Paul Hattaway - Henan: The Galilee of China (Fire & Blood: the Story of the Church in China)

HENAN

HENAN

The Fire & Blood Series
Volume 2

Paul Hattaway

Copyright 2009 by Paul Hattaway

This edition copyright 2014 by Piquant

PO Box 83, Carlisle, CA3 9GR, UK

www.piquanteditions.com

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Hattaway, Paul, 1968

Henan : the Galilee of China. - (Fire & blood : the story

of the church in China ; v. 2)

1. Henan Sheng (China) - Church history - 20th century

I. Title

275.118082

PRINT ISBN: 978 1 903689 57 8

MOBI ISBN: 978-1-909281-40-0

EPUB ISBN: 978-1-909281-41-7

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, a Member of Hodder Headline Plc Group. All rights reserved. NIV is a registered trademark of the International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.

Cover design by Jonathan Kearney

Book design by To a Tee Ltd, www.2at.com

HENAN
'South of the River'

Old spelling: Ho-nan

Population: 91.2 million (2000)

99.5 milion (2009)

110.5 million (2020, projected)

Area: 64,500 square miles (167,000 sq km)

Population density: 1,542 people per square mile
(596 per sq km)

Capital city: Zhengzhou (2.82 million)

Largest cities: Nanyang (1.72 million)

Luoyang (1.62 million)

Shangqiu (1.55 million)

Dengzhou (1.4 million)

Yongcheng (1.37 million)

Xinyang (1.36 million)

Yuzhou (1.22 million)

Linzhou (1.07 million)

Cities: 37

Counties: 90

Major ethnic groups

Han Chinese98.2 million (98.7%)

Hui1.1 million (1.1%)

Mongol89,000 (0.1%)

Manchu67,000 (0.1%)

Population figures in 2009

Projected Volumes in the Fire & Blood Series

When the first volume of the Fire & Blood seriesChinas Book of Martyrswas published, a larger series was planned. This has since been revised and the projected volumes are now as follows:

1. Chinas Book of Martyrs

2. Henan: The Galilee of China

3. Northeast China (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang)

4. Southwest China (Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Tibet)

5. East China (Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian)

6. South China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Island, Hunan)

7. North China (Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin)

8. Northwest China (Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Shaanxi)

9. Central China (Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui)

10.Christianity Among Chinas Minorities

11.Chinas House Churches

Introduction to the Fire & Blood Series

Look at the nations and watch

and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

that you would not believe,

even if you were told. (Habakkuk 1:5)

Most Christians are aware that God is doing something great in China, but few have ever heard just how this revival has come about. The Fire & Blood series is an ambitious project to document the advance of Christianity in that country from the earliest beginnings to the present day. At the time when the first volume was published, the series was expected to comprise some 30 volumes, focusing on the church in each province of China. Since then the series has been shortened by proposing to combine several provinces in some of the volumes.

The genesis for this project was at a meeting I attended in 2000, where leaders of the Chinese house churches expressed the need for Christians to understand how God has expanded his kingdom throughout China, both historically and today. It is hoped that these books will glorify God, bless those who read them and challenge believers in China and around the world to a deeper and more radical walk with Jesus Christ.

My intention in this series is not just to present a dry list of names and dates but to bring alive the marvellous story of how God has caused the gospel to take root and flourish in the worlds most populous country. The title indicates the main themes of these books: fire is the fire of God, who has sent the revival that has brought life and blessing to so many areas of China, and blood is a reminder of the persecution and purging that believers in China have experienced for the sake of the gospel. Revival has not come about by accident. The church in China has endured centuries of fire and bloodpreparing the ground for the present time of harvest.

I have been researching Christianity in China for many years, meticulously gathering information and pictures, and have myself read more than 1,500 booksand thousands more articles and publications relating to the Chinese church. I feel that with Gods help I have turned over every stone I know about in order to obtain as clear a picture as possible about his workings in China. Fire & Blood will examine and document every creed of Christianity to have taken root in China. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Three-Self churches, house churchesall those who call on the name of Jesus Christ will be included and their stories told.

I consider it a great honour to write these books, especially as I have been entrusted, in the hundreds of hours of interviews I have conducted inside China, with many testimonies that have never been published before. The series will be illustrated with more than 5,000 photographs, from images of frescos made over a thousand years ago to contemporary pictures of the church.

At the back of each volume from Volume 2 onwards, there will be a detailed statistical analysis providing estimates of the number of Christians living in each city and county in each province. This is the first ever comprehensive investigation of the number of believers in Chinain each of its more than 2,400 cities and countiesdrawing on more than two thousand sources.

Such a huge undertaking as the Fire & Blood series would be impossible without the cooperation and assistance of numerous organizations and individuals. I apologize in advance to the many people who have helped me in so many different ways whose names are not mentioned here. I thank you. May the Lord be with you and bless you! Some who immediately come to mind include my dear wife, Joy; Dwayne and Tamara Graybill; Angela Li, for her excellent translations from Chinese; and Harley Hochstetler: all of whom over the span of several years did menial tasks in our office in Chiang Mai in Thailand, such as making photocopiesmore than 35,000 according to the counter on the machine!and filing cuttings. I recall one brief trip to Singapore with Harley when we were graciously granted access to the OMF archives. Over three days, he helped me to scan 800 priceless old pictures and make more than 3,000 photocopies of articles from old magazines and books about the Chinese church.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Christine Graf and Patricia Georgini, who greatly assisted me in obtaining rare publications. They never complained at my incessant requests, considering it an honour to serve Christ and his Church through their efforts. Thank you! And thanks also to organizations such as OMF, The Voice of the Martyrs, the International Mission Board and many others that graciously allowed me access to their archives, libraries, photographs, collections and personal records; lent or gave me books; shared information and stories and generally displayed the biblical generosity exemplified by Jesus command, Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8). The same applies to the publishers and institutions that have allowed me to use their material in these books, such as the Chinese Regional Bishops Conference in Taiwan. Revival Chinese Ministries International generously provided me with hundreds of contemporary pictures relating to the church in China.