China in the Baha'i Writings
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Of the efforts to transmit the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh to the world's immense variety of cultures and peoples, the campaign in China has been one of the most arduous. It has been challenged by the sheer geographic and demographic expanse of the country, by problems of translation, of human resources, and by a lack of means of communication; and it has been inhibited too by the successive waves of political and social upheaval which have shaken the country across several generations. In a reference to these conditions, Abdu'l-Bahá referred to the "groaning of India and China" (WOB,17).
The Bahá'í Teachings first reached China during the lifetime of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, they remain unknown to the masses of the world's most populous country. 

An account of the Bahá'í Faith  in China falls into interrelated and not necessarily distinct  periods. The first, from the 1880s until the emerge of the first  Chinese Bahá'ís, the second, lasting until the Communist  Revolution of 1949, a third, from then until the late 1980s, and  a fourth, covering the most recent years. This  paper documents the efforts which have been made to promote the  Bahá'í Teachings in China during these periods, on the basis of  primary and secondary materials available in English.

China has been mentioned several

times in Bahá'í Writings. In his early treatise Secret of Divine Civilization, 'Abdu'l-Bahá referred to the lack of education in China, whether spiritual or material: 

    

        It is certain that the

        people of China are, in the sight of God, among the most

        rejected of men, because they worship idols and are

        unmindful of the omniscient Lord... (p.26)

        Today [ie, 1875] from

        the standpoint of population the greatest nation in the

        world is China, which has something over four hundred

        million inhabitants. On this account, its government

        should be the most distinguished on earth, its people the

        most acclaimed. And yet on the contrary, because of its

        lack of education in cultural and material civilization,

        it is the feeblest and the most helpless of all weak

        nations. Not long ago, a small contingent of English and

        French troops went to war with China and defeated that

        country so decisively that they took over its capital

        Peking. Had the Chinese government and people been

        abreast of the advance sciences of the day, had they been

        skilled in the arts of civilization, then if all the

        nations on earth had marched against them the attack

        would still have failed, and the attackers would have

        returned defeated whence they came. (p.110-111)

China's lack of "material

civilization", however, did not imply that China lacked in

capacity, or in noble spiritual and intellectual traditions. In

his later letters, published collectively as Tablets of the

Divine Plan, 'Abdu'l-Bahá referred to the need for Bahá'ís

to prepare themselves prior to travelling to China for the

purpose of promoting the Bahá'í Cause: "China, China,

China, China-ward the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh must march!",

'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote in 1917, 

    

        Where is that holy,

        sanctified Bahá'í to become the teacher of China! China

        has most great capability. The Chinese people are most

        simple-hearted and truth-seeking. The Bahá'í teacher of

        the Chinese people must first be imbued with their

        spirit, know their sacred literature, study their

        national customs and speak to them from their own

        stand-point, and their own terminologies. He must

        entertain no thought of his own, but ever think of their

        spiritual welfare. In China one can teach many souls and

        train and educate divine personages, each one of whom may

        become a bright candle of the world of humanity. Truly, I

        say they are free from any deceit and hypocrisies and are

        prompted with ideal motives.

        Had I been feeling well,

        I would have taken a journey to China myself! China is

        the country of the future. I hope the right kind of

        teacher will be inspired to go to that vast empire to lay

        the foundation of the Kingdom of God, to promote the

        principles of divine civilization, to unfurl the banner

        of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh and to invite the people to

        the banquet of the Lord!

The Bahá'í Writings acknolwedge

that Bahá'í pioneers reached China early (WOB,84). They also

note the influence of Russian communism on China (WOB,181). Until

a nationalist revolution in 1911, China was ruled by emperiors of

the Ching Dynasty. The last Emperor abdicated on 12 February 1912

and the revolutionaries declared China to be a Republic. The

first President of the new Republic was Dr Sun Yat-Sen (Sun

Zhongshan).

