Karl Gützlaff
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Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
to the Far East, notable as one of the first
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1832). He was also the first Lutheran missionary to China. He was a magistrate in Ningpo and Chusan and the second Chinese Secretary of the British administration in Hong Kong. He wrote widely read books and served as interpreter for British diplomatic missions during the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
. Gützlaff was one of the first Protestant missionaries in China to wear Chinese clothing. He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1839.


Early life

Born at Pyritz (present-day
Pyrzyce Pyrzyce ( csb, Përzëca; formerly german: Pyritz) is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland. As of 2007, it had 13,331 inhabitants. Pyrzycw is the capital of the Pyrzyce County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), which was previousl ...
),
Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
, he was apprenticed to a
saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
r in
Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...
, but was able to secure admission to Pädagogium in Halle, and associated himself with the Janike Institute in Berlin. The
Netherlands Missionary Society The Netherlands Missionary Society (Dutch: ''Nederlandsch Zendelinggenootschap'') was a Dutch Protestant missionary society founded in 1797 in Rotterdam that was involved in sending workers to countries such as Indonesia during the Dutch occupation ...
sent him to
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
in 1826, where he learned Chinese. Gutzlaff left the society in 1828, and went first to
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, then to
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
with
Jacob Tomlin Jacob Tomlin (1793 — 1880) was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society during the late Qing Dynasty in China. Tomlin and Karl Gutzlaff Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of peo ...
of the
London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...
, where he worked on a translation of the Bible into
Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...
. He made a brief trip to Singapore in December 1829, where he married a single English missionary, Maria Newell. The two returned to Bangkok in February 1830 where they worked on a dictionary of
Cambodian Cambodian usually refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia ** Cambodian people (or Khmer people) ** Cambodian language (or Khmer language) ** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia ** Fo ...
and Lao. Before the work was completed, however, Maria died in childbirth, leaving a considerable inheritance. Gützlaff married again, this time to Mary Wanstall, in 1834. The second Mrs. Gützlaff ran a school and a home for the blind in Macau.


China

In Macau, and later in Hong Kong, Gützlaff worked on a Chinese translation of the Bible, published a Chinese-language magazine, ''
Eastern Western Monthly Magazine ''Eastern Western Monthly Magazine'' was the inaugural modern-age Chinese language magazine first published on August 1, 1833 in Canton (Guangzhou), China by the Prussian Protestant Missionary Karl Gützlaff at a time when foreign missionaries ...
'', and wrote Chinese-language books on practical subjects. Along with
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
staff Hugh Hamilton Lindsay, Gutzlaff joined a clandestine reconnaissance that visited
Amoy 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, ...
,
Foochow Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
,
Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, Shanghai and the
Shantung Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
coast. He published ''Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832 and 1833'' in 1834 after the six-month voyage. Along the way he handed out
tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...
s which had been prepared by another pioneer missionary to China, Robert Morrison. In late 1833, he acted as naturalist George Bennett's Cantonese interpreter on his visit to Canton. In 1840, Gützlaff (under the anglicized name Charles Gutzlaff) became part of a group of four people (with
Walter Henry Medhurst Walter Henry Medhurst (29 April 179624 January 1857), was an English Congregationalist missionary to China, born in London and educated at St Paul's School. He was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese-language editions. Earl ...
,
Elijah Coleman Bridgman Elijah Coleman Bridgman (April22, 1801November2, 1861) was the first American Protestant Christian missionary appointed to China. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of the first few Protestant missionarie ...
, and
John Robert Morrison John Robert Morrison (; 17 April 1814 – 29 August 1843) was a British interpreter and colonial official in China. Born in Macau, his father was Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in China. After his father's death in 1834, Morri ...
) who cooperated to translate the Bible into Chinese. The translation of the
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
part was done mostly by Gützlaff, with the exception that the
Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...
and the
Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...
were done by the group collectively. This translation, completed in 1847, is well-known due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader
Hong Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
of the Taipingtianguo movement (who started the
Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
) as some of the reputed early doctrines of the organization. This Bible translation was a version (in High Wen-li, ) correct and faithful to the original. In the 1830s, Gützlaff was persuaded by William Jardine of Jardine, Matheson & Co. to interpret for their ships' captains during coastal smuggling of
opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
, with the assurance that this would allow him to gather more converts. He was interpreter to the British Plenipotentiary in negotiations during the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
of 1839–42, then magistrate at
Ningpo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sa ...
and Chusan. He was appointed the first assistant Chinese Secretary of the new colony of Hong Kong in 1842 and was promoted to Chinese Secretary in August of the following year. In response to the Chinese government's unwillingness to allow foreigners into the interior, he founded a school for "native missionaries" in 1844 and trained nearly fifty Chinese during its first four years. It was observed by a visitor to Hong Kong in 1848 that Gützlaff had turned his back on being a missionary and become a corpulent figure enjoying a large civil service salary. Gützlaff's second wife, Mary, died in 1849 in Singapore, and was buried there. Unfortunately, Gützlaff's ideas outran his administrative ability. He wound up being victimized by his own native missionaries. They reported back to him glowing accounts of conversions and New Testaments sold. While some of Gützlaff's native missionaries were genuine converts, others were opium addicts who never traveled to the places they claimed. Eager for easy money, they simply made up conversion reports and took the New Testaments which Gützlaff provided and sold them back to the printer who resold them to Gützlaff. The scandal erupted while Gützlaff was in Europe on a fundraising tour. Gützlaff married a third time, to Dorothy Gabriel, while in England in 1850. Shattered by the exposure of the fraud, Gützlaff died in Hong Kong in 1851, leaving a £30,000 fortune. He was buried in
Hong Kong Cemetery Hong Kong Cemetery, formerly Hong Kong (Happy Valley) Cemetery and before that Hong Kong Colonial Cemetery, is one of the early Christian cemeteries in Hong Kong dating to its colonial era beginning in 1845. It is located beside the racecourse ...
.


