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OUR WEST CHINA MISSION
THE REV. VIRGIL C. HART, D.D.
Founder of the Canadian Methodist Mission, West China.

OUR WEST CHINA MISSION
BEING A SOMEWHAT EXTENSIVE SUMMARY BY THE MISSIONARIES ON THE FIELD OF THE WORK DURING THE FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE CANADIAN METHODIST MISSION IN THE PROVINCE OF SZECHUWAN, WESTERN CHINA

TORONTO :
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST CHURCH
THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S FORWARD MOVEMENT
F. C. STEPHENSON, Secretary
Copyright, Canada, 1920, by
Frederick Clarke Stephenson

JUNGHSIEN.

The county of Junghsien has an area of over two thousand square miles, and has forty-eight places large enough to be opened as market towns. The county as a whole is hilly, but extremely fertile. A beautiful stream from the hills winds through the length of the county, and supplies vast areas of the land with irrigation waters. The less elevated districts of Junghsien county are characterized by kopjes. Each one is separate from the other, and is cork screwed with rice and vegetable fields to the very peak, where it is capped with a banyan tree. Some of the hillocks have by some error lost the banyan tree on top, and as a consequence look out of place. The more elevated districts, both to the south-west and north are well wooded, and very productive of good coal and bad robbers. The county town of Jnnghsien has a population of about twenty-five thousand, and is situated somewhat toward the eastern part of the county. It is a clean (Chinese cleanliness, of course), enterprising, and compact city.

INDUSTRIES: The most important industries of Junghsien, apart from farming, are the production of silk and salt. The former is carried on largely in the city, the latter in the district bordering on Fushuen county to the south-east, and particularly at Lai-Chia-Tan and Kungtsing, two places attached to the Tzeliutsing work.

THE PEOPLE : Like the rest of the province, this county was swept clean by the massacres at the time of the troubles with Chang-Hsien-Chung in the 17th century, and immigrants were forcibly brought in from other provinces to fill up the vacant land. A large proportion of those who came to Junghsien were from the province of Canton, and are one of the most progressive and energetic classes of people in Szechwan, though to this day they retain an atrocious dialect, probably as a souvenir of their ancient home. The women particularly are noted for their independence and resourcefulness, frequently taking the foremost place both in home and in business. The people of this county are noted for their scholarship, and the city of Junghsien is an educational centre.

OUR PLANT: Our mission plant, both of the General Board and W.M.S., is placed on the highest piece of ground in the city, near the north gate, and commands a splendid view. The General Board plant at Junghsien is practically completed, the only one so far in our Mission. Junghsien was opened as a station in 1905, and in the last ten years the rather strong force of missionaries has been enabled to make a profound impression both on city and country.

JUNGHSIEN.

by Rev. W. E. SMITH, M.D.

The walled city of Junghsien has a population of thirty thousand, and is situated in the county of the same name. The latter has forty-eight market towns, besides many hamlets. Six of these towns have each a population of over ten thousand souls. The county is very rich in natural resources. The greater part consists of undulating plain, which yearly produces a large crop of rice capable of supporting a dense population. The eastern end comprises quite an area of the great salt belt, while the north and west are mountainous ridges rich in coal and iron ores. Several streams traverse the county, minimizing the expense of irrigation.

SUMMER SCHOOLS: No history of Junghsien station would be complete without mention of the summer resort known as Douglas Heights (Kao-shih-tih). This is a group of shrubby hills ten miles north of the city, which gradually rise to an elevation of about one thousand five hundred feet above it. With the consent of the General Board, in 1910, a few missionaries formed a joint stock company and purchased the site, where, to date, twelve bungalows have been erected, as also a church and primary school, built with their private funds. The Council of 1917(?) sanctioned the erection of a building, to accommodate fifty boarders, in which to carry on summer normal schools and Bible training schools for helpers, and voted the sum of seventy dollars to assist the company in this enterprise.