Follow

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Randolph Sailer

  Early Background: family background; education; accepted as missionary by Presbyterian Board of Missions to teach psychology at Yenching University, 1923.

  China Experiences: trip to and early impressions of China; teaching responsibilities and description of courses; living conditions at Yenching; political attitudes of students and faculty at Yenching; Christian fellowships at Yenching; personal relationships at and outside of Yenching; response to Communists and Nationalists; changing social attitudes of students during 1930s; personal relationship with students; involvement with "radial" students at Yenching after WWII; response to John Leighton Stuart's ambassadorship; response to the issue of reparations for Yenching; the Communist takeover of Yenching, 1949; leaving the Yenching community and China, 1950; mistakenly denounced by Communists after departure from China; memorable Chinese and Westerners; description of mass baptism of 1000 Chinese soldiers; summary of experience and philosophy; description of 1973 trip to the PRC.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Fredrik Schiotz

  China Experiences: impressions of China's civil realm during eight-week visit in 1935; brief synopsis of Lutheran activity in post-war China as Executive Secretary of Commission on Orphaned Missions; Daniel Nelson, Jr.'s role in reconstruction; ecumenical efforts of the Lutheran Church in China; and efforts to orphaned missions in China after WWII; issue of a Lutheran university in post-war China; consultations with various leaders of the Lutheran Church in China during late 1948 to early 1950.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Mabel Wold Sihler

  Father's Early Life: family background; education; receives call from Hauge Synod Mission Board, 1896; expectations of work to be done in China; the trip to Fancheng, China, 1898; brief history of the beginning of Hauge Synod's mission work in China.

  Father's China Experience: initial impressions of China; parents open up new mission station in Tszhu, 1900; flight to coast due to the Boxer Rebellion; return trip to and condition of the Tszho station, 1901; origins of Hauge orphanages in Fencheng and Tszho, 1903; relationships with Chinese and efforts on behalf of those in need of help.

  Early Life: memories of Anna Lee Wold; trip to an outstation; father's medical crisis; return trip to Hankow, 1910; father's schedule and the family's life together; evacuation of Fancheng because of revolution and living on a river boat, 1911; living, school and fellow missionaries on Kikungshan; memories of Anna Nelson; life in Mrs. Martinson's boarding house in Sinyang; father's philosophy toward the founding of the Lutheran Church of China; mother's death and funeral; memories of General Feng Yu-hsiang and the mass baptism of 1000 soldiers; father's response to Karl Ludwig Reichelt and Agnes Kittelsby; language development; childhood memories of the Chinese culture; experiences travelling on the river; memories of Agnes Kittelsby and Grace Soderberg; memories of the American School-Kikungshan; adjustment to life in America; values of the China experience.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Margaret Garrett Smythe

  Margaret Garrett Smythe's Parents: arrived in China, 1896; the changing perception of their task; relationships with Chinese; practicing open membership in church in Nantung-chow and United Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ (UCMSDC) home board response.

  Margaret Smythe: reflections upon being raised in China; interpersonal dynamics of the missionary community; working as a doctor in Nanking after 1949.

  Lewis Smythe: places himself and UCMSDC on conservative-liberal theology spectrum in relation to mission work in China; contributions of University of Nanking in agriculture; establishment of Nanking safety zone by western missionaries and businessmen.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Arna Quello Sovik

  Early Life: family background; education; called by Mission Board of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church to serve as a nurse.

  China Experiences: memories of Sister Thone Sandland; emotional struggles faced by single women missionaries; description of first year spent at language school in Peking in 1923; experiences at hospitals in Kioshan and Hwangchuan; memorable people at Hwangchuan; Hwangchuan ladies' aid society; evacuatioin due to civil unrest, 1927; experiences as school nurse at American School-Kikungshan (ASK); why ASK moved to Kuling; training nurses and other responsibilities at Union Hospital, Sinyang; the reputation of Dr. Skinsnes in Sinyang; supply problems at Hwangchuan hospital, 1935; effects of Japanese occupation and bombing on city and hospital of Hwangchuan; uncertainties created by the war; journey out of China to America, 1944; work in Fancheng after return to China, 1946.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Arne Sovik

