1900 - 16 Chinese Martyrs at Xinzhou

July - August 1900

Xinzhou, Shanxi

On June 29, 1900, a group of eight English Baptist missionaries fled for their lives from Xinzhou in Shanxi Province. They were helped by a Chinese Christian named Zhang Jigui (Chang Chih-kwei), who provided food to his foreign friends and invited them to stay in his home that night. The next morning they awoke early to find that Zhang had been up most of the night, making arrangements for the group to hide in a cave in the mountains.

A few days later Zhang prepared to visit the cave, taking food and blankets with him. On the way he was stopped by suspicious villagers, who knew what Zhang had been doing and commanded him to reveal the missionaries’ hiding place. He refused to do so, and was detained until the Boxers came. They angrily threatened Zhang, but he would still not assist them.

Though “threatened with death he resolutely refused to give a clue to their whereabouts, and when they set upon him with swords and sticks he endured unto death without betraying his friends.”[1] Another account says, “His persistent refusal so angered them that they set upon him with swords and sticks, and he was slowly done to death.”[2]

Ang Xugen and Zhang Lingwang were with the missionaries in their hiding place. Ang was 50-years-old and Zhang just 16. After a while the missionaries, fearing for their friends’ safety, asked the two to return home. They had not gone far before a group of Boxers captured them. They soon discovered who they were, and both were condemned to death. Ang “pleaded for the life of his young companion, and begged that he might be allowed to return. But the lad stoutly refused to leave his friend, and they were both hacked to death and their remains burned.”[3]

Several Chinese Christians accompanied the missionaries for about two weeks, lovingly helping them and doing all they could to make their days bearable. One of the Chinese helpers was a 60-year-old man named He Zuangui. After two weeks He was sent eastward to see if it was possible for the group to escape in that direction. He was captured by the Boxers, who sent him to the magistrate at Xinzhou. The magistrate ordered He to divulge the missionaries’ hiding place. When He refused to help, the furious magistrate had him beaten with bamboo. They mocked the old man, telling him, “Tell us or you’ll soon be in heaven.” Finally, on July 18th,

“When a thousand heavy strokes had fallen on his bleeding body he was dragged to prison half insensible, still handcuffed, and his feet were placed in wooden stocks. The fourth day of his sufferings ended; the taunting prophecy of his enemies was fulfilled, and soon those whom he had tried in vain to save joined him in heaven.”[4]

Another native of Xinzhou was a man named Gao, a member of the English Baptist Church. He was caught by the Boxers and savagely beaten almost to death. The tortured man was left on the spot where he had fallen, unable to move. His spirit finally departed to be with Christ the next day.

Wang Zhengbang was a 50-year-old member of the English Baptist mission in Xinzhou. He was well-known by the people, so when the Boxer trouble commenced Wang and his family tried to flee into the mountains. He took his wife and children to a hidden place, but after a few days, presuming his family were safe, Wang left them to search for food and provisions. He had not gone far before some farmers recognized him. They “set upon him and beat him until he was insensible. Finding that he was not dead, they knocked out his brains with their reaping-hooks. No other member of his family was injured, as they all managed in one way or another to escape.”[5]

In the town of Guoyangzhen, located north of Xinzhou in north-central Shanxi, just one Chinese Christian was killed by the Boxers. Twenty-nine year-old Zhang Gui was not yet a baptized believer, but his neighbours considered him someone who was wholeheartedly devoted to his God, and reported him to the Boxers. They captured him in a neighbouring village and immediately put him to death.

Xi Ermiao (aged 32) lived about three miles from Xinzhou and was well-known for his bold Christian witness. This made him a marked man, and on July 13th he was arrested and bound by the Boxers. They roughly dragged him to a nearby temple, where

“The Boxer chief commanded Xi to bow down before the idols. Xi boldly declared, “I am a child of God; I will not kneel to devils.”[6] The Boxer chief flew into a rage and beat him with a stick. The savage assault left Xi writhing around on the ground wounded and bleeding, but he still refused to bow down. Consequently, “hands and feet were bound together behind him, and slung on a pole he was carried to the boundary-line between two villages to meet death by the sword.”[7]

A few hours later Zhang Lao[8] (47) and Xi Huayu (68) were also dragged to the spot where the grisly remains of Xi’s decapitated corpse lay. Despite the abhorrent scene, the two Christians refused to deny their faith and were also heartlessly hacked to pieces. A few days later, Zhang Lao’s 70-year-old mother and his 11-year-old daughter fled their home and sought refuge at an inn, where they hoped nobody would recognize them as Christians. On the way they were met by a band of Boxers, who took them to their chief at Xinzhou and asked what they should do to them. They were taken back to the place where they had been captured and ruthlessly put to death.

After the mission station had been set alight the Boxers rounded up Christians who lived in the villages surrounding Xinzhou. A 30-year-old man named Zhou Jizheng (Chou Chi-cheng) hid in his mother-in-law’s village, but the Boxers soon found him and beat him until he was barely conscious. They searched his clothing and discovered a New Testament. This infuriated the murderers so much that they decided to burn him alive. “They forced every family in the village to contribute a bundle of millet stalks, and on this altar Mr. Zhou’s body was burned in sacrifice.”[9]

A Christian woman named Liu escaped while the Boxers destroyed her house. She managed to hide in a wheat field. When they found her, the Boxers determined she would not escape again and beat her severely until she could hardly walk. Carried to Xinzhou, Liu was thrown into the smouldering ruins of the chapel. Somehow she remained alive, and

“managed to creep out of the ruins and through the city gate; but before she reached home, the Boxers laid hands on her again. Casting her again into the fire, they watched until life had departed. Steadfast through this prolonged suffering, Mrs. Liu gave her testimony that His grace is sufficient.”[10]

In total 16 Chinese Christians died for their faith at Xinzhou, in addition to the eight missionaries who sealed their commitment to Christ with their own blood.

1. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 105.
2. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 185.
3. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 182.
4. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 106.
5. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 184.
6. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 184.
7. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 184.
8. Some accounts give his name as Zhang Tao.
9. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 440.
10. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 441.