The downfall of the monarchy was

followed, however, by a period of foreign incursions into Chinese

territory. Japan had occupied Taiwan in 1895, and invaded

North-east China in 1931, and entered Beijing in 1937. This was

also a period of internal instability and civil war, and the

period 1916-1926 was characterised by the rule of

"war-lords" in different regions of the country. The

ruling Kuomintang government was challenged by the rise of the

Chinese Communist Party. These political foes waged civil war in

the 1930s, until the Communists took power in 1949. Shoghi

Effendi described the fall of the Chinese Dynasty as one of the

world-wide events of "divine chastisement" afflicting

the countries of the world since the advent of Bahá'u'lláh's

Revelation. 

Early Bahá'í travellers

Abu'l-Fadl

The Persian Bahá'í scholar

Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani is reported to have travelled in the

1880s through Russia to China and Kashgaria (Chinese Turkistan),

but little is known about his activities in detail. 'Abdu'l-Bahá

is reported to have expressed a desire to visit Kashgar, and even

to have secured a passport with the intention of setting out on

this journey alone, but to have been prevented from leaving Akka

by Ibrahim Pasha.

In 1902 an unnamed Persian

Bahá'í was posted Shanghai to represent in 'Ishqábád-based

business. This may have been Mirza Abul Badhi, whom American

Bahá'ís Mason Remey and Howard Struven met in Shanghai when

they visited Chinia from late 1909 until January 1910, during

their world-wide tour of Bahá'í communities. From Burma Charles

Mason Remey wrote to Mrs H.C. Wagner: 

    

        "Shanghai in China

        was our next field for doing a little work. There

        interest in the teachings is just beginning. While there

        we met Mirza Abdul Baghi (pronounced baj-jy) one of the

        firm Persian Bahá'ís, who has lived here for several

        years past.... At last, after visiting various ports, we

        found ourselves settled in the Mashrak-el-Azkar, at the

        above address, amid the Bahá'í friends here in

        Rangoon." see alsoGPB 261.

About 1914 Mirza Mehdi Rashti,

Ali-Hasanoff, and Husayn Uskuli moved to Shanghai as

tea-merchants for their "Omid Trading Company",

although only the latter remained after the outbreak of war. Mr

Uskuli (Mírzá H.A. Ouskouli) had first arrived from Ashqabad in

1915. When his wife died in Ashqabad in 1923 brought some of his

six children to China. These included Ridvaniyyih and her husband

S.A. Sulaimani, who established an importing business, and

remained until 1950. After a period in Iran they pioneered at the

commencement of the World Crusade to Formosa (Taiwan). Mr Uskuli

remained in Shanghai for all years, except 1918-1922, until his

passing there in 1956.[Suliemani, 1970 #419] Another Persian

Bahá'í, Mirza Hossein Touty, resided in Shanghai in 1918-19, In

January 1921 he left China, living for periods in the Russian

seaport of Vladivostok and then the southern Philippines province

of Mindanao, before returning to live for an extended period in

Shanghai.

A number of Bahá'í women also

visited China in these early years. In the course of four visits,

Martha Root and spoke in some 100 universities, colleges and

schools (noted in GPB 386-7). She was joined on one of her visits

(as described below), by Agnes Alexander, who was resident in

Japan.

Chinese abroad

Since the Chinese constitute one

of the most widespread racial diasporas, it is not surprising

that a number of Chinese nationals, and others who were

ethnically Chinese, encountered the Bahá'í Teachings while

resident or travelling in other countries. Some Chinese attended

Bahá'ís meetings while in Washington for a Peace Conference in

February 1922. Bahá'ís were also in contact with Chinese

scholars attending several North American universities.

T.J. Chwang, who is regarded as

the first Chinese believer, attended Bahá'í meetings in Chicago

and returned to Shanghai in 1916. Another early adherent, Mr Chan

S. Liu, heard of the Bahá'í Faith while studying at Cornell

University about 1921. He returned to Canton to become President

of the Agricultural College at Sun Yat Sen University, and was

later appointed director of the Bureau for the Improvement of

Sericulture, Department of Reconstruction, Honglok. His article,

"A Chinese view of the Bahá'í Cause", appeared in Bahá'í

World vol.v 1932-1934, p.665-6. Mr Liu thus came from an

educated family. His relative C.T. Wong, as reported at the time,

had been Minister for Foreign Affairs "during the recent

trouble in Manchuria".

