A Myth Become Reality. History and Development of the Miao Written Language [1] 9171532692

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Joakim Enwall

A Myth Become Reality History and Development of the Miao Written Language Volume 1

A Myth Become Reality History

and

Development

of the

Miao Written Language

Volume 1

By Joakim Enwall, B.A. Doctoral Dissertation 1994 Department of Chinese Studies Institute of Oriental Languages Stockholm University

To Be Publicly Defended on September 17, 1994, at 10.00 A.M. in the Aula, Kräftriket 4

Abstract This dissertation, volume one of the study A Myth Become Reality - History and Development of the Miao Written Language, contains historical descriptions and graphonomic analyses of the Miao writing systems devised in China before 1949. The first volume contains an introduction and parts I and II out of four parts. In the introduction the author discusses the notion ‘Miao’, the Miao dialects and presents their phonological systems. Part I deals with the Miao myth about a prehistoric writing system which has subsequently been lost and with undeciphered writing systems, usually referred to as examples of Miao writing. Part II is concerned with the efforts of various missionaries, mainly British and American, to devise writing systems for Miao in order to translate Christian literature. As the Pollard script for the A-Hmao dialect is still widely employed and the writing system devised for Hmu has left few traces, the author has analysed both writing systems in detail, especially their allegedly deficient tone marking systems in order to find a reason for this difference in success. No substantial differences in the exactness of representation have, however, been found, so the causes have to be sought elsewhere, both in the reinterpretation of the writing systems in accordance with the myth about the loss of writing, and in the differences in bilingual competence, economic development etc., factors which will be discussed in more detail, especially in view of the developments after 1949, in the general conclusions to volume 2 of this study. In the analysis of the Pollard script, the author shows that the Pollard script is more widely used than earlier believed, and that this is due to its simplicity, especially its ingenious tone marking system, and the dissimilarity from other scripts, a trait which made the A-Hmao feel that this was their own national writing, and not a writing system adapted from another language. © 1994, Joakim Enwall ISBN 91-7153-269-2 ISSN 1101-5993

Joakim En wall

A Myth Become Reality History and Development of the Miao Written Language Volume 1

Stockholm East Asian Monographs no. 5

This dissertation, volume one of the study A Myth Become Reality - History and Development of the Miao Written Language, contains historical descriptions and graphonomic analyses of the Miao writing systems devised in China before 1949. The first volume contains an introduction and parts I and II out of four parts. In the introduction the author discusses the notion ‘Miao’, the Miao dialects and presents their phonological systems. Part I deals with the Miao myth about a prehistoric writing system which has subsequendy been lost and with undeciphered writing systems, usually referred to as examples of Miao writing. Part II is concerned with the efforts of various missionaries, mainly British and American, to devise writing systems for Miao in order to translate Christian literature. As the Pollard script for the A-Hmao dialect is still widely employed and the writing system devised for Hmu has left few traces, the author has analysed both writing systems in detail, especially their allegedly deficient tone marking systems in order to find a reason for this difference in success. No substantial differences in the exactness of representation have, however, been found, so the causes have to be sought elsewhere, both in the reinterpretation of the writing systems in accordance with the myth about the loss of writing, and in the differences in bilingual competence, economic development etc., factors which will be discussed in more detail, especially in view of the developments after 1949, in the general conclusions to volume 2 of this study. In the analysis of the Pollard script, the author shows that the Pollard script is more widely used than earlier believed, and that this is due to its simplicity, especially its ingenious tone marking system, and the dissimilarity from other scripts, a trait which made the A-Hmao feel that this was their own national writing, and not a writing system adapted from another language.

Published by the Institute of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University ©Joakim Enwall Layout and cover design by Susanna & Thomas Hellsing Cover illustration: Pollard script ‘Oh, Closer God, to Thee’ in A-Hmao and one of Lu Ciyun’s Miao characters Printed by Graphic Systems, Stockholm ISBN 91-7153-269-2 ISSN 1101-5993

- Liu Er, please, said the professor. The student Liu Er stood up, in his hand there was a book with a dark blue cover. - Professor Ma, you told us that the Miao people, living in the south of our country, did not have writing. This Sunday I was at the Central Library and got acquainted with a book by the Czech scholar Loukotka - he claims the opposite. Liu Er went to the professor and handed him the book. -You already read Russian, Liu Er, that is very commendable [...]. The professor opened the book, and, after some pondering he said: - On your question, Liu Er, the answer can be very short or very long. The short one is that Loukotka repeated the mistakes of the French writers Devéria and d’Ollone, and for the long answer we have no time now. It is a curious, but confused story. - Professor Ma - the students became interested - tell us why Devéria and d’Ollone were wrong and what they mistook as Miao writing. - No, my young friends, now you rest, have lunch and, if the interest does not decline, come this evening to the Department for the Peoples of the Southwest, there we will have a talk. R G Its, ‘V poiskax mjaoskogo manuskripta’, Vokrug sveta, 1955, no. 4, p. 39.

De todas formas, el hecho de que los mismos miaotse niegen tener escritura no es suficiente prueba para creerlo, pues podrian poseer una escritura criptica desconocida para todos excepto para unos cuantos versados que tendrian interés en mantenerla secreta, [...]. Manuel Aguirre, La Escritura en el mundo, 1961, p. 92.

Acknowledgments In preparing this thesis I have received help from many of the persons engaged in Miaology and neighbouring fields, both in China and in other countries. I am especially indebted to my teachers in Peking, Professor Wang Fushi 3£3StS and Mr Wang Deguang of the Research Institute of Nationalities (CASS) and Professor Dai Qingxia MBtW, Professor Chen Qiguang Mr Pan Wenzhong and Mr Shi Rujin of the Central Institute of Nationalities in Peking. During my trips in the Miao areas I was helped by a great number of people, and it is only possible to mention a few of them: Mr Zhang Jinwen of the Xiangxi Nationalities Affairs Commission, Mr Pan Shihua ?# täÜ of the Guizhou NAC, Mr Pan Yuan’en of the Qiangdongnan NAC, Mr Yang Zhongde and Mr Zhang Youlun $lWfÉ in Weining, Mr Yang Yingxin and Mrs Yang Zhaofei of the Yunnan Nationalities Language Commission, Mr Yang Qingbai É3 of the Sichuan NAC, Mr Long Zhengxue fUE#! of the Southwest Institute of Nationalities in Chengdu and Mr Fang Yunzang in Canton. My two field-work assistants, Mr Yang Yadong #55Ä of the Guizhou NAC and Mr Xiong Yuyou of the Yunnan Nationality Language Commission have had enormous patience in helping me during my trips to Guizhou and Yunnan. Outside China I have been in touch with most people engaged in Miaology, and I particularly want to thank Rev R Keith Parsons in Torquay, Rev P Kenneth Parsons on the Isle of Wight, Dr David Bradley at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Mrs Faith Ledgard in Sydney, Dr Nerida Jarkey in Uppsala/Canberra, Dr Nicholas Tapp at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Gary Lee and Mr Pao Lee in Sydney. My supervisor Professor Torbjörn Lodén and my former supervisor, Professor emeritus Göran Malmqvist, who also came up with the idea of investigating one of China’s minority languages, have both helped me a great deal in arranging contacts with relevant persons in China and also with the funding of my field trips, and have, in addition, given me much encouragement at various stages of this work. Many librarians have spared no effort to help me with the necessary materials, and have also granted me permission to use the unpublished manuscripts in their collections. I am particularly grateful for the help I have recieved at the University Library of Gothenburg, the British Library, the SOAS Library, Bible Society’s Library at Cambridge University Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the library of the Central University of Nationalities in Peking, the National Library of China, the library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Fu Ssu-nien Library in Taipei, the Australian National Library in Canberra and the library and archives at the Bible College of Victoria, Melbourne.

Mr Per Aarne Fritzon has helped me with the Miao fonts and Mr Roberto Menkes has assisted with other computer technology. Mr Bradley Kendall and Mr Folke Sandgren have provided valuable comments both on the language and the contents. The vice-secretary of the Chinese Esperanto association, Mr Zhu Mingyi tøBØH, has arranged many valuable contacts among the Esperantists in the south of China. Furthermore, I want to thank Dr William Smith for polishing my English. I wish to express my gratitude for generous financial support from the King Gustaf VI Adolf Foundation for Swedish Culture, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, The Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation, The Helge Axrson Johnson Foundation and the China Committee in Stockholm, which has made possible several field trips to the Miao areas. The basic research was carried out thanks to an exchange scholarship at the Central Institute of Nationalities in Peking (1989-91), granted by the Chinese Commission of Higher Education.

List

of

Contents

Acknowledgements Preface

4 10

Introduction Miao

13

The Miao Language

17

The Miao Dialects

20

Phonology of the Miao Dialects 25 28

Ghao-Xong Hmu Hmong A-Hmao

32

Writing

36

State of Research

39

Sources

41

Spelling, Symbols and Abbreviations

42

29

Part I. Myth and Indigenous Writing Systems Preliminaries

45

The Myth

47

Writing and Embroidery Eating Books and Getting a Good Memory Books Lost and Later Brought Back

47 52 54

Early Mnemotechnic Methods

56

Early Indigenous Writing Systems

59

Lu Ciyun The Baoqing fuzhi and the Chengbu Stele The Leigongshan Stele

59 67

Chinese Character-based Writing

75

D’Ollone Chinese Character-based Writing in Western Hunan Further Development of the Chinese Character-based Writing in Western Hunan

77 83 87

Part II. Missionary Writing Systems Writing Systems Devised by Catholic Missionaries

89

Early Protestant Mission

92

China Inland Mission in Guizhou (before 1915)

93

J R Adam’s Mission at Anshun Contacts with the A-Hmao The Gebu Church Adam’s A-Hmao Writing Expansion of the Mission

93 94 96 97 99

The Methodist Mission before 1915

102

Samuel Pollard The A-Hmao Movement Starts The Pollard Script Stone Gateway The First Books in A-Hmao Development of the Mission

102 103 104 107 107 110

CIM Mission in Yunnan before 1915

114

CIM Mission among the Hmu before 1912

117

Early Mission among the Hmu Panghai The Murder of William S Fleming Reestablishing the Panghai Mission Robert Powell

117 117 119 119 121

CIM in Guizhou after 1915

122

Changes after Adam’s Death After the Long March

122 124

The Mission at Stone Gateway after Pollard’s Death

129

Organizational Changes Indigenization of the Church The Last Years of the Foreign Mission

130 131 134

CIM in Yunnan after 1915

137

Developments in the ’40s

138

Mission among the Sichuan Hmong

140

Methodist Mission CIM in South Sichuan

141 144

Mission among the Hmu after 1912

146

Maurice H Hutton NPS-Writing Missionary Activities during the ’20s Back to Panghai in 1930 Panghai after Hutton’s Return to Australia

147 149 150 151 155

Ge (Keh Deo) Writing

158

The Debate about Pollard’s and Adam’s Writing Systems for A-Hmao

161

The Development of the Pollard script 1904-1949

163

Questions Concerning the Phonemic System of A-Hmao The Experiment in 1904 The First A-Hmao Primers Tone Marking in the Pollard Script The Gospel Texts Changes after Pollard’s Death The Letters of the Pollard Script

163 166 172 174 176 180 185

Analysis of Adam’s A-Hmao Writing

190

Analysis of the Sichuan Hmong Pollard Script

192

The Latin-based Hmu Writing

195

Hutton’s Hmu Writing

197

Hutton’s NPS-writing for Hmu Analysis of Hutton’s Orthography Tone Marking Hutton’s List of NPS Letters and their Actual Values

197 199 203 210

Concluding Remarks Regarding the Missionary Writing Systems

213

Hie Number of Christians and the Number who Learnt the Missionary Writing Systems Differences between the Miao Areas The Miao Attitude towards Chinese and Miao Differences Between the Writing Systems Myth and Reality

213 218 221 223 225

Bibliograhies Bibliography of Works in Missionary Writing Systems

229

A-Hmao (Adam’s Latin-based Writing) Pollard Script A-Hmao (before 1952) Pollard Script Hmong (Chuan Miao and Small Flowery Miao) Latin-based Hmu Writing (pre-1949) NPS- Writing for Hmu NPS- Writing for Keh Deo

229

Unpublished Sources

239

Manuscripts Letters to the author Personal Communications

239 240 241

Bibliography to Volume 1

243

230 235 236 237 238

Preface The main purpose of this thesis is to describe the history of the Miao writing systems encountered in China, and to provide some theoretical discussions on related topics. As so much is still unknown about the history of Miao writing I consider it of utmost importance to provide a fairly accurate description of the historical background. I became interested in the history of Miao writing while studying the Miao language at the Central Institute of Nationalities, now renamed the Central University of Nationalities, in Peking, and I soon realized that very little had been achieved in this field, although many works had already been published. The main characteristic of an overwhelming majority of the references to Miao writing found in books and articles, Chinese and nonChinese alike, is the repetition of earlier mistakes and misunderstandings, often combined with groundless speculations and political-ideological mishmash. Prejudice or idealization take the place of analyses of the relevant sources, including the various writing systems actually existing. There has also been too much credulity and wishful thinking among Western writers basing themselves on Chinese sources, and this has led to conclusions far removed from the Miao reality even among people engaged in or at least partly dealing with Miaology. My descriptions are long and detailed as the source materials are scattered and often incompatible, and hence leave many lacunae in the historical development. In this way I avoid conclusions which lack an actual foundation in the available materials. Furthermore, many of the texts quoted are so difficult to find that it would be unfair to the reader if I only were to provide the references. This study is divided into four parts and also contains an introduction to the Miao language and detailed bibliographies of books published in Miao. For practical reasons it has been necessary to divide it into two volumes, although they are quite closely connected. The first volume, which contains parts I and II, is concerned with the history of the writing systems until the establishment of the PRC and the second volume, containing parts III and IV, deals mainly with the the development after 1949. The second volume also contains a discussion of the subsequent mythologization of Miao writing systems. Part I consists of an account of the Miao myths of a lost writing system and early, still extant writing systems of more or less obscure origin; part II is dedicated to the efforts of various missionaries, mainly British and Australian, to devise writing systems for the Miao language. Part III is concerned with the development of the Miao written language from 1949 until about 1991, a period during which, at times, much has been done to devise and propagate io

writing systems for the Miao language. This part also takes up the policies towards Miao writing during the Republican period (1911—49). The fourth and last part is dedicated to the factors underlying the Miao reaction on writing as a concept, and to the mythologization of various writing systems of well-known origin. Furthermore it deals with writing systems developed in accordance with the Miao tradition of an early lost writing system. Each part contains the history of the writing systems concerned, detailed analyses of most of them, sample texts, the state of research and an estimate of the number of people who have actually learnt the writing system in question. The historical side and the more linguistic-bibliographical side are clearly divided, as the intention is that the thesis be readable for varying audiences; not all literacy researchers are interested in the technicalities of various orthographies; not all linguists need necessarily be acquainted with the discussions and debates preceding the devising of a writing system. In this way it should also be easier for those working in neighbouring fields to find references. As the Miao writing systems used outside China have already been analysed, I will refer to them only en passant and as a point of reference while discussing Miao writing in China. Of course, the Miao groups in China and those outside have much in common, but for practical reasons I have found it necessary to set up these limitations, especially as the material on the Miao outside China is available elsewhere, while the Chinese situation has hitherto not been described, probably due both to the relative difficulty in gaining access to relevant source material and lack of field experience. The thesis is written within the framework of Sinology, a science which can be defined in various ways. I fully agree with Bernhard Karlgren’s ‘II n’y a guère de science qui embrasse un plus vaste domaine que la sinologie’, and I thus feel free to use a rather wide definition, corresponding to the Chinese term zhöngguöxué ‘China studies’, rather than hànxué ‘Studies in the tradition of Han-dynasty scholars’. Hence, I include topics like linguistics (graphonomy, phonetics), sociolinguistics (bilingualism, neologisms, literacy campaigns), history, missiology, political science, bibliography and anthropology. I sincerely hope that this thesis within the relatively young science of Miaology shall serve as a point of departure for future researchers in this fascinating field of study, and not only be considered as ‘fit for covering sauce jars’.

Map of the Miao Areas

Introduction Miao The Miao people is one of the indigenous peoples of China. They live mainly in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hubei in south China. The number of Miao living in China was 7,398,035 for 1 July 1990,12 including the ‘Miao’ of the Hainan Province, who are actually a subgroup of the Yao. Due to migrations starting in the eighteenth century, they also live outside China, in: Thailand Laos Vietnam Burma

91,5373 250.0004 400.0005 10,0006

Almost all the Miao living outside China belong to the Hmong subgroup and as a result of recent migrations in the aftermath of the Indochinese wars there are now quite a few Hmong living in other parts of the world: United States France French Guiana Australia

100,0007 10,0008 1,5009 10 1,000"

1 This general discussion about the Miao has earlier been published (slighdy different) as ‘Miao or Hmong?’, (1992), pp. 25-6. 2 1990 census. 3 In Oct. 1992. Cf. Tribal Research Institute in Chiang Mai, Tribal Population Summary in Thailand, 1992. 4 Philippe Chanson, ‘Les Hmong: portrait d’un peuple méconnu’, (1993), p. 9. 5 Li Guo, Xu Shaoli, Yuenan minzu, 1989, p. 142. 6 Haiv Hmoob, 1987, no. 2. Quoted from Xiong Yuyou, Kuaguo miaoyu bijiao yanjiu — Chuanqiandian miaoyu guowai yu guonei de bijiao, 1992, unpubl. MA thesis, p. 3. 7 Philippe Chanson, ‘Les Hmong: portrait d’un peuple méconnu’, (1993), p. 9. 8 Philippe Chanson, ‘Les Hmong: portrait d’un peuple méconnu’, (1993), p. 9. 9 Haiv Hmoob, 1987, no. 2. Quoted from Xiong Yuyou, Kuaguo miaoyu bijiao yanjiu — Chuanqiandian miaoyu guowai yu guonei de bijiao, 1992, unpubl. MA thesis, p. 3. 10 Pao Lee, personal communication, Sydney, 3 May 1992.

Altogether there are approximately eight million Miao, out of which some six or seven millions speak the Miao language. This language, which consists of 30-40 mutually unintelligible dialects, belongs, together with the Bunu language, to the Miao branch of the Miao-Yao language family." Culturally, the Bunu are Yao, and the so called Miao of Hainan speak Yao, and therefore those two groups are not included in my study.11 12 The groups included are both culturally and linguistically Miao. The term Miao was first used by the Chinese in pre-Qin times, i.e. before 221 bc, for designating non-Chinese groups living south of the Han Chinese area. It was often used in the combinations miâomin ffiK, yôumiâo and sânmiâo HI?. At that time the Miao people hved in the Yangtze valley, but later they were forced by the Han Chinese to move further southwards. During the Tang (ad 613-907) and Song dynasties (ad 960-1279) the term nânmân MjË ‘southern barbarians’ was used for the same peoples. However, the name miâo reappeared in Fan Chuo’s Manshu, a book on the southern tribes, in AD 862. During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) miâo and mân were both used, the second possibly mainly to designate the Yao people.13 Western scholars do not treat the terminological problems in a uniform way. Early writers used Chinese-based names in various transcriptions: miao, miao-tse, miao-tsze, Meau, meo, méo, miao-tseu etc., but due to the influence of the Hmong of Laos (a sub-group of the Miao people) some contemporary scholars have adopted another terminology. Judith Wheaton Fuller, in her PhD dissertation, defined the Miao language as ‘the hmongic (Miao) branch of the Miao-Yao language family’.14 The American missionary linguist William A Smalley uses the term Miao for the Miao of China, while using the term Hmong: (1) as a general term for the entire people, and (2) as a specific term for the speakers of the Hmong dialect spoken by one part of the Miao in China and by almost all Miao outside China. This results in statements like ‘In the eighteenth century antagonism between the Miao peoples and ethnic Chinese came to a head as some Hmong revolted against steady Chinese incursion into the areas where they hved, [...]’.15 To the 11 There are several intermediary groups between Miao and Yao: Pa Hng (including Na-e), Hm Nai, Kiong Nai, Yu Nuo and Ho Nte or She #. Cf. David Strecker, ‘Some Comments on Benedict’s “Miao-Yao Enigma: the Na-e language’”, (1987), p. 22; and Chen Qiguang, ‘Sheyu zai Miao-Yao yuzu zhong de diwei’, (1984), pp. 200-14. n Cf. Lu Yichang, ‘Hainandao miaozu de yuyan ji qi xishu’, (1987), pp. 53-63. 13 For a detailed discussion on the terminology see Ruey Yih-fu, ‘A Study of the Miao People’, 1967, pp. 49-58; and Its, ‘Mjao - istoriko-êtnografîCeskij oöerk’, 1960, pp. 38-49. 14 J Wheaton Fuller, Topic and Comment in Hmong, 1985. This usage also appears in David Strecker’s preface to vol. 10, no. 2 of LTBA, Fall 1987, a volume dedicated entirely to the Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao) language family. 15 W A Smalley, Chia Koua Vang and Gnia Yee Yang, Mother of Writing, 1990, p. 3.

present writer, at least, this appears somewhat confusing. The Miao themselves use various self-designations: [qo35 çoq35] (west Hunan); [mu33], [qa33 no13], [ire33] (all for speakers of the same dialect in southeast Guizhou); [a55 mau54] (northwest Guizhou and northeast Yunnan) and [moi]43] (south Sichuan, west Guizhou and south Yunnan). There is no Miao word in any dialect which denotes the whole people as opposed to the sub-group. In China the Miao use either their own self-designation or the self-designation of the group they are talking about. Thus only one group out of four uses the term Hmong. Furthermore, it is only this group which has speakers living outside China. It is these non-Chinese Hmong who advocate that the term Hmong be used not only for designating their dialect group, but also for the other groups living in China. They generally claim that the word Miao is a derogatory term which should not be used at all. Instead the term Hmong is to be used to designate all groups of the people.16 Dr Yang Dao, one of the leading Hmong intellectuals, wrote: ‘These [Chinese] invaders gave to the Hmong the appelation “Miao,” which later became “Meo” and which means “barbarian” - an expression formerly used, in Europe, by the Romans to designate other peoples.’17 This meaning is not found in any dictionary available to me. There is, thus, no lexical correspondence between the word Miao and the meaning ‘barbarian’. I suppose that Yang Dao based his statement more on prejudice than on textual research. His argument is thus based on the erroneous assumption that Miao has the meaning ‘barbarian’. The Chinese word miâo has been taken over by other peoples in southeast Asia, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai etc. in the form ‘meo’. Though many of the speakers of those languages (and of Chinese) undoubtedly consider the Miao to be barbarians, this by no means proves that the word itself has that denotation. It is, of course, also possible that when the speakers of Lao, Thai and Vietnamese took over the word miâo from Chinese, it lost its original meaning ‘seedling’ and came to be used only to designate a people which they consider to be barbarian. If pronounced with the wrong tone in Thai the word means ‘cat’. This might pardy explain the strong resentment against the term Miao among the Hmong groups in southeast Asia. It is interesting to note that the only two instances that I have found of using the dog radical

p*

(mpi /Tb*])

m*

pi

pi*1

* mpj /["bj]mpjh /[’”hi*]

mi

ts

tsh

nts /["dz]

ntsh /[”dz*]

t

p

nt /[nd]

nth /[ndfi]

n

t

t

m/IMl

qlh /ftfl

tçh

iPtc

nitc" /fdzB]

c

&

pc

/ft]

pch /I Yl

k

kh

qk/Pg]

qkh /[V]

kw

kwh

qk*

qkwh /[ Qgwfi|

q

qf

Nq /[ng]

Nqh /[ngb]

qwh

Nqw /[V]

Nqwh

qw

H” dz]

i\Y)

rç*1

w

s 1

p

*1

A

§

n»

z

Ç

y /[X]

iJh /1^]

?”

f

h/lxl

/[VB]

hw /txw]/[f]

øm With the exception of interjections and modal particles all syllables without an initial are pronounced with an initial glottal stop.

Finals36 i [i,z,j]

e

E

a

tu

r /[a]

a

u

o

o

ei

(in /p])

en /15]

aq /[ä]

oq /[Ö]

»

0 /i/ becomes [z] after the dental affricates and [a] after the retroflex initials.

36 In the Guizhou variety of Ghao-Xong, spoken mainly in Songtao County in Guizhou, the finals [o] and [o] have merged to [d].

Categories III and VII have merged (indicated as III), as well as categories IV and VIII (indicated as IV). I D III IV V VI

35 42 (or 31) 44 22 (or 33) 54 31 (or 42)

In many official publications, like Wang Fushi’s Miaoyu jianzhi, the tone values indicated in brackets above are given, but Shi Rujin, lecturer in Ghao-Xong at the CIN, claims that the correct values are those indicated as primary above. I have not been permitted to carry out field work in Jiwei, so all the values come from printed publications. In an article on the use of Ghao-Xong writing in Jiwei, published around 1986, the frequent confusion of tone categories II and V is pointed out, and in my view it seems more likely that the students would confuse the values (42) and (54) than (31) and (54).37 The tone values vary quite a lot in the Ghao-Xong area, and this is sometimes reflected in the publications on the language. The Songtao tone values seem to be the same as Jiwei, but in Xiangxi AP some further values are present. Zhou Chunlu uses the same values for cat. I and VI as Wang Fushi:38 Category I n m

Jiwei 1^85

Shanjiang lilii

35 31 44 22

32 53 24 43 21

53 42

35 22

mb (=vn) IV IVb (=VIII) V VI

Aizhai 53 21 23 43 33 12 35 22

Shuitian tKEB 55 24 44 22 42 21

37 Wu Yaling, ‘Wo shi zenyang cong miaowen jiaoxue guodu dao hanwen jiaoxue de’, 1987, p. 142. 38 Zhou Chunlu, ‘Miaoyu Xiangxi fangyan xibu tuyu ge difanghua de yuyin chayi ji qi duiying guilii qianxi’, 1987, p. 180.

In Ghao-Xong the sandhi rules are relatively simple. There are, however, three kinds of sandhi, namely: regressive, progressive and equative. Regressive means that the following syllable triggers sandhi on the preceding, progressive means the opposite, and equative sandhi gives the same value to both syllables when they appear together. Equative sandhi is thus a combination of regressive and progressive sandhi. Rule no.

Cat. +value

1.

1=35 1=35 11=42 11=42 111=44 IV=22 V=54

5.

becomes ->

43 43 13 13 33 33 43

if in conneäion with category / / / / / / /

_ cat. I (35) _ cat. II (42) cat. I (35) _ cat. II (42) _ cat. IV (22) _ _ cat. Ill (44) __cat. V (54)

An example of the regressive kind is ‘45,300’: /piei36 wë35 pia35 tshës pu36/ -> [piei43 wë43 pia'0 tshë43 pu35]. The progressive sandhi can be illustrated with ‘there is not anybody [here]’: /tee® me* ne42/ -> [tee42 me13 neu], and equative sandhi with ‘my’: /we22 naq44/ —> [we33 nar)33]. Another example of the effects of regressive and progressive sandhi combined is: ‘to make an appointment’ /hë35 qai]42/ -> [hëfl ijfiai]13]. When the unaspirated stops and affricates (pre-nasahzed not included) and the voiced continuants (nasals, fricatives and laterals) appear in tone categories IV and VI, and when words in cat. II appear in the sandhi variety 13, they become voiced aspirated, eg. ‘with’: /qai]31/-» [= qfiâ31 ].

Hmu Yanghao Village, Guading Xiang, Kaili City, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong AP, Guizhou Province

Initials m

p ts

Ph

t

th

n

p

t*

n»

tc

tch

k

kh

q

q"

ts11 pjh

f

f

V

s

S»

z

I

P

1

P

1*

p

c

Ch

z

xh

Y

«3

h øm

With the exception of inteijections and modal particles all syllables without an initial pronounced with an initial glottal stop. Finals i [i,?l

(e)

e

3 [d,3Ul]

a

u

o

ei

au

(ie)

(io)

(uei)

(ue)

(ua)

en

ai]

oq/luq]

(ien)

(uen)

(uaq)

fil becomes [z] after the dental affricates, fel becomes [aui] after the dental affricates, dentals and uvulars. Tones I H III IV V VI VII VIII

33 55 35 11 44 13 53 31

Hmu lacks tone sandhi. The unaspirated stops and affricates, the voiced nasals and the unaspirated continuants (both unvoiced and voiced) are given a weak voiced aspiration when they appear in tone cat. IV and a strong voiced aspiration in tone cat. VI, e.g. ‘hand’: /pi11/ ->[pfiin] and ‘to die’: /ta13/ -» [tfia13].

Hmong Dananshan Village, Xianjin Xiang, Bijie County, Guizhou Province

Initials P

P"

mp

mp11

m

pi

p>l

mpl

mp*!

ts

tsh

nts

ntsh

t

#>

nt

nth

tl

tf1

t

?

ni

nf

tg

tgh

qt$

qtgh

tc

tch

irtç

nitçh

n*

k

kh

qk

qkh

0

q

qh

Nq

Nqh

rç

V

f

s n

p

P

1 [1, 1]

1

Zi

g

l

Ç X

øm /1/ also appears in a syllabic form as a separate syllable, e.g. ‘two’: [l24].39 With the exception of interjections and modal particles, all syllables without an initial are pronounced with an initial glottal stop. Finals i

e

a

u [u,y]

0

(ei)

etu

9U

ai

au

(ie)

iau

(iau)

ua /Id]

(ue)

(uei)

(uai)

en

«3

(ien)

(uen)

(uarj)

39 This is an old Chinese loanword, which appears in expressions like ‘on the following day’ and ‘next year’.

/i/ becomes [z] after the dental affricates and [j] after the retroflex initials. /u/ becomes [y] after alveo-palatals.

Tones I fl III IV V VI VII VIII

43 31 55 21 44 13 33 24

Tone sandhi and other phonetic processes The tone sandhi rules of Hmong are relatively simple. It is always of the progressive type, and is triggered by categories I and II. Rule no.

Cat. +value

1.

5.

11=31 111=55 IV=21 V=44 VIII=24

10.

11=31 111=55 IV=21 V=44 VIII=24

if after category

becomes ->

-»

13 44 13 33 13

/

cat. I (43)__

13 44 13 33 13

/

cat. II (31) _

Varieties of Hmong Apart from the Hmong variety spoken in Xianjin Xiang, several other varieties have been used as norms for writing, both inside and outside China. The norm for the Sichuan Hmong Pollard script was most probably Wangwuzhai in Gong County ï&ÜljE

JKfg,40 41 and the first variety selected by the linguists during the massive field research in 1956 was Gusong County in south Sichuan. In the 1957 report from the Conference on Miao Writing, four requirements were stated for a new place for a standard pronunciation, as Gusong had, for some reason, been considered as unsuitable. These four requirements were: • Retroflex stops and retroflex affricates shall be differentiated, i.e. ‘table’ shall be called

[t°q2r • There must be stop-laterals and not glottal stops, i.e. ‘water’ shall be called [lie2]. • Voiceless nasals shall be differentiated from voiced nasals, i.e. ‘Miao’ shall be called [njot)’]. • Dentals shall be differentiated from retroflexes, i.e. ‘house’ shall be called [tge3].42 43 As seen above, these requirements were all fulfilled by the Hmong speech of Xianjin Xiang, but in order to facilitate comparisons with the Hmong varieties spoken outside China, I think it is important to see which variations exist within this dialect. Outside China the Hmong dialect is usually divided into Hmong Daw (White Hmong) and Mong Leng (Blue/Green Hmong). These two dialects are generally mutually comprehensible, but considerable differences exist, both systematic and unsystematic. In Hmong Daw and Mong Leng as spoken in Laos (and now also in the US) the basic systematic differences are: ° Hmong Daw

Mong Leng m n

n? P P

P

pl [ml]

nl [ml]

d44 d™

ti tP nd ndh

ia a

a aq

40 Cf. Joakim Enwall, ‘In Search of the Entering Tone: The Importance of Sichuanese Tones for Understanding the Tone Marking System of the Sichuan Hmong Pollard Script’, 1994, pp. 70-84. 41 The numbers in this and the following examples refers to tone category and not to tone value. 42 Zhongguo kexueyuan shaoshu minzu yuyan diaocha di’er gongzuodui, ‘Miaoyu fàngyan de huafen he chuangli miaowen de wenti’, 1957, p. 67. 43 Cf. W A Smalley, Chia Koua Vang, Gnia Yee Yang, Mother of Writing - The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script, 1990, p. 45 and pp. 50-1. 44 The value for this and the following phoneme are taken from N Jarkey, ‘An investigation of two alveolar stop consonants in White Hmong’, (1987), p. 68.

Obviously the variety chosen as a norm for Hmong in China is somewhere in between Hmong Daw and Mong Leng, as there are voiceless nasals as well as lateral affricates. The finals correspond to Mong Leng. Two of the criteria mentioned in the 1957 report are that there shall be both retroflex stops and retroflex affricates, and that the retroflex affricates shall be differentiated from the dental affricates. In his description of the differences between the Hmong varieties in China and outside China, Xiong Yuyou writes that in his own home village near Hekou, the retroflex stops and affricates have all merged to retroflex affricates.* The Hekou variety quoted by Xiong appears to be a kind of Mong (no unvoiced nasals, but lateral affricates). The vowels, however, as in Xianjin Xiang, represent the Hmong Daw system. To complicate the matter further there is no one-to-one correspondence between Xianjin /o/ and Hmong Daw /o/ and /u/. The words which appear in Wang Fushi’s category 13 of proto-Miao become /o/, whereas the other words which in Xianjin are pronounced with an /o/ become /u/.*

A-Hmao Shimenkan (Stone Gateway), Weining Yi, Hui and Miao AC, Guizhou Province

Initials p

p*1

mp

mph

ts

ts"

nts

ntsh

t

t»

nt

nth

ntl

ntlh

m

mh

Û

m

n

rç

p

f

V

s

z

1

1

?

GO

l

f

t§

tgh

ms"

n.

te

tçh

irtç

n>tch

n*

v>

c

i

k

kh

qk

qkh

0

0

x

Y

Nq

Nqh

q

0 [?]

q"

X

h [fi, ff, ff]

* In his grammar of Green Miao, as spoken in the provinces Phrae and Nan in Thailand, Thomas A Lyman writes: in the pronunciation of certain speakers (seemingly a minority in each village), Stops and Oral Continuants of the Alveolar and Retroflex Orders become assibilants, ...’, i.e. /t§/ and /[/ become As/ etc. Cf. T A Lyman, Grammar of Mong Njua (Green Miao), 1979, p. 8. * Cf. Wang Fushi, Miaoyu fangyan shengyunmu bijiao, 1979, pp. 150-4.

