At the Gates of Shanghai...
"... in the providence of a merciful God, we stand together at the gates of the most distant field on the globe. And we have to be the pioneers of our mission." Those words spoken by Matthew to Eliza (Lizzie) on the eve of their disembarkation.
It's difficult to imagine what Matthew and Eliza were thinking on that first Monday in Shanghai. I am sure they were both excited and afraid as they looked out into their new mission field; with little schooling in the local language, and without the support of a local church to help guide them. At that time, the Baptist Foreign Mission Board was still in its infancy, and had very limited resources to help a young missionary in that part of the world. The closest assistance they could give would have been provided by the Hong Kong mission, established a year earlier and already in disarray due to the death of their missionary leader, Rev. Clopton.
Matthew and Eliza during their first year as missionaries to Shanghai (Image from At the Gates: Life Story of Matthew Tyson and Eliza Moring Yates by F Catharine Bryan)
At the time of their arrival in Shanghai, Matthew is 28 years old and Eliza is almost 26. It's hard to fathom what all they had to do to survive when they stepped off that ship, especially with the limited resources they had at their disposal. No one was waiting for them at the port with a sign reading "M T Yates", and a vehicle to take them to their hotel or apartment. The only thing Matthew had was a letter of introduction to the Danish Consul, Alexander Calder, that he was given while in Hong Kong. He knew his residence was near the place where the ships anchored, so he started there. After a short search, he arrived at his house he learned that it was full of shipwrecked French officers, and there was no room. Fortunately, the Consul called for his sedan chair and ordered Matthew to be taken to the home of the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, about 2 miles away, to inquire about a place to stay.
Nan American Is Carried In A Sedan Chair By Four Chinese Porters. Wood Engraving, American, C1868.
It is quite humorous reading his account of riding this chair through the crowded and narrow streets of Shanghai. The four bearers with a runner in the front screaming in a language he didn't yet understand, and all while slamming into people who weren't fast enough or paying attention to get out of the way. After a while he tried sliding from one side of his seat to the other to help prevent collisions, but finally realized that the people were giving back to the bearers as good as they were getting in return. He likened the journey to being in a riotous mob. [Reading his account reminded me of my first taxi ride in Shanghai going from my hotel to the airport. Here we were, three lanes of traffic squeezing into a one lane off ramp, with my driver screaming in Chinese out his side window at another taxi driver screaming at him, shaking their fists, and myself looking for the seatbelt and praying we don't crash. 😊]
Bishop William Boone
Twisting, turning, up & over bridges the journey went until eventually the sedan deposited Matthew at a row of unmarked houses. Undaunted, Matthew began knocking on doors, and after having a number of them slammed in his foreign face, he came upon the house of Rev. E. W. Syle, next door neighbor to Bishop Boone. After explaining their situation to Bishop Boone and Rev. Syle, they apologized that neither had a free bedroom. Rev. Syle feeling sorry for the new missionary agreed to help search for a place for them to stay. At the end of the first day with no place found, Bishop Boone offered up his parlor floor as a temporary bedroom and Matthew agreed. Rev. Syle, who could speak the local language, accompanied Matthew back to the ship and they made preparation to move their belongings into the city.
A few days later, with the help of Rev. Syle, they were able to find a house in the center of the old city. Ironically, the house they found was available because it was reportedly haunted due to several murders that had occurred there. The upstairs was open with no partitions, but unafraid of the supposed "devils" they decided to make this their home. When discussing the rent with the landlord he said, "We call this place 'Yah-Jaw-Loong' (Alley of Wild Screams). Strange you not fear this." Fearless, Matthew and Eliza unpacked their trunks, pulled out their carpentry tools, and got to work cleaning and making it their home. During the cleaning process they found the signs of the "devils", which were in fact rats that were living in the house.
Rev. Syle's gift to the young missionary couple was to ask his cook to purchase groceries from a local market for their new home. When the cook returned, he brought a friend who wanted to try out his skills as their new cook. His name was "Ts'ih Kw'ay" which means seventh slice since he was the seventh son. Rev. Syle's next gift was to teach them the phrase "Te ko jaw sa?" which means (What is this called). Armed with this phrase, Eliza's notebook & pencil, and a lot of patience on Ts'ih Kw'ay's part they started to build their vocabulary using items around the house.
Later on, Rev. Syle would provide a second phrase "Te ko sa yong der?" (What is the use of this), along with a English-Chinese Dictionary, and thus they started their voyage into the local language. [I can tell you from my experience trying to say Chinese phrases like Xièxiè (Thank You), I'm sure it was met with similar looks of confusion mixed with a few giggles. 🤭]
What an amazing story of overcoming obstacles through faith in the Lord. At each point in the Yates' journey thus far they have encountered one problem after another. During those challenging times, I imagine Psalm 34:19 came into their hearts for reassurance: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." In the end, the Lord was true to his word and worked it out: a faster ship, a more pleasant voyage, a house in a good location, good friends to help get them going, and patient teachers.
