Rudolf Lechler
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Rudolf Christian Friedrich Lechler () (26 July 1824 – 29 March 1908), 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 **Ger ...
Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
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
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 ...
, and is one of early leaders of the
Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...
evangelizing to the
Hakka people The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhe ...
. Lechler spent 52 years in China. The Basel Hakka Mission that he administered was responsible for establishing over 51 mission stations, 56 schools with over two thousand members. Lechler is known today for administering to the early
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
Christian church and, together with his mission coworkers, facilitated in the resettling of Hakka Christian communities fleeing from persecution to Southeast Asian countries of which new congregations such as the
Basel Christian Church of Malaysia The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia or BCCM ( ms, Gereja Kristian Basel Malaysia), formerly known as Borneo Basel Self Established Church, is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 112 congregations nationwide and 63,0 ...
and the
Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore The Lutheran Church in Malaysia or LCM ( ms, Gereja Lutheran di Malaysia) is one of four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 52 congregations nationwide with a total of 6,736 baptised members and is the largest entirely Lutheran body ...
were subsequently formed. Lechler appreciated China's cultural heritage and was able to preach in several
varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
, including
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
,
Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...
, and
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
, the last of which he knew well enough to help prepare a Romanized Hakka edition of the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
and
Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
. Today the Hakka Christian community is estimated to have 150,000 members worldwide.


Youth and early work

Lechler was born on 26 July 1824 to
pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
and
Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...
Gottlob Lechler. He initially joined the merchant industry as an apprentice. During this time, an illness in which he contracted resulted in his Christian faith being strengthened and in 1844 committed himself to becoming a missionary by entering a Mission school run by the Basel Mission. It was during this time that he became acquainted with
Theodore Hamberg Theodore Hamberg () (25 March 1819 – 13 May 1854) was a Swedish missionary and author active in China. He is known for his role in having authored an important account on the early Taiping rebellion and for his role in establishing Christian m ...
W. Schlatter, Rudolf Lechler: ''A Biography of the Basel Mission in China'' (Basel Mission Bookshop, 1911), pp. 1–23. During this time, the missionary
Karl Gützlaff Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1 ...
began touring churches in Western Europe and calling for missionary work to begin on the inland areas of China where no Westerner had ventured before. The
Rhenish Missionary Society The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river Rhine) was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and it ...
and the
Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...
heeded the call and arranged for Theodor and Lechler to set sail for China, arriving on March 19, 1847.


First Expedition to China

In 1838, the Basel Missionary residing in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, C. Krückeberg travelled to Macau to recuperate from an illness and during this time he met
Karl Gutzlaff Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
and began to take an interest in the mission work taking place in China. He recommended that the Basel Mission society also begin sending its workers to China. On the May 13, 1846, the
Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...
commissioned pastors
Theodore Hamberg Theodore Hamberg () (25 March 1819 – 13 May 1854) was a Swedish missionary and author active in China. He is known for his role in having authored an important account on the early Taiping rebellion and for his role in establishing Christian m ...
and
Rudolph Lechler Rudolph or Rudolf may refer to: People * Rudolph (name), the given name including a list of people with the name Religious figures * Rudolf of Fulda (died 865), 9th century monk, writer and theologian * Rudolf von Habsburg-Lothringen (1788 ...
to China. In the same year, the Barmen Mission resolved to send Heinrich Köster and Ferdinand Genähr to assist Gutzlaff. The four of them reached
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
on March 19. The
Berlin Missionary Society The Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) or ''Society for the Advancement of evangelistic Missions amongst the Heathen'' (German: '' Berliner Missionsgesellschaft'' or ''Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der evangelischen Missionen unter den Heiden'') was a ...
also sent pastors Newman and Schubert as missionaries to China. In the early year, the three mission societies had their own separate mission goals - Gutzlaff arranged for the Basel Church to be responsible for evangelizing the eastern
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
region, Lechler was to administer to the
Teochew people The Teochew people or Chaoshan people (rendered Têo-Swa in romanized Teoswa and Chaoshan in Standard Chinese also known as Teo-Swa in mainland China due to a change in place names) is anyone native to the historical Chaoshan region in south ...
in the
Chaozhou Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the Sou ...
and
Shantou Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...
areas, whereas Hamberg was minister to the Hakka population. The Barmen Mission workers were to be assigned the southeastern and western parts of the province where the language of the local population is predominantly
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
. The Berlin Mission Society was allotted the
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
area north of the Beijiang River to preach to both the local Hakka and Cantonese residents. This strategy continued until after the Boxer Incident when all three mission societies began to cooperate and jointly develop common goals amongst themselves.


See also

*
Theodore Hamberg Theodore Hamberg () (25 March 1819 – 13 May 1854) was a Swedish missionary and author active in China. He is known for his role in having authored an important account on the early Taiping rebellion and for his role in establishing Christian m ...
*
Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong The Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong or TTMHK () is one of the eight Lutheran bodies in Hong Kong. It currently has approximately 10,600 members. The current president of TTMHK is Elder Wong Fook Yee. History The TTMHK was established in its c ...


Notes


External links


The Legacy of Rudolf Christian Friedrich Lechler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lechler, Rudolph 1824 births 1908 deaths Translators of the Bible into Chinese German expatriates in China German evangelicals Protestant missionaries in China Protestant writers German Protestant missionaries 19th-century translators Missionary linguists