With the exception of inteijections and modal particles all syllables without an initial are pronounced with an initial glottal stop, /h/ is pronounced [fi] in tone categories II and IV, and as [ft] when the final is a simple vowel and it appears in tone category VII. Finals i

e

y [y.?,.*]

d

a

Ul

u

0

ei

œy

ai

aui

au

ie [ie.ie]

(ia)

(iaui)

(iau)

(iu)

(io /[ye])

(uei)

(ua)

(nai)

(uaui)

(uo)

(in)

(en)

(an)

(oq /[uq])

(ian)

(uan)

(*)

hi is pronounced [z] after dental fricatives and affricates and [j] after retroflex initials, /yl is pronounced [z, ] after dental fricatives and affricates and [j,] after retroflex initials, /ei/ is a distinct phoneme only in the speech of elder persons, e.g. /ei54 zau*V ‘very good’, now spelt . It was clearly distinguished in the Pollard script, but later the original A-Hmao words with /ei/ as final have merged with /ai/, whereas the phoneme is retained for representing Chinese loanwords, fie/ is pronounced [ie] after retroflex initials, /io/ is pronounced [ye] by persons who have a good knowledge of standard Mandarin, /or)/ is often pronounced somewhere between [or)] and [urj]. Tones I 54 (or 55) O 24 (324) III 55 IVa 22 (23/112)47 47 This tone is very often indicated as 11 or 22, but I have actually found no justification for this. According to Wang Deguang there is a difference between original A-Hmao words and Chinese loanwords, A-Hmao words having the tone value 23 and Chinese loanwords having the tone value 112. In Wang Fushi’s and Wang Deguang’s analysis of the A-Hmao tone system we find the following explanation: ‘11 (actually 22. Because there is no lower tone, it has been regularized as 11. In syllables with a voiced aspirated initial, the tone is 12, i.e. it is slightly rising. As this is phonetically conditioned, it is also regularized as 11).’ However, in the explanation of the tone system in the 1959 scheme, it is stated that ‘all initials which appear in tones 1 [IV] and f [VIII] have a voiced aspiration component’. Consequendy, it seems that the tone value 22 never actually appears. In his Miaoyu jianzhi Wang Fushi mentions that there are Chinese loanwords with unvoiced initials in cat. IV, but he gives no examples, so it still remains to be investigated if this tone value is a reality or if it is just a theoretical construction to make the tone system more simple and logical, from the Chinese point of view. In his analysis of tone changes in Miao-Yao Chen Qiguang gives only the value 13 to this category. Cf. Wang Deguang, personal communication, Peking, 14 July 1993; Wang Fushi & Wang Deguang, ‘Guizhou Weining miaoyu de shengdiao’, 1986, pp. 91-2; Diandongbei miaowen gaige fang’an caoan, 1959, p. 6; Wang Fushi, Miaoyu jianzhi, 1985, p. 148; Chen Qiguang, ‘Miao-Yao yuzu yuyan de ji zhong diaobian’, (1989), p. 14.

IVb 44 V 44 Via 21 VIb 53 VII 22 Villa 21 VlIIb 53 At Stone Gateway category I is now pronounced (55),® and has thus merged with category III. In Yunnan the pronunciation of category I is (54) or (53) and in some areas this tone category appears to have split into (55) and (44), thus merging with categories III and IVb / V respectively. Cat. II also contains some classifiers which are actually pronounced (324). They do not follow the voicing rule for cat. II (cf. below), and are all either unvoiced or voiced, but never voiced aspirated. Chinese loanwords from Chinese cat. IV appear in Miao cat. IV as (112). Tone sandhi and other phonetic processes The tone sandhi rules in A-Hmao are extremely complicated, and below I list only the most important ones. For further clarifications see Zhongguo kexueyuan shaoshu minzu yuyan diaocha di’er gongzuodui and Wang Fushi & Wang Deguang.® Wang & Wang recognize 33 basic sandhi rules. In A-Hmao the tone sandhi always affects the second syllable in a compound or phrase, while the first remains unchanged. Sandhi is found mainly in head-modifier compunds, juxtaposed compounds and numeral-numeral phrases. As some tone categories add voice or voice and voiced aspiration to the initial (cf. below), I indicate the category after the value when relevant. Please note that the value (54) is always used for category I: Rule no.

Cat. +value

1.

11=24 111=55 IVa=22 IVb=44 V=44 VIa=21 VIb=53

5.

becomes ->

54 44 53 53 22 VII 22 IVa 22 IVa

if after category /

cat. I (54) _

® In the speech of some old people at Stone Gateway the pronunciation 54 is, however, still retained. Wang Deguang, personal communication, Peking, 6 June 1993. ® Zhongguo kexueyuan shaoshu minzu yuyan diaocha di’er gongzuodui, ‘Miaoyu beibu fangyan wenzi gaige fang’an (cao’an)’, 1957, pp. 169-80 and Wang Fushi & Wang Deguang, ‘Guizhou Weining miaoyu de shengdiao’, 1986, pp. 99-124.

10.

11=24 111=55 IVa=22 IVb=44

/

cat. II (24) _

VIa=21 VIb=53 VIIIa=21 VIIIb=53

55 44 53 53 22 VII 22 IVa 22 IVa 22 IVa 22 IVa

IVb=44 VIb=53

22 IVa 22 IVa

/

cat. Ill (55) _

15.

20.

25.

30.

II

22 IVa 22 IVa

4*

VIIIa=21 VIIIb=53




21 Via 21 VIIIa/VIa

/

cat. IVb (44) _

VIb=53 VIIIb=53

—>

21 Via 21 VIIIa/VIa

/

cat. V (44)__

IVb=44 VIb=53 VIIIb=53

22 IVa 21 Via 21 VIIIa/VIa

/

cat. VIb (53) _

IVb=44 VIb=53 VIIIb=53

22 IVa 21 Via 21 Villa

/

cat. VII (22) _

22 IVa 21 Via 21 VIIIa/VIa

/

cat. VUIb (53) _

IVb=44 VIb=53 VIIIb=53

->

When the compounds or phrases consist of three or more syllables, the sandhi rules are applied from the last syllable towards the preceding syllable. For example: /tu5* a44 nu0/ ‘worker’ consists of syllables in the tone categories I+V+VIIIb. First VUIb becomes (21) (rule no. 24), then V becomes (22) (rule no. 5). The result is: (tu54 a22 Hpu21] or [tu54 a2 ipi21]. As seen in rule no. 24 the resulting tone can either be equivalent to category Villa (always voiced aspirated) or Via (always voiced, but q is already voiced). In A-Hmao the tones strongly influence the initials. Stops and affricates (including pre-nasalized) become voiced when appearing in categories IVb, Via, VIb and VUIb.

Stops, affricates and voiced continuants (nasals, fricatives and laterals) become voiced aspirated in tone categories II, IVa and Villa. There is also a significant number of exceptions to this rule (as opposed to the corresponding rules in the other dialects), which has led some linguists and language workers (including Wang Deguang and those reforming the Pollard script for A-Hmao in the 1980s) to consider these allop hones as separate phonemes. Such a system would contain 110 initials, viz.:®

p

P-

b

bfi

mp

mp11

mb

mbfi

ts

ts"

dz

dzfi

nts

ntsh

ndz

ndzfi

t

f

d

dfi

nt

nth

nd

ndfi

rt

d"

dfefi

nd

nd*1

ndtø

ndljfi

t

11

mh

tg

t' t$h

tch

nA n4.fi qdz qdz.fi n'dz n'dzn

P*

k

kh q»

g

gfi

qk

i]kh

qg

qgfi

q

G

Gfi

Nq

Nqh

NG

NGfi

q

IP P

m n

il

fr

mfi

f

V

vfi

s

z

zfi

1

1

lfi

g

zfi yfi

nfi

n>

qfi n>fi

c

\ z

q

qfi

X

Y

X h

fi

fr

zh

Writing I use a rather wide definition of writing, including subjects ranging from mnemotechnic methods like knots and notched sticks, the classical way for the Chinese of describing the preliterate culture of the Miao, to the development of the actual written language; the establishment of a standard language, spelling conventions, treatment of loanwords and publishing policies.51 My approach is focused both on the communicative aspect of writing and on the physical form of the actual graphemes. Before discussing the various Miao writing systems it is certainly of interest to make the basic distinctions clear, although this thesis is focused more on the descriptive aspects than on the theoretical implications. When a writing system is devised for a language previously lacking one two basic approaches are possible. The first, and probably most common, is to strive for maximum transfer from another language, i.e. to use the writing system employed for a language of great prestige or which is spoken by a

® Wang Deguang, ‘Weining miaoyu huayu cailiao’, (1986), pp. 69—80. 51 For a good introduction to the question of standard language and orthography, cf. Carina Jahani, Standardization and Orthography in the Balochi Language, 1989, pp. 35—46. These questions are also extensively discussed in J A Fishman et al. (eds.), Language Problems of Developing Nations, New York etc., 1968.

dominate people, e.g. the use of the Cyrillic alphabet for the various languages of the former Soviet Union and the use of the Arabic script for the languages spoken by many Moslem peoples. This can be useful for contacts between the two linguistic communities, especially if there is bilingualism or diglossia. In this case there is usually a conflict between the spelling conventions of the donor language and the language receiving the writing system, as the phonemic systems are almost always different. Spelling conventions of historical origin in the donor language can also be taken over by the recipient language, although they play no role in the phonemic system of that language, neither synchronically nor diachronically. In the case of the Miao in China this problem is aggravated by the complexity of the Chinese writing system, which cannot be easily adapted to other languages, although there are a few cases like Japanese and Korean. The official Latin transcription system for Chinese, the Hanyu Pinyin, has, however, played a similar role in the devising of writing systems for the minority languages in the PRC, in spite of the extremely limited knowledge of the Pinyin system among the Chinese. The desire to use the same kind of distinctions has created quite a few problems, especially for languages with voiced stops, a category which is absent in standard Chinese.52 To a limited extent this was also the case for the National Phonetic Script which was launched around 1918 and subsequendy used by missionaries for writing some of the minority languages in China. The second approach is to devise a writing system which is different from those of neighbouring peoples, or ideally from all other writing systems. In this case the persons who devise the writing system look for uniqueness instead of transfer. The devising of writing systems of this kind has often been connected with the creation of national myths and reinterpretation of history in order to make them fit better in with the establishment of nations. In many cases a foreign model has been used, but this foreign influence has been obscured through the invention of graphic symbols completely different or partly different from those of the donor language. This approach was used for the glagolitsa, the Slav alphabet devised by St Cyril and St Methodius, which was later replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet, which is basically the Greek alphabet with a few additional letters. It was also employed by St Mesrop when he devised the Armenian alphabet and also by the creator of the Georgian alphabet. The latter was so successful that the Georgian alphabet has long been thought to be of indigenous origin. Thomas V Gamkrelidze writes:

52 Hiroshi Shôji, ‘Monji chôso - kaiketsu ni mita Chügoku shösu minzoku seisaku’, 1987, p. 1193.

The only possible explanation for this phenomenon would be the assumption that the creator of the asomtavruli alphabet in this way tried to conceal the dependence and the connection between the newly devised Georgian writing and the Greek writing system of that time. [...] The compiler of the Old Georgian asomtavruli alphabet creates a national writing for writing texts in the national language, but in accordance with that kind of ideas a national writing has to be different from all other writing - it should not repeat the graphic form of any other writing.53

The tendency to develop independent or superficially independent writing systems is found also in southeast Asia, and for the Miao writing system most widely used today, the Pollard script for the A-Hmao dialect, this factor has probably played a role which can hardly be overestimated. Writing is generally viewed as representation of speech in some way. It can be phonemic/phonetic, syllabic och more or less ideographic/ pictographic. The different types of writing pose different kinds of problems for the analysis, but the basic assumption that writing represents the spoken language is not wholly uncomplicated. In most languages the written form is considerably different from the spoken form. In languages with a long written tradition these differences tend to be conventionalized to a great extent, but difficulties arise when the written norm is acquired by somebody not familiar with its conventions. In creating a written language the problems are not so much to be sought in the graphic representation of the phonemes, as in the establishment of a conventional written standard which can be used and appreciated by the speakers of the language in question. When an orthography has been devised for a language and no subsequent measures have been taken to establish a written standard, the effort have often been unsuccessful. The success of a particular writing system depends both on its inherent effectiveness as a means of representing a language and on the subsequent propagation, including status and corpus planning. However, the most important single factor is hard to find, as those who invented or propagated the writing systems for Miao generally possessed only a superficial knowledge of the factors influencing the adaption or rejection of a writing system, and could, as a consequence, not take full advantage of the possibilities presented. A less important factor seems to be the exactness of the representation, a factor which constandy has been strongly emphasized by Chinese linguists engaged in the endeavours to devise writing systems for the Miao language. Underrepresentation certainly complicates reading, especially if two potentially contrasting phonemes are represented in the same way, but overrepresentation, when all allophones are written with separate symbols, or when historical distinctions, now lost, are still represented, creates 53

Tamaz Gamqrelije, Çeris anbanuri sistema da jveli kartuli damçerloba, 1989, p. 183.

considerable difficulties both for writing and reading. Practical considerations have also played a role as some Miao writing systems have suffered from printing difficulties, but these are typically emphasized by specialists in the devising of writing systems and not by the Miao themselves, who tend to favour other criteria for evaluation and subsequent rejection and acceptance.

State of Research Hitherto, only very limited research has been carried out in the field of Miao writing in China. This does not mean that references to Miao writing are absent from books and articles on the Miao people or general works on writing systems in China. On the contrary, Miao writing is often mentioned. Nevertheless, the references almost always concern the same writing systems, and usually repeat some standard opinions about Miao writing. Few authors have taken time to look at the actual writing systems, and if they have, it has more often than not been just a cursory glance. Therefore, I have considered it my task not only to investigate the history of the writing systems and the social framework within which they were devised, but also the ways these writing systems actually worked from a graphonomic point of view. Some early Chinese sources mention Miao writing, though in a vague, and often quite unreliable way. The traveller Lu Ciyun’s H>Kil appendix to his book Dongqixianzhi IlfiiSütS [Detailed description of Dongqi], 1683, contains a disputed sample of Miao writing without detailed comments,54 55 and the Baoqingfuzhi HJSfögf. [Annals of the Baoqing Prefecture], written during Daoguang’s reign, 1821—51, has a passage about the prohibition of a kind of Miao writing by the Qing authorities in 1740.® Paul Vial wrote about the Miao in Yunnan in 1890 and later,56 and in 1891 G Devéria wrote an article in which he presented Lu Ciyun’s Miao writing.57 58 In 1912 the French traveller and explorer d’Ollone published a work on the writing systems in China, and there he mentioned a kind of Miao writing, ressembling Chinese characters and used in south Sichuan.® Some other missionaries and travellers from the beginning of the nineteenth 54 Lu Ciyun, Lu Yunshi zazhu, 1683. 55 Baoqingfuzhi (Daoguang), juan 5. 56 P Vial, De la langue et de l’écriture indigènes au Yûn-nân, 1890 and Miao-tse et autres, 1908. 57 G Devéria, ‘Les Lolos et les Miao-tze, à propos d’une brochure de M. P. Vial, Missionnaire apostolique au Yun-nan’, (1891), pp. 356-69. 58 d’Ollone, ‘L’Écriture des Miao tseu’, 1912, pp. 269-73,

century onwards have also mentioned Miao writing, but the first scholarly analysis in a Western language is Jacques Lemoine’s ‘Les écritures du Hmong’, in which the Miao writing systems outside China are discussed together with the main Miao writing systems used in China.® This article is, however, just an overview, and leaves out many of the important Miao writing systems, while making quite inadequate descriptions of others, like the Pollard script. An article by Zeb Thoj on various Miao writing systems was published in Australia in 1992, but apparently it is mainly based on Lemoine’s article and is much more superficial.59 60 One of the Miao scripts used in Laos has been thoroughly analysed by the American missionary linguist William A Smalley and two Hmong, Chia Koua Vang and Gnia Yee Yang, in Mother of Writing — The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script.6' One chapter of this book is dedicated to the other Hmong writing systems, but it draws heavily on Lemoine’s article. The British anthropologist Nicholas Tapp has done research on the Hmong of Thailand, on the myth about the lost Miao writing system and on how it influenced the Miao to adopt Christianity and missionary writing systems.62 His references to Miao writing in China are, however, almost exclusively based on Lemoine’s article. Father Yves Bertrais, who together with William A Smalley and G Linwood Barney devised the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) for the Hmong in 1953 has described the history of this writing system in a pamphlet in Hmong which was later translated into French.63 In China Wen You MW of the Central Institute of Nationalities (CIN), Jiang Yongxing of the Canton Nationalities Affairs Commission (NAC), Chen Qiguang of the CIN, and Li Bingze also of the CIN, have written articles on the various Miao writing systems.64 Their articles are rather short and contain only limited samples of Miao writing. Furthermore, they all have a character of been general surveys and contains no analyses, with the exception of Chen Qiguang, who has studied Lu Ciyun’s Miao writing as well as some of the writing systems devised by missionaries. 59 J Lemoine, ‘Les écritures du Hmong’, (1972), pp. 123-65. 60 Zeb Thoj, ‘Ntawv Hmoob muaj pes tsawg yam thiab leej twg yog tus sau’, (1992), pp. 5-8. 61 WA Smalley, Chia Koua Vang, Gnia Yee Yang, Mother of Writing - The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script, 1990. 62 N Tapp, Sovereignty and Rebellion-The White Hmong of Northern Thailand, 1989. 0 Nyiaj Pov, Cov Ntawv Hmoob R.P.A. Sawv Los Zoo U Cas?, 1991 and Y Bertrais, ‘Comment a été créé et s’est répandu le «R.P.A. Hmong» de 1953 à 1991’, (1993). 64 Wen You, ‘Lun Pollard Script’, (1938), pp. 43-53; Wen You, ‘Guizhou Leishan xin chu canshi chukao’, 1951. Reprinted in Wen You, 1985, pp. 62-70; Jiang Yongxing, ‘Miaowen tanjiu’, (1989), pp. 112-16; Chen Qiguang, Zhongguo yuwen gaiyao, 1990 and Li Bingze, ‘Miaozu de wenzi’, (1985), pp. 23-4.

Recently Xiong Yuyou ÄüiEW of the Yunnan Nationalities Language Commission has published an article in which he compares the Latin-based writing systems for Hmong in China, Laos and Vietnam.65 66 Zhao Liming IE at Qinghua University and Liu Ziqi ÜJÊIÏ? of the Jishou Telecommunication University have written a hitherto unpublished manuscript about the Chinese character-based Miao writing in Western Hunan. Zhang Tan of Guizhou University, has published a work on the mission among the A-Hmao, in which he gives an outline of the history of the Pollard script, unfortunately basing himself only on sources available in Chinese and by undiscriminately compiling the facts and fantasies mentioned in them. Some Miao writing systems are mentioned in general introductions to writing, usually Lu Ciyun, d’Ollone and the Pollard script, e.g. in Dirringer’s The Alphabet, Hans Jensen’s Die Schrift, Katzner’s The Languages of the World and in some works on writing in China, e.g. Coulmas’s ‘Writing and Literacy in China’.66

Sources (a note on neibu materials) The Chinese sources present many problems, some of which are rarely encountered in Western materials. Quite a few of the sources used for this thesis are so-called neibu materials, i.e. publications intended for internal use only or ‘restricted materials’. These publications are in principle never for sale, are not available in ordinary libraries and are not listed in official bibliographies. They are simply not intended for outsiders, especially not foreigners, and are not supposed to be taken out of China. In the bibliography they are all glossed as neibu, although the Chinese authorities actually distinguish between different kinds of neibu materials, at least terminologically. Except for the standard indication ‘internal’ (nèibù Pjpß), there are other wordings like ‘reference material’ (cänkäo zlliào ), ‘internal reference, pay attention to conservation’ (nèibù cänkäo, zhùÿi bäocün ÜSIS#) and even the absence of price indication and absence of ISBN number (although there are a few books which are considered as neibu in spite of having an ISBN number). Neibu books usually have a local book number (shühào Sit) and neibu periodicals may have a provincial neibu periodical registration number (shëng nèibù bàokân jizhèng ^f^pßlßTJadfiE ). Basically, there are two reasons for publishing a book or a periodical as neibu. One is that the material is politically sensitive or simply has not yet

65 Xiong Yuyou, ‘Guowai miaozu de wenzi’, (1990), pp. 151-6. 66 H Jensen, Die Schrift, 1969, pp. 181-2; K Katzner, The Languages of the World, 1977, p. 213 and F Coulmas, ‘Writing and Literacy in China’, 1983.

checked by the relevant authorities in order to ascertain whether it is politically acceptable or not. Thus some materials are not very controversial at all, but considering that many political opinions from the Cultural Revolution are still lingering in the countryside, local leaders are often uncertain about how the questions are to be looked at in view of the current policies in Peking. Fortunately, quite a few people feel relatively free when they discuss questions in neibu publications, and real problems and conflicts are pointed out, instead of hidden. There is, however, one more group of neibu materials which is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the first. Those materials are more often than not published locally in out-of-the-way places, and may contain almost anything. An official publication has been impossible, either because the scope is too narrow (and the large publishing house has no money) or because the article is simply not reliable, but written by somebody who has good local contacts. Almost all materials hitherto published in the Miao language are neibu, as well as the greater part of the research reports and the statistical publications. Another major source for my research is oral information from people involved in Miao writing activities, like teachers and scholars at the institutes of nationalities and various Miao intellectuals, but also from scholars in Western countries.

Spelling, Symbols and Abbreviations Chinese names are generally spelt according to the Hanyu Pinyin system, except for some already established forms like Peking (Beijing), Nanking (Nanjing), Kuomintang (Guomindang) etc. In most cases a Chinese character is given after the first instance of a name, to indicate the exact spelling, and I therefore refrain from indicating the tones in Pinyin in most cases. For the purpose of facilitating matters for readers who want to consult Chinese works, I indicate the Chinese names of foreign persons where this may be relevant. Foreigners living in China generally use a Chinese name, i.e. a name devised according to Chinese rules of name-giving, instead of just using an often clumsy, Chinese transcription. It is often not at all obvious which Western name corresponds to a Chinese name, and this has led to numerous misunderstandings in earlier accounts, especially concerning the history of the writing systems devised by missionaries. As the unsimplified characters are the only ones used outside the People’s Republic of China as well as being used parallel to the simplified characters in the PRC, I have chosen to use unsimplified characters for all purposes except for titles of books and articles published in the PRC after 1964, the year when the standard fist of simplified characters was published.

Simplified characters are also retained when they appear as clarifications in a text originally written in simplified characters but which I have translated into English, e.g. the names of persons and places. Transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are put in square brackets, but in tables these brackets are often left out, and this will be indicated. Graphemes and words in Miao are put between < >. In the discussion on sound systems, parentheses are used to indicate phones or phonemes which have an uncertain status in the system, for example special sounds used only in Chinese loanwords. In the bibliography and in book references the Pinyin transcription of titles of articles, books, periodicals etc. is put before the Chinese characters and the English translation is put in square brackets afterwards. Books in Miao usually have a secondary title in Chinese, either on the tide page or in connection with general information about the publication (usually on the last page). I do not give a transcription of the Chinese title in this case. In order to economize on space, I refrain from giving full references in the footnotes, as all the necessary information is available in the bibliography. I indicate only the title of articles, and not the journal in which they have been published. In this case, the year of publication appears in parentheses, followed by the page reference. Articles in books appear in the same way, except that the year is not given in parentheses. Book titles are given in italics, followed by the year of publication and the page reference. The Miao, Chinese, Russian, Italian and Georgian quotations are translated into English by the present writer if not otherwise indicated.

Abbreviations AC Autonomous County SÈîniPI AP Autonomous Prefecture È Jp'W BEFEO Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient BFBS British & Foreign Bible Society BSL Bible Society Library CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CCP Chinese Communist Party CIM China Inland Mission CIN Central Institute of Nationalities (Peking) CM China’s Millions CMA China’s Millions (Australasian edition) GMY Guizhou minzu yanjiu IPA International Phonetic Alphabet KMT Kuomintang Party (Guomindang) UKM LTBA Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area MY Minzu yuwen KÄsp Y [Nationality linguistics] NAC Nationalities Affairs Commission NBSS National Bible Society of Scodand NPH Nationalities Publishing House KÄtbftSft NPS National Phonetic Script äÜ ^15 NT New Testament OMF Overseas Missionary Fellowship OT Old Testament PRC People’s Republic of China RPA Romanized Popular Alphabet (for Hmong and Mong in Laos etc.) UMM United Methodist Mission

What was Heaven’s qd^fia-l til aul good at doing? He was good at writing characters. He wrote a book and carried it on his back. What was Earth’s qu-J ntshai-l gain good at doing? She was good at writing characters. She wrote a beautiful book and carried it on her back. [...] Heaven’s qd^fia-i til aul and Earth’s qu-J ntshai-l gaul let the moon go its distant way, let the sun go its near way. The Miao script was created at this time by Heaven’s qd^fia-l til aul and Earth’s qu-J ntshai-l gaul. tgauil mi-J [Zhang Ming], ‘qhaul ndfiu'i qd^fiaJ til aul ndljfiiel til qui ntshai-i gaul qdZtfia-l ndfiu-i qd^fia-l til qgfiau-l’ [The Song about how Heaven’s qdzßa-l til aul and Earth’s qui ntshail gaul Created Heaven and Earth], al waul iai pi-i tchœy-i al Kami al kol qui kul Kham1 Ifiœy-I [A Bundle of Miao Traditions and their Origins in the Past], maul lii nfial [Stone Gateway], 1952.

Myth and Indigenous Writing Systems Preliminaries The history of the Miao writing systems is very much the story of the myth about the loss of the old Miao writing system and how this was later recovered. In all parts of the area inhabited by the Miao there are legends of a lost writing system, allegedly created while the Miao and the Han Chinese still hved close together. Due to the expansion of the Han people, the Miao had to migrate southwards, and in connection with that, the writing was lost during a river crossing or eaten accidentally. This kind of myth is not unique; a similar legend exists among the Karen in Burma. In the beginning, when the creator was dispensing books to the various peoples of the earth, the Karen overslept and missed out on the gift of literacy. In some versions of this myth, they were given a book, but it was consumed in the fires with which they bum their swidden fields. The Kachin also have a myth that they devoured their own writing out of hunger,1 as do the Akha,1 while Graham mentions that the ‘legend of a lost book’ was also found among the Qiang of west Sichuan.2 This myth about lost books radically influenced the readiness of the Miao to accept writing. Peter Mühlhäusler states that it is almost never the case that writing is created to meet the needs of an aboriginal society, and that writing systems 1 C Gilhodes, ‘Mythologie et Religion des Kachins (Birmanie)’, (1909). 1 A von Gesau, ‘Dialecticts of Akhazaq: The Interiorizations of a Perennial Minority Group’, 1983. 2 DC Graham, Songs and Stories of the Ch’uan Miao, 1954, p. 129.

introduced from the outside are often met with suspicion as the potentialities of writing are unknown to the people.3 It may seem quite useless, or at best as some kind of magic. However, counter-examples do exist, like the Maori in New Zealand and the Cree in Canada. The Miao have, of course, had contacts with their neighbours, and, with the Chinese as their main neighbour, the power of writing must always have been well known to them. The Chinese have probably attached more importance to writing than any other people in history and this may have strengthened the need for explaining the absence of writing in Miao society. Although only a few Miao learnt to use the Chinese writing system, they would have seen the Chinese books and interpreted them as one of the main symbols for the Chinese power over the Miao. Historically the Miao had lived close to the Chinese in the Yangtze valley, but as the Chinese expanded towards the south, the Miao were driven to the mountainous and isolated parts of southern China, where the contacts with the Chinese were more restricted. From the eighteenth century onwards the Chinese tried to pacify the Miao on a large scale, though seldom with more than partial success. This process is described in Claudine Lombard-Salmon’s Un example d’acculturation chinoise, and in Jenks’s PhD dissertation on the Miao Rebellion 1854-1872.4 The biggest unit in Miao society is usually the village, not the region or the people, but in order to organize the defence when the Chinese became too intrusive, many villages had to join together. The results of this defence movement, which was organized several times and subsequently quelled, are also described in a French missionary handbook and in Savina’s Histoire des Miao.5

3 P Mühlhäusler, ‘“Reducing” Pacific languages to writing’, 1990, p. 203. 4 C Lombard-Salmon, Un example d’acculturation chinoise: La Province du Gui Zhou au XVIir Siècle, 1972; R D Jenks, The Miao Rebellion, 1854-1872: Insurgency and Social Disorder in Kweichow During the Taiping Era, 1985. 5 J Amiot, ‘Lettre du P. Amiot, Miss. de la Chine, sur la réduction des miao-tseu, en 1755’ and Anon., ‘Autre relation de la conquête du pays Miao-tsee’, 1778, pp. 387—412 and 412—22; F M Savina, Histoire des Miao, 1924.

The Myth Although the basic theme of the various versions of this myth is the same, it is fruitful to divide them into three subgroups which give partly different interpretation models for subsequent concrete writing systems.

Writing and Embroidery The first group is concerned with a loss of books, which is followed by the embroidering of the old writing on traditional Miao clothes. The Miao are famous for their embroidery and usually attach very strong importance to the amount and quality of embroidery, especially on wedding dresses and even on the ordinary dresses still worn in most Miao areas even today. The myth is also partly an explanation of the intricate patterns found in those embroideries. One such myth is presented by Wang Jianguang: The Miao people originally had writing, but unfortunately it has not been preserved. As Chiyou was beaten at the battle of Zhuolu by the Yellow Emperor, the Miao were driven towards the south. When they had to cross various waters, they did not have time to build boats, so when they forded the riven they were afraid that their books should become wet. In order to avoid such a disaster they carried the books on their heads. In this way the people wandered. When they came to the Yangtze river they all wanted to cross as quickly as possible, but unfortunately the current was very strong as they came to the middle, and most of them were drowned and only a few managed to get over. The books were also lost and they could not be retrieved. As [the migration] continued somebody invented a method of embroidering these characten onto the clothes as a memorial. Therefore traces of the Miao history are preserved in their clothes and skirts.6

In an article on various writing systems used in southwest China, Jiang Yingliang presents a version of this myth. Perhaps it is an elaboration of Wang Jianguang’s story. Wang unfortunately does not indicate its origin, nor does Jiang, and it is thus impossible to know exacdy in which Miao group it is current. They [the Miao] say that the Miao ancestor was Chiyou, and originally, five thousand years ago, he lived in the area of the Yellow River basin. After being defeated by the Yellow Emperor he led his people to the south. While he was leading his people to the south, it was impractical to carry the books that the people had, and he feared 6 Wang Jianguang, ‘Miaomin de wenzi’, (1940), p. 49. Wang Jianguang was a Miao from the A-Hmao area. He went to the mission school at Shimenkan (Stone Gateway) in Weining County, Guizhou Province. In the 1940s he moved to Yanjin in Yunnan.

that the writing would be forgotten after the migration. Therefore he ordered the women to embroider the writing onto the comers of their dresses and the edgings of their skirts. Thus the Miao writing was preserved.7

In a song which was published in a collection of traditional A-Hmao songs in 1949 and translated into English by R K Parsons, an alternative interpretation of the meaning hidden in the clothes’ patterns is given. They are not seen as a representation of writing, but as a representation of reality. Sometimes the embroidery patterns were described as being as beautiful as their original ‘Golden Homeland’, sometimes as a direct depiction of their legendary prosperous homeland, from which they were driven away by the Chinese:8 So the Elder Ki:-jye, the Elder Ki:-ch’r and the Horseman M’ou-py took, Took the rice fields, the long flat fields and designed, Took and designed cotton skirts for the grown-up daughters to wear around the waist, To wear for all the old folk to see, To wear for all the children to see. So the grown up daughters’ cotton skirts resembled, Resembled the ricefields, the long flat fields of the plain of the Shi:-p.wng, the Nt.u-na-shi:m.o, While the braids of the grown-up daughters’ decorated skirts were like streams watering the ricefields.9

The first myth referrred to above describes the embroidery patterns as a way of preserving the ancient Miao writing. Early references to the possible linking between the embroidery patterns and writing are found in Schotter’s articles. He was a Catholic missionary in Guizhou around the turn of the century. Unfortunately he did not distinguish clearly between the Miao and the Yao: On a voulu voir des traces d’une écriture dans certaines broderies sur leurs habits, les bonnets des enfants. Il y a peu de temps encore deux jeunes gens yao-jen m’ont affirmé que dans leur village on trouvait dans quatre familles des livres écrits en caractères non chinois, sont-ce des caractères? une écriture propre aux Miao? N’ayant pas encore pu voir ces livres rares, je n’ose rien affirmer.10

7 Jiang Yingliang, ‘Xinan bianqu tezhong wenzi’, (1945), p. 285. 8 RK Parsons, letter of 17 Febr. 1992. 9 ‘The Old Homeland That Was Lost’, ms. Translation by R K Parsons from [Yang Rongxin & Wang Peicheng (eds)] /a55 mau* qgfiau34 pi® tau21/, 1949, p. 31. 10 A Schotter, ‘Notes Ethnographiques sur les Tribus du Kouy-tcheou (Chine)’, (1908), p. 419.

In a later article he writes: On trouve ces broderies chez d’autres tribus miao, par ex. chez les Hë-miao, qui les appellent tu-tu. J’ai vu des caractères sur le bonnet des enfants. Il m’a semblé y voir la forme antique du caractère fou félicité, bonheur. Ce caractère «bonheur», on le trouve prodigué partout, et sous toutes les formes. "

The use of Chinese characters for certain purposes is also mentioned for the Hmong living in Vietnam. Lam Tam described Hmong name-giving and wrote: Dans les établissements encore fortement marqués par l’influence chinoise, il était généralement constitué par un mot chinois prononcé à la Meo, qu’on gravait en idéogramme sur une plaque rectangulaire attachée à un collier de bronze.“

In a description of the altars of the ancestors he noted: [...], l’autel des ancêtres, qui occupe toujours la place centrale contre le paroi du fond [...], se réduit en règle générale à un rectangle de papier local fabriqué avec de l’ecorce du «cay zo» d’environ un empan de large sur un et demi de long, le plus souvent de couleur rouge. Ce papier, acheté chez le maître de culte, [...] porte quelques idéogrammes chinois et est omé de quelques plumes du coq sacrifié à cette occasion, [...].13

The above is thus more of a talismanic use of writing, well attested in many cultures, for example in Ghana.14 Nicholas Tapp notes that in addition to the embroidery patterns there are also other instruments for communication: A rumour that the lost Hmong writing was concealed in the intricate patterns of the women’s embroidery points to the importance of other forms of communication in an oral culture. Embroidery patterns, costume, and the music of the qeej (which can be transmuted into linguistic tones) all provide codes of communication whose meanings can be ‘read’ by an initiate.15 The importance of such methods of non-verbal communication in an oral tradition should not be underestimated.16

In later years some Miao researchers have worked on the designs and their 11 A Schotter, ‘Notes Ethnographiques sur les Tribus du Kouy-tcheou (Chine)’, (1909), p. 323. 12 Lam Tarn, ‘Coup d’œil sur les Meo’, (1973), p. 42. 13 Lam Tarn, ‘Coup d’œil sur les Meo’, (1973), p. 51. 14 J Goody, ‘Restricted Literacy in Northern Ghana’, 1968. 15 The qeej is the most important musical instrument of the Miao, a wind instrument consisting of several pipes. This instrument is called lüshêng Ä3? in Chinese, and is sometimes referred to as lusheng also in English sources. 16 N Tapp, Sovereignty and Rebellion-The White Hmong of Northern Thailand, 1989, p. 130.

significance, notably Li Tinggui, whose results are quoted in an article by Jiang Yongxing: The Miao picture recordings and pictographic writing is nowadays preserved mainly on the traditional hand-crafted embroidery. The Miao embroidery has a long history, its unique national style and superb artistic technique have caused a sensation in the world’s art circles. However, very few people are aware of the fact that the designs on Miao embroidery are the actual fruits of the Miao having acquired rudimentary writing. According to what Miao intellectuals have explored and investigated, for the moment, it is already possible to distinguish in the embroidery design forty odd pictographic words. Below we quote a few of them, as a piece of evidence. Examples: Ä, ft (man) o?

y-

5

(water, river) (fork)

*

(dragon)

LR

(sieve,water mill)

l , ~ (hook)

N

(curved)

2^

^

(basket)

me _ ^

(pupa) (road)

Y

tf'>,

(bird) ^ ^ ■%. (butterfly) OC

(rotor)

5

(clamp) l£P ,

[5] (claw)

e

(insect)

£ (bud, fruit)

ßj

(measuring tool)

, Ln (frame)17

The above embroidery writing is complete in all varieties as to form, sound and meaning. It eloquendy proves that the early Miao culture indeed had reached the level of pictographic writing. One could say that the writing preserved on Miao embroidery is a milestone in the history of the development of Miao writing. Of course, from a scientific point of view, the embroidery writing is only a kind of pictographic way of expressing one’s ideas; it belongs to the initial period of pictographic writing. It cannot satisfactorily record the language of the people and it is even more helpless when it comes to the great number of words that cannot be expressed by any [concrete] form. Nor can the embroidery writing be used in order to accumulate knowledge or to spread culture.18

An alternative explanation for this interpretation is that the Miao had noted the Chinese use of characters as decoration and thus concluded that anything reminiscent of writing in their own decorative patterns must originally have been actual writing. Special names for various patterns are also recorded in a catalogue from the museum of Michigan State University. 36 patterns are depicted and for

17 Tinggui and Jiusu, Gu miaowen tanjiu, s.a. and Yuangu shiqi miaozu huodong diyu kao, s.a. Probably not published. 18 Jiang Yongxing, ‘Miaowen tanjiu’, (1989), p. 113.

