China Beckons Medical Missionaries

A high-ranking officer of the Chinese Government praises Christian Missions.

By HERBERT LIU, M.D. Medical Director, Chungking Medical Center, China

Writing to the Council of Medical Missions in July 31, 1944, Dr. P. Z. King, director general of National Health Administration of the Chinese Government, has this to say:

"It is a well-known fact that the concepts, teachings, and practice of modern medicine were first brought to China a little over a century ago by medical missionaries; that modern education, in­cluding medical education, in China owes its start and a great deal of its impetus even to the present day to schools, colleges, and universities started and maintained by Christian agencies.

"Successive heads of the National Health Serv­ice have made acknowledgment of the debt owed by modern medicine in China to Christian medical schools, hospitals, schools of nursing, doctors, and nurses. At this time it is only fitting that warmest thanks and highest tribute be paid to the Christian medical services—in all forms—for the fundamen­tally important part they have played and continue to play in the development of modern medical prac­tice in China. It is earnestly hoped that these services will not only be continued but extended."

These words of high tribute paid to Christian missions by a high-ranking officer of the Chinese Government speak for themselves. Christianity of the modern era was brought to China by mission­aries in the early part of the last century. The founding of Protestant missions in China was marked with sporadic oppositions and persecutions. But the early pioneers were not discouraged, and soon footholds were gained in different localities of the country. In the time of the Boxer uprising at the turn of the century, many foreign and Chi­nese Christians were killed. Today the picture has changed. The doors are widely opened. As a matter of fact, an official invitation has been ex­tended to the churches of America and England. China today beckons eagerly for help from the Christian soldiers of the cross to help her battle against diseases of the body and of the soul.

The eight years of long-drawn-out war have wrought horrors on the population as a whole. Millions have lost their lives, and millions have been made homeless. Tens of millions have been forced to abandon their places of abode, together with what little they possess, and migrate from the war zone to the great hinterland of western China. Many have died on the road to a destina­tion which they knew little or nothing about. Owing to malnutrition and lack of proper environ­mental sanitation, epidemics of various forms have been rampant in different parts of the country. The government and other relief agencies are doing their best to improve the situation, but with very limited resources and a shortage of technical personnel at their command, it is impossible to cope with the situation without outside help.

A committee was formed last year known as The Committee on Health and Medical Care of the Commission of Investigation and Planning of Relief and Rehabilitation of the Executive Y uan. The official report of the committee has not yet been made public, but it is understood that the fol­lowing items will probably be embodied in the future recommendations:

1. Setting up a large number (5oo) of 50-bed hospitals and a number (Too) of Too-bed hospitals, with also a number of 250- and boo-bed hospitals in various parts of the country. Priority will be given to areas that are to be recovered, or places which are in urgent need of relief.

2. Procuring minimum - professional staffs to run these institutions efficiently.

3. Ascertaining how many hospital units each mission organization desires to operate, and at what location they want to accept responsibility.

4. Repairing, rebuilding, or even erecting pre­fabricated buildings for any mission agency wish­ing to operate at certain designated areas, together with furnishing standard equipment and supplies at the expense of the Relief and Rehabilitation Ad­ministration, to be established by the government, for at least one year or longer after the cessation of hostilities.

5. Official request by the National Health Ad­ministration for release of needed personnel from other forms of service, or petition that granting of passports be facilitated, so that qualified persons may return to China or new recruits come out to China soon.

6. Staffing and effective running of curative cen­ters (hospitals) and the training of personnel. (In the opinion of the committee this would constitute the most important and significant contribution the Christian medical service could make, especially in the time following the end of hostilities.)

Our denomination today has fourteen medical units scattered throughout China. Eight of these are now in the occupied territory and the other six are still operating on the free China side. Should all the institutions be returned to us when the occupied territories are liberated, we shall need at least twenty to thirty medical missionary families and about ten trained nurses from America. We have about twenty national physicians working in the various hospitals in China now. All these men are anxiously waiting for the day when help will come to them from the other side of the world.

We are hoping and praying that the Spirit of God will prepare the trained personnel and provide the means for the task that lies immediately ahead. The experiences of the past years, and particularly during the eight years of war, have taught us un­mistakably that our medical work in China has greatly strengthened our work generally. I am sure it will continue to do so in the future until the great work is done.


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By HERBERT LIU, M.D. Medical Director, Chungking Medical Center, China

July 1945

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