In mid-March, I had the opportunity of a church tour in Nanjing, the once-old capital of six dynasties. I passed through the bustling Xinjiekou, where among the ancient buildings I came to Mochou Lu Church, the earliest Christian church built in Nanjing.
You can read its history which was put up outside the church. In 1873, Albert Whiting and Charles Leaman from the American Presbyterian Church came to Nanjing to preach the gospel. They built a four-pole chapel outside the Hanxi Gate on Four-pole Road. In 1884, they built Mingde Girls' Middle School (now Nanjing Normal College of Pre-school Education). In 1888, Charles Leaman built "Jesus Hall" on the east side of Mingde Girls' Middle School, which accommodated 400 people. Sun Xisheng of Shandong Province was hired as the first Chinese pastor ever for 17 years. In 1927, it was renamed as Nanjing Hanzhong Road Church of Chinese Christian Church. It was the Nanjing parish church of the Jiang'an Council. In 1934, Four-pole Road was renamed as Mochou (No-worries; translator’s note) Road and the old church was demolished. Pastor Bao Zhong raised 1100 taels of gold for its reconstruction. It was officially opened on October 16, 1936.
On the stone stele outside the church, you can read the carved words which were handwritten by General Feng Yuxiang in Chinese in 1936. The General quoted from 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." General Feng was known as the "Christian General". I have referred to some materials to share with you the anecdotes of his belief experience.
Feng Yuxiang (1882-1948), a native of Chao County, Anhui Province, was a military strategist in modern China. He served as the brigade commander of the 36th Huncheng Brigade of Beiyang Army, the commander of the 11th Division, Shaanxi, Henan and the Army Review Ambassador. In 1924, he launched a coup in Beijing during the second Zhifeng War and changed his headquarters into the National Army in which he served as commander-in-chief and commander of the First Army. In September 1926, when the National Revolutionary Army attacked Wuhan, he made an oath in Wuyuan (now Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) announcing that his army had joined the Chinese Nationalist Party. In 1927, he took up the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Second Kuomintang Army in Xi'an, and participated in the anti-communist activities launched by Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei. Since 1928, due to the General’s conflict of interests with Chiang Kai-shek, he led his troops to oppose Chiang Kai-shek. So, successively the Feng-Chiang War and the Central Plains War broke out. In 1931, the Mukden Incident broke out, the General advocated resisting Japan and opposed Chiang Kai-shek's non-resistance policy and fascist dictatorship. In 1935, he cooperated with the Communist Party of China and organized the people's anti-Japanese alliance in Zhangjiakou as commander-in-chief, but failed under the joint attack of Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese army. In 1936, he was the vice-chairman of the Military Commission of Nanjing National Government. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was appointed commander of the Sixth Theater and was dismissed by Chiang. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he continued to take the position of cooperation with the Communist Party of China, opposed Chiang Kai-shek's civil war, dictatorship and traitorous policies. He initiated the organization of the Chinese Kuomintang Committee in Li Jishen. In 1946, he went abroad to inspect water conservancy. In September 1948, in response to the call of the Communist Party of China, he returned to China to participate in the preparatory work for the Political Consultative Conference and was killed in a ship fire in the Black Sea.
In 1913, when Feng Yuxiang was stationed in Beijing, he suffered from back sores. A friend named Liu Kuan (Beijing native, Christian) introduced him to an American church hospital. He saw that the American doctors who treated him always prayed and said "Amen, Amen" before and after the procedures, and he soon recovered from his illness. He was grateful to the doctor and Liu Kuan and they took the opportunity to preach the gospel to him. Feng Yuxiang had a good impression about Christianity, and he also thought that God's grace was the reason why he quickly got better. He was baptized into Christ and joined the Methodist church. Later, people called him the "Christian General" and that was how the name came to be.