27 of them Hmong names are given, but there is no claim that this should be an early stage of writing.’9 Jiang Yongxing has also taken an interest in the Miao writing myths and their connection to old songs about paper making, viz.: There are furthermore some legends which narrate that the Miao writing was recorded on sheepskin and on bark. There are also some that say that a Miao mother burnt the books to ashes and fed it to a few children etc. [...] The ancient song “Narration on the origin of writing”, records how the Miao writing ancestor Gang Xiang fåjt instructed his first student, Tong Yang il#, to create writing, and in “The song of making paper, the song of writing characters” we learn that Tong Yang and a Chinese gentleman wrote characters together, “The teacher wrote characters [i.e. Chinese characters]: one stroke became five buds and the five buds looked like a mosquito; Tong Yang wrote characters [i.e. Miao characters], he wielded [the brush] and it became five lines, the strokes became a horse’s foot”. This ancient song figuratively provides the form of the Miao writing. It is very similar to the designs of embroidery. It is even more valuable that the Miao still have ancient songs and legends which in detail narrate the technique and the history of paper making.19 20 [...] If the Miao historically have been aquainted with the art of paper making, [...] then this makes us believe on rational grounds that the Miao perhaps have had writing.21

Jiang’s approach is, however, far from critical, as he takes all records at face value. A further unclear point is how the description above could be equated with any concrete pattem, although it is interesting to note that it seems to imply a strong connection between the old writing and the embroidery patterns. No explanation is given for the disappearance of the writing as a medium on its own right. It seems that the depiction of objects has been confused with pictographic writing and this has led to the assertion that the traces of writing appear in the patterns of Miao embroidery. Actually the patterns could have led to the emergence of a pictographic writing system. However, this process did not come about, and although there is a strong linkage between pictures of objects and pictographic writing, the latter does require a higher level of abstraction and standardization. It is, nevertheless, most probably true that the, often geometric, patterns in Miao embroidery are derived from pictures. Cardona discusses this question in a general way in his Antropologia della scrittura: It is much more probable, that all the graphs that we usually classify briefly as “geometrical decorations” are the last stage of a process of abstraction starting from pictographic signs.22

19 20 21 22

K Schoonmaker (ed.), Hmong Arts, 1983, pp. 70-1. ‘Miaozu “chuangzhi ge” youguan ziliao chutan’, (1984). Jiang Yongxing, ‘Miaowen tanjiu’, (1989), p. 113. G R Cardona, Antropologia della scrittura, 1981, p. 39.

For a more profound analysis of the impact of this kind of myth on the explanation of a writing system, completely unconnected with the actual embroidery patterns, see part IV.

Eating Books and Getting a Good Memory The second group of stories claims that the writing was for some reason eaten by the Miao, resulting in inner qualities, like a good memory for traditional songs and stories and general cleverness. The first is a legend from the ‘short skirt Miao’ in Leishan County, Guizhou Province, recorded by Li Tinggui during the Spring Festival of 1980: In the past the Miao and the Han were brothers who studied under the same teacher. Both invented a script. Once they had to cross a river and big brother Miao carried his younger brother Han on his back and therefore he put his script in his mouth. As he came to the middle of the river he slipped and happened to swallow the script. Therefore the Miao script is in the stomach and is recorded in the heart, whereas little brother, who sat on his back, held the script in his hand and preserved it. Thus the Han have a script which they write with their hands and see with their eyes.23

As in the preceding stories this tale also explains the difference between the Miao and the Chinese. A second example from China was recorded by a research group which carried out field research on June 21-24, 1982, in the Hongbao People’s Commune in Yanbian County, Sichuan Province: It is said that both the Han and the Miao possessed writing, but later they were driven across the sea to Sichuan. During the voyage the Miao carelessly threw their books on history and folk customs into the sea, but the Han kept theirs. Therefore the Miao do not have any writing, and have to rely on repeating the contents of the [old] books from memory and transmit it from generation to generation. Nowadays less and less people remember it.24

Similar myths are also found among the Hmong who live outside China, and are discussed by Tapp. He quotes an account by a man called Xeeb Thoj at Hapo, Thailand in June 1981: This is why we Hmong have no books. It was like this. Long, long ago, Hmong were the eldest sons. They went to the fields to make a living for themselves, but they did not, could not, study books. According to the elders, a long time ago, everybody moved, and crossed the great waters. The Mab Suav (Chinese and others) 23

21

Li Tinggui, Shenghuo zai Leigong shanlu de miaozu (diaochao baogao), 1983, p. 14. Li Haiying et al., ‘Yanbian xian hongbao gongshe miaozu diaocha’, 1986, p. 180.

carried their books across on their heads, so that they would be able to learn letters. But we Hmong were so afraid of our books getting wet that we could not do that, and we were hungry, so we ate them all up. That is the reason why now we can only be clever inside, in our hearts and only remember in our hearts, not in books. But before that, we had books of our own. That was in China, where I have heard the Hmong still have books (writing).25

It is interesting to note that writing is viewed as an object and not as an instrument or method. This may indicate that although the Miao had seen books and had understood their importance they had not fully understood the difference between the writing as a system of representing language and the actual books and their contents. I suppose that the reference to Miao writing in China means that they had heard about the Pollard script. The notion of cleverness as a result of eating writing is also found among the Akha, who according to a legend received a book written on buffalo skin from the creator. On the way home the Akha got hungry and ate the book.26 Cornelia Ann Kammerer compares this Akha myth to the Hmong myths reported by Tapp and writes: In another variant, the book is written on a rice cake, which, like the buffalo skin, is consumed. Although in the version reported by Lewis the loss of literacy is associated with the loss of “right to rule,” no mention is made of the anticipated return of either one. While other highlanders were awaiting the return of their book and sometimes also their king, Akha were content with their excellent memories, said to result from their having ingested the written word.27

Tapp considers the state of the Hmong as an intermediary stage between illiteracy and aliteracy, illiteracy meaning the lack of literacy in a literate society and aliteracy the same lack of literacy in a culture which has no writing. This is probably valid for the other groups of the Miao people as well. They were aware of writing, but as seen from the above examples, they had not grasped some of the essential qualities of writing, e.g. that it is not necessarily manifest in a material way, but that it is a skill which can be preserved even without books (for some time at least). The anthropologist Geddes has heard a similar explanation for the loss of writing, although no positive consequences of this eating of the writing are mentioned. It was recorded in Pasamlien, Thailand, and published in 1976:

25

N Tapp, Sovereignty and Rebellion-The White Hmong of Northern Thailand, 1989, p.

122.

25 P Lewis, Ethnographic Notes on the Akhas of Burma, 1969—70, pp. 787-9. Quoted from C A Kammerer, ‘Customs and Christian conversion among Akha highlanders of Burma and Thailand’, (1990), pp. 282—3. 27 C A Kammerer, ‘Customs and Christian Conversion Among Akha Highlanders of Burma and Thailand’, (1990), p. 283.3 S3

At Pasamlien, I was told by some of the people that long ago, when they were still in China, they had a book like the Chinese. But one day it got cooked up and was eaten by them with their rice.28 29

The missionary Scheuzger in northern Thailand recorded another myth, where the Chinese aggressor element is much stronger than in the others: Why ever did those horses have to eat the books of our forefathers, many, many years ago? These Meo kings were the first there were in the whole great northern kingdom. Indeed in those days we had a land of our own. A Meo king ruled over us. We were the most powerful nation on earth. But the wicked Chinese were more cunning than we. They fell upon us in great hordes. They had better weapons than we had. We fought bitterly and courageously, but it was in vain. The Chinese knew no mercy. They murdered, enslaved and pillaged. We had to surrender. But not quite everyone gave in; whoever could escape did so. When the exhausted fugitives came to a wide river they rested, leaving their packs among the bushes. They were all overcome with sleep. When at last they woke up - O horror - the horses had eaten up the Meo books! Not a single one remained. Since then we have possessed neither books nor script

In China one account about the Miao swallowing the writing was recorded by an English missionary: The Heh Miao say that long ago they lived in the same region as the Chinese, but the Chinese were too cunning for them, so they determined to remove. They travelled a long way and at length came to a broad sheet of water which, as they had no boats, they were unable to cross. At the time they knew a few characters, but appear to have known little else. As they stood by the side of the water pondering over what was to be done they noticed water spiders walking about on the surface of it, and they said, if these little things can walk on the water why cannot we? So they tried, with the result that they were nearly drowned. In struggling to regain the bank they swallowed a lot of water, and, as they say, with the water they swallowed all the characters they knew, and have been without characters ever since.30

Books Lost and Later Brought Back In the third subgroup of myths the writing is simply lost in the river crossing, and because of that it seems to be easy to associate this kind of myth with the emergence of actual writing systems, which are interpreted as the bringing back of the writing lost in the water. When the missionaries 28 W R Geddes, Migrants of the Mountains: The Cultural Ecology of the Blue Miao (Hmong Njua) of Thailand, 1976, p. 20. 29 O Scheuzger, The New Trail: Among the Tribes in North Thailand, 1966, p. 92. 30 SR Clarke,‘The Miao and Chungchia Tribes of Kueichow Province’, (1904), pp. 198-9.

devised writing systems these were sometimes viewed as the old Miao writing brought back to the Miao people. Most probably this also influenced their readiness to adopt Christianity, as it was considered to be the original Miao religion, recorded in the books which were lost during the river crossing. Similar rumours came about when the modem Miao writing was devised at the Conference on Miao Writing in Guiyang in 1956, but it is difficult to assess to what extent this influenced the Miao to leam that kind of writing.31 This myth will be further discussed in parts II, III and IV. The above-mentioned myths on writing have often been connected with messianic movements in which some person has claimed to be the Miao king and bolsters his status by providing a Miao writing. Lemoine writes: Cette absence d’écriture pour la grande majorité des Hmong ne signifiait pas pour autant manque d’intérêt. Bien au contraire. Frappés sans doute de l’importance accordée au document écrit par l’administration chinoise, les Hmong rêvaient d’une écriture tombée du ciel et qui leur serait propre. Ce thème revint constamment au cours des divers mouvements messianiques qui pendant des siècles ont tenté à intervalles plus ou moins longs de secouer le joug chinois et surtout d’établir un “royaume hmong”. Selon le mythe messianique un roi allait naître ou était né [...] pour rassembler les Hmong et les délivrer de la tutelle des autres peuples. Le roi ou son prophète ne manquait pas d’annoncer qu’il avait eu la révélation d’une écriture. C’était la marque même de l’investiture par le Ciel.32

32

Li Bingze, ‘Chuanshuo zhong de wenzi faming’, (1988), pp. 80-1. J Lemoine, ‘Les écritures du Hmong’, (1972), pp. 124—5.

Early Mnemotechnic Methods In order to regularize various economic and social agreements the Miao made use of methods known in almost all parts of the world, namely knots %aM. and notched sticks The latter method was generally used while concluding marriage agreements on brideprice etc. Chinese sources mention the early forms of memory aids used by the Miao, e.g.: Tsing chung Kiå, “Families of the Blue Secondary.” These reside in the districts of Ku-chau [Jiuzhou ISffl], Tsing-kiâng [Qing(shui)jiang ?f(?k)£t], and Tân-kiâng [Danjiang f}£E=Leishan Bill], in the south-eastern part of Kwei-chau [Guizhou], [...] The people of this tribe have no knowledge of any written language, or of a regular calendar. For records of events they use pieces of carved or notched wood.33

Chinese works on the Miao generally mention the knots and notched sticks, but seldom specify exaedy how these methods were used: what could be recorded and what concrete form the recordings took. In other cultures these methods have sometimes been developed to a very advanced degree, e.g. among the Incas. The French Catholic missionary F M Savina, who lived among the Miao in Tonkin and Laos for a long time, wrote that he had seen simple imitations of Chinese writing among the Miao. A kind of pictographic writing used for communicative purposes during rebellions was, however, also mentioned: J’ai vu aussi quelques feuilles de papier griffonnées au charbon au moyen desquelles les Miao révoltés correspondaient entre-eux. Mais on ne peut pas donner le nom d’écriture à ces griffonages figurant grossièrement quelques objets seulement, comme les hommes, les chevaux, les chemins, les cour d’eau et les montagnes.34

Savina also mentioned the most widely spread mnemotechnic method among the Miao: notched sticks. Jacques Lemoine takes this up and compares it to what he has seen more recendy. Savina wrote that only the person who had made the notches could interpret them, but Lemoine does not agree and gives examples to prove the versatility of communication with notched sticks: Savina limite son usage à une sorte d’aide-mémoire sur lequel seraient consignés les événements marquants: “chaque chef de famille possède son bâtonnet entaillé et il est le seul à pouvoir le comprendre”. En fait l’usage de ces baguettes à encoches des Hmong est assez généralisé et diveRifié pour constituer un moyen de communication,31 * 31 34

E C Bridgman (transi.), ‘Sketches of the Miau-tsze’, (1859), pp. 259. FM Savina, Histoire des Miao, 1924.

ou de notation, capable de se substituer avec succès au message transmis de bouche à oreille ou à la mémoire orale. Les conventions sont simples puisque l’auteur du message ne dispose que d’encoches dont les formes ne varient guère: encoche pointue ou encoche carrée. On peut jouer seulement sur le nombre et sur la largeur de l’encoche. Sa position sur la planchette fait aussi l’objet de conventions, qui permettent, en introduisant des circonstances de temps et de lieu, de construire un énoncé complexe.36

Lemoine further gives some examples from the various provinces in Laos: Sieng Khouang, Louang Phrabang and Saiyaboury. The notched sticks are still in use in China, and an example is given in a Chinese propaganda book about the Miao people, in which a marriage in Zhenfeng County in southwest Guizhou is described:36 After the bride’s family had accepted the gifts and checked them against a list, the girl’s uncle produced a bamboo pole about a metre long with marks made on both ends of it. The number of marks on each end was identical, representing the kind, number and value of the gifts as specified by the bridegroom’s family beforehand. The bamboo pole was passed around the dinner table for a check. Finally it was split in two by the elderly people present, one half for each family, to keep as a marriage certificate.37

Examples are also given in various articles in Guizhou journals and collections of historical materials.38 Living dispersed on the mountains, the Miao sometimes had to communicate with each other, and during the rebellions against the Chinese other writing systems may have been devised, for example the so called feather letters. In connection with the Conference on Miao Writing in 1956 this communication method was mentioned: In the exposition of the Miao writing conference, a “feather letter” was exhibited. [...] It was a long wood stick, about one inch thick, one end was split, and there were inserted two feathers, a piece of fuse [...], and two red peppen. This was said to be a Miao emergency message: the feather means emergency, the pepper means that the enemy is strong and the fuse means that the enemy already opened fire. If somebody received such a “feather letter” he would bring armed troops and come to their support.39

36 J Lemoine, ‘Les écritures du Hmong’, (1972), p. 134. 36 In the book the name of the county is given as Fengzhen, but as there is no county called Fengzhen in southwest Guizhou, I assume that this is a simple mistake for Zhenfeng made during the translation. 37 Bai Ziran (ed.), A Happy People - The Miaos, 1988, p. 113. 38 E.g. Pan Hongbo, ‘Miaozu “gebang” wenzi fuhao qianxi’, 1988, pp. 115-7. 39 Chen Shiruo, ‘Miaojia youle wenzi’, (1957), p. 3.

Similar kinds of sign systems are also mentioned by Jiang Yongxing, who discusses the development from sign language to writing: The Miao people in all regions have all invented many sets of “sign language” s' for the exchange of ideas and for recording material objects in order to satisfy the needs of production and of life. If one, for example, inserts a grass mark in front of the door, this notifies strangers that they are not entitled to walk in on their own accord; if a branch is set up at a road crossing, this indicates the direction for wanderers; in the forest bamboo shoots and leaves are used as arrows for people to get in touch with one another; in courting, boys and girls give keepsakes as a token of love. If some important accident has happened, the Miao light beacon-fires or blow ox horns. When they are on guard for enemies making a surprise attack, information transmission is strengthened and they send “notched sticks”. In times of emergency they add chicken feathers mixed with charcoal. The content of the Miao unwritten law is depicted on wood. When two tribes or clans conclude a treaty of alliance, it is also based on “notched sticks”. When the masses get together the person in charge holds cogongrass ÊÜË in his hands as a symbol of power and authority. “The Chuan Miao, like other peoples, often make records, mostly in the form of notched bamboo sticks or knots on grass strings, like the knot writing of ancient times”.40 The internal economic contacts of the Miao are also based on notched sticks and grass knots “Hence, in Yin times, the chests of the rich families were brimming with cogongrass and wooden sticks”.41 Tied knots, notched sticks and even picture recordings are methods for memory aid and for assisting communication. Many peoples without writing have had these. Although it, after all, has a fundamental difference from writing, it must however be noted that the working people of the Miao have in their own practical life, on the basis of tied knots, notched sticks and picture recordings, devised a pictographic writing which has a definite connection with words in the language, which can be read aloud and which can evoke a thought of a certain material object. This is obviously a bit more advanced than other peoples without writing.42

These mnemotechnic methods constitute an intermediary stage between mythological writing and the later concrete writing systems.43

41 Lin Mingjun, ‘Chuan miao gaikuang’, (1936). 41 Liu Xifân, Miaohuang xiaoji, 1934. 42 Jiang Yongxing, ‘Miaowen tanjiu’, (1989), p. 113. c The Naxi people, who like the Miao also live in the Yunnan province, early on devised a pictographic writing (according to legend already in the thirteenth century). It was (and still is to a very limited extent) used by the Naxi shamans, the dongba; hence the name ‘Dongba writing’ for this kind of writing. The Naxi people also developed a syllabary, inspired by the form of Tibetan writing, but incorporating some graphemes from the Yi writing. These two systems were sometimes used in the same text somewhat like Japanese writing or Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, especially for clarifying the pronunciation of rare pictographs.

Early Writing Systems In order to analyse this subject further we will first discuss the hitherto undeciphered writing systems which could have been real Miao writing systems. Due to the lack of material and reliable information about their origin these writing systems are only included to show that Miao writing systems might actually have been devised, for example during the Miao rebellions against the Chinese. The need for communication in such circumstances is obvious and has also been mentioned by Savina, but the writing systems discussed below are of a more advanced nature than those noted by Savina. Furthermore it is, undoubtedly valuable to have this information collected in this general survey of Miao writing, as these writing systems are often referred to in a very vague and mysterious way in Chinese and Western works on Miao writing. Unfortunately the early Chinese authors usually do not separate the southern minorities into relevant ethnic groups, and their mistakes in classification are sometimes inherited by Western scholars. The confusion of the Miao with the Yi, who really have an old writing system, still in use is notorious. Chinese scholars have recently taken an interest in these alleged Miao writing systems and this description will be based mainly on their research. Lu Ciyun The first example of a Miao writing is given in Lu Ciyun’s [ü>^|J book Dongqi xianzhi flflÜSitSÈ [Detailed description of Dongqi], an account of a trip to south China, dated 1683. In an appendix (zhiyu !£!$), not found in all editions, he stated under the heading ‘Miao writing’ ]§U: The Miao have writing, which is not like that on ancient bronze vessels, nor like the kedou script. One cannot find out who invented it; we publish two chapters of it in order to get it sorted out by the learned scholars.44 45

He proceeded to give an example of the actual script, with parallel text in Chinese. The Chinese text is similar in contents to the edifying song ‘Bailangge’ täffilft in the historical work Houhanshu, and the Miao text would therefore appear to be a translation.'15 It consists of the two songs ‘Duoxun’ and ‘Gezhang’ SKiSL The fint consists of 28 characters, and the second of 152. Every Chinese character corresponds to one Miao character. Lu Ciyun’s book has been discussed by Western authors in the nineteenth century. The general discussion on non-Chinese scripts in China started 44 The appendix has been found only in an edition of his collected writings with the title Lu Yunshi zazhu. 45 The ‘Bailangge’ in Houhanshu is not in Miao, but probably in some kind of pre-Yi.

with Terrien de Lacouperie’s book The Languages of China Before the Chinese in 1886,46 and continued with the discovery of two manuscripts, one in Yi and one in an unknown script, by the British consul Bourne.47 This writing was referred to in an article in the journal Cosmos of May 7, 1887. Bourne supposed that he had found Shui writing.48 Terrien de Lacouperie, however, thought that this was an example of the Yao writing called bangbu or ‘model volume’, in zhuan style. A Mr Douglas thought that most of the characters were adopted from Chinese, but a few seemed to be other pictographic signs. In Chinese sources writing and books were historically attributed to the Yao, of which the Shui, according to Min Xiu, was a subgroup.49 A French missionary in Yunnan, Paul Vial, thought that the manuscript did not belong to the Shui, but rather to the Chongjia or Chajen, who together with the Miao and Yao live in Guizhou.50 In 1891, G Devéria published an article à propos Vial’s brochure, in which he mentioned that he had discovered two songs attributed to the Miao, with an interlinear translation in Chinese. A facsimile of one of the songs was attached to the article.51 According to the preface of the Dongqi xianzhi by Lu Ciyun, the term Miao was used for other ethnic groups as well, like the Lang, the Yao and the Zhuang. The material had probably been collected in the prefecture Xinzhou fff'Jii in Guangxi.52 Devéria proceeded to compare the Miao writing in the Dongqi xianzhi to Yi characters listed in Vial’s brochure. He arrived at the conclusion that it was not the same script and that neither the Yi script nor the Miao script was alphabetic. In 1912 the French explorer d’Ollone criticized Devéria by pointing out the unreliability of his source, Lu Ciyun: 46 A Terrien de Lacouperie, The Languages of China before the Chinese, 1886. 47 P Vial, De la langue et de l’écriture indigènes au Yûn-nân, 1890, p. 13. Mr Bourne had been a consul at Tchông-Kiu [?=Zhongzhou Æ-'fH, now called Zhong County Æ-J1] in Sichuan. 48 The writing of the Shui people (also called Sui) is described by Robert Ramsey in The Languages of China, 1987, p. 245: ‘The Sui have a system of symbols that is used for divination and geomancy. It is far too simple to have much of a linguistic function and seems to be little more than a set of magic symbols. A few of the 150 or so graphs are real drawings (such as of a bird or fish), and a few others are schematic representations of some characteristic quality (“snail” is indicated by an inward-curving spiral). Most of the rest are borrowings from Chinese and are often written upside-down or backwards, apparently to give the symbol more magical power. For obvious reasons, the Chinese name for Sui writing is “backward writing”.’ 49 Probably a travel account entided Yueshu by Min Xu, from the seventeenth century. 50 Chongjia was the old name for the Buyi Tfifîc, a Kam-Dai people living in Guizhou. 51 G Devéria, ‘Les Lolos et les Miao-tze, à propos d’une brochure de M. P. Vial, Missionnaire apostolique au Yun-nan’, (1891), pp. 356-69. 52 Now called Longiin All-Nationalities AC BË$£#®UÊ3?cîf&.

[...] mais pour que ce document, tiré du Sien tchi tchi yu, pût faire foi, il eût fallu que l’auteur chinois s’abstînt de révéler une déplorable ignorance de l’ethnographie ignorance partagée d’ailleurs par la plupart de ses compatriotes, qui confondent ou séparent les races indigènes avec un arbitraire déconcertant.3

He proceeded to remark that the Yao had writing and that their books were similar to the writing recorded in the Dongqi xianzhi in having two columns of characters, Yao and Chinese, in which the latter were not to be interpreted in their ideographic sense, but read as a phonetic transcription of Yao. He concluded that the Yao hypothesis was more plausible, although he himself had no means of proving his point. He also clarified the possible relation with Yi by emphasizing that the Yi writing was not ideographic, but phonetic. He finally remarked that, given the fact that the Chinese authors often get the Miao and Yi mixed up, this single example was totally insufficient to prove that the Miao had a writing system. In 1938 the Chinese minority researcher Wen You published an article, mainly on the missionary Samuel Pollard’s script, in which he also mentioned Lu Ciyun. He discussed Devéria’s analysis and compared the Chinese text to edifying songs by Chinese officials. He wrote: When we discuss this today, we know that there is this kind of rather ancient record of Miao writing, but we cannot talk in detail about its meaning. Furthermore, the so-called Miao is not a special name for one nationality in a narrow sense, but a general term for aborigines in a broad sense. Today it is impossible to give it [the writing] a special name.51

In another article, in 1951, he returned to Lu Ciyun, and went a bit further as to the origin of the Chinese text: The author thinks that the wording of the two songs is similar in character to the “Bailangge” in Houhanshu.. First comes the Chinese text and then a translation into a different language. There is today no way of determining the authenticity of this kind of writing.55

The most original and learned analysis, however, belongs to Professor Chen Qiguang of the CIN, who claims that the script is not a translation, but a transcription of the Chinese text. In order to facilitate an evaluation the whole analysis appears below. For further clarity all the equivalents in the unknown script are given from the source text, as opposed to Chen, who

3 d’Ollone, ‘L’Écriture des Miao tseu’, 1912, pp. 269-70. 54 Wen You, ‘Lun Pollard Script’, (1938), p. 43. 3 Wen You, ‘Guizhou Leishan xin chu canshi chukao’, (1951). Reprinted in Wen You, Wen You lunji, 1985, p. 67.

presents only one example for every character in an appendix: “Duoxun” and “Gezhang” contain 180 characters altogether, and there is an equal number of Chinese characters and undeciphered characters. As some Chinese characters appear several times, there are 141 different Chinese characters. As the characters are parallelly translated, it is possible to draw some conclusions from the relations in the parallel translations. Among the 141 characters, some of them appear several times, like zhöng S', and xiào # which each appears five times; chén E, zK £, A ? and mù 8É which each appears three times; fit di 3^ and näi Jb which each appears twice. These repeatedly appearing Chinese characters appear in different positions in the phrases; the grammatical components are also different, but the undeciphered characters appear in the same position, and the form of the characters is the same. We can thus see that this is similar to the Fanhan heshi zhangzhongzhu flilcqBf it is a character by character “transliteration”, and not a translation. If it had been a translation, and the language had not been a dialect of Chinese, the grammatical structure would have been different, and the number of syllables in the words would have been different; they could not have reappeared on the same position when appearing several times. As it consists of 180 characters against 180 characters, the characters being arranged parallelly, we can see that the undeciphered characters are also based on syllables. From the undeciphered characters we can see that the Chinese characters A ■? and A % are rendered with the same undeciphered character “[ C C V and U ]”; and in the same way fi M, fi S and fi få with the same undeciphered character “[ VL , and Æ]”; di Jg and di ife by “[It )fc and He]”; xiöng 52 and xiöng S® by “[fc» C- and 12.]”; ming and mîng by “[3* and ]”. It is thus clear that different meanings are not distinguished by different character forms; it is a kind of syllabic script. From the form of the undeciphered characters we can see that the Chinese characters jin ^ and jing are rendered with the same undeciphered character “[ £ and &]”; the Chinese characters chén E and chéng fig by “[5^ ft ft and j£]”. Jin belongs to the rhyme category shën W\ jing and chéng belong to the rhyme category gëng g; and chén belongs to zhën gf. We can thus see that this writing cannot distinguish the three nasal finals of Chinese (m,n,i] ). But the Chinese character qi # is rendered by and the Chinese character qin H by “['S? =3-]”. The initial and the tone of qi and qin are the same, and the main difference is that qi has no nasal final, while qin does have one. Thus this writing is capable of distinguishing between the existence or absence of nasal final. We know that if we analyse the minority languages of southern China from their nasal finals, the Kam-Dai languages generally have -m, -n, -q, the Yi lacks nasal finals, the Miao-Yao languages have nasal finals, but Miao generally lacks -m, while the difference between -n and -q is not phonematic. Thus the language which is written down with this writing is not Kam-Dai, nor Yi; the most plausible is Miao. In parallel text to “Fengxun” and “Gezhang” fi M and fi ffi are represented by the same character, in the same way as di ife and di W,. Li M and di Jfe belong to the rhyme zh“i it, grade 3; fi få and di 3Ê belong to the rhyme xiè g, grade 4. Thus, at the time of the transliteration, the Chinese grades three and four (zhi ih and xiè g) had already merged to one class. Di tfi is rising tone, di ife is departing tone. They are represented by one character, thus the change of Chinese voiced rising tone to a departing tone had already occurred. In the parallel text slù g and shi J£ are represented by “[*> and ^l”; shi IS becomes “[>3:]”, and the two are different. Shi H is a rising tone with the rhyme zlfl lb; slù H: is a departing tone with the rhyme xiè g. As the voiced rising tone has

already become a departing tone; the zhl ih and xiè Si, third and fourth grade have already merged, the tone and the final should be the same, but the two are different. It is clear that the initials are different, thus the initials shü 8 and chân W had not yet merged. From the fact that the voiced rising tone has become a departing tone, that the rhymes zhl ih and xiè g and the grades three and four have already merged, and that there is a difference between shü # and chån the Song dynasty is a rather reasonable time of transliteration. From the above conclusions we can see that the statement “The Miao have writing” in the Dongqi xianzhi is far from groundless.56

Although his analysis is in itself rather convincing, it does indeed seem strange that only one single example of this writing should have been preserved to this day. The ‘Miao’ characters, which Chen Qiguang considers identical, actually show notable differences, but it is certainly not possible to dismiss his hypothesis just because of this, as the strokes can have been somewhat distorted between the time Lu Ciyun wrote them down (or copied them) and that when they appeared in a printed Chinese book. Lu Ciyun does not elaborate on his source for this writing, and the question has to remain open until further materials have been found. A transcription does not prove the existence of an old Miao script, in spite of Chen Qiguang’s arguments, possibly, though, it might have been created by a Miao for writing Chinese. According to the specialists consulted by Chen Qiguang, the writing recorded in the Dongqi xianzhi is not Yi, but as there are many varieties of Yi, I do not want to exclude this possibility, especially as some of the characters are strongly reminiscent of Yi writing, for example as in the sample found at the National Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm.57

57

Chen Qiguang, Zhongguo yuwen gaiyao, 1990, pp. 286-8. Manuscript no. H 3258, National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm.

Lu Ciyun’s Miao Writing

T

ft S. A 3k JA

4

ft

II

ft _. ft iE

ft ft

t T

I A

A)

ft ft

a

ft B A JÊ

>8'

33

gna

argent

34

/trio

fer

35

W

vent

38

pang Is’io

fumée

39

Ich 'cou

cendre

40

Ten

charbon

41

leul hrlalc

allumer le feu

42

Ich'oua hrlalc

éteindre le feu

Z

nuage

pluie

feu

r>7

lama

a 17

hrlale

ruisseau

2G

b

37

eau

24

43

forêt

44

dong

arbre

45

kia ng long

racine

y/O

1

1

40

i

48

h

tronc

tonnerre

éclair

arc-en-ciel

SC

91

( kl'c

chemin

27

& nang

22

\b

i

W3

kai

.1. tfs-

C

21

Ich 'ou

cuivre

4-

plomb

0 1

d’Ollone, ‘L’Écriture des Miao tseu’, 1912, p. 274.

le en long

écorce

1

49

50

bourgeon

eà ng

fleur

Chinese Character-Based Writing in West Hunan This Ghao-Xong writing was fint investigated by the Ghao-Xong Liu Ziqi, at the Telecommunication University of Jishou, the capital of the Xiangxi AP in Hunan.95 Later Zhao Liming at Qinghua University took an interest in this writing and she has published several articles introducing this GhaoXong writing both on her own,96 and together with Liu Ziqi.97 They also have a hirtherto unpublished manuscript with the title Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen [Xiangxi Chinese character-based Miao writing], which contains an introduction to three kinds of Chinese character-based Ghao-Xong writing and an annotated list of 650 Miao characters. For the description below the present writer draws heavily on the above-mentioned works.

Shi Bantang The Ghao-Xong folk singer and scholar Shi Bantang TfffcÄ (1863—1927) devised special Ghao-Xong characters which were used mainly in two counties of Xiangxi: Huayuan TES and Guzhang 'é’i. The main purpose for this writing was to record folk songs. According to Zhao Liming the preserved material contains approximately 200,000 characters altogether.98 Shi collected the Miao characters in a dictionary called Miaowen zizheng pu [Miao orthography] (or Yuedu miaowen xizi Mit[Exercises in Miao reading]). This dictionary contained more than one thousand GhaoXong characters and existed in two hand-written copies. One was borrowed by a company commander in the Liberation Army who wanted to learn some Ghao-Xong in order to quell the resistance in the Ghao-Xong mountains. Later he was killed and the book disappeared. The second copy was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

95 Liu Ziqi, ‘Miaozu gesheng Shi Bantang’, (1981). * Zhao Liming, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, Paper presented at the 22nd Sino-Tibetan Conference, and Zhao Liming, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, (1990), pp. 168-73. 97 Zhao Liming & Liu Ziqi, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, (1990), pp. 44-9. ® Zhao Liming, personal communication, Peking, 4 June 1990.

Guzhang The Guzhang writing was probably devised by Dong Hongxun Äfilü.99 It has never been widely used, but was preserved in a local history,1(10 in great contrast to Shi Bantang’s writing which spread among the people, without being recorded in local histories or in other Chinese books.

Laozhai This Ghao-Xong writing system was devised in the beginning of the 1950s by the Ghao-Xong Shi Chengjian in the village Laozhai in Huayuan County TESfor developing folk culture — not only songs, but also drama and novels. Shi Chengjian had founded a Ghao-Xong theatre company and this writing system was used for the librettos. It was simpler than Shi Bantang’s; there were fewer strokes in the characters, but the principles were not as clear.

