1900 - Mrs. Gao & Jessica

July 1, 1900

Baoding, Hebei

In the winter of 1887, a “sweet-faced young woman with a manner of great refinement”[1] was baptized at Baoding. Mrs. Gao’s devotion to Christ resulted in her rejection from the social circles in which she had previously moved. Her wealthy husband was also a Christian, and their little adopted girl, named Jessica, was immediately enrolled at the Christian school run by the missionaries.

Mrs. Gao possessed a bright mind and was fond reading Christian books. In that era very few women were literate, so her abilities earned her the respect of other women. She was gifted in sharing the gospel with others; a trait that was soon noticed by the missionaries, who considered her a candidate to be a Bible woman. One thing that delayed this plan was Mrs. Gao’s tendency to be timid, especially when confronted by ridicule and mockery from those who opposed her message. Her life was a work in progress, and she soon overcame her shyness. She was employed as a Bible woman, spending much time visiting women in their homes and encouraging patients in the hospital.

Jessica also developed into a fine young Christian woman. In February 1900 she graduated from the Bridgman Christian School in Beijing, and came home to Baoding for a few months with her family. On June 28th news came that the Boxers had captured Pastor Meng, and the Gao family knew their time would soon come. The very next morning a loud knock came at the door of the Gao home, along with shouts of “Kill! Kill!”

Mr. Gao had left the house that morning, but his wife calmly went to the Boxer leader and presented herself without fear. “Please permit my daughter and myself to put on our long garments and hair ornaments, then we will go with you,” she said. When the Boxers approached the duo to bind them, Mrs. Gao objected, saying, “We are women, why bind us? We are believers in the Lord; if we promise not to run, we surely will not do it.”[2] At the gateway of their house, Mrs. Gao stopped and addressed their terrified servants, who were not yet Christians: “Sisters, I have been the cause of great fear coming to you today. Farewell. If I am permitted to see you again, I shall rejoice; if not, I hope that we may meet in heaven. I should be so glad if you all believed in Jesus.”[3]

As they made their way to the execution ground, Mrs. Gao was continually struck in the back with the blunt edge of a sword, in an attempt to make her to move faster. She had tiny bound feet, making it difficult to walk at all. They finally arrived at a temple, where Mrs. Gao and Jessica were forced to stand in the courtyard under the blazing sun. Mrs. Gao made an earnest plea:

“‘If you intend to kill us, do it now; don’t heap repeated insult and torture on us.’ Then, looking in her daughter’s face, she asked, ‘Are you afraid?’ ‘Mother,’ replied Jessica, ‘Jesus is with you and me; is there anything to fear?’ ‘Let us pray together’…and, with arms still tied behind them, they knelt down in the midst of their clamorous, crowding persecutors.”[4]

The end didn’t come as quickly as the two hoped. For two days they were held inside a room in the temple. Once, when they were praying, Mrs. Gao’s face began to glow, and she said to her daughter, “Jessica, I see Jesus has come; do you see him?”

On the morning of July 1st, the Christian mother and daughter were cruelly separated. Before the Boxers severed her head from her body, Mrs. Gao made two requests. First she asked, “Kill me in some secluded spot, that my body may not lie exposed on the street, causing fear and horror to all who pass.”[5] Her second request was that she might be given a moment to pray to her Heavenly Father. This was granted. Then,

“Kneeling in their midst, she prayed, ‘Father, forgive these men; they don’t understand what they are doing;’ then followed brief petitions for her daughter, her husband, and herself, and with a face radiant with peace, Mrs. Gao rose to her feet. For months a headless body, wrapped in a straw mat lay in a shallow grave by the execution grounds. Then loving hands placed it in a coffin.”[6]

Miraculously, Jessica’s life was spared at the time because of her great beauty. The Boxers sent her to a government-run asylum, where the Boxers hoped she would be re-educated and made to abandon her faith in Christ. Finally, after several months, an allied army entered Baoding and liberated Jessica and two other Christian girls. She returned home to find her father had also survived by fleeing the tumult and wandering for weeks along deserted mountain trails. Jessica told her father, “Don’t grieve for mother. I will not marry, but will stay here and care for you, and try to do some work for the Lord, who has spared my life.”[7]

The toll from the months in the asylum had taken its toll on the 19-year-old’s frail body, and her condition worsened. It was as though Jesus wanted her to come home. A month after she had been released, Jessica told her father,

“‘Jesus has come for me, and I am ready. The last commands which my mother gave me, I have kept. Now I am going before you to see my mother’s face. Father, the one important thing is that you should hold fast the holy truth of God, and go, as I am going, to the heavenly home.’ Then, with radiant face, she said, ‘Father, I see my mother,’ and a few moments later, peacefully and quietly, the spirit took its flight.”[8]

1. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 377.
2. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 379.
3. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 379.
4. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 380.
5. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 381.
6. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 381-382.
7. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 384.
8. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 384.