In 1913, when the 16th Huncheng Brigade was stationed in Changde, Hunan Province, Liu, the nephew of Feng Yuxiang's boss Lu Jianzhang, visited them. Liu suffered from mental illness, so Feng Yuxiang asked O T Logqm, an American doctor in Guangde Hospital to give him treatment. The hospital was a local church hospital. When Liu saw a blonde foreigner, he thought he saw a ghost, he would hide away to avoid seeing the doctor. When Logqm treated him for the second time, Liu was playing with a Browning pistol. When he saw Doctor Logqm, he suddenly raised his gun and shot him in the chest. At that time, Feng Yuxiang was also inside the clinic. When he heard the gunshot, he quickly went up to hold Liu's waist. Liu shot Feng Yuxiang too. Feng's hands and shoulders were slightly injured, but unfortunately Logqm died because of his serious injuries. Feng Yuxiang held a funeral for Dr. O T Logqm with great pain and gave Mrs. Logqm a pension of 3,000 yuan in silver. However, Mrs Logqm refused to accept it. General Feng remitted the money to the couple’s son in the United States, who said he wanted nothing and returned the money back to General Feng. In desperation, Feng Yuxiang built a house made of wrought iron with the money and named it Logqm Memorial Church. It commemorates Dr. O T Logqm and served as a place of worship. As it was a house that can be disassembled and folded, it could be taken away with the army when the troops moved the defense. From 1922 to 1925, when Feng’s Army was stationed in Nanyuan, this memorial church was located in the square outside the inspection office of the Army. However, the memorial church was renamed the YMCA. It was in the form of an auditorium, which can accommodate five or six hundred people.
Ever since the American church doctors cured sores and Dr. O T Logqm saved lives and sacrificed himself with his family members refusing the pension, General Feng Yuxiang thought that the Christian spirit could influence and educate people. Besides his belief in Christ Jesus, he also advocated that all officers and men of his army should join Christianity. In the Northwest Army to which he belonged, the most faithful believer in Jesus Christ was his general, Zhang Zhijiang, who believed that Christ was very pious. He not only prayed after getting up and before going to bed but also prayed before meals every day. Often, when the food got cold, he was still praying. Sometimes he might suddenly kneel on the ground and pray while he was working. He liked to quote the Bible in his speech and people gave him the nickname "Zhang Bible".
When Feng Yuxiang came back from the Soviet Union in 1926, he came into contact with Marxism-Leninism and realized that Christianity in China was a means of imperialism as a cultural invasion. Therefore, when he was in Wuyuan to make an oath as commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Coalition forces, he sent a message to himself and all his officers and men to quit Christianity. However, Zhang Zhijiang strongly opposed it and did not quit. He had been a faithful Christian all his life.
The religious activities of the Northwest Army usually took the battalion as a unit, and the prayer was led by the duty officer before meals every day. The officers and men of the whole battalion bowed their heads and kept silent until the duty officer said "Amen" after praying, and everyone uttered "Amen". Every Sunday, the battalion commander or the company commander on duty would guide the reading of a chapter of the Bible from the New Testament. A pastor would explain it and then sang one or two hymns to the Lord. The service time was about one to two hours. Each battalion organized a choir of about 20 members comprised of well-educated soldiers. The choirs were led by a platoon leader or squad leader who was good at music, singing, and trained by a pastor. Each regiment also had a full-time chaplain in plain clothes. In case of a big ceremony, before Feng Yuxiang assembled his troops to make a speech, he had to make a prayer first and the prayer words were read by the General officer on duty for that day.
While training in Nanyuan, Feng Yuxiang would go to each brigade to allocate salaries to soldiers by name once a month. On Sundays, battalion commanders of various brigades and regiments took turns to deliver speeches to units so that officers and men could know each other well. As such, they could better coordinate with each other in wartime. Before speeches, weapons, internal affairs and hygiene were to be checked. Then the team would gather for Bible study and read out the New Testament, and then leaders would speak. The title of the speech would be determined by the speaker himself and some of them would print out lecture notes.
