The Diocese of Western China ( zh, t=聖公會華西教區, w=Shêng Kung Hui Hua Hsi Chiao Chʽü, l=Anglican Diocese of Western China), also known as Diocese of Szechwan ( zh, t=聖公會四川教區, w=Shêng Kung Hui Ssu Chʽuan Chiao Chʽü, l=Anglican Diocese of Szechwan, links=no) or Hua Hsi Diocese (), was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

in late-

Qing-dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

and Republican China, established in 1895, under the supervision of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. It had belonged to the Church in China since its outset, and had been part of the Chinese Anglican Church since 1912. In 1936, it was divided into the Diocese of East Szechwan () and Diocese of West Szechwan ().

History

The

Cambridge Seven The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were: * Charles Thomas Studd * Montagu H ...

, who were missionaries to China through the

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...

(CIM), arrived in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

in 1885. Three of them —

William Cassels William Wharton Cassels (11 March 1858 – 7 November 1925) was an Anglican missionary bishop. Early life and education Cassels was born in Oporto, Portugal, the sixth son of John Cassels, a merchant, and Ethelinda Cox, a distant relation of Wa ...

Arthur T. Polhill-Turner Arthur Twistleton Polhill (7 February 1862 – 21 November 1935), born Arthur Twistleton Polhill-Turner (the name Turner was discarded in 1902 by deed poll), was an English Anglican missionary. He was one of the Cambridge Seven, seven young men ...

and

Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp Sir Montagu Harry Proctor-Beauchamp, 7th Baronet (19 April 1860 – 26 October 1939) was a British Anglican Christian missionary. Biography Proctor-Beauchamp was the fourth son of Sir Thomas William Brograve Proctor-Beauchamp, 4th Baronet, ...

— were sent up by the CIM into the Western Province of

Szechwan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, where they established a proper Church of England diocese. Arthur's elder brother, Cecil H. Polhill-Turner, felt drawn towards the

people A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, went to Tatsienlu, a

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic languages, Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In ...

city within Szechwan, and he had laboured on the Sino and Indo-Tibetan borders since then. At the close of 1891, the Rev J H Horsburgh of the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS), along with his wife Mrs Horsburgh, the Rev O M Jackson, three laymen, and six single women missionaries, entered Szechwan as the first band of CMS missionaries to take up work in that province. By 1894, CMS work had started in Mienchow, Chungpa, Anhsien, Mienchu and Sintu, all of which are in the west of the region. Meanwhile the CIM workers, based in Paoning, were also breaking ground in East Szechwan. In 1895, steps were taken for the formation of a new diocese, due to the fact that the Church was represented by two Societies on the field. Cassels was eventually consecrated Bishop of Western China on 18 October 1895, in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. As aforementioned, the CMS worked the western portion, the CIM the eastern portion. But after Cassels's consecration, the work was being more and more co-ordinated under his guidance. The diocesan newsletter, ''The Bulletin of the Diocese of Western China'', was founded in 1904. It was renamed several times during its 54-year run, with the last print published in 1958. A Chinese translation of the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'' was published in 1932, revised and authorized for use in the Diocese of Szechwan. The Diocese was split into Dioceses of East Szechwan and West Szechwan in 1936.

Bishops and assistant bishops

Western China

* 1895–1925:

* 1926–1933:

Howard Mowll Howard West Kilvinton Mowll (1890–1958) was the Anglicanism, Anglican Anglican ministry#Bishops, Bishop Diocese of Western China, of Western China from 1925 to 1933, and Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop of Sydney from 1933 until his ...

* 1933–1936: John Holden

Assistant bishops

* 1922–1926: Howard Mowll * 1929–1936: Ku Ho-lin * 1929–1936: Song Cheng-chih

East Szechwan

* 1936–1940:

Frank Houghton Frank Houghton (1894–1972) was an Anglican missionary bishop and author. Houghton was born in Stafford and educated at London University and ordained in 1917. He held curate, curacies at St Benedict, Everton, Liverpool, Everton and All Sai ...

* 1940–1950: K G Bevan * 1950–19??:

Assistant bishops

* 1936–1947: Ku Ho-lin

West Szechwan

* 1936–1937: John Holden * 1937–1950: Song Cheng-chih

Assistant bishops

* 1936–1937: Song Cheng-chih * 1943–1950: H A Maxwell

References

{{Anglican missionary bishops in China

History

Bishops and assistant bishops

Western China

Assistant bishops

East Szechwan

Assistant bishops

West Szechwan

Assistant bishops

See also

References