Japan and Korea

Other early contributions to the

spreading of the Bahá'í message in China came from Japan and

Korea. In 1917 a Korean Bahá'í translated a pamplet into

Chinese, which was published by the Bahá'ís in Shanghai, and

the "No.9" compilation was also translated and

published by 1926 (as The Bahá'í Cause in China), by the

American Bahá'ís. About 1922 Agnes Alexander introduced the

Bahá'í principles to a group of Chinese students, including

some from the Pekin Women Teachers' College, during their study

visit to Japan.

II

The first visit by Martha

Root

Perhaps the first concerted

public campaign to promote the Bahá'í Teachings in China was

that by Martha Root in 1923. For six months she taught advanced

English at the Peking Esperanto College. She was joined in Chia

for some of this time by Ida Finch. According to Star of the

West report Miss Root had been "in Peking studying the

life of the great and ancient civilization of China and preparing

for her lectures and journeys in behalf of the message of

world-unity." As was the case when she passed through or

resided for a time in other countries, articles on Miss Root and

the Bahá'í Faith soon appeared in the local press. The North

China Standard for Tuesday July 3, 1923, printed a news item

about `Abdu'l-Bahá carried by Asiatic News Agency Services. An

extensive interview with Miss Root appeared in The North China

Standard, Tuesday, September 25, 1923. October 4, 1923, The

Peking Daily News carried a report "Another Religion

Comes to China" and the North China Standard for the

same day carried a similar item under the heading "Miss Root

Gives talk on Bahá'í 'Revelation'". On 12 January 1924

The China Press advertised a talk Miss Root was soon to

present before Shanghai's Esperantists. 

After a devastating earthquake

hit Japan Agnes Alexander and her sister joined Miss Root, and

travelled with her for the next three months, visiting many

cities in the north of China, including Yentai (Chefoo), the

birthplace of Confucius. met her in Shanghai, and accompanied her

from there back to Japan. Miss Root spoke at several colleges in

Wuhan, with the assistance of Mr K.T. Yang. The three women then

travelled by rail through Nanking to Shanghai. At the end of

December 1924 the Alexander sisters sailed for Hawaii, while Miss

Root remained in Shanghai another two and a half months.

In 1923 Miss Root introduced the

Bahá'í Teachings to a number of significant public officials.

These included, in Canton, President of China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen,

who requested that he be sent Bahá'í books. In Shanghai, she

met Dr Y.S. Tsao, President of Tsing Hua University, who in 1930,

as described below, became an active member of the Bahá'í

community. Fung Yan L. Folk, another educated individual in

Canton, wrote to Miss Root on 11 April 1924:

    

        I want to assure you

        that during your brief visit in Canton you have sown

        seeds for the Bahá'í Cause which, in due time, will

        bring forth a thousand folds.

        You have certainly given

        a new impetus to my religious life. I have found in the

        Bahá'í teachings that something which I have hitherto

        sought for in vain. I find that it satisfied both the

        requirements of the intellect and the longings of the

        heart.

        The Bahá'í movement

        appeals to me in that it is a movement for the doing away

        of all kinds of prejudice, which is so detrimental to all

        kinds of thinking both spiritually and intellectually and

        for the ushering in of the new era of universal

        brotherhood through the spirit of good will.

        I like the Bahá'í

        movement, in that it gives one the freedom to express

        one's religious life, in whatever way is most suited to

        one's nature and thinking, so long as it is for the

        fullest realization of self, in the attainment of the

        chief good of humanity.

The 1930 visit of Martha Root

When Miss Root returned to China

from Hong Kong in September 1930 she visited Canton, Shanghai,

and Nanking, renewing old friendships, and taking up new

opportunities. Her correspondence with at this time indicates the

considerable impact her public appearances and private activities

as a teacher of Esperanto had on numerous individuals. K T. Yang,

in Shanghai, who had assisted her work in Wuhan in 1924, and who

had assisted in translating copies of her talks into Chinese,

wrote:

    

        How glad I was, you may

        imagine, when I found your name printed under the

        subject. How do you do? I hope you are always in your

        good health.