It's difficult to imagine what Matthew and Eliza were thinking on that first Monday in Shanghai. I am sure they were both excited and afraid as they looked out into their new mission field; with little schooling in the local language, and without the support of a local church to help guide them. At that time, the Baptist Foreign Mission Board was still in its infancy, and had very limited resources to help a young missionary in that part of the world. The closest assistance they could give would have been provided by the Hong Kong mission, established a year earlier and already in disarray due to the death of their missionary leader, Rev. Clopton.
Matthew and Eliza during their first year as missionaries to Shanghai (Image from At the Gates: Life Story of Matthew Tyson and Eliza Moring Yates by F Catharine Bryan)
At the time of their arrival in Shanghai, Matthew is 28 years old and Eliza is almost 26. It's hard to fathom what all they had to do to survive when they stepped off that ship, especially with the limited resources they had at their disposal. No one was waiting for them at the port with a sign reading "M T Yates", and a vehicle to take them to their hotel or apartment. The only thing Matthew had was a letter of introduction to the Danish Consul, Alexander Calder, that he was given while in Hong Kong. He knew his residence was near the place where the ships anchored, so he started there. After a short search, he arrived at his house he learned that it was full of shipwrecked French officers, and there was no room. Fortunately, the Consul called for his sedan chair and ordered Matthew to be taken to the home of the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, about 2 miles away, to inquire about a place to stay.
Nan American Is Carried In A Sedan Chair By Four Chinese Porters. Wood Engraving, American, C1868.
It is quite humorous reading his account of riding this chair through the crowded and narrow streets of Shanghai. The four bearers with a runner in the front screaming in a language he didn't yet understand, and all while slamming into people who weren't fast enough or paying attention to get out of the way. After a while he tried sliding from one side of his seat to the other to help prevent collisions, but finally realized that the people were giving back to the bearers as good as they were getting in return. He likened the journey to being in a riotous mob. [Reading his account reminded me of my first taxi ride in Shanghai going from my hotel to the airport. Here we were, three lanes of traffic squeezing into a one lane off ramp, with my driver screaming in Chinese out his side window at another taxi driver screaming at him, shaking their fists, and myself looking for the seatbelt and praying we don't crash. 😊]
Bishop William Boone
Twisting, turning, up & over bridges the journey went until eventually the sedan deposited Matthew at a row of unmarked houses. Undaunted, Matthew began knocking on doors, and after having a number of them slammed in his foreign face, he came upon the house of Rev. E. W. Syle, next door neighbor to Bishop Boone. After explaining their situation to Bishop Boone and Rev. Syle, they apologized that neither had a free bedroom. Rev. Syle feeling sorry for the new missionary agreed to help search for a place for them to stay. At the end of the first day with no place found, Bishop Boone offered up his parlor floor as a temporary bedroom and Matthew agreed. Rev. Syle, who could speak the local language, accompanied Matthew back to the ship and they made preparation to move their belongings into the city.
A few days later, with the help of Rev. Syle, they were able to find a house in the center of the old city. Ironically, the house they found was available because it was reportedly haunted due to several murders that had occurred there. The upstairs was open with no partitions, but unafraid of the supposed "devils" they decided to make this their home. When discussing the rent with the landlord he said, "We call this place 'Yah-Jaw-Loong' (Alley of Wild Screams). Strange you not fear this." Fearless, Matthew and Eliza unpacked their trunks, pulled out their carpentry tools, and got to work cleaning and making it their home. During the cleaning process they found the signs of the "devils", which were in fact rats that were living in the house.
Rev. Syle's gift to the young missionary couple was to ask his cook to purchase groceries from a local market for their new home. When the cook returned, he brought a friend who wanted to try out his skills as their new cook. His name was "Ts'ih Kw'ay" which means seventh slice since he was the seventh son. Rev. Syle's next gift was to teach them the phrase "Te ko jaw sa?" which means (What is this called). Armed with this phrase, Eliza's notebook & pencil, and a lot of patience on Ts'ih Kw'ay's part they started to build their vocabulary using items around the house.
Later on, Rev. Syle would provide a second phrase "Te ko sa yong der?" (What is the use of this), along with a English-Chinese Dictionary, and thus they started their voyage into the local language. [I can tell you from my experience trying to say Chinese phrases like Xièxiè (Thank You), I'm sure it was met with similar looks of confusion mixed with a few giggles. 🤭]
What an amazing story of overcoming obstacles through faith in the Lord. At each point in the Yates' journey thus far they have encountered one problem after another. During those challenging times, I imagine Psalm 34:19 came into their hearts for reassurance: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." In the end, the Lord was true to his word and worked it out: a faster ship, a more pleasant voyage, a house in a good location, good friends to help get them going, and patient teachers.