Mission and Revolution in Central Asia - Svenska Missionskyrkan

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Magnus Bäcklund started this work. During his short time in the field he laid the foundations for a grammar book. Furthermore he collected 6,000 words for a word book. Gösta Raquette continued and extended Bäcklund’s works. He published the Eastern Turkish grammar in an English edition, Eastern Turki Grammar. Its three volumes were printed by the Oriental Seminar in Berlin in 1912-1914. The same author also wrote Eastern Turkestan Dialect of Yarkend and Kashgar. This work was printed and published by the Finnish scientific society called Société Finno-Ougrienne. 51 And in 1927 Raquette finally published the wordbook English-Turki Dictionary. 52 An important task for the printing office was the production of text-books which had hitherto been written by hand. Raquette had compiled a spelling-book and Oskar Andersson had written an arithmetic book and a geography book. Some years into the 20th century the Mission acquired a cyclostyle machine and could thus start duplicating handwritten material. 53 The printing press was revolutionary for the literary activity. Handwritten schoolbooks were revised and printed at haste. New subjects were added. What was especially appreciated by the population was Raquette’s compilation and edition of an Eastern Turkestan Calendar. The publishing started in 1909, being the year 1327 according to the Islamic calendar. After the opening of the printing office this calendar became widely spread. The parallel lines contained both the Christian calendar and the Muslim one. For each day there was also a special Bible passage. When Raquette left the mission field at the beginning of the 1920s, the calendar edition was taken over by Ahlbert, Hermansson and Roberntz. 54 Gunnar Jarring who was interested in the activity of the mission printing office mentions that a number of pamphlets on practical matters were also printed. Among other things there was a booklet with advice how to act when frost-bitten. 55 Some more extensive works were translated by the missionaries, printed and published in Kashgar. Among these publications were Quo vadis by Henryk Sienkiewiczs and In the Temple (a part of the Legends of Christ) by Selma Lagerlöf. Jarring mentioned these editions in a lecture for linguists in Moscow in 1970 pointing out that these publications were now bibliographical rarities. 56 After the translation of In the Temple, Selma Lagerlöf wrote to Ahlbert, saying, “Hereby I want to express my thankfulness for the remarkable drafts of translation that I keep in my collection of valuables. Yours, thankfully, Selma Lagerlöf.” 57 Within the religious literary production, the Bible translation naturally occupied the first place. This matter is however dealt with in another part of this book. The production of other religious publications started long before the printing press was installed. Raquette, Bäcklund and Högberg wrote different Scripture manuals. 51 Lundahl, 1917, p. 488ff 52 Westin, 1937, p. 898. 53 Lundahl, 1917, p . 488. 54 Westin, 1937, p. 898. The MCCS Annual Report of 1908 (published in 1909) Sjöholm to Raquette, February 2 nd , 1909. 55 Jarring in the Svensk Veckotidning 1975, January 1st and conversation with Jarring. Jarring intends to publish shortly a complete bibliography on everything that was printed at the mission printing office. 56 Jarring, 1970. 57 Letter kept in the MCCS Archives, Tegnérgatan 8, Stockholm. The Vinterny of 1972. Eastern Turkestan minutes 1930. (The letter found in a litter bin in the autumn of 1972 by archivist R.Widman. Not dated.) 9
With the establishment of the printing office tract spreading brought immense possibilities. Already at the 25 th anniversary of the Mission in 1917, the printing of tracts had reached an edition of 30,000 copies. 58 Among others, the China Inland missionary Hunter visited the Swedish missionaries on several occasions and always received a collection of tracts. 59 The printing press seemed to break all barriers for the literature mission. Two problems remained however. One was that many people could not read. This problem was often solved by a literate person reading aloud to the others. The other problem was of course the fact that many people did not want to have anything to do with the literature from the Mission. People sometimes tore up or burnt Bible portions and tracts. In order to prevent this, the missionaries seldom gave away their publications for nothing. As a rule, people had to buy them. The article then, hopefully, was of greater value and was not destroyed. The hymnal was one of the most important productions of the printing office. The first songs were composed or translated by Bäcklund. In the first years, handwritten songbooks were used. Högberg also made early attempts at translating songs, not always successfully though. Once he happened to translate “Prince of Peace” by “Bald Prince”. In yet another song he tried to express the delight of “being alone with the Lord”, but the choice of words led the thoughts to the place where one goes in order to relieve oneself. 60 In 1913 a hymnal of 33 songs could be printed. 