In 1923, Feng Yuxiang's first wife, Liu Dezhen, died, leaving behind two sons and three daughters, all of whom were in their infancy and needed care. General Zhang Zhijiang and other officers repeatedly urged him to get married again. He gradually had a second wife. While he was training in Beijing, he went to the YMCA of Beijing to worship every day and met Ms Li Dequan, who was then director general of the YMCA of Beijing. Li was a celibate at that time. Because they could meet frequently and got familiar with each other, they had profound talks about each other many times, and finally ended up in marriage at 42 years old and 28 years old. Later, Mrs Feng gave birth to a boy and three girls.
In modern history, ordaining pastors in the army was the only practice in Feng’s Army apart from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Before 1912, he only personally believed in Christ and had not promoted it to the army. He once gave the following testimony. Before he believed in Christ, he had a brother who was a sinner. Feng Yuxiang hated him to death and was determined to kill him. Before leaving for his brother's residence, he passed by a church and suddenly heard part of a sermon about the truth that Christians should love their enemies. Upon hearing that, Feng entered the church.
After being stationed in Changde in 1918, Christianity began to be promoted in the army. At first, some pastors were hired to preach to the whole army. Pastors were from Changde which was nearby and Hankou which was very far away. They were from both China and abroad. Later, chaplains were appointed. With the expansion of the team, roughly each brigade was assigned a pastor. The maximum was up to seven or eight pastors per brigade. The permanent pastors were all Chinese, most of them were introduced by Dr. Liu Tingfang from the Methodist church. Feng was baptized by him and they had a good relationship.
The army had a set of religious propagating ceremonies. All officers and men read the scriptures, prayed and sang poems in the first week, which was presided over by pastors who would talk about the ascension of souls to heaven. Every religious officer in the army would be given a Bible to read for an hour. Before eating and sleeping, they sang hymns and prayed. Every Sunday, religious officers and soldiers gathered in the training ground (or brigade headquarters) to worship at the pastor's residence. Sometimes General Feng also hosted prayer meetings and gave sermons. His sermon focused on "spiritualism", that was combining Christian doctrine with Chinese sages and many feudal moral concepts, with the latter as the main focus. He presided over the compilation of three spiritual books: Patriotism, Military Discipline, and Moral Spirit. The books are divided into lists of proverbs. It was stipulated that every officer must recite them.
Because the army carried out Christianity, military life had a special feature, and Feng Yuxiang compiled a lot of military songs (he paid special attention to military songs as publicity, which other warlords did not have). Almost all military songs adopted the tune of hymns. Every time they were sung, they were played by military bands. Therefore, singing military songs in the tone of hymns was a rare wonder of the Chinese army.
Appointing chaplains was practiced until 1926 when coming back from the Soviet Union; he abolished the military chaplain system and sent them back to churches.
(This article refers to "Ci Hai" and "The Feng Yuxiang I Know", Chinese Literature and History Publishing House, "Compilation of Literature and History and Learning Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference".)
