. Canby Jones. This was a historic tour for Northwest Friends, Folkways Travel and myself, as creator, coordinator and Director of a 20 person group traveling through a country fairly new to accepting Western visitors. Unfortunately, due to my on-site work load, I can recall only one event in Shanghai, that I will relate below. Fortunately, I have Dr. Arthur Robert's Final China Report, available below, and the slide show of photographs taken by Susanne and myself.
We were our Shanghai hotel lobby. A man approached, asked who we were and upon confirmation, requested to follow him if we wanted to visit a Friends House Meeting. I don't believe that more than 5 - 6 of us were available at the time but included T. Canby Jones, Dr. Roberts and myself. We walked to a bus stop were asked to exit on the 6th stop (he did not travel with us on the bus). The man was at that bus top, took us across the street and asked us to exit at the 4th stop (again, he was not with us). When we arrived, he was waiting and we joined him to walk down several streets, into a building and up several flights of stairs to a room in which a group of folks had gathered. This may have been the Friends (Quaker) House Meeting of the Chen family and others mentioned in Dr. Robert's Report, or it may have been another House Meeting that some of us visited. Why did we always travel independently on the buses - as mentioned above, the repression of faith-based gatherings remained in many Chinese citizens minds and the secret police could be watching.
YouTube
Finding Friends in China
Finding Friends in China
Folkways' Image Library
