1900 - 22 Chinese Martyrs at Fanshi

July 1-2, 1900

Fanshi, Shanxi

On July 1, 1900, practically the entire Protestant church was wiped out in the town of Fanshi, an outstation in northern Shanxi Province under the control of the British Baptists. Missionaries had only been working in Fanshi for several years, but due to a lack of workers the best the British Baptists could do was send an itinerant missionary through Fanshi once a year to check on the progress of the fledgling church. Despite this unfortunate situation, God blessed his Word in Fanshi and before long a small congregation of joyful Christians emerged.

A house was rented in the town and used as a chapel, and an evangelist, Zhou Yongyao, was sent to Fanshi to lead the church. As the service was concluding on Sunday, July 1st, an angry mob of Boxers and townspeople descended on the chapel. It was set on fire and the beloved pastor was bound and thrown into the flames, where he burned to death.

A few hours later a 44-year-old Christian named Gao Zhongdang was seized in the street and beaten until he was barely alive. The cruel Boxers then took him and threw him into the chapel, which was still on fire. For some time Gao remained conscious, and asked some bystanders to give him water. The pitiless crowd scorned him, and one man threatened to urinate on the suffering Christian, which brought howls of laughter from the onlookers.

Unlike many martyrs who were blessed with a quick death, Gao Zhongdang’s suffering lingered on throughout the night into the next day, when he finally perished. Gao’s elder brother, Gao Yezhong (52), their 80-year-old mother, and a 15-year-old boy were captured on the outskirts of the city. The trio were taken to Gao’s home, secured inside, and the house set ablaze. They all perished in the flames. Two other Christians, 36-year-old Xu Yen, and 32-year-old Li Zhong tried to flee outside the city. They “were caught, bound and beaten, brought back to the city, and thrown on the burning ruins, where they perished.”[1]

Wang Xin (33) was a native of Fanshi. Before coming to Christ he was a notorious opium addict and troublemaker. The evidence of his conversion was evident by the drastic change in his life. The missionaries gave him Christian books to sell to people, and as a result he was well-known as a follower of ‘the foreign religion.’ The Boxers seized Wang and burned his Christian books. They carried him, bleeding from sword cuts to a spot where they held a mock trial. A crowd gathered around to witness the spectacle. The Boxers told Wang,

“‘We know that formerly you were a bad character, but that you have reformed. Only leave the foreign sect, and you will not be killed.’ Other voices joined in urging him to escape death by leaving the ‘foreign sect.’ He said: ‘I have already left the foreign sect [Buddhism], and now follow the heavenly doctrine, reverence the Supreme Ruler, and believe in Jesus. How can you say that I belong to a foreign sect?’

Many more words he spoke, witnessing to the one true God, before the Boxer leader cried impatiently: ‘This man has evidently been bewitched by the foreigners. What is this that he is talking about? If we do not kill him, he will certainly do mischief.’”[2]

Wang Xin was dragged outside the village gate and barbarously hacked to death.

Two wealthy brothers, Yao Qihou (50) and Yao Qiwang (44), had attended the chapel service that Sunday morning. When the Boxers attacked, the brothers managed to escape and returned to their home village. The Boxers pursued them and surrounded the house, setting it on fire. The elder brother was enveloped by the flames and burned alive, while the younger brother, Yao Qiwang, was taken to the temple of the god of War in the town, and tried before a makeshift Boxer court.

The Boxers gave him a chance of reprieve, saying that if he provided 50 swords to the Boxers he would be released. Two of the persecutors knelt before their leader and begged that the man be slaughtered, claiming “he has done much mischief.” Their request was granted. As he was being led away, Wang said, “‘This is the happiest day of my life.’ This angered his persecutors all the more, and as soon as they were outside the city gate they set upon him with their swords and killed him.”[3]

Another of the Christians who sacrificed their lives at Fanshi was a female believer named Liu Zihen who was stripped naked and beaten repeatedly as the Boxers dragged her into the town. Her battered, unconscious body was thrown onto the smouldering ruins of the chapel. Liu was not dead, however, and when the persecutors left she managed to free herself and tried to go home. The Boxers noticed her near the city gate, recaptured her, “and a second time was thrown on the ruins. This time they did not leave her; and as by night-time she was not dead, they took a cord and strangled her. Notwithstanding all her suffering, it is said she remained steadfast to the end.”[4]

Two brothers, Sun Zheng and Sun Xiu, along with two children, were burned to death in their own house on July 2nd. The two wives of the brothers fled, but were not able to get far. One of them died from injuries received from her persecutors, while the other wife—who was pregnant—was tied to a tree and beaten. The next day “she was taken back to the temple of her own village…and there gave birth to a child, which was immediately killed by the inhuman monsters.”[5] The brave women was asked,

“‘What poison have you with which to do mischief?’

The woman bravely replied: ‘We have left the false and turned to the true; we have forsaken the evil for the good. How have we done any mischief?’

‘She is not telling the truth!’ screamed the Boxer leader, ‘and she will not leave the foreign sect. She ought to be burned!’”[6]

The woman and her six-year-old son were taken to a house. The Boxers set it alight, and cruelly drove the mother and her son into the flames where they were burned alive. In an instant the bold Christian mother was reunited with the little baby she had given birth to just hours before. In all, 22 Chinese Christians were martyred at Fanshi.

1. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 191.
2. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 187.
3. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 166.
4. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 192.
5. Edwards, Fire and Sword in Shansi, 195.
6. Miner, China’s Book of Martyrs, 186.