99

Liu Ziqi, personal communication, Jishou, 13 Oct. 1990. Guzhang pingtingzhi, 1907, juan 9, pp. 38—44.

Sample of the Shi Bantang Ghao-Xong Writing101

n-ft n^î

>4

H»J ^

JL ?*] tfj ri, V

Btt

^

l)Wf E

4>&X*f

*

101

W»(

+ ^*&-

t ft

Zhao Liming & Liu Ziqi, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, (1990), p. 49.

Comparative Chart of the Shi Bantang, Laozhai and Guzhang Writing Systems 102

Shi Bantang Right-left structure

31

Up-down structure Side structure

(nr*

Laozhai

Guzhang

Pig

M

snow

rice

& pc. %

mountain

good

%

head

SB at

m

m

&

go out

Inside-outside structure

return

Pig

gate

MAS

Numerals in the Shi Bantang and Laozhai Writing Systems'03 102 103

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Shi Bantang

2=

&

&

&

a

a

&

£

a

a'

Laozhai

I-

t-

ii

Id

0-

9Z

i*

db

II JA It M JA,' ot «v\ ®Ju °i ■A »K

n-

102 Adapted from Zhao Liming, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, (1990), p. 169. 103 Adapted from Zhao Liming, ‘Xiangxi fangkuai miaowen’, (1990), p. 171.

Liu Ziqi, who together with Zhao Liming has investigated the various writing systems used among the Ghao-Xong in west Hunan, wants himself to introduce a new Chinese character-based writing based on the earlier systems in order to facilitate the integration of the Miao people into the Chinese people. It is to consist mainly of ordinary Chinese characters, but along with some specially devised characters as well. According to him this would diminish the distance between the Miao and the Han. Liu plans to translate works from folk poetry with his own writing system, adding an IPA transcription. ‘The effect will be the same as in Japanese; there is no opposition between Chinese characters and Pinyin.’ Possibly old Miao words with Chinese etymological parallels (in Classical Chinese) could be written with old Chinese characters, which are no longer in current use; a kind of etymological spelling principle. The main principles are, however, the same as for Chinese characters, liushu, but with slight modifications. It could be compared to the Zhuang IS writing and the chü nom of Vietnam.104

104

Liu Ziqi, personal communication, Jishou, 13 Oct. 1990.

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The mission set itself to provide the Miao with a Bible in their own tongue. As Mesrop had done for the Armenians, and Cyril for the Slavs, Pollard and his colleagues devised a script for the Miao. It was a syllabary, an alphabet of syllables, such as Evans had invented earlier for the Cree Indians of Canada, and its success was immediate and phenomenal. When the first copies of one of the Miao Gospels reached Yunnan-fu, the provincial capital, every copy was sold within two hours, although the consignment had been carried in on the backs of twenty-nine horses. Twice the entire font of Miao-script was destroyed (in the Yokohama earthquake and in the Japanese Shanghai Campaign of 1932), and twice it was remade so that the Bible might be read in this strange writing. The Book of A Thousand Tongues, United Bible Societies, 1972, p. 295.

Missionary Approach to Miao Writing Writing Systems Devised by Catholic Missionaries1 The Catholic mission to the Miao areas started during the latter half of the nineteenth century with Paul Vial in Yunnan Province, Kircher at Mongtseu (Mengzi W.~F) in Yunnan Province, Savina in northern Vietnam and Renault, Schotter, Esquirol and others in Zhenfeng Jill in Guizhou Province. Paul Vial’s Yi and Hmong Writing One Miao writing system, allegedly devised by a Frenchman, was mentioned in an article by Li Bingze in 1985. It is said to have been devised for the Hmong in the area of Luxi Mffi, Lunan and Luliang in Yunnan by a French missionary called Luxidai HËHfÇ. The writing system was devised in the beginning of the twentieth century and was a pictographic script in the seal character style.2 Jiang Yongxing also mentioned this writing system in 1989, but called the French missionary Luyadai [ÜiSfÇ. He mentioned as a reference Yunnan shaoshu minzu-miaozu [The minority nationalities of Yunnan — the Miao], 1980.3 This source has, however, not been found by the present writer, but

' For a more detailed account of the Catholic mission and the writing systems devised by Catholic missionaries, cf. Joakim Enwall, ‘Catholic Hmong Writing in Sichuan and Yunnan: A Preliminary Survey’, in Jan-Olof Svantesson et al. (eds), Festschrift Kristina Lindell, forthcoming. 2 Li Bingze, ‘Miaozu de wenzi’, (1985), pp. 23—4. 3 Jiang Yongxing, ‘Miaowen tanjiu’, (1989), pp. 112-6.

only a revised edition of this book which was published in 1983, and there no such script was mentioned.4 In 1982, a research report on the society and history of the Miao and the Yao in Yunnan was published, and this may have been Li Bingze’s source.5 In the chapter on the Qujing district, where Lunan is located, one page from the part about minority nationalities in the local history of Xuanwei was reproduced. This local history was first printed in 1934. There Vial’s writing was discussed, and it was called Miao writing, although the writing quoted was obviously the one used in Vial’s Yi dictionary from 1909.6 This is a typical case of mistaking Yi writing for Miao.

Esquirol’s Hmu writing7 In the eighteenth century a group of Hmu migrated from Huangping in southeast Guizhou to an area in the southwest of Guizhou, to a valley situated on the border between Tchen fong [Zhenfeng] and Sin t’chên [Xincheng].8 Their ethnonym was Kanao, which can be compared to the alternative ethnonym for the Hmu, [qa33 naui13]. By the 1920s the contacts with their relatives at Huangping had already been broken, but the Hmu in Zhenfeng still considered Huangping their ancestral home: Toutefois pour nos Kanao, Hoâng p’în reste l’aima mater. Dans toutes les cérémonies de conjuration, l’officiant se tourne du côté de Hoâng p’în, comme les Juifs exilés vers Jérusalem. Après sa mort, le Kanao n’est conduit au ciel qu’après un détour par Hoâng p’în.9 *

The Catholic mission among the Hmu in this area had started around 1870. Later Paulin Renault was stationed at Zhenfeng for six years and baptized more than 300 Hmu. Afterwards other missionaries took over: Michel, Aubry and Alphonse [Aloys] Schotter. Between 1908 and 1911 Schotter 4 Yunnan sheng lishi yanjiusuo (ed.), Yunnan shaoshu minzu (xiudingben), 1983. 5 Song Enchang, ‘Yunnan miaozu liieshu’, 1982, pp. 1—11. The research was carried out 1958-76. 6 P Vial, Dictionnaire Français-Lolo, Dialecte Gni, 1909. Paul Vial’s dictionary of Yi was for the Yi dialects of Lunan subprefecture 8&i#,Nj, Luliang subprefecture Itiisvjtl and Guangxi subprefecture ÄH'IH in Yunnan Province. 7 This description is based on two articles by Esquirol. Cf. J Esquirol, ‘Les ’Ka Tnao „ du Tchên föng ÄÄ au Koûy-Tcheôu. (Chine)’, (1931), pp. 40-9 and (1931), pp. 117-35. 8 Zhenfeng County MMM, and Xincheng fri® (in 1913 changed to Xingren County HOIS) in the present Qianxinan Buyi and Miao 9 J Esquirol, ‘Les ’Ka Tnao _ du Tchên föng ÜÄ au Koûy-Tcheôu. (Chine)’, (1931), p. 41.

published three articles on the minorities in Guizhou, mainly on various groups of Miao. He also included short wordlists in a very inadequate orthography.10 In 1927 Carlo, the first ‘vicaire apostolique’ at Lan long [Anlong],11 baptized 150 Hmu. Sometime before 1931 Joseph Esquirol devised a writing system for the Hmu dialect and in 1931 his Hmu—French, French-Hmu dictionary was published in Hong Kong.12 I do not know if this writing system has ever been used for other pubhcations than the dictionary. In the local history of the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao AP, it is noted that, ‘although the Miao did have writing before the Liberation it was not in common use’.13 It is also mentioned that some of the minority peoples are Catholics and that in 1985 there were nine Catholic churches in the area.14 The Hmu variety spoken in Zhenfeng was thus similar to that of Huangping (as will be shown below, p. 202), but there were also some differences, mainly due to borrowing from other languages. Esquirol wrote: Ce petit dialecte évolue rapidement; il ne sera peut-être plus bientôt qu’un souvenir, supplanté par le chinois. Les Kanao proclament eux-mêmes que déjà ils ne parlent plus comme leurs cousins demeurés au Hoâng p’în. Et ils n’ont quitté la ruche que depuis quelques générations. Il se compose actuellement: 1. - D’un fond de miao fortement différencié et s’appauvrissant sans cesse. 2. — D’un stock de chinois qui n’a pas été tout entier amassé ici, mais a été en partie incorporé par la langue au cours de son long pèlerinage à travers la Chine. 3. — D’un léger bagage de dioï, de là là et d’autres parlers, sans que l’on comprenne où et comment il s’en est ainsi frotté; car les Kanao ne sont pas actuellement en contact avec ces races, du moins en contact assez étroit pour en adopter le langage.15

10 A Schotter, ‘Notes Ethnographiques sur les Tribus du Kouy-tcheou (Chine)’, (1908), pp. 397-425; (1909), pp. 318-53; (1911), pp. 318-44. 11 By him referred to as Lan long, i.e. Nanlong Fu ffijS/fä. Already in 1797, the name had, however, been changed to Xingyi Fu PHUfö. In 1922 it was changed to Anlong County 12 J Esquirol, Dictionnaire ’Karnao„—Français et Français—’Ka rnao 1931. u Qianxinan Buyizu Miaozu Zizhizhou gaikuang bianxiezu, Qianxinan Buyizu Miaozu Zizhizhou gaikuang, 1985, p. 67. 14 Qianxinan Buyizu Miaozu Zizhizhou gaikuang bianxiezu, Qianxinan Buyizu Miaozu Zizhizhou gaikuang, 1985, pp. 67-8. b J Esquirol, ‘Les ’Ka ,nao „ du Tchën föng ÜS au Koûy-Tcheôu. (Chine)’, (1931), p. 133.

Early Protestant Mission The China Inland Mission (henceforth CIM), in Chinese called ne'idihui ilii#, was founded by James Hudson Taylor in London in 1865.16 In the following year the first missionaries sailed to China for the purpose of working in the hitherto unpenetrated inland provinces. Earlier Protestant mission had been confined to some of the larger cities and the fint missionaries of the CIM also had to stay there. In 1876, however, a treaty was signed at Chefoo in Shandong Province which made mission in the inland possible.17 Howard Taylor described the effects of this treaty in his biography of Hudson Taylor: [...] that foreigners were at liberty to travel in any part of the Emperor’s dominions; that they did so under his protection, and were to be received with respect and in no wise hindered on their journeys. [...] As a matter of fact, representatives of the C.I.M. were the first, and for years almost the only foreigners, to avail themeselves of this great opportunity.18

The treaty permitted the British to build a road from Burma to the Yunnan province and also to hold soldiers in Yunnan for five years. In 1877 Judd and J F Broumton rented premises for a mission-station in Guiyang, the first permanent station in the inland. Judd soon returned to Chefoo to take charge of the building of the mission school, and Broumton remained in Guiyang alone. In 1882 he baptized two Miao,19 but during the following ten years few if any contacts were made with Miao. In Yunnan the first station was opened in 1881 byj McCarthy.

16 The early years of the CIM are described in Dr and Mrs H Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, 1931, and in many articles in the CIM journal China’s Millions, founded in 1875. 17 This treaty is usually referred to as the Yantai Treaty. 18 H Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, 1931, p. 285. 19 AG Nicholls, (History of the mission among the Miao and some other minorities in Yunnan, without title), [dated 1946], unpubl. ms, p. 7.

CIM Mission in the Guizhou Province before 1915

Adam’s Mission at Anshun The British missionary Samuel R Clarke,20 who had been stationed in the Guizhou Province in order to work with the aboriginal peoples, described how the missionaries’ contacts with the Hua Miao at Anshun started: [1895/1896] After studying my teacher’s dialect [Hmu] for about three months we went to Anshunfu, three days west of Kweiyang, where there are a great many Hua or Flowery Miao, and found their dialect so different that my teacher could not understand anything said by the Hua Miao. However, in consequence of this visit, Mr. James R. Adam, who was in charge of the station at Anshunfu, began to study the language of the Hua Miao.21

He further wrote that the missionary work at Anshun was started in 1888 by James R Adam.22 23 The CIM missionary Windsor had already rented premises,25 but he soon returned to Guiyang and after some initial difficulties with the authorities, Adam established the mission and started to have frequent contacts with the Miao in the neighbouring villages.24 At times he was joined by Curtis Waters,25 Cecil Smith and Preedy.26 After a furlough in 1896-7 he returned to Anshun and took up the mission among the Miao again, encouraged by Hudson Taylor to whom he had spoken about the Miao during his furlough. He taught them to sing Christian hymns in Miao, which indicates that some translation work had already been undertaken at that time. In 1898 candidates for baptism were enrolled and in the following year the first Miao chapel was built in a village two miles from Anshunfu and a boys’ school was opened. Zhang Chengyao wrote about this school in 1985:

20 Chinese name Kelake y&fkyi. 21 SR Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, p. 141. 22 James R Adam (Chinese name was Dangjuren HUÜQ was bom in Dundee in 1863 and sailed for China in 1887. At the language school in Anqing he studied Chinese together with Samuel Pollard among others. Cf. M Broomhall, Some a Hundredfold - the Life and work ofJames R. Adam Among the Tribes of South-West China, [1916], p. 6. 23 Windsor’s Chinese name was Wen Zao XÄ24 SR Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, p.172 ff. 25 Chinese name Zhai Songkuan 26 M Broomhall, Some a Hundredfold - the Life and work ofJames R. Adam Among the Tribes of South-West China, [1916], p. 13.

Adam successively took in a group of poor Miao children and orphans to the “free school” for studies, [...]. These Miao children all came from different dialect areas and they often taught Adam Miao and Adam taught them the Latin writing. Within less than a year Adam could speak the Miao language of several dialect areas, and this is the origin of the nickname “Miao king”, which he later was given.27

In 1898 Adam took part in the burial of the murdered missionary William S Fleming at Panghai (cf. below, p. 119), after which he managed to buy land for a church there. After the Boxer uprising of 1900, Adam returned to Anshun (in 1901), but by then, due to the strong anti-Christian tendencies of the Boxers, interest in Christianity had drastically declined among the Miao. However, some who had already been baptized remained Christians, and in 1902 twenty more were baptized. Thirty kilometers from Anshun there was a Shui-hsi (shuixi) Miao village called Ten-ten (Dengdeng in Puding County ltÆi?&), and there a chapel was built and the village became an out-station of the mission.28 In 1905 there were one hundred Church members at Dengdeng.

Contacts with the A-Hmao In 1903 the first contacts with the A-Hmao were made. This was a Miao group living a bit further away from Anshun and speaking a different dialect: During the summer of 1903 Mr. Adam spent the month of August among the Shui-hsi Miao at Ten-ten. One day he saw a group of men dressed in strange garments, the like of which he had never seen before, [...] Adam inquired [...] and learned they belonged to the Ta-hua Miao tribe, or “Great Flowery Miao”, [...] As the men were going away, after their meal, they were invited to attend the service on Sunday. They came to the service, and continued to attend it. One old man among them, the fint of that tribe to hear the Gospel, said: “It is not good for us to keep such good news for ourselves, let us go and tell our kinsmen at Lan-lung-chiao.”29 So this old man at once went there and told the people about the Lord Jesus. His name for Jesus was Klang Meng, the “Miao King.” The people from that place came down in great numbers to see the missionary. [...] Within three years of the time they first heard the Gospel they had built a chapel for themselves, two hundred and fifty were baptized believers, and hundreds of others were attending the services.30

27 Zhang Chengyao, ‘Jidujiao neidihui chuanru Bijie diqu de lishi qingkuang’, [1985], p. 7. 28 The Miao dialect spoken in the area is a Hmong variety called Flowery Miao or Hwa Miao [hua miao JE®]. Cf. also A S Wurm et al., Language Atlas of China, 1987-91. 29 Lanlongqiao Village tüttffi in Langdai County ÊPffiü, now belonging to Liuzhi Special Area AföfåBa. 30 SR Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, pp. 173—4.

These men were originally from the A-Hmao areas in Weining County 1$. but they had moved to Lanlongqiao near Langdai County, southwest of Anshun. Their (later, Christian) names were Zhang Make MMnJ, Zhang Yage 5131#, Zhang Yuehan and Li Matai They came to attend service on Sunday, and Adam taught them the basics of Christianity. Later, one day, they were out hunting and killed a wild boar. It was, however, stolen by the local Chinese. They then went to Adam in Anshun who arranged with the magistrate that they should get a recompensation. In 1903 Luo Yabo in Xinglongchang jRtlfåt in Weining was to sacrifice an ox to the ancestors, and as Li Matai was a relative of Luo Yabo, he also returned from Lanlongqiao to Xinglongchang to participate in the family sacrifice ceremony. At the place of the ceremony Li Matai talked to his friends and relatives and said: There has appeared a Miao king in Anshun. He is very affectionate and kindhearted to the Miao. He calls the Miao his brothers, and he helps the ordinary hardworking Miao as far as possible.3’

After the ceremony the people broke up and went to their respective villages, where the tale of the Miao king spread to more people. Luo Yabo’s eldest son Luo Bide MWfå and his brother-in-law Zhang Chaoxiang followed Li Matai to Anshun to visit Adam. Later Luo Bide’s brother Luo Danyili and his uncle Zhang Baoluo SifSiS went to Anshun. When they returned from Anshun Adam sent Zhang Yage to preach in the Gebu area in Weining, where Xinglongchang is situated.31 32 33 The newly converted Miao wanted to build a church, and they asked for land from a Yi landlord at Kele in Weining County ÉMItii,35 but they did not get any.34 It is interesting to note how the Miao themselves started to propagate Christianity and how they linked it with their own myth of the Miao king. The word quoted in the text above corresponds to Hmong [flag43 moq43] ‘Miao spirit’. This misconception was also mentioned by Edward S Fish, in a report from a trip to the Miao areas in Anshun in 1914: ‘Was it possible that men were actually willing to teach them to read? Of course their ideas of “the doctrine” were far from clear, and they thought JESUS was as earthly king.’35 According to Wang Mingdao it was not Jesus, but Adam,

31 Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefàng qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 10. 32 According to Zhang Youlun, the grandson of Zhang Make, it was Zhang Make who went on this first preaching tour. Zhang Youlun, personal communication, Weining, 20 Nov. 1990. 33 Kele now belongs to Hezhang County. 34 Zhang Youlun, personal communication, Weining, 20 Nov. 1990. 35 ES Fish, ‘A Medical Tour Among the Aborigines’, (1914), p. 5.

who was called the Miao king.36 It is, of course, not to be excluded that all three - Adam, Jesus and the Miao king - were considered to be one.37

The Gehu Church Somewhat later Adam made plans for building a church at Gebu, but as Gebu was situated rather far away from Anshun, Adam remained undecided about how to act. He was visited by more Miao from that district and they asked him to move to Gebu.38 The Miao came from places even farther away and Adam then wrote a letter of introduction to Samuel Pollard of the Bible Christian Mission at Zhaotong Bgjli in Yunnan. This letter was given to Pollard on July 12, 1904, by the first A-Hmao visiting the mission station at Zhaotong. (See below, p. 103). Later Pollard and Adam visited the district, and established friendly relations with many of the landholders. The mission among the A-Hmao took two partly different courses, starting at that time, one area being missionized by the CIM, and one by the Methodists. A somewhat different approach was taken towards baptism, and generally the Methodists were stricter about formal qualifications than the CIM missionaries. In most cases, however, the difference seems to have been only nominal. Although Adam asked some of the Miao to go to Pollard in Zhaotong instead, he, nonetheless, sent two A-Hmao, Yang Qing’an and Chen Ziming to Gebu, to lead the building of a church. Yang and Chen started a very active and agressive campaign against all traditional culture, which led to conflicts with the non-Christian A-Hmao. In 1904 the work on the chapel started and in 1905 it was ready.39 In 1905 Isaac Page arrived as a new worker at Anshun,40 and when Adam left on furlough in 1906, Curtis Waters, who had been at Anshun from time to time in the 1890s took over. In 1906 an elementary school was opened at Gebu.41 Already at an early stage many Miao, both A-Hmao and Hmong, were baptised in Anshun. A discussion about this is related by S R Clarke in 1910:

36 Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 10. 37 The importance of this reinterpretation has been thoroughly investigated by Siu-woo Cheung. Cf. Siu-woo Cheung, Millentiialism, Christian Movement, and Ethnic Change Among the Miao in Southwest China, 1989, unpubl. MA thesis. 38 Zhang Youlun, personal communication, Weining, 20 Nov. 1990. 39 ‘Anshunfu’, 1906, p. 68. 40 Chinese name: Pei Zhongqian HS&Sf 4' Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 12.

In September, 1906, I was passing through Anshunfu, and there I saw Mr. Curtis Waters, who had recently returned from Kweiyangfu, which was, and is now, the chief centre of our work there. He was full ofjoy and thanksgiving for what he had seen. He had baptized about a thousand Miao, and he told me of his experiences. 1 said to him: “That is all very well, but those people are very ignorant. They are very far away, and there is no resident missionary. Who is going to look after them, and who is going to teach them?” His answer was something like this: “Do not be anxious about those people. They have received the Holy Spirit. They are manifesdy led of the Spirit. When I was there I was sometimes afraid to say anything lest I should hinder the work of the Spirit in their hearts.” Time has justified our brother’s confidence in the Holy Spirit of GOD. Those people, simple and ignorant as they are, have not lapsed but they have grown in the knowledge of Christ and have developed Christian character.'0

Adam’s A-Hmao Writing When Adam returned from his second furlough in May 1908, he started to do extensive translation work: On his return to Anshunfu, with the aid of some Miao Christians, Mr. Adam began to translate the Gospel of Mark into the Ta-hua Miao dialect, using the romanised system. Hitherto the Christians and inquirers had used the Chinese version, which few of them could read, though many of them were learning to read Chinese. Already many of the hymns and a catechism had been translated and printed in this romanised Miao, and some of them had been taught to read it. Compared with learning to read Chinese characters, it is very easy for them to read their own language phonetically, written or printed in Roman letters. In May the following year, 1909, the first copies of Mark’s Gospel arrived from the printer. Later on, the Gospel according to Matthew was printed, and the Gospel according to John, with the Episdes, are now in the hands of the printer, if they are not already in circulation. Soon the whole New Testament will be in the hands of the Christians. They are eager to learn to read, and those who can read are zealous in teaching others. Very soon they will be a reading community. At most of the services the hymns, prayers, and addresses were partly in Chinese and partly in Miao.43

The yearbook for 1909 reported that at Anshunfu there were 2,979 Miao in full church fellowship, 800 had been baptized during the year 1908, and two Bible schools had been held. Nine Miao Gospel Halls were already established and 32 Miao had been recognized as local leaders.44 The yearbook also mentioned that ‘[a] primer has been printed for the Water Miao people’. This probably refers to the Shuixi Miao (west-of-the-water Miao, a Hmong sub-group, living near Anshun). No extant copy of this text book has been

44

S R Clarke, ‘The Aborigines in Kweichow’, (1910), p. 7. S R Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, p. 248. ‘The Province of Kweichow’, 1909, p. 79.

found. S R Clarke has, however, published a word-list of the Hua Miao of Anshun, and probably the orthography used was the same as that of the Water Miao primer.* The basic spelling principles in the word-list are the same as those in Adam’s books in romanized A-Hmao (cf. below, p. 190), and in the one example of early romanized Hmu (cf. below, pp. 195-6). At the end of 1909 the Anshun church had 3,297 members, in 17 centres. Every night meetings were held in hundreds of villages, and the leaders of these meetings had a monthly gathering at Gebu.45 46 In 1909 there were already four out-stations of Gebu (formally, however, Gebu remained an out-station of Anshun until 1917), viz. Xinglongchang, Dasongshu få and Yuqiuwan MMM in Weining County and Xinlufang frMlf in Hezhang County. In 1910 Adam’s romanised script was taught on a large scale: A Bible school for Miao women was held for one month, and another for Miao men for six weeks. In both schools the teaching of the men and women to read and write the Miao romanised was an important branch of study. A special feature of the winter’s work has been running four schools in different centres in far-away districts for teaching Miao romanised, a goodly number of young and old attending.47

At the end of 1910 the church had 3,504 members, 19 evangelists, 192 local leaders, 3 Bible women. The 13 schools had been continued.48 *In 1911 the work at Anshun was very successful: Four new chapels have been opened during the year among the Water Miao. At one of these centres called Pa-djia [...] Another man and his wife are conducting a two months’ school for teaching Miao Romanisation, [...] One of the special needs in Anshunfu district is a missionary to undertake the school section of the work, who could train Miao teachers for the hill schools. There have been eight regular students, [...] The students of past years are now running ten schools for teaching Miao Romanisation. These schools are held for two months in ten different centres, old and young attending. There are now 18 schools for boys and girls with a total of 431 scholars. [...] There are 26 chapels in the district [...]. There are 213 elders or local leaders, [...]. During the year 212 persons have been baptized, [...] making the full membership at the close of the year 3667, [...]. The Revolution brought with it trouble and persecution, the chapel at Lanlongchiao was destroyed, and the evangelist’s home looted, but the authorities acted quickly, and protection was given.®

45 SR Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, pp. 307-12. As the orthography suffers from great deficiencies it is difficult to know exacdy which variety this Hua Miao really was. To me it seems to be similar to the Mong Leng spoken in south Yunnan. 46 ‘The Province ofKweichow’, 1910, p. 71. 47 ‘Anshunfu’, 1911, p. 70. 48 ‘Anshunfu’, 1911, p. 71. ® ‘Anshunfu’, 1912, pp. 72-3.

In 1911 the use of books in romanized A-Hmao was mentioned in an article by Isaac Page: ‘In the afternoons, no regular meetings were held, but the people sat about in groups learning to read the books of Galatians.’50 According to the BSL Catalogue, altogether five books were printed in Adam’s romanized A-Hmao writing, St Mark and I-III John in 1910, St Matthew, St John and the Romans and Galatians in 1911, all published by the NBSS. In an account of a trip in the Miao areas around Anshun in the autumn of 1912 Adam, however, also referred to an A-Hmao hymn book, of which no extant copies have been found:51 52 * Fromjospeh’s village [He-t’ao-tsai] we passed on to Pa-djia. On the way we went through Ka-la village, where all the villagers are Christians. After we had gone on our way a very bright young married woman came running after us with her Miao hymn book in hand and called out: “Please, teacher of the Book, sing ‘Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah’ with us.”s

In 1912 Mr and Mrs Merian joined Adam at Anshun and during the winter schools were held for teaching romanised A-Hmao writing.55 Mr Merian held a three months’ course for 22 leaders, 416 people were baptized and by the end of the year the church membership had reached 4,021. There was also a movement towards Christianity among the red-turbaned Miao [hongtou miao àDÜSï] and twelve voluntary preachers from Gebu went to them for three months’ work.54

Expansion of the Mission In 1913 Anping, earlier an out-station of Anshun, was made a station of its own. After their furlough the Pages took charge of this station. In the area there were several different groups of Miao, ‘Black Miao [Hmu], Chin Miao [perhaps qing miâo Wffl], Water Miao and White Miao’,55 but apparendy no Howery Miao. During a tour in 1913 Adam and Fish visited the out-stadons Tinian, Lanlongch’iao, Heoerkuan, Fangmaba Hsinglongchang, Tasongshu, Ichuwan, Hsinlufang , Masehkeo, Djiekeo [lêflt], Kopu, and Bandi flgUÉs]. During the tour Adam baptised 194 people, most of them 50 I Page, “Continuing Instant in Prayer”, (1911): 7. 51 This hymnbook is also mentioned in an article by a Chinese scholar, cf. Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 13. 52 [JR Adam], ‘A Tour Among the Aborigines in Kweichow, From the Journal ofjas. R. Adam, Anshunfu, Ku/eichow’, (1913), p. 2. 3 Mr Merian’s Chinese name was Sun Chengren 54 ‘Anshunfu’, 1913, pp. 71-2. B ‘Anping Kwei.’, 1914, p. 87.

A-Hmao.56 In another article, published in April 1914, he gave a new list of the out-stations, which is considerably different from the list above: viz.: A-Dji-mih [RS^Krin Nayong County Lai-si-kuan [HEIS in Nayong County], Mi-pu in Nayong County], Li-k’eh, Kwa-dsong-ho [HI86KI in Nayong County], Hsiao-ho-pien [/J'fnfj#?], Hsiao-hai-tsi ['_h$iT?], Pan-di, Lao-wa-ba, Tsa-ho, Ch’i-djia, A-dji-p’o, Ko-pu, Hsing-long-chang, Tasong-shu, I-chu-wan, Hsin-lu-fang, Djie-keo (also including the names of the preachers) and added: In Shui-chen district there are Heo-er-kuan, Fang-na[ma?]-pa, A-djia-keh, out-stations worked by native brethren. Twenty-nine out-stations among the tribes. There are also a few places nearing that stage when they too shall be recognized as proper out-stations.57

On December 31, 1913, the number of church members was 4,751. In 1913 a higher elementary school (gäoxiäo Si/J') was opened at Gebu. In 1914 there was a second grade and there were also plans to set up a middle school, but after Adam’s death in 1915 the plans were not realized and even the higher elementary school was closed down.58 In 1914 the Miao serfs were set free, but had to buy the land from the Chinese authorities. As a result, many Miao had to mortgage their crops and became even worse off than before. The church then received a gift of money from some church members in England and by ‘quickly distributing this special money mortgages were paid back and all the crops saved for the use of the believers and their litde ones.’5* This must undoubtedly have had a very strong effect on the Miao Christians in the area, and most probably also increased the spread of Christianity. Adam further reported that the total number of communicants on December 31st, 1914, was 5,590, that there were 43 evangelists and 29 school teachers for 27 schools with altogether 639 students. He furthermore described the work of the colporteurs, distributing among other things Luke’s Gospel in Miao and the New Testament in Chinese. This Gospel of St Luke is not mentioned in the BSL Catalogue, and no extant copies have been found. Adam described the colporteurs’ work:

* 57 58 99

ioo

JR Adam, ‘The Tribespeople of Kweichow’, (1914), p. 7. JR Adam, ‘Another Tour Among the Tribespeople’, (1914), p. 8. Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 13. JR Adam, ‘A Year’s Work at Anshunfu’, (1915), p. 7.

All their time is given to visiting markets, villages, hamlets and homes of the hill people, selling Scriptures wherever they can, and giving much time to teaching others to read them, and reading the Word of God to the villagers at nights in the places where they rest. Funds for their support are most kindly supplied through the National Bible Society of Scotland.60

Wang Mingdao, writing in 1985, described a meeting between Pollard and Adam which is not mentioned in the western literature on the mission. As the differences in opinion between Pollard and Adam had become acute, they decided to divide the area into spheres of interest. The result was that the present districts 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Weining County belonged to the Methodists, whereas the districts 10 and 11 of Weining County, as well as Hezhang, Shuicheng zKf®, Zhijin and Langdai belonged to the CIM.61 In 1915 Tatingfu (Dadingfu now called Dafang was established as a separate station, run by the German Friedenshort sisters, three of which had arrived in China already in 1912, viz. J Rabe, F Paul and M C Welzel.62 On August 9, 1915 Adam was struck by lightning and died. After Adam’s death Isaac Page took charge of the mission station at Anshun.

60 JR Adam, ‘A Year’s Work at Anshunfu’, (1915), p. 8. 61 Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 14. 62 Their Chinese names were Ba Kuanjing EX®, Bao Kuan’ai Hitti and they belonged to the Friedenshort Mission.

and Su Kuanren

ioi

The Methodist Mission before 1915

In 1884 Hudson Taylor addressed the Bible Christian Conference in London, and asked them to send missionaries to China. In 1885 two missionaries were sent, Thomas Vanstone and Samuel Thorne.63 They lived together with the CIM missionaries in Kunming, and after one year Thome went to Zhaotong to start missionary work in northern Yunnan.

Samuel Pollarcf* Samuel Pollard was born in Cornwall in 1864.66 After finishing school he started to work at a bank in London, but in 1886 he decided to become a missionary. He arrived in China in the year 1887 in order to work for the Bible Christian China Mission in north Yunnan. After studying Chinese at the language school in Anqing he and another young missionary, Frank Dymond,® came to the city of Zhaotong in 1888, where missionary work had been started just a few months before. Premises had been rented in Jixian Street near the east gate. In 1890 Pollard married Emma Hainge, who was a missionary of the CIM at Kunming. Progress was slow in the missionary work among the Chinese, and the first two Chinese were baptized in 1893. In 1895-6 Pollard and his wife went to England on their first furlough. On his return two Chinese students of good family took interest in Christianity and were baptized. Their names were Li Sitifan ‘Stephen Lee’ and Li Yuehan ‘John Lee’.67 They were to play an important role in the work among the Miao.

0 Thome’s Chinese name was Suo Renli ** Pollard’s Chinese name was Bo Geli fàfêS!. 66 There are several books and articles about the life and work of Samuel Pollard: W Pollard, The Life of Sam Pollard of China, An Account of the Intrepid Life of Adventure, Danger, Toil & Travel of a Missionary in The Far & Little Known Interior of the Vast Chinese Empire, 1928, 188 pp.; E H Moody, Sam Pollard, [1956], 95 pp.; E H Hayes, Sam Pollard of Yunnan, 1928, 128 pp.; W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, 87 pp.; W A Grist, Samuel Pollard, Pioneer Missionary in China, s.a., 384 pp.; R E Kendall, Eyes of the Earth, The Diary of Samuel Pollard, 1954, 135 pp.. Kendall’s edition of Pollard’s diary is primarily meant for a wide public, and not for research. There are numerous divergencies between Kendall’s text and the original diaries, found on microfiche nos. 1289-1342, Boxes 639—40, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. “ Chinese name: Tai Mulian ° Their original names were Li Guojun and Li Guozhen Cf. Yang Mingguang, ‘Jidujiao Xundao gonghui chuanru Weining diqu shiliie’, (1987), p. 11.

