The Influence Of Christianity On Chinese Miao Areas
One hundred years ago, British missionary S. Pollard came to the mountainous areas of southwestern China where the Miao reside to start his career. He was fascinated by their culture and amazing silver jewelry, so he decided to stay.
At that time, the Miao lived in extreme poverty and were enslaved by the local nobles. The first thing Pollard decided to do was set up a church and a school.
He visited a local noble to buy a piece of land to build up the church and school. The noble asked him how much land he wanted to buy. Pollard answered that he only needed a piece of land as big as a cowhide. The arrogant noble thought it was a joke, and said that he could give Pollard that piece of land for free. So Pollard signed a contract with the noble.
Later Pollard made a cowhide into thin threads with a special chemical. And after the threads are set out, they measured one square kilometer!
Soon churches and schools were built up on this land. The local Miao people learned Chinese, English, science, math, and basic knowledge of hygiene at the schools for free. The oldest student was 46 years old, and the youngest was only 8.
Pollard dressed him up with the ethnic Miao clothes and learned the Miao language from his students. At that time the Miao didn’t have a written script, because they lost it during their many years of migration across China. So Pollard, along with his disciples, created Miao letters based on English and Chinese characters. They used the new Miao language to translate and print the Bible. Christianity was spreaded widely among the Miao areas. More and more people went to Pollard’s school to learn the Miao script. Today, lots of local people still use this form of writing.
Other than churches and schools, Pollard also built hospitals, an orphanage, swimming pools, and soccer fields on the land.
Pollard helped the local people repair roads, build house, and improve their spinning machines. A safe and environmental friendly stove invented by Pollard was widely used instead of the old one which consumed lots of wood. People called him LaMeng, which means King of the Miao.
In 1915, Pollard died of typhoid at the age of 51. Thousands of local people attended his funeral.
By the time of his death, there were about 10,000 Christian in the Miao areas. From 1905 to 1949, thousands of students graduated from his primary schools. About 200 finished their high school education. 30 went to universities in other areas of China. Mr. S. Pollard created a wonder in this remote village.
Today, Christianity still has an overwhelming influence among the Miao. If you examine their batik, silver jewelry, and embroidery art, you can find lots of patterns that come from the stories of the Bible.
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