Legacy

The Chinese Evangelization Society which he formed lived on to send out
Hudson Taylor James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was respons ...
who founded the successful
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 ...
. Taylor called Gützlaff the grandfather of the China Inland Mission.


Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China

On 29November 1834, Gutzlaff became a member of the newly formed "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China". The committee members represented a wide section of the business and missionary community in Canton:
James Matheson Sir James Nicolas Sutherland Matheson, 1st Baronet, FRS (17 November 179631 December 1878), was a Scottish Tai-Pan. Born in Shiness, Lairg, Sutherland, Scotland, he was the son of Captain Donald Matheson. He attended Edinburgh's Royal High Sc ...
(Chairman),
David Olyphant David Washington Cincinnatus Olyphant (March7, 1789June10, 1851) was an American Old China Trade, trader in the Far East and "the father of the American Mission to China". He was an elected member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign ...
, William Wetmore, James Innes, Thomas Fox,
Elijah Coleman Bridgman Elijah Coleman Bridgman (April22, 1801November2, 1861) was the first American Protestant Christian missionary appointed to China. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of the first few Protestant missionarie ...
, and
John Robert Morrison John Robert Morrison (; 17 April 1814 – 29 August 1843) was a British interpreter and colonial official in China. Born in Macau, his father was Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in China. After his father's death in 1834, Morri ...
.
John Francis Davis Sir John Francis Davis, 1st Baronet (16 July 179513 November 1890) was a British diplomat and sinologist who served as second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848. Davis was the first President of Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. Backgrou ...
, at that time chief superintendent of British trade in China, was made an honorary member. Gutzlaff Street in Hong Kong was named after him.


Influences

Gützlaff's writing influenced both
David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
and
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
. David Livingstone read Gützlaff's "Appeal to the Churches of Britain and America on Behalf of China" and decided to become a medical missionary. Unfortunately, it was 1840, and the outbreak of the First Opium War made China too dangerous for foreigners. So the London Missionary Society sent him to Africa, where (in 1871)
Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa Cen ...
would find him working hard in
Ujiji Ujiji is a historic town located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania. The town is the oldest in western Tanzania. In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 41,000. The site is a registered National His ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. While Gützlaff was fundraising in Europe in 1850, Karl Marx went to hear him speak in London. He also read Gützlaff's many writings, which became sources for Karl Marx' articles on China for the London ''Times'' and the ''New York Daily Tribune'' in the 1840s and 1850s, all of which are anti-imperialist and anti-religion.


Works

* ''A Sketch of Chinese History, Ancient and Modern'' (London, 1834, German version in 1847)
Volume OneVolume Two
* Volume One * * * , under pseudonym "Philo-Sinensis" *


Archives

Papers of and relating to Karl Gützlaff are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* Lutz, Jessie Gregory. ''Opening China: Karl F.A. Gützlaff and Sino-Western Relations, 1827–1852''. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008. . * Herman Schlyter, ''Der China-Missionar Karl Gützlaff und seine Heimatbasis: Studien über das Interesse des Abendlandes an der Mission des China-Pioniers Karl Gützlaff und über seinen Einsatz als Missionserwecker'' (Lund: LiberLäromedel/Gleerup, 1976) *
Winfried Scharlau Winfried Scharlau (12 August 1940, in Berlin – 26 November 2020) was a German mathematician. Biography Scharlau received his doctorate in 1967 from the University of Bonn. His doctoral thesis ''Quadratische Formen und Galois-Cohomologie'' (Qua ...
(ed.), ''Gützlaffs Bericht über drei Reisen in den Seeprovinzen Chinas 1831–1833'' (Hamburg: Abera Verlag, 1997) * Thoralf Klein/Reinhard Zöllner (eds.), ''Karl Gützlaff (1803–1851) und das Christentum in Ostasien: Ein Missionar zwischen den Kulturen'' (Nettetal: Institut Monumenta Serica, Sankt Augustin/Steyler Verlag, 2005) * *


Further reading

*


External links


Scanned version of the <''Journal of Three Voyages''> at Singapore


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20130118052252/http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/g/gutzlaff-karl-friedrich-august.php "Gutzlaff, Karl Friedrich August," Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutzlaff, Karl 1803 births 1851 deaths People from Pyrzyce Lutheran missionaries in China German expatriates in China Lutheran missionaries in Thailand German Lutheran missionaries German evangelicals German lexicographers People from the Province of Pomerania Translators of the Bible into Chinese Translators of the Bible into Thai 19th-century translators 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German expatriates in Thailand German expatriates in Korea Lutheran missionaries in Korea German male non-fiction writers 19th-century Lutherans Missionary linguists 19th-century lexicographers German magazine founders