The Kucheng massacre (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ''Gǔtián Jiào'àn''; Foochow Romanized: ''Kŭ-chèng Gáu-áng'') was a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

of Western Christians that took place at Gutian (at that time known in the west as ''Kucheng'')

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 cap ...

, China on August 1, 1895. At dawn of that day, a fasting folk religious group attacked

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

missionaries who were then taking summer holidays at Gutian Huashan, killing eleven people and destroying two houses. The Kucheng Massacre is considered one of the worst attacks against foreigners in China prior to the

Boxer Movement The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in 1899–1901, the only comparable event in China's missionary history being the

Tianjin Massacre The Tientsin Massacre (), was an attack on Christian missionaries and converts in the late 19th century during the late Qing dynasty. 60 people died in attacks on French Catholic priests and nuns. There was intense belligerence from French diploma ...

in 1870.

Background

In 1892, a religious movement called ''zhaijiao'' ("fasting school", so called because their followers took vows of vegetarianism) began assuming the functions of government due to the decrepit condition of Qing dynasty government in the Gutian region. They resolved disputes between villagers, banned opium, and ended the local practice of selling wives to multiple husbands. Gutian police decided not to intervene in this displacement of the functions of government. Christian missionaries were unhappy with these circumstances and asked the provincial officials to send in their own troops. In response, fasting-religion leaders decided to defend their rebellion with violence. The last letter from the murdered English missionary Robert Warren Stewart, dated April 8, describes the critical situation of affairs at Gutian:

Events

On August 1, 1895, at the time of the initial outbreak, the family of Robert W. Stewart and the other ladies were still asleep in their hill village at Gutian Huashan (). The Vegetarian mob then broke in, speared the victims to death, and burnt down the houses. Only five persons survived the attack, two of whom were Mr. Stewart's children: one had one knee broken, and the other, a baby, had an eye gouged out. Those murdered at Huashan were:Maggillivray, Donald, (1907): ''A Century of Protestant Mission in China (1807-1907)'',

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 flowin ...

American Presbyterian Mission Press American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Aftermath

The Qing government had suppressed the news for three days before an official telegraph was sent out from

on August 4. Western countries strongly condemned China for its connivance with the brutality and indignantly urged the guilty be punished. Under the pressure of foreign military force, the Qing government appointed a Commission of Enquiry consisting of both Chinese officials and British diplomats. All principals were soon executed, and other accessories were either banished or sentenced to life imprisonment. The supervisor of Gutian county Wang Rulin () was also dismissed from office. Stephen Livingston Baldwin, Secretary of the

Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

in China, commented on the massacre in an interview from ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'': The newspapers also recommended that "Great Britain and the United States ... combine to teach the Chinese a lesson that will cause foreigners to be respected forever". The bodies of the victims were buried at the mission cemetery of Fuzhou.

Footnotes

External links

Robert and Louisa Stewart: In Life and in Death

Nellie, Topsy and Annie - Australian Anglican Martyrs, Fujian Province, China, 1 August 1895

Kucheng Massacre - Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 10404, 5 September 1895, Page 2

Graves of the Missionaries Murdered near Foochow
{{coord, 26, 37, 24, N, 118, 51, 29, E, region:CN-35_type:adm2nd_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Conflicts in 1895 Mass murder in 1895 Massacres in 1895 Foreign relations of the Qing dynasty History of Christianity in China Massacres in China History of Fujian 1895 in China Massacres of Christians British people murdered abroad August 1895 events 1895 murders in China Persecution of Protestants

Background

Events

Aftermath

See also

Footnotes

External links