- Translated by Charlie Li
基督将军冯玉祥轶事
三月中旬，有机会在六朝故都南京寻访教会，穿过繁华的新街口，在古老的街区，来到了始建于南京基督教建堂历史最早的基督教莫愁路堂。
据旁边的资料介绍，1873年，美国长老会韦理夫妇，次年李满夫妇来南京传道，在汉西门外（四根杆子路）建四根杆子礼拜堂。1884年，建明德女子中学（今南京幼儿高等师范学校）。1888年，李满在明德女中东面建“耶稣会堂”，可容纳400人。山东的孙喜圣聘请为牧师，共17年，为本堂首任华人牧师。1927年，改名为中华基督教会南京汉中路堂，是江安大会南京区会所在。1934年四根杆子路改为莫愁路，汉中堂拆除，鲍忠牧师筹款1100两黄金重建。1936年10月16日正式开放。
旁边的是石碑上镌刻着冯玉祥将军于1936年题写的：哥林多前书3：11的经文“因为那立好了根基的就是耶稣基督”。
冯玉祥将军素有“基督将军”的雅号，在他信仰经历中有什么趣闻轶事，笔者参阅了一些资料与读者分享。
冯玉祥其人
冯玉祥（1882-1948），安徽巢县人，行伍出身，中国近代军事家。曾先后任北洋陆军第三十六混成旅旅长，第十一师师长，陕西、河南及陆军检阅使等职。1924年，在第二次直奉战争中发动北京政变，改所部为国民军，任总司令兼第一军军长。1926年9月，当国民革命军攻打武汉时，在五原（今属内蒙古自治区）誓师，宣布所属集体加入中国国民党。1927年在西安就任国民党第二集团军总司令，曾参与蒋介石、汪精卫的反共活动。1928年起，因与蒋介石集团发生利害冲突，举兵反蒋，先后爆发了冯蒋战争和中原大战。1931年九一八事变后，主张抗日，反对蒋介石的不抵抗政策和法西斯独裁统治。1935年与中国共产党合作，在张家口组织民众抗日同盟军，任总司令，后在蒋介石与日军联合进攻下失败。1936年到南京国民政府军事委员会副委员长。抗战爆发后，任第六战区司令长官，旋被蒋解职。抗战胜利后，继续采取与中国共产党合作的立场，反对蒋介石内战、独裁和卖国政策，并于李济深发起组织中国国民党委员会。1946年出国考察水利。1948年9月，响应中国共产党号召，回国参加政治协商会议筹备工作，途中在黑海因轮船失火遇难。
“基督将军”缘由
1913年，冯玉祥驻防北京时，患上了“搭背疮”。有一位朋友叫刘宽（北京人，基督徒），介绍他来到一家美国教会医院。他看到给他看病的美国医生在手术前和手术后，总是祷告一番，还要说“阿门、阿门”，他的病很快就痊愈了，心里感激医生和刘宽，二人就乘机向他传福音。冯玉祥对基督教遂有好感，他也认为自己之所以好得快，是出于上帝的恩典。于是受洗归入基督，加入美以美会。后来人们称他为“基督将军”及由此而来。
建立“思罗堂”
1913年，第十六混成旅驻防湖南常德时，冯玉祥上司陆建章的妻侄刘某在此做客。刘某患有精神病，冯玉祥就请到当地教会医院——广德医院的美国大夫罗感恩为其诊治。刘某见到金发碧眼的外国人，如见鬼怪，东躲西藏不让给他看病。第二次罗又为他治疗时，刘某正在把玩一个勃朗宁小手枪，看见罗大夫，忽然举枪朝他胸部开了一枪。当时冯玉祥也在室内，听见枪响，连忙上去抱住刘某的腰部，刘某又对着冯玉祥打了一枪，冯的手部和肩部受了轻伤，而罗德恩却因伤势过重不幸去世。冯玉祥极为沉痛为罗感恩大夫举行了治丧礼，以3000元银两抚恤罗夫人，而夫人坚决不收。冯先生遂将这笔款汇到美国给其儿子，儿子说什么也不要，仍把原款退回。无奈，冯玉祥就以此款修造了一座镔铁制作的房子，取名思罗堂。一方面纪念罗感恩大夫，另一方面也作为礼拜的场所。由于这是一所可以拆卸折叠的房子，在部队移防时，可以随军带走。1922年至1925年，冯军驻扎南苑时，这座纪念堂坐落在陆军检阅使署门外广场上。不过，这座纪念堂已改名为青年会。是一座礼堂形式，可容五六百人。
全军信耶稣
自从经历了美国教会医生为其治愈疮疾和罗感恩大夫治病救人牺牲自己而家属不受抚恤的事情后，冯玉祥认为基督精神很能感化教育人，除了他自己信仰基督耶稣外，还倡导他所属的部队全体官兵一律加入基督教。在他所属的西北军中，信仰耶稣基督最笃实的，就是他手下的大将军张之江，他信基督十分虔诚，不仅每天起床后、就寝前要祈祷，而且每天饭前必祷告，往往饭菜凉了，他还在祈祷。有时正在坐着办公，忽然也会跪在地上祷告起来。他讲话爱引用圣经，人送外号“张圣经”。