        You are really a

        wonderful lady. You work diligently and permanently for

        your mission: for peace of the world, for spreading of

        Esperanto and for propaganda of your religion. I think

        you have certainly made some great advances for your

        movement. Could you kindly tell me some interesting news

        concerning your work during these years? 

Miss Root arrived in Canton in

September 1930 to find a well-planned itinerary. The Bahá'ís

assisted her in meeting the Governor of Kwangtung Province, Chen

Ming-Shu, and made plans for her to speak on radio, lecture at

the University and other higher institutions, and meet several

newspaper editors. She lectured on a Tuesday at the Government

College of Telegraphy; on Wednesday at the Royal Asiatic Society

(on "The Bahá'í Movement in Five Continents"); on

Saturday morning at the Shanghai College (on "Bahá'í

Scientific Proofs of Life after Death") and Saturday

evening, at the Royal Asiatic Society lecture room, and under the

auspices of the Esperanto Society (on "Esperanto as the

Universal Auxiliary Language"), and late Monday afternoon

another lecture at the Royal Asiatic Society lecture room. These

meetings were anticipated in reports in the Shanghai Times

and the China Press on 19 and 23rd September, while other

reports appeared subsequently.

Similar press coverage appeared

prior to Miss Root's two week visit to Shanghai. The "Day by

Day column" of the North China Daily News announced

in September:

    

        "All those

        interested in the Bahá'í Movement will learn with

        interest that Miss Martha L. Root, a New York journalist,

        who has just made a four months journey through Persia

        and has been giving a series of lectures throughout South

        China on the Movement, will arrive in Shanghai some time

        in the middle of this month."

The Shanghai Bahá'ís arranged

for Miss Root to lecture three times in the National Geographic

Society Hall. The most sigificant result of her visit, however,

was acceptance of the Bahá'í Faith by Dr Y.S. Tsao and his

Swedish born wife, Eileen Tsao. As already noted, Miss Root had

met the Tsaos during her visit in 1923. Agnes Alexander, who came

to Shanghai from Tokyo "for a few days" to assist

Martha Root, later recalled: 

    

        Martha bravely went out

        to the College without any previous introduction, but was

        received most kindly by Dr. Tsao and his wife, who is

        Swedish by birth, but American naturalized. Afterwards

        Dr. and Mrs. Tsao entertained us in their home and

        invited me to speak in the Auditorium of the College on

        the Bahá'í Faith to the whole student body, and a

        second time he called a meeting for any students who

        might be interested to meet and talk with us."

Martha Root described Dr Tsao, a

graduate of Yale University, as "one of the keenest

educationists in China and a distinguished writer of Chinese

affairs". His contribution to the development of Bahá'í

literature in China is discussed further below. Following her

visit, meetings were being held twice each month, on Saturdays

betwen five and seven pm. The Bahá'í community included the

seven members of the Uskuli family, plus four others: Miss

Cooper, Mr and Mrs Tsao, and Mr Touty. Photos of the Bahá'ís of

Shanghai appear in Bahá'í World 1928-1930, p.361; 1930-1932,

p.421. The Tsao's may be in a picture of Bahá'í World Vol IV.

& Vol VII. There were other declarations in Shanghai during

Martha Root's 1930 visit. These included Mr Chan S. Liu, of

Canton. Sometime after the tragic death of her husband, Mrs

Eileen Tsao moved to Hong Kong, and later to Sweden. 

Nanking

After visiting Shanghai, Miss

Root travelled with the Sulaimanis to Nanking. She stayed at the

Yengtze Hotel. In one week she lectured at Nanking Central

University [Gin Ling? as mentioned by Sulaimani] to an audience

of more than two thousand students, interviewed the Ministers for

Foreign Affairs and Education, as well as Dr Paul Linebarger, the

legal advisor of the Chinese National Government, and several

other state officials. Her 45-minute speech at Nanking Central

University on Monday, 6 October, was part of a memorial service.