  Early Life: memories of father's responsibilities as Lutheran pastor at the Sinyang mission; memories of education and worship; the death of Daniel Nelson, Sr., 1926; adjustments to American lifestyles; reasons for decision to serve as a pastor in China; description of the South Honan Lutheran Church in 1944; work with the National Student Relief Committee in Chungking, 1944; response to the Communists; memories of Feng Yu-hsiang; political awareness of missionaries; response to extraterritoriality; memories of Daniel Nelson, Jr., and Tom Lee; activities on Taiwan.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History and Archives Collection

  Edgar Sovik

  China Experiences: reason for returning to China after seminary education; memories of Pastor Wu Ying and experiences with Communists in Sinyang; work as manager of Lutheran Church's Board of Publications and Lutheran Book Concern; coping with inflation after WWII; disagreements with Chinese pastor over what kinds of articles to publish in Sin I Pao (the voice of the Lutheran Church of China); dealing with the Communists as Director of Lutheran Missions' Home and Agency; efforts to leave China, leaves China, June, 1950; response to People's Republic of China and government programs; lessons learned from the China mission field.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Edgar Sovik

  China Experiences: reason for returning to China after seminary education; memories of Pastor Wu Ying and experiences with Communists in Sinyang; work as manager of Lutheran Church's Board of Publications and Lutheran Book Concern; coping with inflation after WWII; disagreements with Chinese pastor over what kinds of articles to publish in Sin I Pao (the voice of the Lutheran Church of China); dealing with the Communists as Director of Lutheran Missions' Home and Agency; efforts to leave China, leaves China, June, 1950; response to People's Republic of China and government programs; lessons learned from the China mission field.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Edward Sovik

  Early Life: family background; education.

  China Experiences: work with Daniel Nelson, Sr., in Sinyang, Honan; impressions of Feng Yu-hsiang and other military officers; description of the political situation during mid-1920s; conflict within the Lutheran Church of China; disturbances of 1927 and effects upon missionaries; an account of a bank raid; memories of Chu Hao-jan; impressions of the Red Spears; involvement in local politics; situation at Kioshan compound upon arrival; detailed outline of paper presented at special missionary conference in Hankow, 1926, regarding the indigenous church; excerpts from articles written for Pacific Lutheran Herald; origin and emphasis of the revival movement of the 1930s; description of mission work at Hwangchuan and the effects of the Japanese war; conditions in post-war Fancheng during 1946 conference; report on missionary conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1945.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Gertrude Sovik

  Family background: parents' education; parents called by United Lutheran Church and leave for China, 1905.

  Parents' China Experience: general description of father's responsibilities as evangelist in Hupeh; memories of the first students and professors of the Lutheran seminary in Shekow; memories of amah and other servants; mother's responsibilities in Shekow; relationship between Missouri Synod mission and the rest of Lutheranism in China; mother and brother kidnapped, 1932; qualities of the Chinese people and their culture; interactions with the Western business community in China; memorable Chinese.

  Early Life: family's lifestyle in Shekow; memories of visits to Hankow; missionary families in Shekow; the German Concession during WWI; description of holiday celebrations; description of the missionary community on Kikungshan; typical day at the American School-Kikungshan (ASK); memories of Agnes Kittelsby; description of the Sunday evening song services on Kikungshan; description of the ASK mission society; medical facilities at ASK; recreational activities at ASK; other memories of ASK; activities in China after graduation from ASK; experiences associated with the political/military unrest of 1926/27.

  Return to China: called by Evangelical Lutheran Church to teach at ASK, 1935; memories of Joseph Aalbue; evacuation of ASK, 1938; experiences with ASK in Hong Kong; memories of the South China boat people; experiences before and during the Japanese occupation of Sinyang and Hankow; work with Jewish refugees; closes ASK and returns to America, 1941; trip to Hankow to reopen ASK, 1946; post-war conditions in Hankow, Sinyang and on Kikungshan; interactions with the Chinese; the changing Chinese response to American missionaries; living conditions at ASK in Sinyang; Christmas in Shekow, 1946; evacuation of ASK to Hong Kong, 1947; description of and experiences at ASK in Hong Kong; general reflections upon teac hing missionary children at ASK; effects of missionary life on the family; reflections upon the approach of mission work in China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Margaret Stanley

  Early Life: education; family background; volunteers to American Friends Service Committee, 1945.