1926年，冯玉祥从苏联回来，他接触到马列主义，认识到基督教在中国，是帝国主义作为文化侵略的一种手段，所以在五原誓师就任国民党联军总司令时，曾发通电本人和所属全体官兵，一律退出基督教。可是张之江却极力反对坚决不退出，终其一生一直是个忠实的基督徒。
西北军的信教活动，通常以连为单位，每日就餐前，由值日官带领的祷告。全连官兵俯首静默，直到值日官祷告完毕说一声“阿门”，大家一起喊一声“阿门”结束。每逢主日，以营为单位查经，由营长或值日连长引导宣读《圣经·新约》的某一章节，并有牧师加以讲解，然后再唱一两首《颂主圣诗》。时间约有一至两小时。各营都组织20余人左右的唱诗班，他们都是从各营中挑选有文化的优秀士兵组成，有一位擅长音乐歌唱的排长或班长领导，而由牧师负责训练。每团还有一个身穿便衣的专职随军牧师。遇者大操大典，冯玉祥集合部队讲话前，也要先做一番祷告，由总值日领念祷告词。
在南苑练兵时，每月一日点名放饷，冯玉祥到各旅团亲自点名讲话。每逢星期天，各旅团营长分别轮流到下面讲话，促使全军官兵对军官有所了解，以便战时配合作战。讲话前，先查武器、内务和卫生。然后集合队伍进行查经礼拜，宣读《新约圣经》，然后才讲话，讲话内容标题，讲话人自己定，有的还把讲稿印发。
续弦李德全
1923年，冯玉祥第一人夫人刘德贞去世后，留下二儿三女，都在稚年，需要照料。张之江等部将再三敦劝，渐有续弦之意。在北京练兵时，星期日常去北京基督教青年会做礼拜，遇到了当时任北京基督教青年会总干事的李德全，李当时是独身主义者。由于二人常见面熟识了，多次深谈互相了解情投意合，于是二人终结连理。当时冯玉祥42岁，李德全28岁。后来李夫人生了一男三女。
军中设牧师
军队设牧师，在近代史上，除太平天国之外，冯玉祥独此一家。1912年前，他只是个人信仰基督教，并没有推行到部队。他曾说过信仰经历，在信基督教前，他有一个哥哥吃喝嫖赌无恶不作。冯玉祥曾大恨，下决心要杀他。在动身往其兄住处前，路过一所教堂，忽然听牧师传教，有关基督徒要爱仇敌的道理。冯听了以后，进入了教堂。
1918年在驻防常德后，就开始在部队中推行基督教，起初聘请了一些牧师向全军讲道。牧师近的来自常德，远的来自汉口，中外都有。后来逐渐有了随军牧师。随着队伍扩大，大致上是一个旅一个牧师，最多时七八人。这些固定留下的牧师都是中国人。他们大多由美以美会的刘廷芳博士介绍。冯曾在他那里领洗，二人关系很好。
部队有一套宣传宗教仪式，凡官兵读经祷告唱诗首席礼拜，都由牧师主持，大讲灵魂升天。凡部队信教官兵，每人发一本圣经。之后读一小时书。吃饭睡觉则唱圣诗做祷告。每逢主日，凡信教官兵集合于操场（或旅部），在牧师住处礼拜。有时他也主祷，冯也讲道。他的讲道，注重“精神学”，即把基督教教义和中国的圣贤及许多封建道德观念结合起来，以后者为主。主持编写了《爱国精神》《军纪精神》《道德精神》三精神书，内容分条，类似格言箴言，规定官兵必须每人能背诵。
由于部队推行基督教，军队生活有了一个特色，冯玉祥的部队军歌编的特别多（他尤其重视把军歌作为宣传武器，这是别的军阀所没有的）。而差不多所有军歌，都用赞美诗的曲调，每颂唱时，有军乐队伴奏。因此以圣诗的调子唱军歌，这是中国军队少有的奇事。
随军牧师推行到1926年，他从苏联游历回来后，取消了军中牧师制度，把他们送回了教会。
（本文参阅《辞海》《我所知道的冯玉祥》中国文史出版社《全国政协文史和学习委员会编》，特致谢意）
http://www.gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/56030
基督将军冯玉祥轶事
In mid-March, I had the opportunity of a church tour in Nanjing, the once-old capital of six dynasties. I passed through the bustling Xinjiekou, where among the ancient buildings I came to Mochou Lu Church, the earliest Christian church built in Nanjing.