During the Boxer Rising the missionaries were all evacuated, but when Pollard returned to Zhaotong he discovered that there was much more interest in Christianity than before. Pollard travelled extensively in northern Yunnan and then came into contact both with Miao and Yi (by Pollard referred to as Nosu) people. In 1903 he travelled, as one of the first westerners, to the Yi area of Daliangshan Ajglil, under the protection of a Yi landholder who had become a Christian. According to Li Defang, Pollard studied the Yi language and writing before going to Daliangshan and when he understood that the use of the old Yi syllabic writing was restricted to a small group of priests, he planned to devise a simple writing for the Yi language. Li claimed that because of the opposition of the Qing government Pollard’s preaching tour was unsuccessful, but that the planned Yi writing nevertheless served as a foundation for the Miao writing later to be devised.68 No such writing or any connection between the Yi writing and the Miao writing later to be developed has, however, been found, although it is true that Pollard took interest in the Yi writing and even was taught some Yi.69

The A-Hmao Movement Starts On July 12, 1904 four A-Hmao from Xinglongchang in Weining County in northwest Guizhou came to Pollard in Zhaotong with a letter of recommendation from the Scottish CIM missionary James R Adam at Anshun.70 As related above, Adam had been visited by many A-Hmao, and he thought that it was too far for them to walk from the A-Hmao areas in Weining County to Anshun for attending services. He therefore considered it more convenient for them to walk to the Zhaotong mission station, which, although it was situated in another province, was much closer to the Weining A-Hmao areas. On the way from Xinglongchang to Zhaotong the A-Hmao enquirers met a Chinese student, Zhong Huanran who became interested in their story about Adam and followed them to Zhaotong71 “ Li Defang, ‘Ershi shiji chuqi diandongbei miaoyu fàngyanqu de miaowen’, (1981), pp. 68—70. 69 Pollard mentioned studies in Yi writing for the fint time already on Febr. 2, 1891. Cf. R E Kendall, Eyes of the Earth, The Diary of Samuel Pollard, 1954, p. 18. * According to Yang Mingguang their names were Luo Dayili HIM (should be Danyili {1JUS, but misspelt because of southern pronunciation of Mandarin (Pinyin) as [n>i] instead of [i]), Luo Bide Zhang Chaoxiang and Zhang Chaoshu 3K®#. Cf. Yang Mingguang, ‘Jidujiao Xundao gonghui chuanru Weining diqu shiliie’, (1987), p. 10. According to Zhang Youlun, Li Matai was one of the first four Miao at Zhaotong. Cf. Zhang Youlun, personal communication, Weining, 20 Nov. 1990. By Pollard Zhang Chaoxiang is referred to by his later Christian name: Chang Mo-shee (i.e. Zhang Moxi ®®Sg§). 71 Yang Mingguang, ‘Jidujiao Xundao gonghui chuanru Weining diqu shiliie’, (1987),

m3

and helped them to find Pollard, as they did not know Chinese and therefore had difficulties in entering a Chinese city.72 Thus started the mission among the A-Hmao which was to become the most spectacular missionary achievement in the whole of southwest China.73 The Pollard Script The mission house at Zhaotong was soon overcrowded with A-Hmao, and when Pollard taught them the basics of Christianity, a A-Hmao man called Chang Mo-shee [Zhang Moxi, i.e. Zhang Chaoxiang], who knew both Chinese and A-Hmao, acted as an interpreter for the other A-Hmao, who spoke litde or no Chinese. On August 7, 1904, Pollard wrote in his diary: In evening after service I held a MIAO SERVICE with them by speaking thro’ 2 of them as interpreters. It was so interesting to watch them. I wd say a few words & then turn to my interpreters & tell them to repeat what I said in Miao. In this way I got hold of some words as well as they.74

On October 12, 1904, Pollard wrote: Miao here every day. Trying to get out their language. So different to preach to them owing to not knowing their language. Have tried hard to get the word for “prayer” from them but have not succeeded. Neither word for an. Last night while Mr. T. took Lipai [libài i.e. service] here I took them up at Dr. Savin’s. Tried to tell them how K’eh-mi [ki44 my44] came down and died for us. How he was ritao ta put to death by wicked men. Yes they said at once the “WICKED CHINESE KILLED JESUS” everything bad they think must come from the Chinese. [...] Translating “Jesus loves me” with them. The class is “PART TEACHING & PART LEARNING” When I catch a word I put it down. They do not stay long enough for me to get used to any one person. [...]. Made an experiment in getting out a written language for the Miao.75

Thus, even before he had himself learnt the language well, he made a first draft of the A-Hmao script in his diary (cf. below, pp. 166-9). He mentioned that his principal helper was the Chinese minister Stephen Lee, who also started to learn the A-Hmao language when the A-Hmao enquirers started

p. 10. 72 Zhang Youlun, personal communication, Weining, 20 Nov. 1990. 13 The total number of A-Hmao was estimated to about 50,000 by W H Hudspeth in 1937. Cf. W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, p. 10. 74 Microfiche no. 1322, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. This and subsequent materials from the Methodist Missionary Society Archives at SOAS are published by permission from the Overseas Division of the Methodist Missionary Society, London. 75 Microfiche no. 1323, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche.

to come to Zhaotong. As the A-Hmao had no writing, Pollard, in principle, had three alternatives: • 1. To teach the A-Hmao to read Chinese. • 2. To provide a romanised version of the scriptures, either in Chinese or A-Hmao. • 3. To invent a special script for the A-Hmao language. In the ‘Miao Report for 1904’, dated Zhaotong, Jan. 1905, Pollard wrote: Thousands of books have been sold to the Miao. Unfortunately they are all in Chinese. Miao learning Chinese books is just as difficult as London dockers in a mass learning Greek. Who would think of beginning mission among the dockers by teaching them Greek all round? The Miao lost their written language many centuries ago. When crossing a river the books fell into the water and were swallowed by a fish. [...]. The drama was apparently one of a single act, for as far as we know the fish never restored the books again. In default Mr Stephen Lee and I are attempting to reduce the Miao language to a simple system of writing. The attempt may succeed or it may end in not a dead but a still-bom language.76

Already before Pollard devised his writing system, there were rumours about the missionaries’ magic influence on the ability to read (in this case Chinese characters). Pollard wrote in his diary on September 4, 1904: ‘One of the rumours is that when the Miao come into the city I put a drop of water into their mouths and then they can read splendidly.’77 As the Miao kept coming in greater numbers to Zhaotong the authorities became worried and there were also rumours of a planned rebellion of the Miao, so Pollard had to go to Weining in order to arrange a proclamation about the protection of Christians.

77

S Pollard, ‘Miao Report for 1904’, (1905). R E Kendall (ed.), Eyes of the Earth, The Diary of Samuel Pollard, 1954, p. 76.

Map of the Stone Gateway Mission Area

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Stone Gateway In 1905 Pollard moved from Zhaotong to the A-Hmao area in northwest Guizhou. In March 1905 a Yi landlord, An-yung-cher [An Rongzhi ], who had become interested in Christianity, gave about ten acres of land to the mission at a place called [mau54 li21 na21] in A-Hmao, Shimenkan 5P'3 t% in Chinese and Stone Gateway in English, about 35 kilometers east of Zhaotong. This place was situated near the road from Zhaotong to Zhenxiong SU$i, and had good supplies of coal and water. In 1905 Rev Harry Parsons,78 who had previously been stationed at Dongchuan j^JII in Yunnan Province, and his wife came to Stone Gateway where they were to stay until their furlough in 1911. Parsons started building a church, while his wife learnt A-Hmao and started working among the women. In the autumn of 1905 an elementary school was built at Stone Gateway and the first group of students started in 1906. Many of the students who started attending school in 1906 were later appointed as preachers in Huize (then called Dongchuan Sill), Xundian Sapushan if ill (in Wuding County ÄSE), Zhenxiong, Weixin and Yongshan in Yunnan, and in Junlian £g|| and Gong County in Sichuan.79 The teachers were Chinese Christians from Zhaotong, Zhong Huanran and others. They taught Chinese and also the newly devised A-Hmao writing.80

The First Books in A-Hmao In 1905 publishing was started in A-Hmao. In his ‘Miao Report, 1905’, dated Nov. 1905, Pollard wrote: Considerable progress has been made in translation work, and the simple system of writing introduced has met with much favour from the Miao. It seems likely to answer its purpose. In our need we found a friend indeed. The Rev. J. Endicott, head of the great Canadian Mission press in Chentu [sic!], capital of Szchuan [sic!], readily got men to cut the blocks needed for the new books, and took great pains in bringing out the first Miao primer. An edition of 1,000 copies went off at once, and another edition is on its way. A second primer, containing half a dozen hymns, the ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and outlines of the life of Christ, is in the

78 Chinese name: Zhang Daohui 79 Wang Xingzhong, Ming Guang, ‘Weining Shimenkan Guanghua xiaoxue xiaoshi genggai’, [1987], p. 35. Wang Xingzhong and Ming Guang also give a list of the first year students (on p. 34), and there we find Yang Yage ^ïl#, Zhang Wu 5ÜÄ, Zhang Yuehan 3t#jîè, Wang Shengmo TIMS, Wang Daoyuan Tjgig, Zhu Yuehan Zhu Bide Zhang Matai etc. 80 Yang Mingguang, ‘Jidujiao Xundao gonghui chuanru Weining diqu shiliie’, 1987,

P 11

press. A start has been made with Mark’s Gospel, and before long we hope that a part of this will be in the hands of the Miao. We expect that the British and Foreign Bible Society will assist in this work. The lion’s share of this translation work has been done by Mr Stephen Lee. Bro. Lee has been a true helper this year, and has won the confidence of these tribesmen to a great extent. It is hoped to print an edition of hymns in Miao.81

On the cover page of the two primers three authors are mentioned: Bo Geli, Li Sitifan and Zhang Yuehan ttfêS, 35$JH, Le. Samuel Pollard, Stephen Lee and John Chang. In a letter dated Zhaotong April 10, 1906 Pollard mentioned that there were two more books for which blocks were being cut, the above-mentioned hymn-book and in addition one about the OT.82 * In 1905 Pollard started translating St Mark together with Stephen Lee and the Miao evangelist Yang Yage (in English texts referred to either as Yah-ko or as James Yang). Pollard’s translation method was to paraphrase the text, then with his helpers, the paraphrase was turned into colloquial Miao. When he was satisfied he wrote it down in Pollard script. It was thus no word to word translation, and this fact probably accounts for a part of the difference in success of the mission among the A-Hmao as opposed to that among the Hmu (cf. below, p. 221). Grist, writing in 1938, stated that the specialists at the BFBS were not very happy with Pollard’s new system, and even proposed that he should use Burmese letters if he considered Latin letters to be unsuitable.85 In the mission archives, however, we can follow the gradual acceptance of the Pollard script.84 In the reports written by G H Bondfield, the BFBS representative in Shanghai, several letters by Pollard are quoted: Mr. Pollard writes:-“It is quite possible later on to turn our system into Romanised, when there is a successful Romanised system in use which will solve the tone difficulty.”®

It appears that the script itself was no matter of principle for Pollard, at least not in the discussions with the BFBS. In the same report Bondfield continued: You will observe (a) that Mr. Pollard is using his special script without any difficulty, and that it is meeting an immediate demand. (b) That there is urgent need for a Gospel 81 S Pollard, ‘Miao Report, 1905’, [1906], p. 31. The report was dated ‘Chao Tong. November 1905’. 82 BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, unpubl. ms., p. 1. Dated ‘Chaotung, via Chungking, April 10 [1906]’. This and subsequent BSL materials are reproduced by permission of Bible Society’s Library at Cambridge University Library. ® W A Grist, ‘The Gospel for the Miao’, (1938), pp. 135-7. 81 BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, unpubl. ms., pp. 1-4. ® Ibid, p. 1. Dated Shanghai, 21 Aug. 1906.

immediately. Considerably over 1,000 Miaos have now been baptised and are under instruction. They must have books, (c) Mr. Pollard contemplates the possibility of turning his present script into Roman letters at a later period. Mr. Amundsen has recently visited Mr. Pollard and writes: [...] [Mr. Pollard’s system of writing] is an adaption of Braille, Pitman and Roman signs, [...] I [Amundsen] agreed that his system might give the people less initial work, but that after they had learned it, they would have nothing in common with the rest of the world [...]. Mr. P. allowed that in the long run they would have to leam Chinese [...]. Mr. P. would probably not want more scriptures issued in his character. A Hwa Miao Testament should be in Romanised.85 86

Bondfield ended the report by proposing: Would it not be wise at once to sanction the printing of Mark, with a rider that before a second Gospel is printed the question of script shall be gone into?87

In July 1906 the BFBS decided to use a special donation of £90 for covering the expenses for publishing 5,000 copies of St Mark,88 and in 1907 St Mark was published in Pollard script, printed from wooden blocks. In the China Agency Report 1907 Bondfield wrote: Mr. Bondfield has encouraged him [Pollard] to ask the Com[mittee] for assistance in obtaining a font of script in his type. Much space will be economised by type and this is essential if the N.T. and ultimately a complete Bible are to be published. [...] It seems as though his special script had come to stay. The Hwa Miao leam it rapidly and use it with great readiness. This is its justification; and if the C.I.M. missionaries also use it, the question will be settled for a long time to come.89

In spite of the initial hesitation the opponents had to accept the popularity of the script among the A-Hmao. Hudspeth describes how the writing myth, the first part of which was mentioned already in Pollard’s ‘Miao Report 1904’, influenced the A-Hmao to accept the script:90 Before the Pollard script, books and a library were unknown. The great majority of these tribesmen had never handled even a sheet of writing paper or a pen. They had heard that once upon a time there were books; a tribal legend described how long, long ago the Miao lived on the north side of the Yangtze River, but the conquering Chinese came and drove them from their land and homes. Coming to the river and possessing no boats they debated what should be done with the books and in the end they strapped them to their shoulders and swam across, but the water ran so swiftly and the river was so wide, that the books were washed away and fishes swallowed 85 Ibid, p. 1. Dated Shanghai, 21 Aug. 1906. 87 Ibid, p. 2. Dated Shanghai, 21 Aug. 1906. 88 Ibid, p. 2. Dated Shanghai, 21 Aug. 1906. ®Ibid. Dated 6 March 1908. ® A more thorough discussion of this myth appears in part IV.

them. This was the story. When the British and Foreign Bible Society sent the first Gospels and these were distributed the legend grew - the once-upon-a-time lost books had been found, found in the white man’s country, and they told the incomparable story that Jesus loved the Miao. Only the imagination can conceive what this meant to those hillmen; some of whom travelled for days to view the books. The establishment of schools brought light and understanding to the minds of both boys and girls; fathers would undertake all the work in their fields so that a son might be free to study; and mothers carrying supplies to their boys at school would trudge weary miles over hills and mountains.91

Development of the Mission In 1906 out-stations were established at Rice-Ear-Valley in Yiliang County in Yunnan,92 50 kilometers north of Stone Gateway, and at Long Sea in Weining County.93 In 1907 Pollard wrote that Sunday services were also held at Halfway House in Yiliang county,94 Great Level in Yongshan County,95 and several other places.96 In 1906 A G Nicholls from the CIM in Yunnan came to Stone Gateway to learn A-Hmao in order to work with the A-Hmao at Sapushan in Wuding (cf. below, p 114). In 1907 the big chapel at Stone Gateway was opened. In his ‘Miao report for 1907’ Pollard wrote under the heading ‘What is needed': 1. Sufficient Foreign (i.e. missionary) Control of the whole field [...]. 2. [...] the assistance of good Chinese co-workers. 3. A large band of Miao trained preachers is needed. Only by them can the work be efficiently & permanently done. 4. A literature including the New Testament in the vernacular. 5. Schools in Chinese for children that they may have access to the great mass of Xian [Christian] literature which exists in the Chinese language wh.. [which] in turn they can give to their people in Miao. 6. A training school for native teachers & Preachers under efficient foreign leadership. 7. A small printing Press for the issue of Local Publications such as magazines, Gospel tracts, Plans &c &c.97

Apart from the first edition of St Mark mentioned above there were a few 91 W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, pp. 38-9. 92 Mi-ri-keo (Mi’ergou in Chinese and /mau54 irti54 lu*/ in A-Hmao. 93 Chang Hai-tzi (Changhaizi ^jS?) in Chinese and /rpau* a55-21 a54-21 ti54/ in A-Hmao. 94 Yaodianzi in Chinese and /mau54 li* zu54/ in A-Hmao. ® Ta ping-tzi (Dapingzi ^^p?) in Chinese and /mau* a55-21 dy21/ in A-Hmao. * Cf. S Pollard, ‘Miao Report for 1907’, unpubl. ms. Dated Shih-men-k’an, Dec. 1907. 97 S Pollard, ‘Miao Report for 1907’, (dated Shih-men-k’an, Dec. 1907), unpubl. ms.

no

more books published in 1907 and 1908. A third primer was printed in 1907 and in 1908 St John, a Catechism, a New Hymn Book and an almanac were published.98 In 1907 the Bible Christians, the Methodist New Connexion and the United Methodist Free churches united and formed the United Methodist Church, and correspondingly the United Methodist Mission (xundao gonghui MjË&llj. During 1908—10 Pollard was on furlough, and the mission was run by Parsons. Before leaving, Pollard had told the BFBS at Shanghai that no translation work was to be done during his absence," but together with some A-Hmao teachers Parsons translated the Book ofJonah. It was, however, never printed, as Pollard, upon his return, said that since Parsons had neither Greek nor Hebrew he was not qualified to do translation work.100 In 1909 a second edition of St Mark was printed in Yokohama with type produced in London.101 When Pollard returned to Stone Gateway in 1910 he was joined by William H Hudspeth,102 who had heard Pollard at a meeting in Sheffield, and had become interested in the Miao mission. The mission expanded and out-stations were established in Great Level, Halfway House and Heavenborn Bridge103. The chapels erected also served as schools. Some of these out-stations were located very near Gebu. It was probably at this time that the relations between Adam and Pollard became a bit strained, perhaps partly due to Adam’s continued use of a romanized A-Hmao writing, which Pollard considered to be very deficient, (cf. above, pp. 97-9, and below, pp. 161-2). In a letter written in Nov. 1910 to Mr Stedeford, the Mission Secretary of the United Methodist Mission,104 Pollard described the 9 districts of the Stone Gateway area and the preachers appointed to them: A. Hmao-li-na (Stone Gateway) Hmao-cheh-peh, Hmao-fah-leh (James Yang [Yang Yage $§?§!#], Wang shen mo, Wang chi tien) B. Hmao-kao [Heavenborn Bridge] Hmao-fah-tu, Hmao-ah-kee-kao, Hmao-chee-nchioh (Thomas Chu)

® Cf. S Pollard, ‘Miao Report for 1907’, (dated Shih-men-k’an, Dec. 1907), unpubl. ms. ® BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, unpubl. ms., p. 2. China Agency Report 1907. 100 Letter from R K Parsons, 14 May 1993. 101 On the title page 1910 is indicated as year of publishing. 102 Chinese names Wang Shude EE SSU; and Wang Huimin BESIK. 103 Tianshengqiao in Chinese and /mauM k^u22/ in A-Hmao. 104 Charles Stedeford (1864-1953) was the Foreign Missions Secretary of the Bible Christian Mission 1904-8 and from 1909-33 the Missions Secretary of the United Methodist Mission.

c.

Hmao-ah-ye-tee (Long Sea) Hmao-na chee, Hmao [?] ka, Hmao kee yang, Hmao ka zao, Hmao tu mu or Hmao sa ku (Philip Chou, Silas Wang [Wang Xila jEffifå]) D. Hmao pu ka [IPA [njau54 pu* gfia21], Chinese Luobujia SiffîÇ] Hmao ah nie [npau54 a55-21 n'fie21], Hmao ko tu, Hmao ntchang qeh (Peter Chu [Zhu Bide fc®*§]) E. Hmao lee you (Half way house) Hmao ah vao tee F. Hmao niu lu (Rice ear valley) Hmao ah nieh zo, Hmao pee chu, Hmao keh meh, Hmao ko va (John Chang [Zhang Yuehan], Wang shiao) G. Hmao lee heh ntchang [IPA [mau54 li22 yf»22 ncjfiaui22], Chinese Luoweiba UM:®] Hmao ntchang ko tu (Han yoh) (G. and F. to be worked together) H. Hmao ah dee (great level) Hmao peh, Hmao gee (Matthew Chang [Zhang Matai and Yang shu [Yang Xiu «*]) I. Hmao ah tsa cleh [mau* a55-22 tsa22 ndtjie21 ] Hmao tso lo, Hmao tee cheh (Chang kao [Zhang Gao US®]).105

In 1911 Parsons left Stone Gateway on forlough and when he returned in 1913 he was appointed to Dongchuan SUI| (Huize #(?), mainly because of a conflict with Pollard about the organization of the Miao work. In April 1912 Pollard reported 355 full members, 1,100 on trial, 418 day scholars, 1,240 Sunday scholars and 8 chapels.106 The translation work was continued and St Matthew was printed in Yokohama in 1912. Bondfield, the BFBS secretary in Shanghai, however, wrote that Pollard and the other missionaries at Stone Gateway did not plan to translate the whole NT, as the Miao Christians would learn Chinese.107 Nothing in the writings of the missionaries, however, reveals such a possibility. The discussion about the use of the Pollard script went on, and in a note to the committee of the BFBS we can read: Some time ago Dr. Bondfield sent a copy of the Edit. Supt.’s [Editorial Superintendant’s] remarks on the inadvisability and disadvantage of continuing to print the Scriptures in Mr. Pollard’s system to the missionaries of the C.I.M. and the United Methodist Mission working among the aboriginal tribes of Yunnan. He now forwards copies of 105 Microfiche no 1301, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. 106 Microfiche no 1302, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. 107 BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, unpubl. ms., p. 4. Dated Shanghai, 28 June and 10 July 1912.

the replies received from these two Missions, signed in the one case by the Revs. G. Porteous, G. E. Metcalf and A. G. Nicholls, and in the other case by the Revs. S. Pollard and W. N. Hudspeth. On the grounds that the Pollard system answers its purpose, that the workers of the Kweichow Province (especially Mr. Adam) will not unite with the Yunnan workers, that several books which the B.F.B.S. has thus far printed (amounting to over 40,000 copies) have been sold and are now in use, that the cost of production is now reduced to that of books in roman character, that the type has been modified so as to economize space, that there already are some 25,000 or 30,000 readers, that neither missionaries nor natives have time to begin teaching all over again, that the knowledge of this system is but a stepping-stone to the learning of Chinese, and that the refusal of the B.F.B.S. to supply Scriptures will be sure to lead either to the appeals to other Bible Societies or to a direct appeal to the Christian public through the newspaper, - on these grounds - Dr. Bondfield ventures to urge the Committee to continue to print the Gospels in the Pollard system and to proceed to supply the remaining books of the N.T. when they are required. IX. Resolved to recommend that the Committee are prepared for the present to continue the publication of editions in the Pollard system.108

On September 15, 1915, Pollard died from typhoid fever. Rev A G Nicholls, a CIM missionary working with the A-Hmao in Yunnan reported that: [...] about a month before his death Mr. Pollard sent him [Nicholls] the completed translation of the remaining books of the N.T. for criticism and revision. It was one of Mr. Pollard’s dearest wishes to give the Miao the whole N.T. in their own language.109

According to Hudspeth there were more than 10,000 Christians in the area at the time of Pollard’s death.110 Rattenbury, writing in 1943, estimated the number of Christians at the time of Pollard’s death as 5,000.111 However, some years earlier, the enormous interest in Christianity had somewhat declined, and this was referred to by Hudspeth. He also wrote: ‘After Pollard’s death there was a recrudescence of drunkenness, immorality and superstition 112

108 Ibid, p. 4. Dated Shanghai, 24 Sept. 1912. 109 Ibid. Written by T D Begg. Dated Shanghai, 22 Dec. 1915. 1,0 Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937. 111 H B Rattenbury, Advance in South-west China, 1943, p. 5. Rev Rattenbury was then the China secretary of the British Methodist Church. He had earlier been at Hankou and had visited Zhaotong in 1933-4. 112 W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, p. 41.

CIM Mission in Yunnan Province before 1915 The early CIM mission in Yunnan had been focused mainly on the Chinese, but in 1906 a movement similar to that among the A-Hmao in Guizhou started among the A-Hmao in Yunnan. Arthur G Nicholls,113 who played a role similar to that of Adam and Pollard, though for a much longer time, wrote a history of this Miao mission in 1946, a manuscript which has not been published. Nicholls had come to China in 1894 and had spent most of the time at Kunming. In his study he described how the movement started: At the beginning of 1906 two Miao, one a leper, set out from Sapushan, a village three days north of Kunming [...]. A village where just a few families of “uncouth Miao dogs,” so the local Chinese would inform you, lived. They had heard that hundreds of their fellow tribesmen in Kweichow were seeking the Heavenly Father and JESUS the Saviour, so [they] made their preparations and with the good wishes of their friends took 15 days walk to see what it was all about, and perhaps the leper could find healing. Arriving at Chaotung city they met and conversed with S. Pollard and Dr. Savin, nothing could be done for the leper, but these good men told them ofJESUS the Mighty Saviour, and they believed. [...] The men were advised to return, but not before they extracted a promise that a missionary would be sent. [...] The LORD found a man glad and willing to GO, so in June of that year, “willing in the day of THY power” the writer was at Stone-gateway, the Miao headquarters, learning the language, getting acquainted with the people.114

In September 1906, Pollard wrote in his diary: ‘At midday we said goodbye to the missionaries who leave on Wed. with Mr. Nicholls. They are Chu To-ma Wang Tao-üen [TU®], Wang Teh-tao [TtÜjË] & Wang sheng-mo [TStU].’115 A lengthy report about the missionary success among the A-Hmao in Yunnan appeared in the CIM yearbook for 1907. It was written by the CIM superintendent for Yunnan, John McCarthy: [...] work among the Hwa Miao in the Wutingchow district in the north of the province. Mr. Nicholls has been able to make a good beginning in the acquisition of the language of these interesting people. [...] these people being of the same clan and language as those among whom he had been with Mr. Pollard, their forbears some seventy years ago having emigrated from the one province to the other. When the Hwa Miao Christians at Shihmingkan [i.e. Shimenkan=Stone Gateway] in Kweichow heard Mr. Nicholls’s intention to work among their friends in Yunnan, four of Mr. Pollard’s preachers volunteered to go with him, the Church of these

,13 Chinese name: Guo Xiufeng m AG Nicholls, (History of the mission among the Miao and some other minorities in Yunnan, without tide), dated 1946, p. 10. 115 Microfiche no. 1325, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives.

aborigines undertaking to support them as missionaries until such time as native preachers should be raised up among the Wutingchow Hwa Miao themselves. Mr. Nicholls has received a warm welcome in the Wutingchow district, and it would appear as though the people were turning en masse towards the light, needing only instruction in the things of God. In many cases he found that before his arrival they had abandoned some of their sinful habits and were seeking to live more upright lives. Representatives of between fifty and sixty villages have called upon Mr. Nicholls, who is now overwhelmed by the opportunities. Their language has been reduced to writing by Mr. Pollard, who has prepared two or three books, a hymn book, and a translation of the Gospel of Mark, in this new script. These people are indefatigable students and make remarkable progress, the general difficulty being to provide them with sufficient literature. The women also in many cases are even brighter than the men and just as anxious to leam. The people evidently feel that the whole household should serve the Lord.

In the following year the yearbook reported that no A-Hmao at Sapushan ffiI!ill,"6 a village nine kilometers from Wutingchow K/Ë'J'N, which became the actual mission centre, had been baptized yet, because the missionaries thought it best to postpone the baptisms."7 In 1908 no Miao were baptized either. About Christmas time 1909, however, 473 Flowery Miao were baptized and the yearbook reported: The examination of the cadidates for baptism extended over a period of three months, and it is good to know that all but the oldest of those baptized can read the Gospel of Mark in the Hua Miao version.116 118 117

In 1910 Nicholls wrote: Just now we have four districts where we go to meet the Miao - Luh K’iien [Luquan fêcüj], Mo-lien Hsiang, Fangchow [Jg'J’H], and over the river. All these centres are capable of extension, and I shouldn’t be surprised if the work spreads into SZECHWAN proper. In fact, there are indications already that this is so, for the Lesu spread the news. On the last day of the second moon, a number of Miao leaders came to Sapushan, and stayed for two days. [...] The preachers left for Taopuchu, the Miao out-station of Tongchwan [Dongchuan )gjl|], where they will spend a few days, then proceed to Shïmank’an [Shimenkan = Stone Gateway]. I am spending to-day with them, [in the chapel in Pakia, a sub-out-station] and am writing in a hut surrounded by young and old studying, some Chinese Gospels, others the Gospel ofJohn in the Miao dialect.119

116 117 118 1,9

Called /rnauM sa21 phu* ga*1/ in A-Hmao. ‘The Province of Yunnan’, 1908, pp. 68-9. ‘Sapushan’, 1910, p. 74. A G Nicholls, ‘Advance Among the Aborigines’, (1910), pp. 4—6.

In a report from a stay at Sapushan in the early summer of 1910, J McCarthy wrote: There are about one hundred and ten villages in the whole district. Services are held every evening in all the villages. Where villages are too far from Chapel centres the Christians meet in some house. The Miao and Le-su tribes have Scripture portions, and morning texts for each day, in their own language. These are used by the leaders at the prayer meetings. There are six hundred Church members, and about three thousand catechumens - most of them living in Christian homes.120

In 1911 1,000 Flowery Miao met regularly in 14 different chapels at Sapushan and its out-stations.121 In 1912 Nicholls went to Japan to have the Gospel texts printed for A-Hmao, Lesu [Lisu] and Laka [Gan Yi]: Last year we had three Gospels, one each for Miao, Lesu and Laka, translated and ready for Press, but as it would take such a long time - about two years to correct proofs, &c. — the B. Sc F. Bible Society asked me to go to Japan, where the Gospels are being printed, and correct the proofs there. I left Sap’ushan in March, and went via Haiphong and Hongkong to Shanghai, then on to Yokohama, as I had no time to loose. [...] The firm printing the Gospels in Japan is a Christian one. They print in quite a number of languages. Ours is a new type and not easy to set up; however, they put on all speed, and three weeks was sufficient. [...] Our Gospels will be along in July, I hope.122

In 1913 ten A-Hmao were baptized at Sapushan.123 In 1914 an edition of 10,000 hymn books in A-Hmao were sent from Shanghai to Yunnan.124 For 1915 the CIM yearbook stated: One thousand and thirty-nine Miao have been baptized, and last year a training school for teachers and preachers was opened, in which there are representatives from six tribes. They are rejoicing in a new portion of Scripture, the Acts of the Apostles.125

120 121 122 123 124 125

J McCarthy, ‘Encouraging Progress among the Aborigines of Yunnan’, (1911), p. 2. ‘Sapushan’, 1912, p. 78. ‘Extracts from Recent Letters: Mr. A. G. Nicholls’, (1912), p. 52. ‘Sapushan’, 1914, p. 90. ‘The Province of Yunnan’, 1915, facing p. 29. ‘Yunnan’, 1916, p. 37.

CIM Mission among the Hmu before 1912

Early mission among the Hmu Samuel R Clarke commenced work among the Miao in 1895, while in charge of the mission station at Guiyang, the capital of the Guizhou Province. Clarke was asked to start work among the aboriginal tribes and as he knew a Hmu Christian in Guiyang, Pan Xiushan fH^ULl,126 he asked him for teaching in the Hmu dialect. He reported on this in China’s Millions: I have written out a Miao vocabulary of about sixteen hundred words, and I am also making an English-Miao vocabulary. I have written down, revised and toned seventeen Miao stories, as told me by the teacher. These stories take about eighty pages of an ordinary exercise book. As there is no written language they are in the common language of the people, and will be a great help to any future students of the language.127

In July 1896 a primer was compiled for students of the Hmu dialect, and Clarke and Pan also translated a catechism, some tracts, and several hymns.128

Panghai During the same time Mr and Mrs Webb of the CIM in Guiyang started to study Hmu and went to the Hmu district, i.e. the southeastern part of the province.129 They established the mission at Houchang middle village, by the Qingshui River, just across the Chinese township centre, Panghai, in Qingping County P2^.130 Webb preached to them in Chinese, and Pan 126 In Chinese sources sometimes referred to as Pan Shoushan iSHUl- He was from Baiji Village in Huangpiao Township (Huangping County) 127 S R Clarke, ‘Miao Studies’, (1895), p. 148. 128 It has not been possible to find extant copies of any of these. Cf. S R Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, p. 142. 129 Their Chinese family name was Wei St. 130 Before 1949 this county belonged to Duyun Fu During the Republic the name of the county was changed to Lushan County i^iiiJL and after 1949 it became a district E in Kaili County (now changed to Kaili City) SHMItOti). There is some confusion about the name of the mission station in the Western literature, so an explanation may be useful. D MacGillivray (A Century of Missions in China, 1807-1907, 1907) indicated: ‘also called Pangxie Jflf’. M H Hutton wrote in ‘A Prodigal’s Return’, (1936, p. 75): ‘Pangsieh (or, as formerly designated, Panghai)’. In all CIM materials available to us the Chinese characters used are the same, they mean ‘crab’ and are to be pronounced [pai^çie51] (Pinyin: pângxiè) in Mandarin. In the Guizhou dialect, however,

preached in Hmu. S R Clarke also joined them for some time. In the following year, 1897, the Webbs left Panghai due to illness, and were replaced by a Mr Bolton. He reported on the anti-foreign sentiments in the area in an article published in 1899: In an anti-foreign Chinese town, 45 li distant, K’ai-li, the district from which these [Hmu] friends come, there has been a movement on foot to come to Panghai, and kill me and loot the house.131

Pan was still at Panghai, and acted both as preacher and interpreter. A school was opened and this is described by Clarke: When we opened a school at Panghai some years ago, and offered to teach the scholars to write their own language in the Roman script, the parents would not consent, but wished their children to learn to read and write Chinese. Their way of looking at the matter is not hard to understand. What writing they have to do must be done for them in Chinese. Any Miao who can read and write passably may easily make his living among his neighbours by doing their reading and writing for them. All proclamations and official notifications, all pleas and counter-pleas in law cases have to be written in Chinese.132

In an article in China’s Millions from 1903 he reported that ‘A Primer and dictionaries have been made of their dialect; a catechism, tract, and the Gospel of Matthew have been translated into it.’133 This is the only reference found to a translation of St Matthew before 1928, and no extant copies have been found. Probably it existed only in manuscript form, and perhaps in the same kind of spelling as used for the ‘chungchia’ [zhongjia], a Kam-Dai people living in Guizhou, now called Buyi. In Clarke’s article from 1895 he noted that he had ‘written down, revised and toned seventeen Miao stories’, and the tone marking system could perhaps have been the same as used for the 1904 Gospel of Matthew in ‘Chung Chia vernacular’.134 In the Buyi writing, all the diacritics which appear in various constellations are not necessarily tone markers, but eight or nine tones appear to be indicated in this way. The Buyi language has eight tones, six basic tones and two additional tones, but in an article from 1904 Clarke wrote that it had six

the latter syllable is pronounced [hai13]. The Miao name for the village is Bangx Hat [paqæ ha44]. In the missionary writings Panghai (or Pangsieh) refers both to the whole district and to the village (now called Houchang zhongcun içiâTbt). The modern Panghai, on the Kaili side of the Qingshuijiang River, is administratively a township and thus called Panghai Zhen with different characters being used. 131 ‘The Provinces’, (1899), p. 10. 132 S R Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911. 133 S R Clarke, ‘The Aborigines of Kwei=chau’, (1903), p. 47. 134 FÙ in Ma-tai, 1904.

tones.135 This is, however, merely a speculation as no Hmu text with this kind of tone marking has hitherto been found.