61 This hymnal was an excellent asset in the mission work. People liked singing in the worship services. In the Mosques there was no singing. The hymnal also met another need: it served as a text-book for literacy training. And here, just like in other publications, the missionaries attempted to avoid strange words and phrases and to write as pure a Turkish as possible. 5. The Church is Taking Roots The Church is taking roots and grows during these years. This is the bright spot amidst all the sad things during this period. But the growth is slow, too slow. The statistics however show a calm and stable development. Reports from some years are missing which makes the survey below incomplete. The trend is however clear. Year Memb./Muslims Native Schools Pupils M Missionaries Chinese coll. F 1913 14 / 7 7 5 - - - - 24 1916- 17 21 / - - 6 3 100 25 1922 50 / 39 11 21 6 183 162 21 28 1923 70* / 59 11 24 6 186 148 38 30 *Apart from Kashgar, where the Church had been uprooted in the summer and autumn of 1923. 62 58 Palmaer, 1942, p. 202. 59 Cable-French, 1948, p. 46. 60 Interview with Roberntz, April 16th, 1973. In the MCCS hymnal “Sånger och Psalmer”, number 716 is composed by Högberg. He wrote this hymn in Persia 1882. 61 Törnquist, 1928, p. 471. 62 The MCCS Annual Reports. 10
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Mission and Revolution in Central A
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1. A Coming Storm 2. “Distressed,
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Preface by the Author 1981 Eastern
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is sometimes found. Here I use the
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total population in Xinjiang. In 19
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a narrow sense. Turkish Today this
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the “drowning” in the desert sa
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we lived in an oasis,” she exclai
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whole one gets to know them as scou
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The Indians dealt with the Chinese,
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opium-den. A hole in the town wall
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developed some patients with this p
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same time efforts were made to cont
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no unknown man was allowed. On the
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“Chinese religions are like a mot
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When he died it was impossible for
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there was nothing they could do abo
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Towards the middle of the 3 rd cent
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When they behaved in an aggressive
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decision, and Höijer became more a
Page 41 and 42:
Högberg concludes by expressing th
Page 43 and 44: Owen Lattimore repeatedly underline
Page 45 and 46: his absolute loneliness. In the day
Page 47 and 48: Caucasus and the others became pion
Page 49 and 50: clear to him that something had to
Page 51 and 52: “Mr Högberg was clever enough to
Page 53 and 54: emoved. Raquette’s attempts to ma
Page 55 and 56: We have already touched upon some i
Page 57 and 58: The Boxer Uprising resulted in seve
Page 59 and 60: well-founded, the missionaries woul
Page 61 and 62: The basic training for the missiona
Page 63 and 64: industry” there were other achiev
Page 65 and 66: sketch does not exist”. 26 Manner
Page 67 and 68: instruments he needed. Often the mi
Page 69 and 70: were damaged. In the eyes there wer
Page 71 and 72: misleading. 72 Totally unaware of t
Page 73 and 74: Högberg adds, “If the sister who
Page 75 and 76: editing. 99 This revision was of co
Page 77 and 78: Sometimes fathers came quite openly
Page 79 and 80: Mission worked in favour of the pop
Page 81 and 82: P.P. Waldenström came to play a de
Page 83 and 84: the two people baptized last summer
Page 85 and 86: ecovery.” 187 Medical care was no
Page 87 and 88: applied to Hancheng. This station h
Page 89 and 90: But now we own a really good gramma
Page 91 and 92: year attended Mission schools. In t
Page 93: In his book The Cross over Asia fro
Page 97 and 98: was a baptism grave, which was howe
Page 99 and 100: and sided wholeheartedly with the B
Page 101 and 102: situated only a day’s walk from O
Page 103 and 104: 8. Severe Blood Letting in the Miss
Page 105 and 106: slander from her missionary colleag
Page 107 and 108: expresses how encouraged the missio
Page 109 and 110: eluctant to go on holiday to the mo
Page 111 and 112: “I have written a serious letter
Page 113 and 114: In the autumn of 1925, the closing-
Page 115 and 116: and the Chinese had been locked out
Page 117 and 118: The recruiting of Eastern Turkestan
Page 119 and 120: exercise their daily work they all
Page 121 and 122: Chinese judicial system worked in t
Page 123 and 124: BIBLIOGRAPHY (Language in which the
Page 125 and 126: Axelson, Sigbert, Församlingens in
Page 127 and 128: Grenljuset, A Christian calendar pu
Page 129 and 130: - Vad har den kristna missionen utr
Page 131 and 132: Ringgren, H and Ström, Åke, Relig
Page 133: Asiatic, Journal, Vol. VI, No. 4, 1
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