1900 - The Tongzhou Massacre

June 1900

The Tongzhou Massacre

Tongzhou, Beijing

A memorial scroll, erected in 1901, listing the names of 130 martyrs killed in Tongzhou in 1900.

Tongzhou was a small country town at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, but it has since grown into a city with about 700,000 people, located a short distance east of Beijing. Protestant missionaries commenced work in Tongzhou in the 1860s, and by the turn of the century a growing number of people were being exposed to the truth of Christ Jesus.

Some of the most sickening, yet God-glorifying stories of Boxer martyrdoms came from this one town. One account remembers how

“At the Tongzhou north gate two boys of thirteen and fourteen years of age were making their escape into the country when the Boxers seized them to question them. These nameless young confessors said boldly, ‘We are of the Jesus Church.’ When about to be bound they said: ‘You need not bind us. We will not try to get away. Every step we take to your altar is one step nearer heaven.’ And they soon joined the victors above.”[I]

A schoolteacher named Miss Liu and her widowed mother were captured. When given the chance to denounce Christ and live, Liu fearlessly proclaimed, “‘I can never deny my precious Saviour. You can kill me, but you cannot compel me to deny Jesus and worship false gods.’ Her body was hacked to pieces in a shocking manner, and then thrown into a dry well.”[II] An old Christian man “was buried in the ground up to his waist, then kerosene was poured over the upper part of his body, and was set on fire.”[III]

After the Boxer madness subsided, surviving Christians from Tongzhou recounted terrible tales of the suffering that had so deeply impacted the church there. One remembered how,

“Hundreds in the loved circle of our Tongzhou Church had been killed before they succeeded in escaping, or were hunted down in their hiding places. Some of the refugees bore on their bodies the marks of flame or sword; many had left father, mother, wife, child, or other dear ones lying dead on the streets of Beijing, or beside the ruins of once happy homes.”[IV]

A little girl was not afraid to die for Jesus. She lifted a fearless face to the Boxers as they were about to hack her to pieces, and boldly declared, “Yes, I believe in Jesus.”

Satan did not have a free reign during the summer of 1900. There were certain individuals whose lives were miraculously protected by God. A pastor at Tongzhou, Li Wenyou, was one of them. He later recalled how on June 5th,

“I heard a report that a Catholic chapel five miles [eight kilometres] away had been burned the night before, and sent a friend to ascertain if it was true. He came back in despair reporting, ‘The ruins are still smoking; the Christians were all killed.’ ‘Then our time has come,’ I said.”[V]

The next evening hundreds of Boxers stormed into the church and mission compound where Li and his family lived. They brandished long curved swords and sharp knives, and seemed to have whipped themselves into a spiritual and emotional frenzy. There were seven Christians in the building when the attack commenced, including a man named Chen and his invalid wife, a Mr. Lin, his wife, and nine-year-old daughter, and Pastor Li Wenyou and his wife. Mr. Lin tried to escape out the gate, but he was clubbed to the ground and slashed to death. The others ran out a back door of the house and huddled together against the wall of the compound.

The crippled Mrs. Chen was alone in her room. “‘Drag her out,’ called a shrill voice. ‘No, burn her up in the house,’ cried a chorus of voices. ‘Do you, Mrs. Chen, call yourself a citizen of the great Chinese Empire?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Mrs. Chen. ‘Then why do you follow the foreign devils?’”[VI] Before she had a chance to open her mouth in response, the blood-thirsty men set upon her and sliced her with their knives. Her lifeless body flopped to the floor, her spirit having already left this world to be with Jesus.

Meanwhile the five others were still huddled outside, praying for God’s will to be done in their lives. The Boxers could not see them in the shadows, but then the crackling of flames rose around them. The Boxers were burning the house down, and if they didn’t move they would all be burned to death. Cries of “they are hiding in the corner!” were heard as the flames lit up the courtyard. The Boxers positioned men with long spears to stand on top of the wall, trapping the Christians against the flames. Chen tried to climb over the wall, but had a spear thrust into his face, and fell backwards into the fire. Pastor Li continues his description,

“I was kneeling when the first spear thrust threw me backward, and my wife, with an agonized cry, flung herself upon me to ward off the fast-falling blows…. There came a stab on my head, one on my hand, several on a leg that lay exposed, then a tremendous thrust transfixed my wife’s body and pierced my abdomen, and I lay unconscious. I know not how many minutes passed. When I revived the Boxers had heaped cornstalks on our prostrate bodies and set fire to them. Hearing no sound, I flung the burning cornstalks aside and spoke to my wife, whose body still lay heavily on mine. No answer came, and by the light of the flames I could see that life had left her poor body. Mr. Chen was dead too…. My face and hands were badly scorched; blood was flowing from not less than twenty spear thrusts; the gaping wound in my abdomen made me faint.”[VII]

Motivated by a strong love and desire to warn the other Christians in Tongzhou, Li left the corpses behind and somehow walked out into the street, stumbling a few paces before having to rest. He agonizingly made his way three or four miles (six kilometres) throughout the night. In the morning the hot sun beat down on him and hungry dogs, crows, and magpies encircled him, waiting for him to drop so they could feast on his flesh. Birds flew down and pecked at his wounds. All he could do was shoo them away with his hand. Villagers came out and heaped scorn upon him. He was truly following in the footsteps of his Saviour.

Li found his way to the college gate, only to find all the missionaries and students had fled to Beijing. An old gatekeeper named Li Lu was hiding inside. He gave the pastor water to quench his thirst, and tried to secure a cart to transport him to Beijing. Before a cart could be hired, news reached the Boxers that the pastor had somehow managed to survive the ordeal and was hiding at the college. A company of armed men was dispatched to go and finish him off. Li saw them marching up the road and threw himself under a bridge. The men passed by without noticing him. The 14-mile (23 km) journey to Beijing, over bumpy roads, exacerbated Li Wenyou’s wounds and they started to bleed afresh.

Finally the cart arrived at the mission compound in Beijing. The gate was opened and before he knew it sympathetic Christian friends surrounded him and his wounds were being lovingly treated. For two months Li stayed inside the compound, as the Boxers tried everything they could to break in and massacre the defenceless believers. Somehow, by his mighty power, God protected his besieged children.

Li Wenyou’s wounds gradually healed and he enjoyed many more years of fruitful ministry for the Lord. In fact, the years immediately after the Boxer Rebellion were ones of great harvest, as thousands of people across the country opened their hearts to the gospel. A large reason for this new openness was the tremendous faith and courage displayed by those who had been martyred.

In all, 130 Christians were martyred for Christ in Tongzhou.

I Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 195.
II Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 195.
III Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 168.
IV Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 48.
V Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 296.
VI Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 297.
VII Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 298.