She also met leaders of the Y.M.C.A., and addressed that group,

as well as several colleges and other schools. Three thousand

small booklets were later distributed to these groups. 

Contact with ethnic Chinese also

occured in other countries. In 1932 members of the Chinese Club

in Los Angeles, including president J. Kam Machida (the wife of a

Japanese), in addition to Japanese and American Indians, attended

interracial dinners sponsored by the Bahá'ís of that city

(Louis Gregory, "Racial Amity in America: An Historical

Overview", The Bahá'í World Vol. VII, 1936-1938,

p.663). In Hawaii, in May 1937, Martha Root spoke with

Professor Shao Chang Lee, Professor of Chinese History and

Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. Lee had first encountered

the Bahá'í teachings in San Francisco in 1919, when asked to

lecture on "Chinese Philosophy" at the Bahá'í Centre.

He knew his friend and teacher Dr Tsao to be "a great

exponent of the Bahá'í teachings in China" and had

discussed the Faith when visiting him in 1928, 1933, and 1935.

Kai Tai Chen:

    

        Since the Great War has

        come to an end every many seems to realize the demoniacal

        nature of fighting. The voice of peace is now heard on

        all sides. Men are doing their utmost to prevent a future

        war. But in order to do this effectively the best method

        is to spread abroad the spirit and teachings of

        'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehler

The noted American Bahá'í

traveller Keith Ransom-Kehler visited China in August 1931.

Although different in termperament to Martha Root, she had a

similar capacity to attract interest in the Bahá'í Faith. On

the boat from Japan, for intance, she met Rev. K.T. Chung, and

discussed the Bahá'í principles with him thoroughly. In

November 1931, as noted above, Rev. Chung contributed the preface

to Tsao's translation of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. A.M.

Suleimani reported to Ella Robarts in Green Acre:

    

        We...had a very

        beautiful time last week when Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler on

        her way from Japan to Australia passed through Shanghai

        and was amongst us for one day, delivering gladdening

        news of Bahá'í activities in Japan and other lands.

In Shanghai Ransom-Kehler

broadcast on radio, delivered public lectures, and met prominent

educators and officials. From newspaper publicity in Australia,

we know that Mrs Ransom-Kehler visited Dr Tsao and Mr C.S. Liu.

Publications

In 1926 M.H.A. Ouskouli was

establishing a magazine, to have articles in Persian, English and

Chinese. A number of Chinese writers were contributing articles

to Bahá'í publications. James Y. C. Yen contributed "The

Intellectual Shock in China", Star of the West vol 19; and

"Mass Education Movement in China", Star of the West

October 1925, 16:7. Several Bahá'í books were published in

Shangai in the early 1930s. These included Light of the Age

(1926). Published in 1931 were Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era,

The Most Great Peace, Paris Talks, The Goal of A New World Order.

The Valuable Contribution of the Bahá'í Cause (I & II)

(1932), and Kitab-i-Iqan be translated into Chinese. An index to Some

Answered Questions was published in 1933, and Some

Answered Questions, which Shoghi Effendi had asked Chan Liu

to translate about 1933, was printed in Shanghi in 1940. 

Liu explained when writing to

Martha Root that when Shoghi Effendi had asked him to undertake

translation of Some Answered Questions, he found that Dr Y.S.Tsao

had already commenced the task, so had not wished to duplicate

the effort. Dr Tsao was tragically killed in a car accident,

however, and it is believed that up to ten chapters of completed

translation were lost. Mr Uskuli had then arranged for someone

unfamiliar with the Bahá'í teachings to undertake the

translation, and was arranging for its printing without having

its accuracy checked. This same letter Martha Root sent on to Roy

Wilhelm, with her added note explaining that whereas Dr Tsao was

a scholar, who "insisted on perfection", Mr Uskuli was

a "devoted Bahá'í who does the best he knows". She

asked that the question concerning the quality of the translation

not be brought up with Mr Uskuli, was it was already with the

press. Besides, he had been ill, and she did not wish to worry

him.