  China Experiences: trip to and arrival in Shanghai, 1946; trip to and work at Hwa Mei I Yuan Hospital in Chengchow, Honan; description of Friends role, projects, and administrative organization in post-war Honan; transferred to Yenan International Peace Hospital (IPH), 1947; list of six Friends in Yenan upon arrival; initial impressions of Yenan; response to U.S. military aid in post-war China; responsibilities as a member of Medical Team 19 (MT 19); medical conditions in and around Yenan; response of villagers to Communists; coping with the lack of medical supplies; music and theater during Yenan days; visit to a Los Angeles nursery; lessons learned from China experiences; leaves MT 19 and IPH, 1948; differences between Communist and Nationalist areas of China; philosophy of purpose of Friends Service Committee; description of 1972 visit to China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Borghild Roe Syrdal

  Early Life: family background; education; called by the Mission Board of the United Lutheran Church, 1929.

  China Experiences: description of year spent at Peking Language School; description of 1930 mission conference on Kikungshan; initial impressions of Fancheng; Communist activity in the Fancheng area; brief history of the Chu Hao-jan family; description of the I Kwang Middle School; registering I Kwang with the Nationalist government after 1927; biographical information on Dora Wang; biographical informationi on Marie Anderson; travelling in China during the 1930s; work on the second edition of White Unto Harvest; excerpts from letters written while living in China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Rolf Syrdal

  Early Life: family background; education; went to China under the auspices of the Lutheran United Mission, 1929.

  China Experiences: Scandinavian interest in China missions; language training in Peking; lifestyle and evangelizing in and around Fancheng, Honan; description of various Chinese Christians living in Fancheng; military disturbances at Fancheng, early 1930s; the Bert Nelson affair; Communist activity in the Fancheng area; impressions of Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yu-hsiang; anti-foreign sentiment in Sinyang; educational system at the mission school; response to gunboat policy; experience with revivalism of 1930s; impressions of ecumenism in China; memories of Peng Fu; response to a Lutheran college in China after WWII; Lutheran conceptions of the future of mission work in China after WWII; reasons for ordering evacuation of Lutheran missions from China as director of world missions for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1948; lessons learned from missionary involvement in China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Minnie Tack

  Early Life: family background; education; call from Foreign Mission Board of the Augustana Lutheran Synod, 1921.

  China Experiences: trip to and work with orphanage and girls' school at station at Yuhsien, Honan; the issue of an indigenous church; revivalism and evangelism in Honan in the 1930s; lifestyle in Honan; description of Bible women; some customs Chinese had to give up to join Augustana church; the Japanese war and evacuation; to West China and America, 1944; experiences with Communists after arrival in Linju, Honan, 1947; experiences in Kunming after leaving Linju; leaves China for Hong Kong, 1949; mission work in Hong Kong; lessons to be learned from the mission endeavor; memorable Chinese colleagues.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Donalda Terhaar

  Early Life: education; selected to represent Benedictine Order at University of Peking (Fu Jen).

  China Experiences: how the University of Peking (Fu Jen) originated; first impressions of China; language school experience; Christianity at the University of Peking; Benedictines give up the university; response of Chinese to nuns and
  Christianity; value of China experience.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Chester Tobin

  Early Life: family background; education; physical director at St. Paul, MN, YMCA; accepts position with Turkish YMCA; accepts position as physical director of the Shanghai YMCA for foreigners, 1927.

  China Experiences: breaking down racial barriers at the YMCA; honorary advisor of Chinese Olympic Team, 1932; the question of Manchukuo and the Far Eastern Olympic Games, 1934; facilitating international athletic events at Shanghai YMCA, early 1930s; description of YMCA facilities, courses, staff, organized sports, religious and social activities; relationship with personal servants; living arrangements; memories of John R. Mott; the international Shanghai Rotary Club; observations of International Settlement in Shanghai; comparisons between work in Turkey and China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Frankliln Wallace

  Early Life: education; interest in China; accepts faculty position at Lingnan University, Canton, 1933.

