Huang Guangcai (or Wong Kong-chai, Chinese: 黃光彩, 1827–1886) was the first Chinese convert, the first candidate to receive the Holy Order and was the first ordained Chinese priest from the

Protestant Episcopal Church Mission The Protestant Episcopal Church Mission (PECM, also known as the American Church Mission) was a Christian missionary initiative of the Episcopal Church that was involved in sending and providing financial support to lay and ordained mission workers ...

(PECM).

Biography

Born in 1827 in

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

, he was a neighbor of the missionary William Jones Boone and was the caretakers of Boone's children, Henry and Mary. He accompanied Boone to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1843, then returned to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1845. In 1846, Boone relocated to

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 ...

, but Huang remained in Xiamen to take care of his family. On April 12, 1846, Huang was baptized by Boone in the Bishop's House and became the first convert of the PECM. This was also the first time Boone used Shanghai dialect to baptize a local. On September 7, 1851, Huang was ordained deacon and became the first native

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as ...

of the PECM on November 8, 1863. Despite the shortage of funding due to American Civil War, Huang reported in 1872 that since 1859 he had baptized 103 people. From 1872 onwards, he worked at the Church of Our Savior in

Hongkou , formerly spelled Hongkew, is a district of Shanghai, forming part of the northern urban core. It has a land area of and a population of 852,476 as of 2010. It is the location of the Astor House Hotel, Broadway Mansions, Lu Xun Park, and Hon ...

(Hongkew) and by 1879, the church registered around 234 converts. He died on November 28, 1886.

Personal life

His daughter, Huang Su'e (黃素娥) became an Anglican leader as well to help Henrietta F. Boone, wife of William Jones Boone, to establish St. Mary's and supervise student affairs.

References

1827 births 1886 deaths Chinese Protestants {{Anglican-stub