1900 - Pastor Zhao & Liu

June 1900

Pastor Zhao & Liu

Gong Village, Beijing

Young Pastor Zhao was one of the first Chinese believers associated with the London Missionary Society to be martyred in the Boxer uprising of 1900. He was the leader of the church in Gong village, about 40 miles (65 km) from Beijing. When the Boxers invaded the district in great numbers, Pastor Zhao was warned to flee by other Christians and even by sympathetic unbelievers. “No,” he bravely replied, “‘I cannot leave this church. I have been placed here in charge of the Lord’s work, and it is my duty to remain. I cannot feel it right to leave. If God wills, He is able to preserve my life even here; if not, then I am ready to die at my post!’”[I]

The bloodthirsty Boxers crossed the river near Gong village and met a Christian named Liu, who was one of the members of Pastor Zhao’s church. They recognized him as a believer and immediately attacked him with their swords, leaving him badly wounded and chained to a tree near the riverbank. They proceeded to the village chapel and seized Pastor Zhao, binding him and fastening his thumbs and big toes together. They then carried him suspended on a pole “to a tree near to that to which Mr. Liu had been fastened. Falling upon Mr. Liu they massacred him with frightful cruelty, and then put Mr. Zhao to death in the same terrible fashion, throwing their mutilated remains into the river.”[II]