The Murder of William S Fleming In October 1898 W S Fleming136 took over after Bolton, who went to Guiyang to rest. This was at the time of dowager empress Ci Xi’s coup d’état, and anti-foreign forces were strengthened. As a result, after the village was looted and burnt, Fleming left for Guiyang on November 4th, accompanied by the Hmu evangelist Pan Xiushan. On the way they were murdered in a nearby village, Chong’anjiang fi^fll,137 by Chinese opposed to the mission. Although the hired murderer and his employer were subsequendy caught and executed by the Chinese authorities, the missionaries had been frightened away, and for some years there was no resident missionary at Panghai.138 There is an interesting account of this event from the Chinese point of view with a detailed, but far-fetched, justification for the murder.139

Reestablishing the Panghai Mission In 1899 J R Adam bought land for a Mission house at Panghai, and made a tour in the Hmu area. However, in the year 1900 the Boxer Rising broke out and Kaili was looted by the rebels. For some reason the local Christians were blamed for this, and 34 of them were executed and a hundred were fined. In spite of this, there were quite a few people interested in Christianity when S R Clarke visited the area in 1903. He wrote: Altogether, about two hundred families from different villages gave in their names for Christian baptism. It is quite possible that many of these do not clearly understand what Christianity is, but it is very encouraging to find these people so ready to receive the missionary and so willing to be taught. 140

135 S R Clarke, ‘The Miao and Chungchia Tribes of Kueichow Province’, (1904), p. 206. 136 Chinese name: Mingjianguang BjlSifc137 Chong’anjiang was then a township (zhen M) of Huangping Zhou in Zhenyuan Prefecture 138 Shao Yusheng, ‘Xu Wujin sha yangren’, 1986, pp. 109—11. 139 Du Guangyan, ‘Chong’an jiaoan’, [1985], pp. 1-6. 140 SR Clarke, ‘The Aborigines of Kwei=chau’, (1903), p. 47.

Map of the Panghai Mission Area

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In June 1904 C Chenery from England settled in Panghai, but in April 1905, he fell into the river by accident and was drowned. Later on in the same year R Williams, who had earlier worked in Yunnan, took charge of Panghai and built a new mission-house. The 1907 CIM yearbook reported that there were five church members and about 60 persons interested in Christianity. The average attendance at the services in Panghai was about twenty, and regular services were also held in Nanhwa [Langhua f[5J£ ?].141 In 1907 Williams for health reasons could not stay on, but the station was nevertheless visited by other missionaries from time to time, both by Clarke and by the American Crofts at Zhenyuan.142

Robert Powell In January 1909, Robert Powell from Australia was assigned to go to Panghai. In 1909 he and his wife arrived and started to study the Hmu language, but apparendy they did not spend the whole time in Panghai. About the year 1910 the CIM yearbook stated: The work of the last year shows a little encouragement. [...] Seven or eight have asked for baptism, [...] Farther down the river, the workers have come into touch with another tribe, - the Tongkia [Dong flsj], - as large, if not larger, than the Heh Miao.143

During the first half of 1912 the Powells had to leave due to the revolution.

141 ‘Panghai’, 1907, p. 80. 142 ‘The Province of Kweichow’, 1908, pp. 64-5. 143 ‘Panghai’, 1911, p. 72.

CIM in Guizhou after 1915

Changes after Adam’s Death Isaac Page, who took over after Adam’s death, soon made some significant changes in the work. In 1917 Gebu was made a mission station, having earlier been an out-station of Anshun, and Page moved there, making Gebu the centre for the CIM Miao mission in northwest Guizhou. He also abolished Adam’s romanized A-Hmao writing and in 1918 the National Bible Society of Scodand took a decision about the future of Adam’s script: In deference to the opinion of the majority of missionaries in Yunnan and Kweichow, the N.B.S.S. has decided not to proceed with the publication of Hwa Miao Scriptures in roman character, but to apply the money held for that purpose to the purchase and circulation of copies in the Pollard script as printed by the B.F.B.S.144

According to Wang Mingdao, writing in 1985, Page invited a teacher from Stone Gateway to Gebu to teach Pollard script.145 No references indicate that Adam’s writing was used afterwards in any A-Hmao area.146 During the famine of 1919 Page managed to get support from abroad, which improved the conditions of the Christians to some extent. In 1920 Page and his wife left China. In 1920 J Yorkston and his wife took charge of Gebu.147 They were helped by Norman Baker and his wife.148 Soon Yorkston and Baker started working with the Yi from Jiegou established as a proper station in 1922. In 1921 W G Windsor arrived in Jiegou and he,149 together with three Yi Christians, used National Phonetic Script letters to translate a Yi hymn book.150 In 1922 (or early 1923) Gebu was visited by a person who 144 BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, unpubl. ms., p. 4. Written by J Murray, dated Glasgow, Nov. 18, 1918. 145 Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefàng qian Gebu jiaohui shi’ [1985], p. 14. He called the teacher Yang Rongxian i.e. probably Yang Rongxin (cf. below, p. 130). 146 The Pollard script was also used by the Seventh Day Adventists (ânx'inhui B#) in this area after 1931. Cf. Li Defàng, ‘Ershi shiji chuqi diandongbei miaoyu fangyanqu de miaowen’, (1981), pp. 68-70. 147 J Yorkston’s Chinese name was Yue Keguo The surname is indicated as Yue ■fe by Wang Mingdao. Cf. Wang Mingdao, ‘Jiefang qian Gebu jiaohui shi’, [1985], p. 15. 148 N Baker’s Chinese name was Bei Erke M %!]%.■ 149 Chinese name: Wen Daocheng XIS®. 150 The hymn book, referred to as Songzhu shengge ®3îIg5R by Zhang Chengyao, contained more than 80 hymns and a supplement with prayers and was published in Kunming. Cf. Zhang Chengyao, ‘Jidujiao neidihui chuanru Bijie diqu de lishi qingkuang’,

later wrote an article about the mission station there, where he was welcomed by the Yorkstons. He wrote: Near to the house [the missionaries’ Canadian bungalow] is a church, built for the Miao, in which some five hundred people can be seated. [...] There are also preachers’ homes, rooms for guests and teachers, and a lower primary school where some good work is being done. This was evidenced by the smartness of the school children. But my interest was centred in a Bible school which was being held. Mr. Yorkston had called together some two hundred elders and deacons who were being drilled in the study of the first epistle of Peter.151

In 1923 the CIM launched the principle of self-support for the local churches, a principle similar to that adopted by the Methodists in 1932 (cf. below, p. 130) and by the Communist Regime of the PRC in September 1950.152 In 1924 Mrs Yorkston described a service at Dasongshu (Great Pine Tree) and mentioned that 700 people had been present and that she had held a talk in Miao.153 The missionary work was apparently carried out both in Miao and Chinese and in Gebu both Miao and Chinese were reported to be used at the services.154 Not much is mentioned in the articles in China’s Millions about the work among the Miao in the ’20s and ’30s. In 1926 Bijie was established as a separate station, where work was carried out by the Friedenshort Sisters, M C Welzel, W Jenner and D Heierle.155 In 1927 a civil war started and the British consul ordered all the missionaries to leave China. They travelled through Yunnan and French Indochina, and returned in the following year. In 1929 intense fighting in many parts of the province, involving both soldiers and robbers, stopped much of the missionary work. In 1930 G P LaRue and his wife came to Gebu from Zunyi ®H.156 When the missionary work was taken up again in the beginning of the 1930s, conflicts between various Protestant groups became apparent and in 1931, H L Taylor at the Guiyang mission station of the CIM wrote: The Roman Catholics are numerically strong, but do not conflict with us. The Seventh Day Adventists are few in numbers. In all places where there are members they are using money and influence to get believers to go to them, and for the last two or three years have been a disturbing influence in our district. They accept all excommunicated members and enquirers after the briefest instruction about keeping

[1985], p. 9. 151 Visitor, ‘A Visit to Kopu, Kweichow’, (1923), p. 41. 152 Du Guangyan, ‘Jiefang yilai Guiyang jidujiao yanbian gaikuang’, (1981), p. 3. 153 Mrs [J] Yorkston, ‘“Do You Really Like Going to Church?”’, (1924), p. 156. 155 J Yorkston, ‘A Miao “Big Gathering’”, (1932), p. 185. 155 ‘Kweichow’, 1929, p. 24. 156 G P LaRue’s Chinese name was Liu Gusen g!|£r3£.

Saturday and not eating pork, and give them a status as church members. They then use these through their knowledge of the Christians to seek out all to entice them away. Their members smoke and deal in the soul-destroying opium, and are not rebuked for it.157

Already in 1914 the Seventh Day adventists had started missionary work in southwest China. The Seventh-Day Adventist Encyclopedia relates the beginning of the mission: For a number of yean afterward [after 1914] [M C] Warren dircted the work there from his station and Chungking (Ch’ung-ch’ing), making journeys through Szechwan, Kweichow, Yiinnan, and the Tibetan borderland. On their tour to the western regions of China, [M C] Warren and [J N] Andrews came upon several people who had become interested in SDA doctrines through colporteurs. From among these people a Miao tribesman came to Chungking (Ch’ungch’ing) in 1919 and was there baptized, the first from that tribe. In 1928 C.B. Miller and Dallas White opened the first station in the western province of Yiinnan, in the city of K’unming. At the same time a station was opened at Kueiyang, in the neighboring Kweichow Province; [...].158

In 1933 the CIM superintendent for Guizhou, J H Robinson reported on the hard conditions in the province: This province depends for finance on opium, and last year the opium trade was a failure, and this year the crop is poor. Thus the military have to call on the merchants and others for money for civil wars, and for purchasing equipment. We have had two civil wars recently, with a complete change of government each time, and each regime wanting huge sums of money. At present the defeated soldiers have turned to robbing, [...]. Among the Tribes ofKopu and Kiehkow districts there is famine, and the people are eating roots to eke out an existence.159

In 1935 the LaRues took over at Gebu after the Yorkstons, who left China.

After the Long March During the Long March the CIM people at Gebu retired to Yunnan, where they stayed with the Methodists at Zhaotong. In 1936 J H Robinson wrote that there had been a change in the Guizhou government.160 He further wrote that the mission compounds were often used by government soldiers as barracks, so the things not stolen by the Communists were taken away by

157 158 159 160

H L Taylor, ‘The Work in Our District’, (1931), p. 126. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 1976, pp. 272—4. J H Robinson, ‘The Need of Kweichow’, (1933), p. 142. J H Robinson, ‘Mingled Sorrows and Joys in Kweichow’, (1936), p. 21.

the government soldiers. Another description of the political and social developments in Guizhou appeared in 1938: Three years ago the Central Government at Nanking appointed governors, who assumed control of provincial affairs; this brought civil war to an end and opened up the way for progress. Petty quarrels have been forgotten in the united allegiance to a central administration, and the province has become united for the first time. Geographically it is changing. Kweichow has been described as “a sea of mountains.” A few years ago there were no motor roads across these high mountains; travelling by sedan chair was slow and laborious, and goods carried on men’s shoulders became expensive through this method of transit. [...] Since the outbreak of hostilities thousands of refugees have taken up residence in Kweichow, which thus får had not suffered from the war. In addition, many high government officials have settled there. Two or more universities have moved their personnel from Shanghai to Kweiyang, the capital, and there are over 10,000 students already. Military training schools and a medical college are also established. This great influx of all strata of society cannot but affect the social life of the whole province.161

In 1939 the Bible School at Gebu was founded. It was to function until 1949 with a two year break because of the Japanese invasion. In 1948 R J R Buder’s wife described this in an article in China’s Millions: During the years that followed the advance of the Communist forces (1934—1936), the Tribal Christians were left to their own leadership for long periods. Being an emotional people, and possessing only the New Testament and a small hymn-book in their own language, few of them being able to read, and fewer to understand what they read, erroneous teaching crept in, which threatened the undoing of the whole Church. The local missionaries decided the only remedy lay in a Bible school for all the evangelists and teachers of the district.162

The Bible school had 30-40 students every year, and altogether they studied for three years, 3-5 months each year. Due to the advances of the Japanese forces many important colleges and universities were moved to the inland, and a lot of new people appeared in these areas. In 1940 W J Michell at Guiyang wrote: With the establishment of the Central Government at Chungking, and the constant influx to the west of refugees from the war areas, the “back door” of China has now really been opened for the first time in the annals of Chinese history.163

161 J A Austin, ‘Kweichow - A Changing Situation’, (1938), p. 169. 162 RJ R Buder, ‘The Lord’s Work is Cosdy’, (1948), p. 8. 163 WJ Michell,‘Striking Developments in Kweichow’, (1940), p. 12.

In 1940 Rowland Buder wrote: Although the China Inland Mission has had the indigenous principle from the beginning, it was not until the missionary evacuation of 1926-27 that the Mission realised how few churches were able to stand alone. At that time, after long periods of conference and much prayer, the Mission restated in details its policy of establishing self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating churches. The task of encouraging churches which had been dependent on the foreign missionaries for years to change to the new order was very difficult.164

In 1941 the LaRues were joined by the Australian missionary C G Edwards,165 who stayed until 1944. The indigenous principle seems to have been implemented to a great extent and in 1942 J H Kitchen wrote: [At Gebu] All details of examination, baptism and Church government are in the hands of the local Church board, on which the missionary acts as an adviser rather than chairman.166

In 1943 the LaRues left Gebu and Norgate167 came to Gebu to work with Edwards. In the end of 1944 the Japanese advanced and the missionaries were evacuated from Guizhou.168 After the end of the war they returned. In the end of 1946 the Norgates went back to Gebu,169 and in 1947 they reported about the Bible School at Gebu with about twenty students. The school managers and teachers were all Miao.170 In August 1947 a meeting was held in Bijie to coordinate the work at Dading (now: Dafang jø.j), Gebu Sffr, Jiegou fêiM, Shuicheng tRJ® and Bijie #1®. The Austins moved to Gebu.171 The Guizhou report in the Field Bulletin for February 1948 contained news in the field of education: The Kweichow Western District Church Association which was formed last August is due to meet again on January 21st, to accept the constitution and to plan for future work. The first project of the Lien Ho Hwei [hanhehui the Hudson Taylor High School at Pichieh, has successfully completed its first term, and the Lord honoured their faith by providing for all financial needs. [...] The Committee of the Kweichow Tribes Bible Institute at Kopu has decided to revise the course of study in two years and to increase the duration of each term, so that students can graduate in 164 R Butler, ‘Teaching the Chinese Church to Shoulder Responsibility’, (1940), p. 187. 165 Chinese name: Ai Wensi JötWr166 J H Kitchen, ‘Twelve Hundred Tribespeople at Summer Convention’, (1942), p. 7. 167 Chinese name: Luo Weide üfêfê. 168 RJ Buder, ‘Evacuated!’, (1945), pp. 60-1. 169 ‘Western Region’, (1946), p. 10. 170 E W Norgate, ‘Bible School Work in Tribesland’, (1947), pp. 207-10. 171 ‘Western Region’, (1947), p. 123.

two years instead of spreading the work over three years. The standard for entrance is also being raised. Prayer is required. Over twenty promising students are expected for the new term.172

In 1948 Irene Neville at Gebu wrote: Sitting at this table there are two Miao brethren working on a new hymn-book; they are copying out the Miao script for printing. It is a big job in these days, and we would ask prayer that it may be carried through soon. It is a great need, as the old book is falling to pieces. They don’t use them as we do at home, but carry them for miles to service, and use them every day in their homes. Some additions have been made, so that it contains 300 hymns; some of the new ones which we know will be very popular, are Wesley’s “And can it be,” and “In the Glory,” the opening hymn in Mr. Caink’s book. So far these people have only the New Testament in their own language, and it seems there is no one to work on the Old Testament; this is something else to pray about.173

Later, Yang [Yang Guoguang a former student of the Bible school who had later been invited to join the staff of the school went to Kunming to oversee the printing of the new A-Hmao hymn-book.174 In this book the Pollard script had been somewhat changed, as markers for voiced initials, in the form of semicircles, had been added, for [b], for [d] etc. This change was probably carried out by G P LaRue, who worked at Gebu 1935—43, beacuse he considered the script to be too inexact.175 In the following year Irene Neville reported that a ‘short school’ had been started among the Small Flowery Miao, i.e. a Hmong group.176 In 1949 Norgate left Gebu and China. That there were serious problems for the mission among the minority peoples in Guizhou is very clear from C G Edwards’ ‘Kweichow Tribal Survey’, where we can read: It is very sad to have to report these things, and I have not by any means exhausted the list; but I have written enough to indicate a very serious process of retrogression and decay, which if not soon arrested will, in many a Tribal district which in the past has been the focus of prayers and the scene of victories in the Lord’s Name, bring us back to our starting point again.177

He also described the problems connected with education in the Miao areas:

172 173 174 175 176 177

‘Western Region: Kweichow’, (1948), p. 30. I Neville, ‘A Nurse in Tribesland’, (1948), p. 15. R J R Butler, ‘The Lord’s Work is Costly’, (1948), p. 9. Zhang Zhihong, personal communication, Sapushan, 6 Aug. 1993. I Neville, ‘Working With The Kopu Church’, (1949), p. 15. CG Edwards, ‘Kweichow Tribal Report’, (1948), p. 195.

A few years ago a movement was made to introduce schools all through the country districts of the province, and had this been followed up with vigour a more general use of the Chinese language would undoubtedly have followed, but enthusiasm for the project was very short-lived, and the position now is that the carrying on of schools for the Tribes people is left to their own initiative. In places where their minds have been opened by the Gospel, or where they feel there is some hope of entering into competition with the Chinese or of entering Chinese society as equals, initiative in this matter is shown, and clan or village or church schools, varying widely in the standards of education offered, are carried on. But Chinese officialdom frowns on such efforts as a rule, and their number , compared with the size of the Tribal population, is woefully small. Most of the Tribes [...] say that if their young people go to schools they are unfitted for the heavy and essential work in the fields, they later leave home for larger centres, and so are lost to the Tribal community. Hence they themselves will not open schools nor will they cooperate with others who desire to do so.178

At the missionary schools, however, the medium of instruction appears to have been Chinese, at least for all subjects except for Christianity.179 Miao writing was used only for reading Christian texts, like the NT and hymns. In February 1950 the Field Bulletin reported: The disturbed conditions have been the cause of sad news. On December 19 we received a telegram from Mr. Butler “Salachi [a leprosarium near Gebu] attacked by thirty brigands 18th, Fishes knife wounds, others well.” We heard later that the Fishes were progressing satisfactorily, but have no details. Mr. Neil, a missionary of the Australian Apostolic Mission in Chenyüan [Zhenyuan] (formerly C.I.M.) has also sustained serious wounds from brigands. There is also good news, in that the Heimbachs were actually able to complete their transfer to Pangsieh after the change-over, and reached on December 11 without any incident en route.180

The last report in China’s Millions about the western area in Guizhou, in May 1950, stated: [...] our workers there have been much encouraged by the friendliness of officials and have obtained more than one reduction in taxes. There are good reports of special meetings held in Kopu-Kiehkow areas, led by the travelling pastor of the provincial association of churches, Mr. Wang Teh-seng. There were many baptisms. Pastor Wu of the Kweiyang church is launching a Short Term Bible School for KWEICHOW to be held in Kweiyang soon.181

178 C G Edwards, ‘Kweichow Tribal Report’, (1948), p. 176. 179 According to Mis Jean Norgate, who worked with her husband at Gebu 1946-1949, there were primary schools in the larger villages and middle schools in the towns. All education was given in Chinese with Chinese textbooks. Mrs Jean Norgate, letter of 2 July 1992. 180 ‘Western Region’, (Febr. 1950), p. 25. 181 ‘KWEICHOW ‘Late News”, (1950), p. 56.

In December 1950, however, the Field Bulletin reported from Panhsien in west Guizhou: A notice was received from the government telling us and the Roman Catholics to refrain from opening our day schools for another term. Upon further inquiry it was learned that we teach superstition and also the way the school was run was most unsatisfactory - so the authorities say! We cannot say we were not disappointed, for we had not expected this turn of events to be sprung upon us so soon.182

Mission at Stone Gateway after Pollard’s Death After Pollard’s death in 1915, Hudspeth took charge of the mission work centered at Stone Gateway. In 1917, however, Harry Parsons was transferred from Dongchuan to Stone Gateway, and Hudspeth returned to Europe for service in France and studies at Cambridge. In 1918 the worst famine ever struck the Stone Gateway area, and this contributed to a disenchantment with Christianity among some of the A-Hmao. When Hudspeth returned in 1920 Parsons went on furlough and in 1920-1921 there was no missionary resident at Stone Gateway, as Hudspeth lived in Zhaotong. After his return in 1922 Parsons resided at Stone Gateway until 1926. Already in 1914 Pollard had sent three A-Hmao students to the middle school in Chengdu and afterwards many students were sent to various middle schools in Zhaotong and Chengdu. According to Hudspeth, writing in 1937, there had been 500-900 students in the junior elementary schools in the area every year since 1915. Presumably most of them were A-Hmao. In 1921 two students were sent to West China Union University (Huaxi daxue to study medicine.183 In 1917, Hudspeth and Yang Yage (fames Yang) took Pollard’s translation of the New Testament to Japan and the first edition was printed in Yokohama in 5,000 copies. A second edition was printed in 1919 and a third in 1929, making a total of 10,000 copies for the three editions. In 1917, Stephen Lee, Pollard’s main helper in devising the script, disappeared on the road from Zhaotong to Kunming, supposedly killed by bandits. Parsons left Stone Gateway in 1926, and afterwards Hudspeth, residing at Zhaotong, gave occasional oversight. In 1927 all the missionaries had to leave their stations because of the civil war, but they returned in 1928, to find the area much more unsafe than it had been before. Between 1928 and 1931 the missionaries Hudspeth, Rev Heber Goldsworthy and Rev Fred W 182 ‘Western Region’, Pec. 1950), p. 206. 183 A university jointly run by American mission, the CIM and the Anglicans.

J Cottrell oversaw the mission,184 but in 1932 Goldsworthy moved to Zhaotong, and in 1933 possibly to Stone Gateway.

Organizational Changes In 1932 there was a further unification of Methodist churches, when the United Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive Methodists together formed the Methodist Church. The name for the Miao mission organization was changed from the Yunnan District of the United Methodist Church to the SW China District of the Methodist Church.185 The emphasis should no longer be on the mission, but on the church. Rev Harold Rattenbury, the China secretary of the British Methodist Church, led this reform movement, which included the use of Chinese in all spheres of the work in China, even between the British missionaries. In 1930, or somewhat later, Hudspeth, the A-Hmao preacher Yang Rongxin and a few other A-Hmao: Yang Yage and Yang Zhi £§;§:, made a new translation of the NT, basing it on the new translation of the NT into Chinese. Yang Zhi was a A-Hmao Christian who had worked as a missionary among the Kopu,186 and who was recognized as a master singer, who knew a lot of A-Hmao legends and folk-lore. In 1934 Yang Rongxin went to Shanghai to publish the NT at the BFBS. It was published in 1936. After 1936 no changes were carried out in the Pollard script until the reform movement of 1949-50,187 and the 1936 orthography is still the most widely recognized orthography for A-Hmao. In 1934 Hudspeth resided at Zhaotong and he had two A-Hmao probationary ministers, Zhang Hongyou and Li Zhengbang $IE#|L In 1935 Rev Edward Moody went to Stone Gateway.188 In 1936 Zhang Hongyou and Li Zhengbang went to College in Wuchang and there was a new probationary minister with Moody at Stone Gateway, Li Zhenwen. In July 1936 Hudspeth left the A-Hmao area, and went to Shanghai to take up the secretaryship of the BFBS. Yang Zhi wrote down thirteen traditional A-Hmao songs and Hudspeth took those with him. Already in 1932 Hudspeth had pointed out to some A-Hmao that it would be a pity if the A-Hmao traditional songs were lost in a fervour to sweep away all vestiges of the 184 Goldsworthy’s Chinese name was Gu Dewei Slifgil and Cottrell’s name was Gao Zhihua 185 R K Parsons, letter of 21 Sept. 1992. 186 A Loloish people in Yunnan. The Pollard script was used to write this language as well, and St Mark’s Gospel was published in 1913. 187 The only exception is the addition of special voice markers by G P LaRue at Gebu, probably around 1940, cf. above, p. 127. ,88 Chinese name: Mu Boli W$W.-

earlier non-Christian stage of the A-Hmao culture. After Pearl Harbor Hudspeth was arrested by the Japanese and the records of A-Hmao songs together with his anthropological notes and the records of the CIM at Shanghai were lost. Yang Zhi’s thirteen songs contained some 1,135 Unes, written continuously, like prose. Originally there were two copies, and as Hudspeth’s copy was lost in Shanghai, only one remained at Stone Gateway. Rev R K Parsons described what later happened: He [Yang Zhi] made two copies. One was given to Mr. Hudspeth, and the other remained in Stonegateway, but it did not circulate. Not until I began to make enquiries was it brought out. I was allowed to have it for a couple of days only, but Wang Pei-cheng [Wang Mingji] kindly made a copy for me, and added half a dozen additional songs he had collected. It was my interest and persistent requests for more that seemed to have triggered local enthusiasm to preserve in writing what remained of the old traditions which were fast disappearing. The subsequent books of songs are all based on Yang Zhi’s work and none of the additional material surpasses his as poetry.189

For the publication of these A-Hmao songs in the late ’40s and early ’50s, cf. below, p. 134. Afterwards Yang Rongxin also translated a A-Hmao hymn book and he together with other A-Hmao intellectuals also recorded folk songs and stories and circulated copies among the A-Hmao.190 When Hudspeth left in 1936 he stated that among the Miao in the United Methodist Mission area there were nearly forty organized churches and 18,300 members and enquirers and more than 30 schools with 1,400 scholars.191 In 1937 Moody and Li Zhenwen lived at Stone Gateway, as well as Goldsworthy, who was in charge of the work among the Chuan Miao, i.e. the Sichuan Hmong. In March 1938, Muslim bandits attacked Stone Gateway and Goldsworthy was killed. Shortly afterwards, Moody left on furlough, and Stone Gateway remained in charge of Zhang Hongyou and Li Zhengbang. Cottrell resided at Zhaotong.

Indigenization of the Church In 1936 Zhu Huanzhang graduated from the West China Union University and went back to work at the school in Stone Gateway. From that year on, two students were sent to study in Nanking at the Chinese government’s expense. 189 1,0 pp. 191

R K Parsons, letter of 18 May 1993. Li Defang, ‘Ershi shiji chuqi diandongbei miaoyu fàngyanqu de miaowen’, (1981):, 68-70. W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, pp. 79-80.

Literacy spread quickly and in 1938 Rev Grist described the situation: Before his [Pollard’s] coming to them, the Miao in their poverty and illiteracy thought of books as the possession only of the rich and learned Chinese; but now in a thousand tiny huts, on rough home-made shelves, may be seen little libraries — the New Testament, a hymn-book, and thin booklets on the doctrines of the Christian Faith - all in the Pollard Script [...].192

A school textbook, published in 1938, was further adapted for general school use and contained fewer purely Christian texts. The editor was Edward Moody. In an article from 1985 Zong Wen discussed the educational policies of the Methodists : As to the teaching methods, because the Kuomintang reactionaries propagated a policy of nationality assimilation, they also implemented sinicizing education. This was very difficult for the Miao masses to accept and it never yielded any notable results. The Stone Gateway church, however, used the “old Miao writing”, which had been jointly devised by the missionaries, Chinese intellectuals and Miao intellectuals, to complement the teaching. They used the old Miao writing to compile textbooks with ethnic contents and implemented an education with ethnic characteristics. This was easy to accept for the Miao, considering their feelings and habits, and it had a very marked effect. To this day we can draw lessons from it when we engage in educational activities in the minority areas.193

In 1938 the A-Hmao teacher Yang Zhongde ÜSSHs started a bi-monthly journal (i.e. twice a month), printed from woodblocks in Pollard script. Two other A-Hmao also participated, Zhang Ren’an and Yang Rongxin. Each edition contained two to three pages of articles on hygiene, the eradication of bad habits, the importance of study (especially for girls) and some national and international news. In 1939 publication was stopped as funds were lacking.194 No extant copies of this magazine have been found. The last missionary statistics for the area appear in Rattenbury’s Advance in South-west China from 1943. He stated that at the time of Moody’s furlough in 1939 there were more than 20,000 Christians in the church, but he did not specify the number of A-Hmao among these.195 In 1940 the district was rearranged into five circuits with a minister appointed to each: four A-Hmao circuits, Stone Gateway (Shimenkan), Rice-ear Valley (Mi’ergou), Long Sea (Changhaizi) and Great Level (Dapingzi) and one circuit for the Sichuan Hmong, Niupokan The Miao

192 W A Grist, ‘The Gospel for the Miao’, (1938), pp. 137. ra Zong Wen, jidujiao Xundao gonghui zai Weining Shimenkan xingban de jiaoyu shiye’, (1987), p. 28. 1,4 Yang Zhongde, personal communication, Weining, 19 Nov. 1990. 195 H B Rattenbury, Advance in South-west China, 1943, p. 6.

ministers were fully in charge of the work in their respective circuits and the foreign missionary was responsible only for the circuit to which he was appointed. The Miao work was staffed by Moody, Rev Vernon Stones,196 Chang Hongyou, Li Zhengbang and Wu Zhonglie 1941 staffing of thé circuits'97 Stone Gateway Mi ergo u Niupokan Changhaizi Dapingzi

C M Steel198 Vernon Stones Li Zhengbang Zhang Hongyou Li Zhenwen

Moody resided at Zhaotong and was responsible for the whole area. In the ’40s the situation was quite unsetded and there was a lot of banditry. During the relatively peaceful times the missionaries lived at Stone Gateway, but otherwise in Zhaotong. According to the Chinese ethnographer Qiu Jifeng the education at Stone Gateway was based on a five or six year plan from 1941, which included plans for a translation of the Old Testament and also for a A-Hmao dictionary and an English-Miao dictionary.199 200 In 1943 a middle school was opened at Stone Gateway by Zhu Huanzhang. Earlier there had been only a six-year elementary school, but with this three years were added. There were about 200 pupils in the elementary school and 100 in the middle school. Of the twenty teachers, all but one was Miao. The teaching, both at the elementary school and at the middle school, was in Chinese. Only the first steps were in A-Hmao. The textbooks used were the same as those in ordinary Chinese schools. The A-Hmao language and writing were used in church and in letter-writing. 1943 staffing of the circuits2110 Stone-Gateway Miergou Niupokan Changhaizi Dapingzi

196 197 198 199 200

C M Steel C M Steel, Wu Zhonglie Li Zhenbang, Yang Mingqing tgBJhf Zhang Hongyou Zhang Mingcai

Chinese name: Shi Songde EÄISR K Parsons, letter of 1 Dec. 1992. Chinese name: Shao Taiqing Qiu Jifeng, ‘Dian-Qian bianjing miaobao zhi yanjiu’, (1945), p. 76. R K Parsons, letter of 1 Dec. 1992.

In 1945, during Steel’s furlough, A G Pratt was in charge of Stone Gateway, although he resided at Zhaotong. In 1946 Steel returned and Ewart B Wright took charge of the Niupokan Circuit. From about 1940 to 1950 (with one furlough) Eleanor Cowles,201 worked as a teacher with particular responsibility among women and girls. She lived at Stone Gateway 1946—9. She was one of the few missionaries who made serious attempts to learn A-Hmao. After Hudspeth left in 1936, the missionaries had not paid much attention to learning A-Hmao, as they considered this to be unnecessary, or even as disservice to the A-Hmao, who were considered to be ‘basically Han’.202 In the ’40s some religious literature was published; in 1946 and 1948, and from 1949 to 1952 at least three collections of old A-Hmao songs were hectographed at Stone Gateway. The editors were Yang Rongxin and Wang Peicheng I® (also called Wang Mingji 31 BØS). The Pollard script was here used for purposes completely unconnected with Christianity. The script had become accepted by the A-Hmao people in this area, not only as a means of conveying Christianity, but also as their own national writing.

The Last Years of the Methodist Mission In 1947 Niupokan, the district for the Sichuan Hmong, was divided into Niupokan and Wangwuzhai 5EÄSI. Rev P Kenneth Parsons,203 son of Harry Panons, had come to Yunnan in 1946, and in 1947 he travelled via Weining, to Stone Gateway, where he built a house. As Wright did not like travelling, Parsons took over the charge of Wangwuzhai and travelled a great deal in northern Yunnan. During the earthquake of 1948 P K Parsons was at Stone Gateway, and later supervised the reconstruction work.

1949 staffing of the circuits204 Stone Gateway Miergou Niupokan Wangwuzhai Changhaizi Dapingzi

C M Steel, P K Parsons (Middle school) Zhang Hongyou P K Parsons, Yang Mingqing P K Parsons, Yang Mingqing Li Zhenbang Wu Zhonglie

201 Chinese name: Zhao Yuelin SU Pf. 202 E.g. by Vemon Stones. P K Parsons, personal communication, Isle of Wight, 13 Oct. 1992. 203 Chinese name: Zhangjiqiao 5)138®. 204 RK Parons, letter of 1 Dec. 1992.

Rev R Keith Parsons,205 206 the twin brother of P K Parsons, was stationed at Weining since 1943, and worked mainly among the Chinese, but also among the A-Hmao. As a child at Stone Gateway he had learnt A-Hmao, and during his years in Weining he encouraged the A-Hmao to write down their traditional songs and stories. Yang [probably Yang Xuegong who worked as a nurse in Weining, wrote down several collections of traditional stories and R K Parsons studied them together with him. In 1948 R K Parsons and his wife went to Kunming and Elliott Kendall took over at Weining, after a furlough in Britain. During his furlough he had bought a battery-run army radio. The beginning of 1949 saw an increased Communist activity in northern Yunnan, and in a manuscript, written in the following year, P K Parsons described what happened: High up in the mountains of Yunnan banditry and anarchy varied inversely as the power and prestige of the Kuo Ming [sic!] Tang [Kuomintang]. Early last spring the truck road which linked Chaotung [Zhaotong], the natural centre of the District with Kunming was cut and in places dug up by the People’s Army (local communists cum bandits or rather bandits cum communists). Then on Good Friday Chaotung itself was attacked by a band of well over a thousand men [...] and the siege went on for five days before they were eventually driven off.207

In May 1949 the British Consul General in Kunming advised all British citizens to leave China before the air services would be suspended, and the missionaries held a meeting at Zhaotong, where it was decided to send the women and the children home, and Kendall escorted them to Kunming, where he stayed on. Steel also left together with the women. Before leaving Weining Kendall sent the radio to the CIM people at Gebu, as they would have more use for it. Only a few key people were left in Zhaotong, P K Parsons and Vernon Stones. No foreign missionary stayed at Stone Gateway, and the local leaders took over. Parsons wrote: In such an environment I was absolutely amazed how quickly the Church recovered from the bewilderment which came with the Consul’s order. For instance the Miao leaden at Stone Gateway immediately started planning for the future. We were running very short of copies of the Miao hymnbook that is printed in the Pollard script, and being afraid that when the Communists arrived the printing of all Christian literature would be banned, the Miao set up and duplicated several hundred copies. 205 Chinese name: Zhang Shaoqiao SilSSr, earlier also called Zhang Andelie fåfll 206 The full name was supplied in a letter from Yang Zhongxing, teacher in the school at Weining, to R K Parsons, dated January 1993. Quoted from a letter from R K Parsons, dated 27 Sept. 1993. 307 P K Parsons, [description of what happened in northern Yunnan in 1949 and 1950, without title], [1950], ms., p. 1.