  China Experiences: first impressions of Lingnan campus; student disturbance at the university, 1934; attends a meeting of the China Science Society in Kwangsi, 1935; lifestyle of Lingnan; the science program at Lingnan; medical problems in the Canton area; impressions of the missionary movement.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  C. C. Wang

  Early Life: family background; education; memories of Dr. Karl Ludwig Reichelt; narrator's family's conversion to Christianity; purpose of Tao Fong Shan; description of and symbolism at Tao Fong Shan; responses to various criticisms of Reichelt and Tao Fong Shan.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Katherine Boeye Ward

  Early Life: family background; education; accepted as missionary by Methodist Board of Missions, 1924.

  China Experiences: language school in Nanking, 1926-1927; initial impressions of China; tensions caused by the indigenization process; the fall of Nanking to the Nationalists, 1927; accepts position at Hwei Wen High School in Nanking, 1928; purpose and evaluation of Christian education in China, 1920s and 1930s; response to Chiang Kai-shek; response to extraterritoriality; trip to West China, 1937; experiences with Japanese in Chungking; discussions among Methodist leaders remaining in China after 1949; living in and exit from the People's Republic of China; lessons learned from the China experience; differences between Nationalist and Communist soldiers; the future of mission work in the People's Republic of China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Agnes Bartel Wieneke

  Early Life: family background; education.

  Return to China: called by China Mennonite Mission Society, 1932; village itinerating and other mission work at Tsaohsien; the effects of the Japanese war on the Tsaohsien mission; mission work at Tsining after marriage; experiences with Communists and public trials, 1946; begins work in Szechuan with father, 1948; living conditions in Szechuan; interactions with Communists in Szechuan; journey out of China, 1952.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Marvin Williams

  Early Life: installing the x-ray machine and radar plant at Peking Union Medical College (PUMC); most embarrassing moment in China; training Chinese to operate the x-ray machine and radar plant; research in radiation physics; evaluation of therapy and diagnostic equipment in China; problems with operating the x-ray machine; teaching at PUMC; description of radiology department at PUMC; family's and friends' reaction to decision for China; relationships with servants and other Chinese people; response to Communism; response to treatment of Chinese by missionaries and other Americans; evaluation of missionary influence at and medical training policy of PUMC; reasons for leaving China and the trip home, 1935; impact of China experience.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Orpha Williams

  Early Life: family background; education; trip to China.

  China Experiences: living at Peking Union Medical College; accepts librarian position at North China Language School; description of position, library, and personnel; general description of individuals/groups using library; joins Peking Association of University Women (PAUW) and the Institute of Arts; brief history of PAUW; summary of activities carried on by PAUW, 1930-1935; list of 44 China Hands known well by narrator; riding a bicycle to work; descriptions of several vacations taken in China; discusses lack of awareness of political/social situation in China; trip home via Russia; response to People's Republic of China; other memories of China.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Waldo Wold

  Early Life: childhood memories of life in Shekow; contacts with Chinese as a child; experiences during political unrest of 1927; living adjustments associated with boarding school at American School-Kikungshan (ASK); various pranks committed at ASK, 1927; evacuation of Ask due to political and military disturbances; students and staff of ASK compared to those of Shanghai American School; father's work and the respect held for him by co-workers; adjustments made to life in America; values learned as a child in China; response to People's Republic of China; memories of Anna Lee Wold; collecting war souvenirs on Kikungshan; death and funeral of father; death of brother and subsequent trip to Shanghai.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History Interviews

  Ernst Wolff

  Early Life: father's experiences with the Boxer Rebellion; household servants; lifestyle in the German Concession; schooling in China; memories of Chinese people and their living conditions; experience at Sun Yat-sen's funeral in Peking; description of different types of military troops which moved in and out of Tientsin; anti-semitism in Germany and return to China, 1933.

  Return to China: working for the Chinese National Health Administration; response to Nationalists and Communists; accepts position with Kailan Mining Administration (KMA) at Tangshan, 1936; the Japanese takeover of KMA, 1942; dealing with Japanese occupation forces while working at KMA; the Chinese civil war and quartering Communist soldiers in Tientsin, 1949; life and work at KMA under Communist rule; difficulties leaving China, 1951.

• 

  Midwest China Oral History and Archives Collection

  Chang Yau-Weh

  Chang Yau-Weh and Lam Ying

  China Experience: family background; education; conversion to Christianity and reactions to conversion; memories of Rev. Wu Ming-chieh; response to missionary work on the Mainland; personal work for and description of Lutheran Church in Hong Kong.