1900 - Gao Liandeng & Family

July 1, 1900

Fanshi, Shanxi

Gao Liandeng was arrested in a village near Fanshi and his home burned to the ground. The Boxers staged a mock trial, where the 50-year-old Gao was asked, “Why did you enter the Church?” He replied, “Because it was good,” which led to ripples of laughter among the gathered crowd. Gao was asked why he had injured people by making them believe in Jesus, to which he responded, “I do harm to no one.”

The Boxers offered him a chance of release, if he would only agree to leave the “foreign sect” and worship Buddha. Gao remained silent. He and most of his family were then dragged to the chapel where Pastor Zhou Yongyao had laid down his life earlier in the day. The mob cried out,

“‘This man is not willing to repent; throw him into the fire.’ The ruins of the city chapel were still smouldering, and on that altar he was offered up. Soon his wife’s ashes lay with his, and three other members of the family were numbered with the martyrs, only two surviving the storm.”[1]

Later information revealed what happened to Gao’s family. When she heard that her beloved husband was dead, Gao’s wife fled to her sister’s home. The Boxers pursued her and brought her to the city, where she was bound and thrown into the fire at the same place her husband had perished. Gao’s 22-year-old son was captured as he tried to flee. He was taken back to the village and thrown into the burning ruins of the family home. His 19-year-old wife escaped into the hills and managed to hide in a cave,

“but was found and immediately stabbed through the abdomen, and then buried before she was really dead. The second son (14) fled from village to village pursued by the Boxers…. He was so much frightened, however, that he was never himself again, and gradually wasted away, and died in a few months. Thus, of this family of seven, five have laid down their lives for the truth.”[2]