You can read its history which was put up outside the church. In 1873, Albert Whiting and Charles Leaman from the American Presbyterian Church came to Nanjing to preach the gospel. They built a four-pole chapel outside the Hanxi Gate on Four-pole Road. In 1884, they built Mingde Girls' Middle School (now Nanjing Normal College of Pre-school Education). In 1888, Charles Leaman built "Jesus Hall" on the east side of Mingde Girls' Middle School, which accommodated 400 people. Sun Xisheng of Shandong Province was hired as the first Chinese pastor ever for 17 years. In 1927, it was renamed as Nanjing Hanzhong Road Church of Chinese Christian Church. It was the Nanjing parish church of the Jiang'an Council. In 1934, Four-pole Road was renamed as Mochou (No-worries; translator’s note) Road and the old church was demolished. Pastor Bao Zhong raised 1100 taels of gold for its reconstruction. It was officially opened on October 16, 1936.
On the stone stele outside the church, you can read the carved words which were handwritten by General Feng Yuxiang in Chinese in 1936. The General quoted from 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." General Feng was known as the "Christian General". I have referred to some materials to share with you the anecdotes of his belief experience.
Feng Yuxiang (1882-1948), a native of Chao County, Anhui Province, was a military strategist in modern China. He served as the brigade commander of the 36th Huncheng Brigade of Beiyang Army, the commander of the 11th Division, Shaanxi, Henan and the Army Review Ambassador. In 1924, he launched a coup in Beijing during the second Zhifeng War and changed his headquarters into the National Army in which he served as commander-in-chief and commander of the First Army. In September 1926, when the National Revolutionary Army attacked Wuhan, he made an oath in Wuyuan (now Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) announcing that his army had joined the Chinese Nationalist Party. In 1927, he took up the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Second Kuomintang Army in Xi'an, and participated in the anti-communist activities launched by Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei. Since 1928, due to the General’s conflict of interests with Chiang Kai-shek, he led his troops to oppose Chiang Kai-shek. So, successively the Feng-Chiang War and the Central Plains War broke out. In 1931, the Mukden Incident broke out, the General advocated resisting Japan and opposed Chiang Kai-shek's non-resistance policy and fascist dictatorship. In 1935, he cooperated with the Communist Party of China and organized the people's anti-Japanese alliance in Zhangjiakou as commander-in-chief, but failed under the joint attack of Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese army. In 1936, he was the vice-chairman of the Military Commission of Nanjing National Government. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was appointed commander of the Sixth Theater and was dismissed by Chiang. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he continued to take the position of cooperation with the Communist Party of China, opposed Chiang Kai-shek's civil war, dictatorship and traitorous policies. He initiated the organization of the Chinese Kuomintang Committee in Li Jishen. In 1946, he went abroad to inspect water conservancy. In September 1948, in response to the call of the Communist Party of China, he returned to China to participate in the preparatory work for the Political Consultative Conference and was killed in a ship fire in the Black Sea.