All the stencils were cut by hand and what is more they added quite a number of hymns to increase the usefulness of the book. The expense was to be met by a levy on the four circuits, [...]. Also they were very anxious that the Prayer room at Stone Gateway should be officially opened and dedicated. [...], the service that had all been arranged by them proceeded, the two themes were praise and thankfulness for the past and a full realisation that the Church was now theirs and their responsibility. [...]. Just as I was leaving Mr Chu Huan Chang [Zhu Huanzhang], the headmaster of the Stone Gateway Middle School and the natural leader of the Miao said to me, “Teacher, when you get to England please thank all the friends for the continued powerful support. We do not know what will happen when the Communists do come, — it may be that we will not be permitted to run our schools and our churches, but do not be afraid. The tao-li (thruth of God) is hid in our hearts and can never be taken from us”.208

The administrative charge was taken over by Zhu Huanzhang, a A-Hmao who in 1946 had gone to Nanking as the KMT representative of the Miao, and Zhu Shuiguang, a Chinese. During the latter part of 1949 Panons made profound studies of the A-Hmao language together with Wang Mingji jEHg 46 on the basis of a manuscript dictionary of A-Hmao, which Wang had written in 1946.209 In the beginning of 1950 a man came from Gebu to Zhaotong with the radio, as the CIM missionaries had left. Parsons put it away, and later left for Kunming and Britain. When the Communists took Zhaotong in 1950 Stones, and the other foreigners, nurses, teachers, and agriculturalists, were arrested and taken to Kunming. The Communists discovered the radio, which had a socket for a transmitter. Although there had been no transmitter included when Kendall bought it in 1947, the Communists, nevertheless, considered this as espionage, and Stones was imprisoned for some time in Kunming, as well as Kendall and the women missionaries at Kunming. In 1951 they were found guilty of espionage, and were deported from China. The Communists also arrested Zhu Shuiguang and Li Yuehan (John Lee). Zhu Shuiguang committed suicide in 1951 and Li Yuehan died in prison after just a few weeks.210 In the middle of the ’50s Zhu Huanzhang was attacked in the Campaign to Root Out Counter-Revolutionaries, and committed suicide in 1956.

“ P K Parsons, [description of what happened in northern Yunnan in 1949 and 1950, without title], [1950], ms., pp. 2-3. 209 Wang Mingji, /a35 mau“ ntoey55/, 1946, ms. 210 P K Panons, penonal communication, Isle ofWight, 13 Oct. 1992.

CIM in Yunnan after 1915 In 1918 A G Nicholls wrote: [...]; now nearly 18,000 people profess to have turned from idolatry to God. [...] there are 90 chapels, erected and paid for by the people themselves. [...], there are over 1500 who have been baptised, [...]. 1 have been engaged in translating the New Testament into Hwa Miao, and last year was able to give this tribe the Testament in their own tongue.2"

Generally speaking, the mission was by far most successful among the A-Hmao, but other Miao groups were also influenced by Christianity. In 1919 the Australian missionary Gladstone Porteous wrote: Quite recently some representatives of the White Miao [a Hmong group] have shown interest in the Gospel. This week end five men came in from a village one and a half days’ journey from here, for an evangelist to go with them, and help them to burn up their objects of demon worship and teach them the Gospel.211 212

In 1919 Nicholls reported that there were seven out-stations among the Miao around Sapushan and that most of them had a resident evangelist and family, who were half-supported by the people. The teachers of primary schools were also supported in the same way.213 *In 1922 Nicholls published an article about the missionary work at Wutingchow (now Wuding), and wrote: One result has been to write a Primer on health subjects which will be circulated among the people. This year we have revised a Catechism, re-written a hymn book, and translated an Old Testament History from Moses to Daniel. A Primer for children has been compiled, also the Health Primer aforementioned - all written in the Miao script. We do our best to insist upon a reading Church.21''

In 1932 Nicholls mentioned that at Sapushan lessons were given from the Key to the New Testament, and that some of the Psalms of David were sung. He further wrote: All of these men [at the Summer Bible School] are leaders in the respective villages, conducting evening services. Some lead at the churches, nearly all are local preachers, and keen indeed to leam. While at Sapushan they bought over 120 dollars’ worth of books, paper, pencils, charts, etc., [...]. All the instruction at the Bible School is 211 212 213 2U

A G Nicholls, ‘How God is Working Among the Tribes’, (1918), p. 51. Gladstone Porteous, ‘Tribe after Tribe being Reached’, (1919), p. 14. A G Nicholls, ‘Back Amongst the Miao’, (1919), p. 75. A G Nicholls, ‘Among the Miao’, (1922), p. 136.

given in the Miao language, for the people speak but a market Chinese, and a great many terms in Chinese are not understood, so the work is done in Miao.215

The CIM schools, however, where the teaching was in Chinese, seem to have been closed down when the Government imposed the new regulations in the ’30s.216 In 1936 Nicholls reported: The year has been one of much interruption with a certain measure of fear, and the station had to be evacuated just when they were ready for a Bible school. [...] Two special difficulties are connected with the aggressions of the Seventh Day Adventists, and the Independent Miao, who, though few, are led by a family which declare for the “no GOD” policy. These people are out to capture our scholars.217

Developments in the ’40s In 1946 Nicholls wrote that south of Kunming H A C Allen and his son Arthur, as well as WT Herbert, worked with the Tsing Miao,218 i.e. a Hmong group. No further information about the results of this mission has, however, been found. According to Nicholls nearly 5,000 Miao had been baptized at Sapushan by 1946.219 Not all missionaries in the Miao areas did, however, learn the Miao language, and by the end of the ’30s a good knowledge of Miao seems rather to have been an exception. In January 1947 MrJ B Kuhn presented a ‘Yunnan Tribal Survey’, in which he proposed some basic principles for the minority language question: 1. By all means employ the Chinese language where possible. 2. Where tribes are bi-lingual encourage the use of the original tongue in matters of worship, even though there is no writing in the given language. 3. Stick to the principle of bringing the Gospel message to the particular tribe in the language used in the home. You will then have a good chance of winning the entire family. 5. (sic!) Make use of the most humble home as a place for initiating Christian testimony if necessary. Much of the spade-work of existing tribal churches was done in the home. 6. Train native preachers and evangelists as well as native linguists for this task. 7. Employ the

215 A G Nicholls, ‘Instructing Ninety Miao Farmers’, (1932), p. 183. 216 According to the daughter of Gladstone Porteous, Ruth Bailey, letter of July 25, 1992. 217 ‘The Province of Yunnan’, (1937), p. 49. 218 A G Nicholls, (History of the mission among the Miao and some other minorities in Yunnan without tide), [dated 1946], unpubl. ms, p. 10 219 A G Nicholls, (History of the mission among the Miao and some other minorities in Yunnan without tide), [dated 1946], unpubl. ms, p. 10.

present available scripts: (a) Pollard Script; (b) Fraser Script; (c) ABM Romanization; (d) National Phonetic Script.220

In July 1946 Gladstone Porteous’ widow221 and H R L Bailey and his wife were stationed at Wuding.222 In August 1947 there were reports about extreme teachings by a A-Hmao preacher in Sapushan. The missionary W A Allen went together with Bailey and Grant to the area, and ‘the false teacher was asked to leave the district, which he did that day’.223 In January 1948 the Field Bulletin reported: ‘The work in Wuting is encouraging, for with the arrival of Mr and Mrs Harrison and the new women workers many local people have come to hear the Gospel, [,..].’224 An A-Hmao hymn book was briefly referred to in February 1947: ‘In America Mr. Graham is overseeing the photolithography of the Miao hymnbook.’225 In October 1948 the Field Bulletin contained a report about the work at Kunming: Tribal Printing Press: Lack of proper accomodation has somewhat handicapped the work of Mr. and Mrs. Grant, so we are very glad to report that they have at last managed to rent suitable premises for a residence and a print shop. An edition of fifteen thousand copies of the Big Flowery Miao Hymnal for Kweichow and Yunnan is being seen through a commercial print shop, which means a lot of work in addition to that being done on our own printing press.226

In August 1948 A G Nicholls died in Adelaide. In 1949 the Multilith Press, a special publishing house for printing literature for the tribal people, published 2,000 Catechisms in A-Hmao and a hymn book in a Hmong subdialect (Small Flowery Miao, Siao Hwa Miao), spoken in northwest Guizhou, the first book ever published in that dialect.227 In 1950, after the Communist take-over, W T Simpkin228 reported from Sapushan: Our district is peaceful and no restrictions of any kind have been imposed on us. Quite a few soldiers come to the service at Wuting, including some who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus. So we have much cause for praise.

220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228

J B Kuhn, ‘Yunnan Tribal Survey’, (1947), p. 65. Her husband, Gladstone Porteous had died in 1944. ‘Lists of Missionaries’, (1946), p. 10. ‘The Care Of The Churches’, (1947), p. 124. ‘Western Region’, (Jan. 1948), p. 9. ‘Western Region: Niuhuach’i’, (1947), p. 25. ‘Western Region: Tribal Printing Press’, (1948), p. 144. ‘The Home Director’s Personal Page’, (1949), p. 11. Chinese name probably Si Mingqing

The Miao O.T. stories have arrived and many have been sold. The Miao are all really eager to buy books. When a Miao’s house bums down and he loses everything, about the fint thing he wants to buy is a hymn book and a N.T. We have already sold nearly 3000 of the books printed last June. I have not been able to get any more Miao N.T.s from the Methodists at Chaotung. We have been out of stock for nine months.229

Plans were made for further missionary work and in March 1951 there was a notice about this in China’s Millions: Many thousands of this tribe [the Flowery Miao] have received the gospel and large Christian communities are found in all south-western provinces. A large heathen group of Miao has recently been located in southern Yunnan, and it is proposed to send from Sapushan an exploratory mission of Christian Miao to investigate possibilities of work among them.230

Mission among the Sichuan Hmong23' It has proven much more difficult to find reliable facts about the mission among the Sichuan Hmong than about the mission in Guizhou and Yunnan. In some counties of southern Sichuan south of Luzhou there are speakers of the Hmong dialect, mainly in Xuyong County Gong County Gao County it!$6, Junlian County and Gulin County Their dialect is rather similar to the Hmong spoken in Yunnan. By the missionaries this dialect was called River Miao or Ch’uan Miao, i.e. Sichuan Miao.232 According to a Chinese source there were altogether approximately 60-70,000 Hmong in southern Sichuan around 1949.233

229 ‘Prayer Paragraphs’, (1950), pp. 29—30. 230 ‘A Tribesman of the Great Flowery Miao’, (1951), p. 27. 231 For a detailed account of the Protestant mission among the Sichuan Hmong, cf. Joakim Enwall, ‘In Search of the Entering Tone: The Importance of Sichuanese Tones for Understanding the Tone Marking System of the Sichuan Hmong Pollard Script’, 1994, pp. 70-84. 232 In Chinese the name Sichuan means ‘four rivers’. 233 Lang Wei, ‘Tianzhujiao, jidujiao zai Chuannan miaozu diqu chuanbo shuliie’, (1989), pp. 24-7.

Methodist Mission In December 1914 Pollard wrote a letter to the Mission secretary about the commencement of work among the Sichuan Hmong: A few days ago I returned from a long journey round the borders of our district & saw much to thank God for. We have been trying for 2 years to get hold of another tribe of Miao with whom we came in contact at some places. It has been very difficult to get a door of entrance. Some of our men have learnt their language which differs a good bit from our “Flowery” Miao altho’ the same in structure. We stayed several days in a family of these “River” Miao & were very kindly treated. Coming back, with the great help of one of our preachers I have got out a small Hymn Book & Catechism for these new people & this new work. Sent off the manuscript in faith that there will be a demand before long for the two thousand copies we hope to get early in the year.214

On March 29, 1915 Pollard reported further: ‘News has come today that down among the “River Miao” the new tribe there are 40 boys coming to the first school we have opened there.’234 235 In the beginning of the 1920s Harry Parsons worked on the Sichuan Hmong dialect, and according to the BSL catalogue, he was the translator of the 1922 St Mark.236 In 1920 Parsons wrote two letters to his brother-in-law, in which he mentioned the translation work into Sichuan Hmong, although he did not elaborate on who participated in the actual translation work. On June 27, 1920, he wrote: ‘Mark’s Gospel in Ch’uan Miao goes to the printers next week.’ On Aug. 18, 1920, he further wrote: We have been busy during these past weeks completing and sending off the manuscript of Mark’s Gospel translated into Ch’uan Miao. We are also translating a hymn book and catechism for them which we hope to send to the press [The Canadian Mission Press at Chengdu] shortly.237

Around 1920 this area was made a part of the Stone Gateway - South Sichuan mission district of the United Methodist Mission, and some 14 churches were built. The missionaries were not resident in southern Sichuan, but regularly visited the area.238 234 Microfiche no 1302, Box 639, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. 235 Microfiche no 1303, Box 639, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. 236 There is also a notebook by H Parsons with a wordlist of St Mark, possibly used during the translation work. Cf. H Panons, /a ntgi ntœy/, s.a.. Notebook with a wordlist of St Mark, chapters 1—4, Chuan Miao - A-Hmao - English. 237 Letters from Rev H Parsons to Rev P N Bryant, dated 27 June 1920 and 18 Aug. 1920. Quoted from a letter from R K Panons, 27 Sept. 1993. 238 Lang Wei, ‘Tianzhujiao, jidujiao zai Chuannan miaozu diqu chuanbo shuliie’, (1989), pp. 24-7.

The fint book printed in Chuan Miao was St Mark’s Gospel in 1922. It was published by the BFBS. In 1935 a hymn book was published by the Stone Gateway church.239 Hudspeth was the editor and it was translated by Yang Mingqing. In 1938 a revised edition of St Mark was printed joindy by the BFBS and the American Bible Society in Shanghai. According to the BSL catalogue it was revised by a Hwa Miao teacher called Yang K’uan-I [Yang Kuanyi].240 There were mission schools established in all places where there were churches, i.e. Wangwuzhai, Luobiao, Wutongyan, Youzhaping and Lubanshan. They were all called ‘Guanghua xiaoxue’ In 1936 Lin Mingjun published an introduction to the Chuan Miao in the journal Xin Yaxiya. He described the conditions of the schools in south Sichuan: As the culture of the Chuan Miao themselves is not to be considered developed, and as communications are extremely inconvenient, very few have had an opportunity to study. Before, there were one or two private schools, but the children were only taught to recognize a few characters and that was all; in reality it cannot be called education at all. But since Christianity entered [this area], elementary schools have been established everywhere for teaching Miao children. However, the goal of these schools is mainly mission. The scope is narrow, the equipment is simple and crude; [sometimes] there is not even a single map in the whole school, and quite a few pupils have to share one textbook. As the government considers them to be an uncivilised people, it never takes an interest in them. According to a findings report from the Chuan Miao themselves in the spring of the 24 year of the Republic [1935], in the Miao areas of Yunnan there are 9 elementary schools (chuxiao) and one high elementary school (gaoxiao). In Sichuan there is only the elementary school in Wangwu Village in Luobiao Town (Gong County J&Jt) . Of the Chuan Miao there are only three pupils in middle school (chuzhong) and 236 pupils in elementary school (chuxiao); if we add those who have received a little education in the private schools, the number of people who have received education is only 3-4 per mille. I have heard that a few more elementary schools have been established recendy, so in the future the percentage can, of course, gradually increase. Last spring [1935], the headmaster of the Guanghua elementary school in Wangwu Village, Mr Xiong Chaosong together with the local Chuan Miao representative, Mr Liu Youcheng ül^föc came to Chengdu and stated their difficult conditions. The provincial government of Sichuan and some private persons donated books and instruments worth 100 yuan to the school, the provincial government also ordered the local education office to allocate funds and assistance. Most probably it can gradually develop. Furthermore, a young Flowery Miao from Guizhou, Mr Zhu Huanzhang , has graduated from the institute of pedagogy of the Huaxi University in Chengdu. Because he has felt the need for special education for the Miao, he has published a “Night school textbook for Miao people”, following the example of “Text of one thousand characters for common people” and taking into account the special Miao

239 Chuan Miao Gospel Hymns, 1935. 240 ‘Miao: Chuan’, BSL Catalogue, s.a., typescript.

customs. It has been sent everywhere with the purpose of spreading knowledge. When the Chuan Miao got this textbook, they, one their own accord, established some night schools and I have heard that the result is very good. Thus the number of people who can read Chinese characters will increase all the time, but it is still dependent on the encouragement and the support of the government.2'"

In 1937 the missionary Rev R H Goldsworthy was sent to work among the Sichuan Hmong for the United Methodist Mission.241 242 In the beginning of the ’40s Wangwuzhai was made the centre for the south Sichuan work of the Methodist Church. The knowledge of Chinese was rather good in the Sichuan Hmong area, and when Rev P K Parsons travelled in the area in the end of the ’40s he preached in Chinese. According to him even the women understood Chinese, which is very rare in the Miao areas.243 In 1946 Ewart Wright travelled in the Sichuan Hmong area. He wrote: There is a great lack of Bibles and hymnals, both in Chinese and River Miao. There is a felt desire to get the whole New Testament translated into River Miao, which is completely different from the Hua Miao, although the same Pollard script is used.244

Schools had been started in a few places and Ewart Wright described some of the problems in connection with this: The Niu P’o K’an Central School deserves mention of its own. Here we have 45 scholars (Higher Primary) with 5 teachers!! The headmaster has had training in the District Institute, but the other 4, only one is a baptised Christian. The other three have only just returned from graduating (Lower Middle) in our Chaotung Middle School. They went there as Christian lads, but have returned almost anti-religious, and consequently the spirit of the school is far from being what it ought to be. [...] Two years ago at Wang Wu Chai they opened a Central School without obtaining permission of Synod. Consequently no grant has been forthcoming. [...] However, they have only 19 scholars this year, and unqualified teachers, and of course no money. It did not take much persuasion to close the school and the scholars are to be transferred to Niu P’o K’an.245

Wright reported that there were altogether 113 members and 130 members on trial. At the schools there were altogether 406 students. Wright proposed to divide the Niupokan circuit into two circuits, Niupokan and Wangwuzhai,

241 Lin Mingjun, ‘Chuan miao gaikuang’, (1936), p. 54. 242 W H Hudspeth, Stone-Gateway and the Flowery Miao, 1937, p. 80. 243 P K Parsons, personal communication, Isle of Wight, 13 Oct. 1992. 244 E B Wright, Summary Report of the Work Among the River Miao (Niu P’o K’an Circuit), 1946, ms, p. 1. 245 E B Wright, Summary Report of the Work Among the River Miao (Niu P’o K’an Circuit), 1946, ms, pp. 1-2.

and in 1947 this division was carried out. Wright furthermore considered that the River Miao (Sichuan Hmong) circuits should be made into a separate entity and not treated together with the Hua Miao (A-Hmao).

CIM in South Sichuan Apparendy parallel to the Methodist mission, the CIM, with their headquarters in Gebu village in Hezhang County (in the Guizhou Province), sent missionaries to south Sichuan. They established a mission station at Daping Xiang later renamed Fuyinwan JSWÄ (Gospel Creek), in Gulin County, and later altogether 30 churches were set up: 17 in Gulin county and 13 in Xuyong county. In 1922 the missionary W T Herbert reported in a letter, published in China’s Millions: Ere this reaches you we will have a membership of men only of about fifty, and chapel or school to hold 200 people, with a loft for visitors, and a home being built, while I am living in the kitchen of the former. Then there are twenty-five different places where the Miao are interested, and about 3000 under instruction from time to time.246

In 1923 Mr Gowman estimated that there were around five thousand Hmong in Sichuan who were interested in Christianity.247 Just like in the early yean of Adam’s mission among the A-Hmao, the missionaries were sometimes identified with God, or at least seen as being of heavenly origin. In an article from 1923 W T Herbert at Yongning described the witness of the Miao Peter Yang on how he became a Christian: 1 with others, heard of some missionaries who had come down from heaven to teach us the way of life. [...] Still we were treated kindly, and stayed there learning the Gospel truth. Ere we left we had some tracts given us, printed on foreign paper. I looked at them, saying inwardly, that no such paper can be got in this world another proof of the Heavenly origin of the missionaries.248

In 1924 F Bird came to the area,249 and according to Lang Wei, he used the ‘Stone Gateway Miao writing’ for teaching in the Daping church and elementary school. About the situation in Xuyong F Bird wrote in 1926:

“ WT Herbert, “As Happy as a King”, (1922), p. 42. 247 W T Herbert, ‘The “Come Down from Heaven”, Missionaries among the Miao’, (1923), p. 165. 248 W T Herbert, ‘The “Come Down from Heaven” Missionaries among the Miao’, (1923), p. 166. 249 His Chinese name was Fei Guanghua

The evangelist with me was kept busy teaching the Miao script. They studied all night, but the evangelist was able to get away at daylight for a short rest before travelling on the next day.250

In 1929 McIntyre described the Hmong writing work as not progressing very quickly: This terrible poverty and the illiteracy of the people are the burdens that oppress one’s heart continually. We are doing our best to combat the latter evil, but it is slow, tedious work. It is this that makes our work of imparting the Gospel so difficult.25'

In 1931 the Birds published an article in which they wrote: Some, like Mark Yang, have a knowledge of the Miao script, and able to translate hymns from the Chinese into Miao. This gives great delight, as the Miao love to sing in their own language. They preach the Gospel by song, and new hymns in Miao script are acceptable; they will sing all night after a hard day’s work, to be followed by another such day.252

In 1935 the Communists came near to the Sichuan Hmong areas. The CIM yearbook for 1936 had a passage about the work at Fuyinwan: Six years ago the station of Fuhinuan [Fuyinwan] was opened for work among the tribes. Inspite of the proximity of the Communists, the workers were able to remain at their station throughout the year. Mr. F. Bird writes as follows: Before leaving on furlough we left the responsibility of the work with the Miao Christians, and we rejoiced on our return on January 2nd, 1936, to see the way they had shouldered the burden. [...] The most outstanding event of the year was the annual meeting which revealed the attitude of the Miao church to the policy of self-support. The pastor presided and conducted the meetings well and there was a spirit of love and sympathy. Our hearts were filled with joy and thanksgiving.253

In 1946 D A Cunningham and his wife were stationed in Fuyinwan.254 A report published in September 1946 under the heading ‘Summer Conferences’ stated: From Fuhinuan in South Szechwan comes a report to say they have had an attendance at their annual conference this year which surpassed anything they have known for years, numbering over two hundred. The messages given by Rev. Chang Er-ting 250 F Bird, ‘Happy, but Arduous Service among the Miao’, (1926), p. 54. 251 EH McIntyre, ‘Among Poverty-Stricken Miao’, (1929), p. 78. 252 Mr and Mrs Bird, “‘Let Us Go into the Next Towns!”’, (1931), p. 85. 253 ‘West Szechwan’, 1937, p. 39. 254 ‘Lists of Missionaries’, (1946), p. 10. Mr Cunningham’s Chinese name was probably Han Fuchu

were much appreciated and many testimonies were given to blessing received. The work throughout the whole of the south Szechwan Miao field has looked up considerably due to a great extent to the good work put in during this summer vacation by two Miao students from C.T.S. [Chengdu Theological Seminary].255

The Field Bulletin of March 1946 reported: The work at Kulin has had the advantage of the help of the Cunninghams during these past few months and they report that Grace Yang is doing excellent work there, but the infant church needs a good deal of prayer as they lack experiences and without a missionary to help them there are sure to be some real difficulties. Amongst the Miao there has been definite encouragement. Pastor Li-Chin-An was up there for their summer conference and several of the deacons were definitely revived. Now they are shouldering the responsibility of the work and the future is more hopeful than it has been for some time. They have also appointed an elder man as Pastor and are hoping to send the younger men to Bible School.256

Mission among the Hmu after 1912 After the turbulence in connection with the revolution of 1911, Robert Powell and his wife returned to Panghai in the latter part of 1912 and were joined by Maurice H Hutton. By this time, probably together with S R Clarke, they took interest in Hmu writing. One reference has been found to an early hymn book printed in 1913. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find the actual book. In the preface of a later edition the below description is presented: In printing this new and enlarged edition of the Black Miao hymn book, 1 do so under the old title of the first edition printed by Mr. Robert Powell on the hand press in Panghai in 1913. Viz: “Ca Neo Llei Dsan Mei Vang-Vai Bie Sh’a”. That first edition was printed in Romanised letters and contained a limited number of 19 hymns and 2 Choruses, all of which are incorporated in this edition. Of those Nos. 1 to 5 are translations into Black Miao by the late Mr. S.R. Clarke, and Nos. 6 to 18 are translations by Mr. Robert Powell. 257

The existence of books in Hmu this early is confirmed by Milton T Stauffer in 1922, who wrote that Hymn Books existed for Black Miao. He also pointed out that the simple form of romanization used could not meet the needs of all tribes.258 255 256 257 258

‘Summer Conferences’, (1946), p. 6. ‘West Region’, (1946), p. 10. Black-Miao Hymnary, 1928. Preface in English by M H Hutton. M T Stauffer, (seer, and ed.), The Christian Occupation of China, 1922. Reprinted in

Maurice H Hutton In 1912 Maurice H Hutton was assigned to do missionary work at Panghai.259 He was born in 1888 in Sydney and he was a Congregationalist by denomination. Around 1905 he had decided to become a missionary, and in 1906 he went to ‘a Missionary lantern lecture, held in the Harris-street Baptist Church, where Mr. Robert Powell, of the China Inland Mission, was telling of his experiences during the Boxer Riots in 1900.’260 As a consequence Hutton went to the Adelaide Missionary College and joined the CIM in 1911. According to the CIM Prayer Directory Hutton studied at the Anqing 5:Jg Language Center in 1912. He was to remain in the Hmu area for many years, and do a a great deal of translation work in Hmu and Keh-Deo, a Hmong dialect spoken in the same area. His missionary work, however, has not been described, apart from a number of articles in China’s Millions. Thus, there is a great contrast to the information available about Pollard, which also makes this account vaguer. Many important facts are only alluded to in the articles, and in some cases our reconstructions may be wrong. Apart from the articles in China’s Millions, the sources are an interview with Hutton’s daughter, Mrs Faith Ledgard, and also, for the evaluation of the script, Hutton’s manuscript dictionary of Hmu.261 Due to various difficulties, pardy the murder of William Fleming referred to above, and the ensuing anti-foreign feelings, there were few conversions until about 1917. In November 1914, Amolis Hayman visited Panghai, and wrote a short article about his experiences. He noted that: ‘Although the Gospel has been here on and off for seventeen years, yet the people are still in the thraldom of the devil, whom they continually worship.’ In his article he did not mention the romanized writing, but wrote that ‘the people have no written language’ and ‘as very few can read Chinese, we are unable to

1979, p. 182. 259 Chinese name: Hu Zhizhong iSäÜCp. 260 M H Hutton, ‘Testimony of Mr. Maurice Hutton’, (1911), p. 84. 261 M H Hutton, [Black Miao (Hmu) — English dictionary, without title], 64 pp. + 38 pp., with a an additional ten-page comparative vocabulary of ‘English, Chinese, Black Miao, Keh lao, Keh Do, Big Flowery Miao, Neo Su and Li-su’, ms. In the dictionary the NPS orthography (with tones) is used for Hmu, but in the comparative vocabulary both the NPS and a Latin orthography are used. The comparative vocabulary contains the same words as Clarke’s wordlist of 1911 and in the same order, but there are significant differences in spelling, for most of the words in the languages which appear in both. Probably Hutton has only used the same basic wordlist of words to look for, but made the recordings himself. Cf. S R Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, 1911, vocabulary of‘English, Chinese, Keh-lao, Nosu or Lo-lo, Kweichow Chung-chia, Siamese, Kwangsi Chung-chia, Heh Miao, Ya-ch’io Miao and Hua Miao’, pp. 307-12 and a shorter vocabulary of‘English, Weining No-su, Chao-tung No-su, Li-su, La-ka, Kang-i and Si-fan’, pp. 314—5.

give them the written word.’262 This seems to indicate that the writing used for the 1913 hymn book, and possibly for other publications earlier, was used to a very limited extent. Another drawback reported by Hayman was the complete lack of native helpers. This last statement seems strange in view of an article written by Hutton in 1930, in which he writes that the Miao colporteur Ah So had been his ‘right-hand man’ for eighteen years, i.e. since 1912. This is furthermore confirmed by Hutton’s daughter, Faith Ledgard, who dates Ah So’s joining the missionary work to the time of Robert Powell’s stay at Panghai (1909—12). Ah So was the third son of a Hmu shaman and as such was to be sacrificed. At the place of the sacrifice his body was, however, substituted for by that of a pig, and he was thus rescued.263 In some articles he was referred to as Ah Sor or by his Chinese name, which was P’an Teh-sheng (i.e. probably Pan Desheng jjtfêîjj#).264 According to an article written by Hutton’s wife, another colporteur, Ah Li, must have joined the work sometime before 1919.265 In 1915 there were signs of a change, and Hutton reported on the half-yearly meeting for the Hmu area: When the rice and vegetables were cooked, there was a scattering, a dividing into little groups, around their basins of vegetables and heaps of rice. This feature of the meetings, apart from all others, lent a very homely and unique sight, once seen, never to be forgotten. It is amazing the quantity of rice these people can devour in one meal!266

Apart from arranging this feast, Hutton also sent out people to talk to all the Hmu living in the neighbouring villages, by going from home to home. 800-1000 homes were visited. The church at Panghai also had ten enquirers and Hutton wrote: This little band of enquirers, whom we propose to baptise next October, will be the only Church members we have on the Church roll here at P’anghai. Some years ago there were nine members, including an Evangelist, but each of these has been suspended owing to drunkenness, or gambling, or returning to devil worship, even including the old Evangelist Pan.267

In May 1915 Mr Crofts also settled in Panghai and the missionaries gave special attention to the study of the Hmu language. Earlier, the work had 262 263 264 265 266 267

A Hayman, ‘First Experiences’, (1915), p. 23. Faith Ledgard, personal communication, Sydney, May 1992. M H Hutton, ‘A Prodigal’s Return’, (1936), p. 75. Mrs Hutton, ‘My First Visit to the Homes of the Miao’, (1922), p. 120. M H Hutton, ‘Fruit After May Years’, (1915), p. 95. M H Hutton, ‘Fruit After May Years’, (1915), p. 95.

been carried on in Chinese and through an interpreter.268 In 1916 Hutton married Stella I Stevens, who had worked at Zhenyuan mH since 1914. Together they went to Panghai in 1917. In May 1918 Hutton wrote that the mission in Panghai had three out-stations.269 It is difficult to know how much time Hutton actually spent in Panghai because from July 1912 until January 1920 he was listed under Zhenyuan. It was not until January 1921 that he was listed under Panghai, but in July of that same year he and his wife went on furlough to Australia.270

NPS-Writing Sometime around 1920 Hutton introduced the Chinese National Phonetic Script (NPS) (Chinese zhùyin zimü to replace the romanised script used earlier. This script was based on parts of Chinese characters and was inspired by Japanese kana. It had been accepted by the China Continuation Committee for use in the the missionary field, ‘after careful consideration by missionary experts’, and Mrs Bailer wrote an article introducing this script to the readers of China’s Millions in 1919.271 It was probably after the publication of this article that Hutton started using the NPS.272 He and his family left Panghai in 1921 and in connection with this he wrote: As we left Panghai on April 5, 1921, with the head station, five outstations, and as many sub-outstations, we could not but wonder how the simple Black Miao would manage. In the providence of God, we were able to teach them, and reduce their language to writing by means of the Phonetic Script, and what a blessing this has brought to them, and to us also, who are away on furlough. Monthly we receive a budget of letters, written in Phonetic Script, a letter from each of the outstations, and from the two colporteurs, and a general newsy one from the head centre, telling of the Lord’s doings in their midst.273

There are also earlier references to books, but they are less explicit. In an article, probably written in 1919, Mrs Hutton stated: ‘Out of our hymn-book of about forty hymns there are only two which they have not mastered.’274 268 ‘Kweichow’, 1916, p. 36. 269 M H Hutton, ‘Good News from Panghai’, (1918), p. 35. 270 CIM Prayer Directory. Letter of 13 Febr. 1991 from Leone T Taylor, Librarian, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, International HQ Library, Singapore. 271 Mrs Bailer, ‘The New Script’, (1919), p. 71. 272 The NPS was also used by N Baker to write Yi (in Guizhou) in the beginning of the ’20s, cf. p. 122. 273 M H Hutton, ‘Spiritual Blessing in the Absence of Missionary, Pastor, or Evangelist’, (1922), p. 95. 274 Mrs Hutton, ‘My First Visit to the Homes of the Miao’, (1922), p. 120.

In 1919 Robert Powell visited Panghai again, and he wrote: ‘Mr. Hutton had translated a number of hymns, and we got the press unpacked, and printed them’.275 Another indication that Hutton’s NPS writing was devised somewhat earlier is found in an interview, made by Chen Qiguang of the CIN at Panghai in 1983. Liu Wenguang who was bom in 1908, had come to Panghai when he was 8 years old, and he told Chen Qiguang that at first he leamt Chinese at the mission school, but after two years he started to leam the NPS writing.276 In 1920 a chapel was built in the outstation Kaihuai US'® ‘Open Bosom’ and this, contrary to the earlier work in Panghai, had been an initiative of local Christians and no mission money had been used for the project.277 Between 1921 and 1930 there was no missionary in residence at Panghai.278 There had been, however, missionaries in the nearby city of Zhenyuan since 1904. The missionaries at Zhenyuan also visited the villages in the Hmu area, including Panghai. Missionary Activities during the ’20s Back in China the Huttons were stationed at various places before returning to Zhenyuan in 1925. In 1922 robbers began attacking the Hmu villages in the Hmu area and this was reported in letters to Hutton from Ah So and others.279 Direct missionary activities had thus been discontinued at Panghai, probably due to the unsafe conditions there. This is alluded to in a letter from the Huttons, published in 1925: They [The Hmu Christians from Panghai] told of how the YUNNAN soldiers came to the village [Panghai] and robbed and burnt the village, and how they looted our own home. They also told us that the fire, when they burnt the village, came right up to the next but one house to the Mission House and Church and other buildings. They stand intact now, but by the goodness of the LORD and in answer to prayer. [...] We promised to go over to be with them as soon as possible after getting to Chenyuan. We fully intended to do so, but here we are still and the latest news is that yesterday the brigands were killing people on the Panghai road. [...] Though we are to live in this city of Chenyuan as our central and head centre, yet we are to reach out throughout the Panghai district, also away up north of the province to Szenan. Days and days and days of journeying if we are to work the districts properly. But so far it is impossible for us to journey. [...].280

275 276 277 278 279 280

R Powell, ‘Journeying to our Former Station — Panghai’, (1922), p. 16. Chen Qiguang, personal communication, Peking, 18 May 1990. M H Hutton, ‘The Cholera Epidemic’, (1921), p. 22. M H Hutton, ‘Among the Black Miao’, (1932), p. 49. M H Hutton, ‘Panghai without a Pastor for Two and a Half Years’, (1924), p. 38. M H Hutton, ‘Among the Black Miao. From a Circular Letter of Mr. and Mrs.