Canton

By the mid 1930s there were

active Bahá'í communities in Canton, and Shanghai.

Chan S. Liu resided at 6 Park

Sui Fiong Tai Tong Street Old City, Canton. In 1935 he translated

some Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, including Ishraqat, which his

colleague Mr Chow assisted in refining. In 1936 Liu translated

the Hidden Words, also corrected by Mr Chow. He got Mr

Liang, chief secretary of the Legislative Yuan, to write the

introduction. Although Liu was occupied in his profession in the

silk industry, he looked looked forward to a time when he could

devote all his time to translating Bahá'í literature, which he

felt his country was much in need of. He printed 2,000 copies of

The Hidden Words in March 1937, and Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh was

ready for the press at the time war broke out in August 1937.

Martha Root explained to Roy Wilhelm that:

    

        Chan was so particular

        about his own [translation] that he sent "Tablets of

        Bahá'u'lláh" to Peiping to be looked over

        carefully by some great scholars. Now it is ready to be

        printed.

In August 1937 Mr Liu's wife and

children departed Canton to stay for several months with her

parents at Kweilin, the capital of Kwangsi. The atmosphere in

Canton was intense, as the government was preparing to resist

attack from Japan. Liu was extremely pressed for time, but was

undertaking a little translation work each morning before leaving

home. Martha Root knew the value of Liu's contribution, and knew

of her own illness. She urged Roy Wilhelm to stay in close touch

with him. In 1939 she made inquiries on his behalf concerning

migration to Australia. By 1938 Mr Liu was in Hong Kong, but by

1940 was back in Kweilin, Kwongsi, where he seems to have been in

the employment of the Provincial Government. In 1944 he was at 56

Fu Hing Rd, Shamean, Canton.

Shanghai

In 1926-30 the Uskuli family

resided at 41 a Kiangse Road. There were seven family members.

Uskuli, two daughters and a son, a son-in-law, and his

mother-in-law. Martha Root reported to Roy Wilhelm in 1937 that

Mr Uskuli spoke very little english, and no Chinese, but was

"eager to serve and he only lives for the Cause."

During 1934-36 the Shanghai Bahá'ís maintained a library at a

room at the Chinese Y.M.C.A. (BW34-36, p.79) 

In 1934 the American painter

Mark Tobey visited Shanghai, to visit his friend Teng Kuei, who

had studied at the University of Washington in 1923. The city,

wrote Arthur L. Dahl, "gave Mark fresh impressions of the

energy, the fascinating lines and textures to be found in the

streets of a cosmopolitan city, and also the characteristics of

Chinese life, culture and art." While in China Tobey had met

Dr Tsao, and on his return to the United States had arranged for

a compilation on the Bahá'í approach to economics to be

forwarded to him.

Another who visited the Shanghai

Bahá'ís at some time was Prof. Raymond Frank Piper, chair of

the department of Philosophy at Syracuse University, who had

heard of the Faith in Hawaii during a 17 month journey around the

world studying religion, and whose essays on the principle of

unity as found in the Bahá'í Writings later appeared in the

journal World Order.

Some significant Chinese

Bahá'ís

Y.S. Tao's article, "The

Unity of Civilization" had already appeared in Bahá'í

Yearbook 1925-26 (p141-7). At this time, however, Tsao firmly

believed in the suitability of the Bahá'í teachings for China,

but does not seem to have been familiar with the contribution to

be made through application of its' administrative order. Tsao

wrote:

    

        The Bahá'í revelation

        is not an organization. The Bahá'í Cause can never be

        confined to an organization. The Bahá'í revelation is

        the spirit of this age. It is the essence of all the

        highest ideals of this century. The Bahá'í Cause is an

        inclusive movement; the teachings of all religions and

        societies are found here (p.146)

suggesting the influence either

of early communications to Western audiences by Abdu'l-Bahá,

based on a simplified view of its administrative requirements, or

else the influence of conversations with Martha Root, who also

sometimes introduced the Bahá'í Teachings in these terms.