In 1913, when Feng Yuxiang was stationed in Beijing, he suffered from back sores. A friend named Liu Kuan (Beijing native, Christian) introduced him to an American church hospital. He saw that the American doctors who treated him always prayed and said "Amen, Amen" before and after the procedures, and he soon recovered from his illness. He was grateful to the doctor and Liu Kuan and they took the opportunity to preach the gospel to him. Feng Yuxiang had a good impression about Christianity, and he also thought that God's grace was the reason why he quickly got better. He was baptized into Christ and joined the Methodist church. Later, people called him the "Christian General" and that was how the name came to be.
In 1913, when the 16th Huncheng Brigade was stationed in Changde, Hunan Province, Liu, the nephew of Feng Yuxiang's boss Lu Jianzhang, visited them. Liu suffered from mental illness, so Feng Yuxiang asked O T Logqm, an American doctor in Guangde Hospital to give him treatment. The hospital was a local church hospital. When Liu saw a blonde foreigner, he thought he saw a ghost, he would hide away to avoid seeing the doctor. When Logqm treated him for the second time, Liu was playing with a Browning pistol. When he saw Doctor Logqm, he suddenly raised his gun and shot him in the chest. At that time, Feng Yuxiang was also inside the clinic. When he heard the gunshot, he quickly went up to hold Liu's waist. Liu shot Feng Yuxiang too. Feng's hands and shoulders were slightly injured, but unfortunately Logqm died because of his serious injuries. Feng Yuxiang held a funeral for Dr. O T Logqm with great pain and gave Mrs. Logqm a pension of 3,000 yuan in silver. However, Mrs Logqm refused to accept it. General Feng remitted the money to the couple’s son in the United States, who said he wanted nothing and returned the money back to General Feng. In desperation, Feng Yuxiang built a house made of wrought iron with the money and named it Logqm Memorial Church. It commemorates Dr. O T Logqm and served as a place of worship. As it was a house that can be disassembled and folded, it could be taken away with the army when the troops moved the defense. From 1922 to 1925, when Feng’s Army was stationed in Nanyuan, this memorial church was located in the square outside the inspection office of the Army. However, the memorial church was renamed the YMCA. It was in the form of an auditorium, which can accommodate five or six hundred people.
Ever since the American church doctors cured sores and Dr. O T Logqm saved lives and sacrificed himself with his family members refusing the pension, General Feng Yuxiang thought that the Christian spirit could influence and educate people. Besides his belief in Christ Jesus, he also advocated that all officers and men of his army should join Christianity. In the Northwest Army to which he belonged, the most faithful believer in Jesus Christ was his general, Zhang Zhijiang, who believed that Christ was very pious. He not only prayed after getting up and before going to bed but also prayed before meals every day. Often, when the food got cold, he was still praying. Sometimes he might suddenly kneel on the ground and pray while he was working. He liked to quote the Bible in his speech and people gave him the nickname "Zhang Bible".
When Feng Yuxiang came back from the Soviet Union in 1926, he came into contact with Marxism-Leninism and realized that Christianity in China was a means of imperialism as a cultural invasion. Therefore, when he was in Wuyuan to make an oath as commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Coalition forces, he sent a message to himself and all his officers and men to quit Christianity. However, Zhang Zhijiang strongly opposed it and did not quit. He had been a faithful Christian all his life.
The religious activities of the Northwest Army usually took the battalion as a unit, and the prayer was led by the duty officer before meals every day. The officers and men of the whole battalion bowed their heads and kept silent until the duty officer said "Amen" after praying, and everyone uttered "Amen". Every Sunday, the battalion commander or the company commander on duty would guide the reading of a chapter of the Bible from the New Testament. A pastor would explain it and then sang one or two hymns to the Lord. The service time was about one to two hours. Each battalion organized a choir of about 20 members comprised of well-educated soldiers. The choirs were led by a platoon leader or squad leader who was good at music, singing, and trained by a pastor. Each regiment also had a full-time chaplain in plain clothes. In case of a big ceremony, before Feng Yuxiang assembled his troops to make a speech, he had to make a prayer first and the prayer words were read by the General officer on duty for that day.
