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(1940) New Pastors for Chinese Churches

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In 1940 the church in Long-gia-tsun [outpost of Oscar's] chose Yin-Ting-djeng to be their pastor. The church in Wangtai chose Ain-ying as their minister. The Kaomi church had at different times pastors Kao shing-han and Li Fang-dei. The principle of the Middle School in Kiaohsien was Wang Hwa-ting, and the Girls School Chi Drong-tang. The principle for the Primary School in Chucheng, Koa Kin-shi. Important matters were discussed in the Swedish-Chinese Conference and its Executive Committee.1

Also, a Bible school opened in 1940 in Kiaohsien.

The war had been going on for some time. Imported goods usually available at the Japanese market in Tsingtao were getting difficult or impossible to buy, one of the most important being toilet paper. When toilet paper disappeared from the store shelves the Swedish missionaries had to find a substitute. Their Chinese cook started buying Chinese prayer paper. Bought in sheets like wrapping paper, rolled up and tied with a string, the Chinese used this paper to cover the graves of their relatives after their visits to the cemetery. The paper was rough and not exactly absorbent, but it was better than nothing. A friend of the cook noticed that he was buying a lot of prayer paper for the missionaries.

"Why do the missionaries use so much prayer paper?", he asked.

"They pray a lot," the cook replied.

The lack of imported toilet paper was a problem for all the missionaries. The Swedes got by with prayer paper. The American missionaries, however, used Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs, which the Swedish missionaries did not receive. Sears and Montgomery Ward stores did not exist in Sweden.

Soon also to disappear from the Japanese market shelves was Carnation condensed milk. Fresh cow's milk was not available to the missionaries, so many used goat's milk, especially on their breakfast porridge in the mornings. Porridge was not a Chinese breakfast custom nor a Swedish breakfast custom actually. Egron and his brother picked up this habit of porridge when attending their British boarding school in Chefoo, China.2

Egron hated goat's milk, and wouldn't touch it. When Carnation condensed milk disappeared Gerda walked over to Hellen's house.

"Hellen, what can I do? Egron hates goats milk, and ther is no condensed milk to be had."

"Hmm. Carnation condensed milk is not pure white. It has a slight yellow tinge to it, and is a bit sweet. Yes?" Hellen asked.

"Yes, that's right."

"Take the goat's milk, add a little yellow food coloring to it, and a little sugar. Put the milk in that same milk pitcher you use every morning for breakfast. Try that."

Gerda did as Hellen suggested. Egron poured goats milk on his porridge for the rest of the war, and never realized it.3

Streets of Kiaohsien

Surrounded by two immense ancient walls most of Kiaohsien's [most?] of the town streets were narrow that the people walked or ride bicycles through. On the sides of the streets were hutungs where the [common?] people lived. Little Johnny at six years of age would ride his mother's bike over to the Reinbrechts compound. His mother was tall and did not exactly fit the body of a six year old, but it was a woman's bike with no center bar. So, Johnny rode the bike through the narrow streets standing up. At the Reinbrecht's house his friend Georgie would ride the bike the same way back to Johnny's house. Through the narrow crowded streets he yelled at people in Chinese to get out of the way, using terrible language. One day someone told his father. He never used bad language in the streets again. 78 Email from Georgie Reinbrecht to LJH, February 27, 2008.

Electricity

For a brief time when Dollan was about twelve years old, the Rinell family had electricity, provided by a new and first (small) electric plant in Kiaohsien. To go to electic plant you went by Egron's yard entrance, in the distance you'd see the round brick chimney, about four stories high, went by the house of the Chinese lady who didn't have a nose, and straight on. Shades of grey smoke came out of the chimney.

One may guess the plant burned coal, which converted water to steam, which turned electric-generating turbines. However, the electric 'plant' literally blew up, but not before they were able to tie into the minimal electricity grid. Oscar and Hellen had one dimmly burning electric light bulp dangling from the center of their [dining room?] ceiling. The joke in the family was the need to locate the flash light to verify that the light bulb was indeed turned on. The fate of the electric plant did not have a profound effect on the daily life of the Rinells. Kerosine and peanut oil technolgy on as it had always done.

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Footnotes

  1. For this info see, "The Swedish Baptist Mission in Shantung" by Oscar Rinell in Rinell Documents binder in the archives of Lennart Holmquist. Also, see this article for a breakdown of number of missionaries, workers, students, schools, and clinics.

2. The rest of the family ate porridge too, with a topping of malt syrup. See email from Lennart Holmquist to Dollan Brown on September 3, 2007 and the email response from Dollan Brown on the same day.

3. Toilet paper and Carnation instant milk stories from phone conversation with Dollan (Brown) Rinell, 29 July 2007

CHAPTER

Foreign Devils: A Swedish Family in China 1894 to 1951
© 2012-14 Lennart Holmquist
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Updated: 02-May-2019

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