Moreover, Tsao's position in China was remote from the expanding

Bahá'í communities in North America and elsewhere, was not

conducive to o see the emergence of Bahá'í administrative

institutions in other countries. There were, additionally,

Bahá'ís in other parts of the world at this time who promoted

the idea that adoption of Bahá'í belief freed them from what

they regarded as the limitations of "organised

religion". Thus Horace Holley reported in his "Survey

of Current Bahá'í Acitivities in the East and West" for

the period 1930-1932 that:

    

        The Cause in China has

        not yet developed to the point of elective Assemblies;

        the activities are maintained through the devoted loyalty

        of a few, but by these few knowledge of Bahá'u'lláh has

        been made to penetrate far into the consciousness of the

        educated class.

Dr Tsao was also active in

writing for the press in China, and in translation of `Bahá'í

Writings and other materials into Chinese. An article by Tsao

that appeared in The North China Daily News in 1931, for

instance, was forwarded by A.M. Suleiman to The Bahá'í

Magazine. The Bahá'í World 1932-1934 reported:

    

        Valuable translations by

        Dr. Tsao of Shanghai into Chinese included "The

        Tablet of Iqán", "Paris Talks of

        'Abdu'l-Bahá," and the Index to "some Answered

        Questions," the book itself being under way in a

        translation expected to appear in the near future. The

        same faithful worker has given Chinese renderings to a

        number of articles and pamphlets, among them

        'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablet to the Committee on a Durable

        Peace, the Hague. (p.29)

In his essay "The Bahá'í

Cause in China", which appeared in Bahá'í World

1930-1932, Dr. Tsao explained the relationship between the the

Bahá'í principle of the common origin of religions was in

harmony with Chinese belief. He believed the Chinese were looking

for a new formulation of the Confucian teaching, "Rectify

the heart, ennoble the person, regulate the family, rule the

country and pacify the world", and believed it had been

provided in part by Sun Yat Sen's "three principles",

Nationalism, Democracy and Socialism. Tsao felt, however, that Dr

Sun's formulation "The People's State, People's Rights and

People's Livelihood", compared unfavourably as a

"philosophy of life to regulate human behaviour", and

that the Bahá'í principles, because they are based on

universalism, fill China's needs:

    

        To a real Bahá'í

        believer, the sight of human sufferings, ignorance and

        poverty will redouble his efforts to work for their

        improvement. Vainglory, pride and selfish gains will

        naturally be banished from one's thoughts. China

        decidedly needs such men and everybody knows it and feels

        it keenly. If the Bahá'í Cause can supply such men,

        China will accept this Cause willingly and eagerly. 

In 1930 Dr Tsao had offered to

translate J.E. Esslemont's work Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era

into Chinese, and advanced the project quickly. In correspondence

with American Bahá'í Victoria Bedikian in November 1931 Dr Tsao

indicated that the increasingly difficult conditions being

experienced by the Chinese people, and the positive response to

the Bahá'í Teachings that they demonstrated whenever he spoke

of them, encouraged him to complete the work, which was at that

time undergoing final revision. A proof copy had been sent to

Agnes Alexander to assist her in the translation into Japanese.

Shoghi Effendi sent a donation toward the costing of printing.

The Reverend K.T. Chung wrote an introduction. "The

translator of this book is neither a priest nor a

theologan," Tsao wrote of himself in its introduction, 

    

        "but he believes

        religion to be education in the broadest sense of the

        world, especially as the relation of religion to the

        advance of civilization is so intimately intertwined.

        When the Bahá'í Cause was first introduced to him, he

        at once realized how broad and deep the principal beliefs

        are and how befitting they are to the present world.

        Several years ago in an address on "The Unity of

        Civilization and the Universality of Religion" given

        before a liberal Christian gathering, the twelve

        principles of the Bahá'í Faith were read to them and

        they at once understood that these principles are in

        harmony with the ideals of unity and universalism.

        Patriotic leaders like Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and General Chen

        Ming-chu who heard and read about the Bahá'í beliefs

        have also declared them to be highly desirable to the

        present needs of China and the world. They have all

        realized the existing conditions of social life in China

        and the weaknesses of human nature, so it is their belief

        that the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh as far as they know,

        will be able to advance and expedite the progress of

        civilization, while such broad and noble principles can

        never produce any harm.