While training in Nanyuan, Feng Yuxiang would go to each brigade to allocate salaries to soldiers by name once a month. On Sundays, battalion commanders of various brigades and regiments took turns to deliver speeches to units so that officers and men could know each other well. As such, they could better coordinate with each other in wartime. Before speeches, weapons, internal affairs and hygiene were to be checked. Then the team would gather for Bible study and read out the New Testament, and then leaders would speak. The title of the speech would be determined by the speaker himself and some of them would print out lecture notes.
In 1923, Feng Yuxiang's first wife, Liu Dezhen, died, leaving behind two sons and three daughters, all of whom were in their infancy and needed care. General Zhang Zhijiang and other officers repeatedly urged him to get married again. He gradually had a second wife. While he was training in Beijing, he went to the YMCA of Beijing to worship every day and met Ms Li Dequan, who was then director general of the YMCA of Beijing. Li was a celibate at that time. Because they could meet frequently and got familiar with each other, they had profound talks about each other many times, and finally ended up in marriage at 42 years old and 28 years old. Later, Mrs Feng gave birth to a boy and three girls.
In modern history, ordaining pastors in the army was the only practice in Feng’s Army apart from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Before 1912, he only personally believed in Christ and had not promoted it to the army. He once gave the following testimony. Before he believed in Christ, he had a brother who was a sinner. Feng Yuxiang hated him to death and was determined to kill him. Before leaving for his brother's residence, he passed by a church and suddenly heard part of a sermon about the truth that Christians should love their enemies. Upon hearing that, Feng entered the church.
After being stationed in Changde in 1918, Christianity began to be promoted in the army. At first, some pastors were hired to preach to the whole army. Pastors were from Changde which was nearby and Hankou which was very far away. They were from both China and abroad. Later, chaplains were appointed. With the expansion of the team, roughly each brigade was assigned a pastor. The maximum was up to seven or eight pastors per brigade. The permanent pastors were all Chinese, most of them were introduced by Dr. Liu Tingfang from the Methodist church. Feng was baptized by him and they had a good relationship.
The army had a set of religious propagating ceremonies. All officers and men read the scriptures, prayed and sang poems in the first week, which was presided over by pastors who would talk about the ascension of souls to heaven. Every religious officer in the army would be given a Bible to read for an hour. Before eating and sleeping, they sang hymns and prayed. Every Sunday, religious officers and soldiers gathered in the training ground (or brigade headquarters) to worship at the pastor's residence. Sometimes General Feng also hosted prayer meetings and gave sermons. His sermon focused on "spiritualism", that was combining Christian doctrine with Chinese sages and many feudal moral concepts, with the latter as the main focus. He presided over the compilation of three spiritual books: Patriotism, Military Discipline, and Moral Spirit. The books are divided into lists of proverbs. It was stipulated that every officer must recite them.
Because the army carried out Christianity, military life had a special feature, and Feng Yuxiang compiled a lot of military songs (he paid special attention to military songs as publicity, which other warlords did not have). Almost all military songs adopted the tune of hymns. Every time they were sung, they were played by military bands. Therefore, singing military songs in the tone of hymns was a rare wonder of the Chinese army.
Appointing chaplains was practiced until 1926 when coming back from the Soviet Union; he abolished the military chaplain system and sent them back to churches.
(This article refers to "Ci Hai" and "The Feng Yuxiang I Know", Chinese Literature and History Publishing House, "Compilation of Literature and History and Learning Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference".)
- Translated by Charlie Li
Anecdotes of Christian General Feng Yuxiang
