China's First Protestant Mission (Taiwan 1626 to 1662)

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China's First Protestant Mission (Taiwan 1626-1662)
Excerpts from Dutch Governor Coyett's "Neglected Formosa."

I consider Amoy (Xiamen) the "Birthplace of Chinese Protestantism" for many reasons. The first truly "Chinese" church, the Amoy Mission developed its own "3-self" principles, and the church grew as no other mission in China--and thrives to this day. We now have 45 registered Xiamen churches, and neighboring Quanzhou has almost 200! But the first Protestant missionaries were not those of the Amoy Mission, or even Morrison in Canton, but the Dutch in Taiwan, almost 200 years before the Opium Wars.

Even China's official Protestant magazine, Tianfeng 《天风》, has recently given tribute to the Dutch missionaries who began the ill-fated mission to Taiwan (though they did not elaborate upon the Dutch missionaries' demise).

"The Cross and the Dragon" (Kesson, 1854, pp. 195-197) records that in 1626 the Protestant missionary, George Candidus, was assigned to Formosa,and that thousands were converted. Chinese officials were cautious, however, not to offend their Japanese trading partners, who persecuted Christians. It is likely that thousands of Taiwanese became Protestants, but the entire mission was destroyed in 1662.

Protestant minister Van Hambroek was sent by Koxinga to the Dutch fort to make proposals of surrender. Hambroek left his wife and children behind as prisoners, but instead of persuading them to surrender, he urged them to resist Koxinga, saying he had lost much of his fleet. Dutch Governor Coyett and company urged Van Hambroek not to return, and Van Hambroek's two daughters within the fort begged him to stay, but he returned to his family, as he knew that failure to do so would end in his wife's and childrens' deaths.

When Koxinga was given a stern refusal to surrender, he blamed the prisoners. While I certainly do not countenance what happened next, we know from "Neglected Formosa", by Dutch Governor of Taiwan Coyett (whom I played in a TV mini-series!) that Koxinga tried to avoid outright war, and after trouncing the Dutch, did allow them to leave with their ships and valuables. But Koxinga was merciless with the Dutch missionaries, whom he felt had betrayed him.

Over 500 male prisoners were brutally killed. Women and children were also killed, with the exception of the best women, who were given to the Chinese soldiers (read the full details in "The Cross and the Dragon").

Van Hambroek and other school masters were beheaded.

A Jesuit priest, Du Halde, who visited 70 years later, noted that the Taiwanese did not worship idols, and many could understand and read Dutch. Gutzlaff, too, found traces of Dutch Christianity in the mountains of Formosa.

And so ended Protestant missions in China—until the arrival of Robert Morrison in Canton, and after the first Opium War, the Amoy Mission.

But, for the record, the first Protestant missionaries to China were the indomitable Dutch.

Afterward by Bill: While I was in Taiwan in the U.S. Air Force in the mid 1970s, I often traveled to remote mountain villages, and sometimes met light-skinned locals, and once came upon a blond Chinese. I was told that some were even born with light skin and blue eyes. I did not believe it, and skeptic that I was, assumed that if this were indeed true, it was because some American soldier had wandered too far from base (quite likely in those days). But...it may well be these are descendants of the early Dutch, given that so many Dutch women were forced to marry Taiwanese? Who knows; there may be some blue-eyed Taiwanese with a penchant for wooden shoes and cheese.

Info adapted from Kesson, John (of the British Museum),”The Cross and the Dragon, or, The Fortunes of Christianity in China, with Notices of the Christian Missions and Missionaries, and some Accounts of the Chinese Secret Societies,” Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1854.pp.195-197

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Dr. Bill   Xiamen University MBA Center
E-mail: amoybill@gmail.com
Snail Mail: Dr. William Brown
Box 1288 Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian PRC   361005

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