In 1932 a letter by Tsao appeared in Prof.

Pritam Singh's The BahÇ

'ê Weekly. Tsao reported that his translation of

Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era was 'being revised

for the last time and will soon be in print in the Chinese

language'.

In the introduction to a

pamphlet, Some Principles of the Bahá'í Faith Tsao

explained that he had concluded that the Bahá'í teachings could

"regenerate China". There seems to be evidence that

Tsao was in contact with senior public officials in different

parts of China who were sympathetic to Bahá'í ideals. Ho Chien,

for example, then governor of Hunan Province, contributed an

article to World Order after having read a copy of the

North American magazine, which Ysao translated into English. It

was this conviction that spurred Tsao to spend his evenings in

translation work. Tsao had translated Some Questions Answered,

part of which was destroyed during the printing process. Tsao died before

being able to retranslate the destroyed passages. Mr Ouskuli

approached I.S. Shen to complete the translation, which was

completed by May 193(8?). (BW38-40, p567, cf Bahá'í News 88:8;

109,6). Dr Tsao was killed in a car accident on 8 February 1937,

shortly before the arrival of Martha Root for what was to be her

final visit to China.

Martha Root's fourth visit -

1937

Shanghai

Martha Root arrived in Shanghai

from Japan in July 1937, and remained there until August 17. Tony

Seto had written for her a letter of introduction to Dr Fong F.

Sec, of the Commercial Press in Shanghai, who had studied in

America, and who Seto had had met in Honolulu some years earlier

in the home of Leonard Fong.

She met Walter H. Chen, for

twenty years the editor of the North China Daily News and

author of The New Life Movement. Chen, who read the Hidden Words

(perhaps given him by Root?) was a friend of Generalissimo and

Mrs Chiang Kai-Shek.

After leaving China Miss Root

sent copies of her book, Tahireh the Pure to H. Touty,

with a request that he forward one to the editor of the North-China

Daily News. A review appeared several months later, which

Touty forwarded to Root together with his own comments. 

Hostilies between Japan and

China commenced at 10 am on the morning of August 13. As the

phones were no longer working Mr Touty sent a note to Miss Root

urging her not to worry, as British, French and American forces

had landed to protect the settlement. He asked if there was

anything he could do for her. On the 17th Miss Root departed as a

refugee on the steamship President Jefferson, which reached

Manila on August 20, five minutes before the occurrance of the

worst earthquake in that city in a century.

Nanking

Tony Seto, then in San

Francisco, provided Martha Root with an introduction to his

cousin, Dr and Mrs Ping Ling in Nankin. Miss Root was

"native American," he wrote to them, "but is a

world citizen and a lover of humanity. She is now on a lecture

tour around the world for the Bahá'í Faith." Seto deemed

it a personal favour if they could "show her the points of

interest in and around Nanking", or better still, if they

could "arrange to have her speak before the organisations

there".

1940-1953

Following the second world war
several individuals who had become Bahá'ís in North America returned to China. These included Mr Chu Yao Lung, Mr M.S. Yuan and Mr Tien Lee Chien. Mr Chu resided in Nanking and introduced his neighbour Mr H.C. Yuan to the Faith. All four migrated to Taiwan as Chinese government employees in 1949. 

At about the end of 1945 Bernice
Wood, who had become a Bahá'í in Washington DC in October, arived in Chungking to work as a medical administration assistant with the UNRRA. After two months she transferred to Shanghai, where she resided for the next three and a half years. By 1949 there were Bahá'ís in Canton, Nanking & Shanghai. 

Canton

In Canton Miss Root met Fuey

Ling, a teacher. In January 1939 Ling wrote to Root to say she

was now in charge of a normal school with 300 students, and that

she often thought of Miss Root and her "inspiring

personality and of the cause you are trying to promote and spread

throughout the world".
-- China in the Baha'i Writings (Used by permission of the curator)