Soldiers from other provinces continued to attack the area, and in 1927 there was an epidemic of typhus in which many people died. This, in turn, enticed the wolves into coming down: Our night meetings are very poorly attended. [...] Many members being sick, others having to wait upon the sick, they cannot, of course, come. Moreover the scare nowadays of wolves rushing down from the hills into the city street and carrying off children, goats, live persons and dead bodies, keeps many people at home, for needless to say, unless people can go in companies at night they are too fearful to venture out to attend meetings. [...] Now we recognise them [the wolves] and hear them almost every night. It is not at all pleasant to hear them so close to us, just outside the walls of our Mission Compound, and they are often there: we hear them so plainly.281

In 1927, however, Hutton spent one month travelling in the Hmu area, visiting the Christians in eight different places and holding meetings.282 In May, however, he and his wife left Zhenyuan and travelled to Zhifu283 because of the Communists. In an article from 1928 he mentioned the Communist threat against the missionary work for the first time: ‘Truly the lawlessness of Communism is rampant everywhere in China.’284 Hutton spent two years at Zhifu in order to oversee the printing of books in Hmu.

Back to Panghai in 1930 In 1930 Hutton and his wife returned from Zhifu, and upon his arrival in Panghai he wrote: During the past two or three years since we have been at Chefoo, preparing these five books in the Miao language, the devil has been hard at work, and has succeeded in leading quite a few away from the Lord. It has been a great sorrow to us to find many having gone back in their faith. Even Ah So, who has been our right-hand man for eighteen years, has married a heathen wife, and, as a consequence, has gone back in his zeal. He has even given up reading God’s Word and prayer, and now has decided to leave us and the Lord’s work.285

A further article with similar contents was published in September 1930 and Hutton, Chenyuan, KWEICHOW’, (1925). 281 M H Hutton, ‘Encouraging Results Amid Discouraging Circumstances. From a Circular Letter from Chenyuan, in KWEICHOW’, (1927). 282 M H Hutton, ‘Panghai After Six Years Absence’, (1927), p. 168. 283 Zhifu ÜE5?, then spelt Chefoo, now renamed Yantai was one of the main mission centres in China, located in the Shandong Province. 281 M H Hutton, ‘Journeying Mercies and a Place of Refuge’, (1928), p. 29. 285 M H Hutton, ‘Safely Back at Panghai’, (1930), p. 91.

there Hutton complained about the lack of zeal, both regarding the religion and the script: Will you ask for praise to God for the encouragement in seeing so many people these days already using these newly-printed Black Miao books in the services. There are quite a few young people here in Panghai who are eager to learn the script, and to be able to read and write their own language. The Christians are buying these books fairly well, too, but on the other hand we are disappointed to find that they are not so willing to give time to studying the script for themselves. We have been trying to interest them with the idea of opening a short term school for Bible study, and for learning to read and write, but so far all we have done and said does not seem to be able to create a desire within them for these schools. Do please ask for much prayer that yet we shall be able to get them interested in this project. We are glad to see them using the hymn book and the catechism so freely, but we are longing to see the desire to read the two Gospel books of Matthew and Mark for themselves. The devil will do all in his power to hinder them from reading God’s Word I know, but let us pray he might be defeated, and a real desire might be created within these Black Miao for reading the Word of God for themselves. Then and then alone shall we hope to see a real revival in our midst.286

Hutton’s hopes were, however, never fulfilled, and only very limited educational activités came about in the Hmu area.287 The missionary work among the Hmu continued in spite of these problems and during this time Hutton started a large-scale translation work into Hmu. He reported in 1931: Some two Deacons, three church members and I have been hard at work translating the whole of the New Testament into the language of the Black Miao. The rough MSS are finished, so now we are busy revising them in readiness for the British and Foreign Bible Society, who have promised to have the New Testament printed for the Black Miao tribes.288

The number of Christians grew, and in 1930 fifteen Hmu were baptised. In 1931 China’s Millions reported that the Huttons had postponed their furlough as things ‘now look so promising that they feel it would be unwise to leave the station unoccupied’.289 It was not until 1932, however, that there was another Hmu evangelist (after Pan Xiushan, who was murdered in 1898). His name was Wang Hsioh Kwang [probably Wang Xueguang and he was supported entirely by the church.290 There had all along been quite a 286 M H Hutton, ‘Discouragement and the Need of Prayer’, (1930), p. 138. 287 For Hmu the case was quite different from A-Hmao. The school activities were very limited and the few things taught were taught in Hmu. No textbooks were used. Mrs Faith Ledgard, personal communication, Sydney, 3 May 1992. 288 M H Hutton, ‘A Successful Conference’, (1931), p. 117. 289 M H Hutton, ‘Notes: Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Hutton’, (1931), p. 147. 290 M H Hutton, “‘A Marked Advance’”, (1932), p. 26.

few Miao colporteurs, however, and they served as a kind of itinerate preachers. In many places they were not well received, and in 1932 Hutton reported their being harassed by the students in the city of Dan Giang [i.e. Danjiang frø, now Leishan Mill].291 In 1932 the Huttons left Panghai, and on their way to Australia they stayed in Zhifu, ‘to see the two Gospels and the Acts through the press.’292 During the Huttons’ absence the American missionaries, the Allbutts took over at Panghai.293 They stayed there at least until the autumn of 1934.294 When the Huttons returned from their furlough in August 1934 they first went to Zhifu, where Hutton was to see the remainder of the New Testament through the press.295 The first consignment of the NT arrived at Panghai from the printer in the second half of 1935, and it was read by the Hmu, although not everybody was pleased, a fact alluded to, but not elaborated on, in an article by Hutton: It was strikingly noticeable how a certain section of the Christians were delighted beyond words to have the Black Miao New Testaments in hand, but with some others there was a coldness felt. Praise the LORD, the books sold readily and practically all our first consignment was sold out within a few days and a second lot has come. Mr. Hutton and I feel that words fail us to express how encouraged we were to see groups of men, women and children scattered all over the garden and guest rooms, eagerly reading the New Testament in their very own language.296

The dissatisfaction of some of the Hmu may indicate that they would have preferred to learn Chinese, an attitude noted by Clarke in 1911. (Cf. above, p. 118) In another article, however, Hutton wrote: ‘The New Testaments in Black Miao are selling well, and practically all those who can read have now copies for themselves.’297 In the beginning of January 1936 the Huttons fled from ‘the invading Reds’, and returned later in the spring. In an article from 1936 there was a reference to ‘the ninety newly-translated hymns and choruses’, but there was no indication how and where they would have been printed or published.298 In 1936 fifteen Hmu asked for baptism; twelve were baptised and three

291 M H Hutton, ‘Among the Black Miao’, (1932), p. 49. 292 M H Hutton, “‘In Dangen Oft’”, (1932), p. 180. 293 M H Hutton, ‘Among the Black Miao’, (1932), p. 49. Mr Allbutt’s Chinese name was probably Li Yabai $350 or Li Qianyi 294 RA Bosshardt, The Restraining Hand, 1936, p. 15. 295 M H Hutton, ‘Notes: Mr. and Mr. M. Hutton’, (1934), p. 147. 296 M H Hutton, ‘Where God is working’, (1936), p. 55. 297 M H Hutton, ‘Steady Advancement’, (1937), p. 125. 298 M H Hutton, ‘Back in Miao Land’, (1936), p. 90.

were told to wait a while longer.299 In the same year there were organizational changes in the work at Panghai: The Pangsieh Black Miao tribal work has this year been divided up into three separate district Churches. Each Church, with its district, has its own elder and assisting deacons. Each of these Churches is self-supporting and self-governing, as has its own band of young men who go out voluntarily preaching and visiting the various outstations connected with its district Church. The chapels were built by themselves are maintained by self-support. They draw nothing from the Mission for the upkeep of their Church and outstations. [...] Two schools have been opened up this year. School work is becoming more and more difficult, for there is much opposition from local officials, and such opposition as makes it very hard for the Christians to send their children to our schools. When I came to this Black Miao district for the first time over 24 years ago, it was a rare thing to find a day school anywhere; now organised government schools are in practically every district. Alas, their management leaves much still to be desired!300

A reference to missionary work to other Hmu groups is also found, but to my knowledge, nothing came out of this effort: ‘This year the Church has had the joy of sending a Black Miao missionary to evangelize migrants in the province of KWANGSI.’301 Parallel to Hutton’s work in the Hmu area, there were other CIM missionaries in the nearby Zhenyuan and Laohuangping. In October 1934 two CIM missionaries, Arnolis Hayman and Rudolf Bosshardt,302 were captured by the sixth Red Army at Laohuangping (now Jiuzhou HiHi), near the Hmu area, when it was passing during The Long March. On December 24 that same year the Communists put the missionaries on trial and the court records stated among other things: These prisoners have also acquired the language of the Miao tribes and have penetrated their lairs and made use of the illiteracy of these tribes to begin their imperialistic work of slicing up China by making slaves of these Miao tribes [...].303

The Communists’ respect for the Miao as a separate people does, however, seem to have been somewhat limited. In describing the trial Bosshardt

299 M H Hutton, ‘Fruit After Many Days’, (1936), p. 137. 300 M H Hutton, ‘Steady Advancement’, (1937), p. 124. 301 ‘The Province of Kweichow’, 1937, p. 45. 302 Chinese names: Cheng Bangqing figHSJ# and Bo Si SB. 303 Record ofjudgment, ms. The written sentence was also published by China's Millions (‘An Amazing Document Issued by the Communists’, May 1935, p. 73) in a slightly revised form, and for some reason the Written Sentence ofjudgment was dated December 13th, 1935, which obviously was wrong as it was published already in the May issue 1935.

wrote: ‘They [the Communists] requested Mr. Hayman to say some of the Miao words which he knew, this again affording them much amusement.’304

Panghai after Hutton’s Return to Australia It has been difficult to find any reliable information about the development of the Panghai mission after May 1938, when Hutton’s last article was published in China’s Millions. There he reports about the success of the mission.305 In 1940 Ivan Allbutt, who had worked at Panghai in 1933, wrote: The latest news we have of this tribe is that the Rev. John Yorkston has gone to minister the Word at Pangsieh. Although the Church is well established in many ways, there are still some grave problems and a desperate need for a solid teaching ministry.306

In 1942 J M Johnston reported of a visit to the Hmu area: ‘As we arrived unexpectedly at their [the Christians’] house, a rather stately looking woman sat with her [Hmu] Bible and Hymn Book on her knees.’ He also described Kaihuai as the ‘largest Christian community in Miao land’.307 In the autumn of 1948 Mr Cyril G Edwards visited the Hmu area, in order to collect information for his Kweichow Tribal Survey, and in his diary he referred to the Huttons’ planned return to Panghai: It [a letter Mr. Edwards received at Kaihuai] was concerning an estimate for necessary repairs to the Panghai house, the Huttons being just about to return to China. It is a comfort to know there will be someone to gather the threads of the Black Miao work together again.308

The Huttons planned to get back after World War II, although they received litde support for this from the CIM as they were considered too old for this kind of work. They were both approaching sixty and other missionaries were sent instead. In October 1950 Ivan Allbutt, who had worked in the area during Hutton’s furlough, wrote: In a tribe conservatively estimated to include 500,000 people, there are about one hundred who have confessed the Lord in baptism, with perhaps that many more 304 R A. Bosshardt, The Restraining Hand, 1936, p. 49. 305 M H Hutton, ‘Delivered’, (1938), p. 77. 306 I Allbutt, ‘Black Miao Colonies’, (1940), p. 155. 307 J M Johnston, ‘From the Back-blocks of Miao-land’, (1942), p. 38. 308 CG Edwards, Journal B of Tribal Survey trips in Kweichow province, China, From 1“ dec. 1947, ms., p. 74.

who have made some sign of interest in Christian things. One hundred in half a million. And there has been no resident missionary among this tribe at all, for any length of time, since 1934. They have the New Testament in their language, but are still waiting for some missionaries to teach them how to use it.309

In February 1950 the CIM Field Bulletin reported that the Americans Heimbach310 had completed their transfer to Panghai, and had arrived on December 11, 1949.311 In February, however, the Heimbachs had to leave Panghai: The following telegram received from Mr. Butler on the 26th February saddened our hearts: “Heimbachs evicted Pangsieh en route everything robbed both well Tuyiin.” A letter from them, written from Pangsieh at the end of January, told of their joy in taking up the work that had been left for so long. [...] I [Heimbach] was stopped [at Panghai] by several soldiers for questioning and finally called up for an interview with the Pu Chang [®j|, i.e. commander] for this area. After quite a bit of explaining back and forth, we came to the conclusion that if we were to be allowed to remain here it could only be after the obtaining of a letter of introduction from government sources in either Tuyiin or Kweiyang. Apparently we erred in not bringing a document with us when we came, although we were not informed of the need of such from the other end. For about two weeks now we have begun to give a good portion of time to the regular study of the Black Miao language. The spiritual side of the picture, however, is dark indeed, [...]. Outwardly the people are friendly and seem genuinely happy to have us here. Nevertheless, in spiritual matten there is a strange aloofness. There is little real interest in the message we have come to bring, and they seem to find it a tremendous task to understand the barest essentials of the Gospel. Of course, they are animists, and live in fear of the demons, but the saddest thing is to see that they cling to them and have no desire to leave the bondage of demonology and drunkenness. [...] Many come to have a look round, but few come to meetings. However, the Lord has blessed us in enabling us to hold service each Sunday since coming, and each time there have been forty or fifty attendees, although the larger number of these have been children. The language, of course, is a real hindrance. People tire of interpreted discourses, and especially these local folk who hold tenaciously to their own speech. They all look with hopes that we shall be able to speak their language soon and we are praying the Lord’s enabling to that end. [...]. Of the Christians who at one time were attached to the church there only remain three or four who in any outward way confess His name. Even these are miserably weak and stand in need of reviving grace, we fear. A few others there are, who are back in the thralls of demonology and sin and who give no evidence of ever having had life, although they used to attend when former missionaries were here. Altogether there is no Christian here to whom we can look for companionship and help in the work, and that is one of our greatest prayer burdens. [...].

309 I Allbutt, ‘The Black Miao, of Kweichow’, (1950), p. 106. 3.0 The American Heimbach was referred to as a new worker in Jan. 1948. Cf. ‘Western Region’, (Jan. 1948), p. 9. 3.1 ‘Western Region’, (Febr. 1950), p. 25.

Praise God, some of the Black Miao church leaden from other centers have been to visit us recently and they are a tremendous encouragement. We had blessed prayer fellowship with them and it was with rejoicing that we saw them standing firm on the Rock with faith and courage. Would that the Lord might raise up men of their caliber here in Panghai itself. We talked of a possible conference for Christians after the New Year, and they seemed hungry indeed for the word.312

In October 1950, a short note, entitled ‘Out of sight ... out of mind?’, in connection with an article by Ivan AUbutt, referred to the Heimbachs’ effort to return to Panghai in 1949 and ended: Now that a veil is drawn over events in Pangsieh, and scarcely a message filters through concerning the Christians there who have lately undergone indoctrination, may they not be out of our minds, but let us pray Mr. and Mrs. Heimbach back to Pangsieh and to their God-appointed ministry among the Black Miao.313

In an article written in 1951 Heimbach did not, however, refer to any kind of indoctrination, but wrote: We have not been able to reside in the Black Miao field for about nine months now. There has been considerable unrest in that area. The country Christians are apparently still carrying on services and there is nothing to indicate that they have suffered any more than others.314

312 ‘Western Region’, (April 1950), pp. 56-7. 3,3 1 Allbutt, ‘The Black Miao, of Kweichow’, (1950), p. 106. 314 E Heimbach, ‘The Still Open Door in Kweichow’, (1951), p. 27.

Ge (Keh Deo) Writing

General Observations The Ge, a Hmong subgroup, is in China officially defined as a part of the Miao people. They originally hved further to the west in Guizhou, but later moved to the Hmu area, mainly to Chong’an township in Huangping county, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong AP È îfe'J'Nï^3P®£ Jt:£ H (cf. Introduction, p. 24). Their language is a variety of Hmong, officially designated as the Chong’anjiang subdialect. However, the Ge do not accept being classified as Miao, and have asked the authorities to recognize them as a separate minority. In old Chinese texts they were referred to as the Gedou Miao ¥ iShiS, but this seems to be conceived as a derogatory name, and they prefer to be called Gejia or Ge [nationality] .315 The missionaries used the spelling Keh Deo for Gedou. As this group has not become recognized, it tends ‘not to exist’, and very little is to be found about it in the literature on the Miao people. In 1937 the Keh Deo population of Guizhou was estimated to more than 20,000,316 and according to Liao Ruqi, the informant of Wong How-man, a man from Hong Kong who travelled in these areas in 1982, the Ge population in Guizhou was about 70,000 (in 1982), half of them living in the Chong’anjiang area.317

The Emergence of Ge Writing Around 1933 Hutton reduced the Ge language to writing, using the same spelling principles as for Hmu.318 In an article published in 1935 Hutton wrote: Praise the LORD news has come to hand from Pangsieh saying that more baptisms have taken place there - but the best and cheering news of all to us is, one of these new baptised believers is a Keh Deo tribesman. It reminds me of the nine years of prayer and work to get an entrance into that tribe and the one soul - now there are six men and I hear their wives and families are interested in the Gospel too. Praise GOD for this brother in Christ from the Keh Deo tribe recently baptised into CHRIST’S death. The LORD has been burdening my heart for these Keh Deo 315 This people is also presented in Wong How-man, ‘Peoples of China’s Far Provinces’, (1984), pp. 315-20. 316 The Book of A Thousand Tongues, 1972, p. 224. 317 Wong How-man, ‘Peoples of China’s Far Provinces’, (March 1984), p. 317. 318 The Book of A Thousand Tongues, 1972, p. 224.

tribespeople without any portion of GOD’S Word in their tongue, and now I feel GOD would have me, on my return to Pangsieh, to begin translating St. Mark or St. John’s Gospel into their language. Will someone please pray with me for the right Keh Deo men to help me in this work? Pray too for the translation work itself.319

The CIM yearbook for 1936 quoted Hutton’s report, which said that translation work on St Mark’s and St John’s Gospels into Ge was progressing well.320 In 1936 Hutton described a visit to the Chong’anjiang out-station and mentioned meetings for worship were held in four villages, one of which was a Ge village.321 He also wrote the colporteurs were preaching in three languages (i.e. Chinese, Hmu and Ge). He further wrote: ‘We have been trying to hire a Keh Deo teacher to come and teach some of us that language.’322 The preface of the Keh-Deo Catechism and Hymnary, dated Zhifu, October 1937, stated: The Hymns and Choruses of this book are in the Keh-Deo Tribal Language, and are selections from the Black Miao Hymnary of Pangsieh, Kweichow, and the numbering of the Hymns tallies with the Black Miao Hymnary numbers. The Catechism is based originally upon Mrs. Nevius’ Catechism, and is also a reproduction of the Black Miao Catechism, only in the Keh-Deo tribal language, and for use in work among the Keh-Deo (Ko-Mpheo) tribal people around the Pangsieh mission station district. The translation of the two gospels of St. Mark and St. John, as well as the Catechism and Hymns were accomplished by Colporteur Liao Teh Ngen and aided by Mr. Liao Ruh Yin, both of Wang Ba Village.323

Wangba village WLMfii is a Ge village, located a couple of kilometres away from Chong’an township ITTcil. According to Rev Pan Wenguang of the Chong’an church, Liao Ruyin JBtUM stayed at Panghai for approximately half a year. Pan Wenguang further explained that Liao Ruyin and his brother, presumably the above-mentioned Liao Teh Ngen (probably= Liao De’en were the only Ge Christians, but that they ceased to believe when Hutton left. ‘They believed in the missionaries and not in Jesus.’324

319 32° 321 322 323 324

M H Hutton, ‘The New Testament for the Black Miao’, (1935), p. 205. ‘-jjjg province of Kweichow’, 1937, p. 45. M H Hutton, ‘Fruit After Many Days’, (1936), p. 137. M H Hutton, ‘Fruit After Many Days’, (1936), p. 137. Catechism and Hymnary, 1937. Preface in English by M H Hutton. Pan Wenguang, personal communication, Chong’an, 13 Nov. 1990.

In 1937, Hutton nevertheless wrote that three Keh Deo families had become believers and that one young man had been baptised.325 In 1937 he described his translation work into Hmu and also mentioned the translations into Ge: There are many other tribes of aboriginals in our district, and recently work was begun among the Keh Deo tribe. Several families have believed and we are at present here in Chefoo having St. Mark and St. John and a catechism and some hymns and choruses printed, for we have also reduced their language to writing for them.326

As pointed out by Pan, cf. above, the scope of the Ge mission was indeed very limited, and presumably, unlike the Hmu mission, it left no vestiges whatsoever in the area. The books in Ge were all printed in 1937 and were most probably never sent to the Ge area.

325 M H Hutton, ‘Steady Advancement’, (1937), p. 124. 326 M H Hutton, ‘How the Message came to the Black Miao’, (1937), p. 214.

The Debate about Pollard’s and Adam’s Writing Systems for A-Hmao

James R Adam who had started his missionary work in 1888 for the CIM at Anshun in Guizhou, devised a writing system for A-Hmao, basing his orthography on the earlier Latin Miao writing devised by S R Clarke. No clear indications have been found of when the writing started to be used, but it was obviously based on the general spelling principles which Clarke had already used for Hmu and other languages in 1895,325 *and * *in 1904.329 I suppose that it would have been natural for Adam to start writing texts in A-Hmao quite soon after the first contacts with the A-Hmao in 1903. Adam and Pollard had studied together at the language school in 1888, and in spite of some differences in their religious views, Adam obviously considered them to be of minor importance since he initiated Pollard’s mission among the A-Hmao by sending the letter of recommendation in 1904. Later their relations seem to have become more strained, and this has been discussed above, cf. p. 101. As related above, in the description of the CIM mission in Guizhou before 1915, Adam elaborated a way of writing A-Hmao, and although the success of the Pollard script must have already been known to him at that time, he preferred a Latin script. In 1910 J R Adam’s translation of St Mark (without tone markings), was published by the NBSS. Therefore the debate about the advisability of introducing a completely new system, the Pollard script, started again. Several persons within the BFBS had been hesitant about the Pollard script, and now an alternative seemed in the offing. Adam had asked the NBSS to publish his translation of St Mark and the first, second and third letters of St John (1910) and St Matthew, St John, and Paul’s episdes to the Romans and the Galatians (1911). W J Slowan at the NBSS accepted the introduction of a second version in A-Hmao, as the BFBS did not seem to raise any objections.330 On June 18, 1910 G H Bondfield at the BFBS wrote that ‘Mr. Adam’s version is practically the same as Mr. Pollard’s. Both are based on a Chinese translation and the only practical difference is that the one is in script and the other in 325 S R Clarke, ‘Miao Studies’, (1895), p. 148. 329 S R Clarke, ‘The Miao and Chungchia Tribes of Kueichow Province’, (1904), p. 206. This article contains a short vocabulary of Chinese, Kehlao, Lolo, Heh Miao and Chungchia. Clarke described the spelling principles in the following way: ‘the Chinese is written as pronounced in Kueichow, and the way I have written Chinese words will serve as a key for the system used in writing the other vocabularies.’ 330 BFBS, Language Papers: Hu>a Miao, p. 3. WJ Slowan, Glasgow, 10 June 1910.

Roman.’331 However, he regretted that one unified version had not been possible. There is also a report about Pollard’s reaction on Adam’s translation. It is based on a letter from Pollard to the BFBS, dated Zhaotong, March 10, 1910: He has read with interest and pleasure Mr. Adam’s version of Hwa Miao Mark. The language is one and the same. Some of the verses are almost exactly the same as those in the script translation. He does not know how Mr. Adam translated the Gospel but from internal evidence he should say he had the help of a Kweichow teacher who possibly did the majority of the work with the help of some Miao men. The sounds are given as their Chinese teachers gave them at the start. Nearly all the ‘z’s’ are turned into ‘r’s.’ Many of the words which have an initial ‘n’ sound are minus this sound. At the beginning their Chinese teachers could not get this sound at all. But in compound words such as that used for ‘Disciple’ he notices that the ‘n’ at the beginning of the second word of the compound appears. Then again the ‘sh’ sounds in Miao appear as ‘s’ sounds in this Romanized version. This is also Kweichow Chinese, for in that province the word for God is always Sang-ti and not Shangti. It is apparent that they will be able to help each other in this translation work even if one always uses the Romanized and the other the script.332

It was, however, resolved to ‘recommend that the Committee consider that in the interest of the work the two Societies should not overlap in one language.’333 On August 2, 1910, WJ Slowan at the NBSS wrote: Mr. Adam pressed the N.B.S.S. to publish his version. They recognised Mr. Adam’s exceptional experience and ability as a Translator, and the fact that the Miao people were already familiar with his translations of Primer, Hymn Book and the Catechism in Roman letters. Mr. Adam had repeatedly declined Mr. Bondfield’s solicitations to let the B.F.B.S. publish his version; his desire being that the N.B.S.S. should have that privilege. In the absence of any reply to the N.B.S.S. letter dated June 10th, in which they intimated that they understood that the B.F.B.S. would not object to their publication of this version, and in view of the frank and generous attitude of Mr. Ritson and Mr. Bondfield, and their expressed, if unofficial, approval to the N.B.S.S. issuing the translation, their Finance Committee had felt it their duty to comply with Mr. Adam’s request.334

331 332 333 334

BFBS, BFBS, BFBS, BFBS,

Language Papers: Hwa Miao, p. 3. G H Bondfield, Edinburgh, 18 June [1910]. Language Papers: Hwa Miao, p. 3. S Pollard, Chantung [sic!], 10 Mar. [1910]. Language Papers: Hwa Miao, p. 3. Language Papers: Hwa Miao, p. 3. W J Slowan, Glasgow, 2 Aug. 1910.

Two years later there was another reference to Adam’s script: The N.B.S.S. are printing editions in roman character, which appears to be more satisfactory than the curious script invented by Mr. Pollard. Mr. F.[E. S. Fish?] sends specimen copies of St. Matthew, Romans and Galatians, and 1,2 and 3 John. They intend to complete the N.T.335

The editorial superintendent of the BFBS had not been very pleased with the Pollard script, but in 1913 Bondfield claimed that they had to go on printing books in it, as the script was already widely used.336

The Development of the Pollard Script 1904-1949

Questions Concerning the Phonemic System of A-Hmao In order to analyse the Pollard script we first have to determine the phonemic system of the dialect spoken in the area where Pollard carried out his missionary activities. This task has been quite difficult and the results below are only tentative, as it has, unfortunately, been completely impossible to carry out field studies in the Stone Gateway area. No foreigner has been allowed to go there since 1949. There is a rumour that the main reason for this prohibition nowadays is that the Red Guards demolished Pollard’s tombstone during their attacks in the ’60s. There are many descriptions of varying reliability, and my tentative analysis of the phonemic system follows below. It is also included in the ‘Introduction’.

335 BFBS, Language Papers: Hwa Miao, p. 3. R H Falconer, Edinburgh, 21 June 1912 and W Slowan, Glasgow, 3 July 1912. 336 Ibid. Shanghai, 24 Sept. 1912.

Initials p ts

p1-

mp

mp*1

ts1-

nts

ntsh

t

f1

nt

nth

tl

d”

nti

ntf1

t t§

t

ni

nth

t?h

nt?

nt?h

n

te

tçh

irtc*1

n*

k

kh

trie qk

q

q"

Nq

ijkh

m

n

n

f

V

s

z

p

1

1

(t)

p1

5 c

p

X

Y

q?

z

X h [fi, h-, IT]

øm

Finals « [i.M ei (iau) (in)

e oey (iu) (en)

y [y.?, 4,1

ai (io /[ye]) (an)

9 am (uei) (oq /[uq])

a au (ua) (ian)

Ul ie [ie.iej (uai) (uan)

u (ia) (uaui)

0

(iaui) (uo)

(aO

Tones Problems connected with the tones are abundant, and although I have tried not to become influenced by the tone indications in the Pollard script, the object of this part of my study, I am afraid that objectivity has been impossible in some cases, especially as it has been rather difficult to determine the exact form of the letters and the position of the tone marker in texts printed from woodblocks. As the printer probably did not know the Pollard script, but only copied onto the woodblock from a hand written text, the forms of the graphemes are often somewhat floating and wobbly and tone markers sometimes appear in intermediate positions, which necessarily introduces a subjective element into the interpretation. Foreign accounts give a very vague picture of the tone system,337 and the tone terminology is extremely difficult to interpret, for example shangsheng can refer to the old category shang, which is now pronounced 214 in standard northern Mandarin; it can, however, also refer to the pronunciation of this tone in the south, i.e. 55, 54 or 44. Furthermore, shangsheng literally means ‘rising tone’, and this term is now sometimes used to designate tone 2 of modem Chinese, i.e. 35, but, 337 A four tone system is given in an article by one of those who revised the 1917 NT in the beginning of the ’30s. Cf. W H Hudspeth, ‘The Hwa Miao Language’, (1935), pp. 104-21.

as in the case above, it can sometimes also refer to its actual pronunciation in the south, i.e. 51, 31 or 21. I have relied mainly on the description in a textbook from the beginning of the ’50s, when the etymologically based tone categories had not yet been fully introduced.338 Therefore the material is less likely to have been forced into a frame and too heavily standardized. A second source was an article on the tones of this dialect from a purely linguistic point of view, in which problems of interpretation are pointed out and not glossed over.339 The research materials from 1956 and the subsequent preliminary A-Hmao writing of 1956 also give valuable hints.340 Roman numerals indicate original etymological tone categories, not entirely relevant for this Miao dialect, but important for comparison to later writing systems. Tone values in brackets are to be considered as allotones. Tones I 54 (or 55/44) H 24 (324) III 55 IVa 22 (23/112) IVb 44 V 44 Via 21 VIb 53 VII 22 Villa 21 VII lb 53

In the account of the Pollard script before 1949 I will refer to the tone categories in the following way: Correpondences in the tables below IV V Via VIb

= = = =

IVa and VII IVb and V Via and Villa VIb and VUIb

338 [WangFushi & Zhang Feiran], [Diandongbei fangyan miaoyu heben), [1953?]. The actual textbook has not been found, but only a manuscript, lacking title page. 339 Wang Fushi & Wang Deguang, ‘Guizhou Weining miaoyu de shengdiao’, 1986, pp. 91-134. 380 Guizhousheng minzu yuwen zhidao weiyuanhui (ed.), Miaozu yuyan wenzi wenti kexue taolunhui huikan, 1957.

As pointed out in the Introduction, the value 22 for cat. IVa could be doubted, but there is no indication that it was treated differently from cat. VII in any texts in the Pollard script printed before the 1980s.341 The alternative value 44 for cat. I is my own postulation as many of the words in this category appear together with other 44 words (from IVb and V). In most varieties of A-Hmao (but not Stone Gateway) the cat. I is pronounced 54. It appears to me that some of the words in this category have merged with cat. Ill (55), and cat. IVb and V (44). I have no reliable indications about the exact origin of Pollard’s informants and the early A-Hmao translators, and as the tone values often change from village to village this question has to remain open.342 In recent descriptions of Stone Gateway A-Hmao cat. I is considered to have merged completely with cat. III. Another problem is that the missionaries sometimes refer to cat. Ill as being ‘high rising’ (i.e. 45).343 No support for this has been found in the Chinese sources. The initials indicated above are only the phonemes: phonetically the system is much more complicated as almost all initials have voiced counterparts, which appear in conjunction with certain tone categories. Fortunately no special symbols were introduced for these allophones in the varieties of Pollard script discussed here. (But cf. parts III and IV below). The allophones of some finals were introduced as separate letters and will therefore be discussed here.

The Experiment in 1904 In October 1904 Pollard wrote in his diary: ‘Made an experiment in getting out a written language for the Miao’. He gave a list of consonants and vowels and a translation of the first verse of the hymn ‘Jesus loves me’.344 (Cf. facsimile, p. 169). After analysing the translated text I arrived at phonetic values for most of the letters; they are added below in brackets:

341 The reason for introducing a difference in tone marking for cat. IVa and VII in those texts is probably the historical differences between these categories and not any difference in the actual tone value. 342 In his diary Pollard wrote that he had different persons as informants in the beginning, cf. p. 104. 343 R K Parsons, personal communication, Torquay, 23 May 1991. 344 This is the English version of the hymn, and the Chinese version also has ‘me’, but it is for some reason changed it to ‘us’.

Consonants p

J

B

1

T(D)

T

It]

CH

C

It?]

IP]

F

r

m

M

V

V

(v]

N

S

S

Is]

NG

vp

L

u

z

7 j

SH

K >

3

TS

[k]

+

[5] [ts]

LL

^ [m] ^

u

[n] andprenasalization

[1]

*

G Y

^

H

-»

[z] and the fint part of finals beginning with -i[h] and aspiration

Vowels

AO (ow) E 1(E) AI(I) U(oo) AH(alms)

n

[au]

c

[œy, ai, i]

Ï

1

O EO AW

q

r*

Ii]

1

[ai]

SJ

[U] [a]

[0]

0

Ü

0

A (fate)

U

[ei]

There appears to exist only one text in this first stage of Pollard’s script.345 * Under the text in Pollard script are added Pollard’s definitions of the pronunciation of the letters, an IPA transcription of the actual pronunciation of the words and a basic translation:

>1

Su

Jo

Y+A

S+U N+CH+H+I P+I suB nt^oey44 Pi54 .346 Jesus love we

*ieB

'-T. A

J. P+I Pi54 we

N+T+ESH+E _ X ntoey® p book holy

Jo

r*

P+I

I ai54 very347

Pi54

we

c

J«

E ai54 very

P+AO pau54 know

71

J.

Ti

K+E M+I CH+H+AH LL+U ki44 hi54 my44 tj^a44 pity pity God

P+I pi54 we

T+U tu54 son

J«

>c

P+I pi54 we

H+E hi22 not

Lr‘ï

J«

LL+O to54 big

K+E ki44

A

M+I my44 God

P+AO pau54 know

Th.

T+AH T+Y+A ta54 die2 very much

c- Lfw

,

J..

c E ai54 very

N+TS+A ntsai2 daughter

T.» T+AO dfiau22 strong

Jesus loves me [us]! this I [we] know, For the Bible tells me [us] so: Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong.348

345 Microfiche no. 1323, Box 640, Pollard, Methodist Missionary Society Archives on microfiche. Diaries of S Pollard 1904-5. 344 Earlier pronounced /zeiB su55/. 347 An alternative interpretation is that a Chinese caique is used, with the numeral ‘one’ in the meaning ‘as soon as’, viz. /i55/. In Huamiao ershu there is a new translation of ‘Jesus loves me’, which is significantly different from the above. In the corresponding position, however, (i.e. /ai54/) is used and not (i.e. /i54/). Cf. Bo Geli, Li Sitifan & Zhang Yuehan, Huamiao ershu, 1905, p. 12. 348 United Methodist School Hymnal, 1911, p. 97.

Facsimile of Pollard’s Diary Entry, Oct. 12, 1904

/ /A *CSi*XS/ T B TO) Cfr *7 SJ V «

^ -n T C =■

r * V S S ? 7 J T5 +

f

#«.

f( v 7^*/ ’

Ko U E LS AO / ) n Ü E c r> 1 CEJ 1 *• m \J [0-0 ) Art [ft— ) t 1 O 4 Co O A hr Ü 3 L> A /p ; /* >«. Su v-C« J„ ' T« ._£ _J * •*J C'- a* I " > ~J « c Lfi 3« >-

u

-

••

=.

C

C

uÂrvj éL*x/ l/

fry