Nie Lexin (Nielsen Ellen, 1871–1961), at the age of 28, was sent to China by the Danish Lutheran Church as one of the first group of female missionaries.
Much information on the Internet indicates that she is Danish. However, according to the Religious Chronicles of Liaoning Provincial Chronicles, edited by the Liaoning Provincial Local Chronicles Compilation Committee Office, she was a "Hispanic Chinese." Ellen was born in Baynica, Spain, and her family moved back to Denmark thereafter. She was a graduate of the Danish Nursing Academy. In 1897, she came to Gushan, Dandong, where she was substantially devoted to missionary work and charity. Ellen later became a Chinese citizen. She was a respected pioneer and influential figure in Christianity in Liaoning.
In 1929, Ellen decided to renounce her Danish nationality. She officially obtained her Chinese citizenship in 1931, and her registered name was "Nie Lexin." The name is probably related to the motto of the Danish Lutheran Church, which is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 5:36, “Bu yao pa, zhi yao xin.” (which means "Don't be afraid, just believe.") She was born into poverty and had deep sympathy for the poor. She raised funds from Denmark to buy land, merged and expanded several institutions, and founded Chongzheng Girls' School (Nielsen's Family Village). It housed hundreds of children from poor families in northeast China and North Korea.
In 1921, she founded the Chongzheng Poverty Relief Center, where men were organized to work in farm fields and in construction. There were a silk weaving department and a women's public welfare department in place to teach women about hand embroidery, making daily necessities, doing housework, and babysitting. She paid these workers accordingly and provided support for people with disabilities. Her ministry provided employment opportunities for many local people and evangelized to them. By 1938, the Relief Center owned 5,860 hectares of arable land and had adopted 370 people. She has no biological children but many "spiritual ones.”
Ellen was one of the early missionaries of the Danish Lutheran Church in Northeast China in modern times. She practiced medicine, established schools, and helped orphans as well as children. While introducing Christianity to Northeast China, she also brought western scientific and cultural knowledge to the local communities.
Chongzheng Girls' School, founded by Nielsen Ellen, started with kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and teacher training classes. Ellen's sacrifice was rare. She gave the school her annual living expenses of 1,400 yuan from the Danish Lutheran Church as operating expenses. She edited Selected Hymns for the Girls’ School. The hymnal collected more than 200 hymns from Europe and the United States on the theme of the Bible. Based on Martin Luther's Small and Large Catechisms, she wrote a short catechism and a guide on the five essentials of Christianity. From 1920 to 1925, she published two volumes of Easy to Remember the Bible. (transliteration of Shengjing Yijing.) She became one of the most well-known and well-rounded missionaries of the early stage who carried out missionary activities in Northeast China in the modern era.
In 1927, Wu Boxiang, a believer in the Christian Lutheran Church in Harbin, declared that he would start a church run by the Chinese, separated from the Danish Mission. Most of the churches in northeast China at that time belonged to the Danish Mission. He then established the Chinese Christian Church. Although Nie Lexin did not give supporting remarks publicly, she was in favor of the marriage of Wu and Jiang Baozhen, the principal of Chongzheng Girls' School, who had studied in Denmark and the United Kingdom and was a famous early childhood educator at the time.
Ellen became a Chinese citizen in 1929. A gentleman from Gushan in Dandong presented her with a golden horizontal plaque engraved with "outstanding locally and overseas" to congratulate her on becoming Chinese. She often practiced medicine for women. There were sometimes as many as one hundred patients a day.
After World War II, most of the Danish Lutheran missionaries sent to China returned to their home countries with one another. Nie Lexin considered herself Chinese and never left China. In 1947, Dandong was undergoing land reform. Nie Lexin was classified as a "landlord" because she had plenty of land in Gushan, including real estate such as schools and churches. They still exist today. Because of her background status, she suffered from the movement of "knocking down local tyrants and dividing their property." Her property was divided. The two Danish female missionaries who stayed behind to help her, Bu Siwen and Chen Leshi, were detained. They hurried back to their home country soon after they were released. Ellen had been all alone with nothing ever since. In 1949, the new government implemented the religious policy and returned to her a church and an orchard (which today is the Christian activity site, the Gushan Town Church, in Gushan, Dandong), a pond, and four cows. According to the Religious Chronicles of Liaoning Provincial Chronicles, the people's government arranged for her life in her later years.
In February 1960, at an old age, she fell while walking on a mountain road and broke her arm. She was confined to bed by old age and deteriorating health. She passed away in July of the same year at age 89. She was buried under the beautiful Dagu Mountain and remained unmarried all her life. Believers commemorate her through poems, "Her legacy coexists with the mountains; her work is as valuable as gold and silver; her name will remain known to the generations after; her spirit is alive even though she is gone.” Many people in Gushan today, believers and non-believers, young and old, have never stopped appreciating the legacy she created for Gushan, such as the Gushan apricot and the school. She continues to be honored as Missionary Nie Lexin.
On Sunday afternoon, March 12, 2023, six of us visited the cemetery of the missionary in Dagushan National Forest Park. Besides myself, the visitors included Senior Pastor Zhang Xing, the former chairman of the Dandong Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, his wife, Pastor Zhang Liming, head of Yuanbaoshan Church, as well as Sister Sun Xuehui and Brother Li, the leaders of the Christian Church in Gushan. We had the privilege of being the first non-local Christians to visit the cemetery.
Today, the cemetery has an empty tomb. The original tomb was destroyed during times of turmoil, and nothing remained. Local historical researchers indicated that the current cemetery was built on its original site. A stone monument was erected to commemorate her.
Her cemetery is surrounded by low walls painted light yellow. There is an opening for entry and exit in the southward direction. This is a white, raised, and flat-topped tomb. It is neither a common European nor a Christian tomb style. It is different from the pointed mound tombs in northern China. It is featured with the conical and flat tops of the general public’s tombs in the Ming Dynasty. To the east of the tomb is a small stone tablet. Its front is engraved with "Tomb of Nielsen Ellen" in gilt official script. An inscription about her evangelical ministry and charity is on its back.
(The author is a special writer for the Gospel Times in Dandong City, Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by June I. Chen
聂乐信（Nielsen Ellen，1871-1960），28岁被丹麦信义会作为第一批女传道士派往中国。
网络上很多资料介绍她是丹麦人。但是在辽宁省地方志编纂委员会办公室主编的《辽宁省志·宗教志》上，她“是西班牙裔中国人”。实际上Ellen生于西班牙巴依尼卡，后全家又迁回丹麦。她毕业于丹麦护士专科学校。1897年，她来到丹东孤山镇，在当地做了大量的传教和公益慈善事业，后来加入中国国籍。她是基督教在辽宁有影响力的一位值得尊敬的前辈。
1929年，Ellen决定放弃丹麦国籍，1931年正式拿到中国公民身份，户籍登记名字“聂乐信”。这个名字大概与丹麦信义会的座右铭是主耶稣基督在马可福音5章36节的圣训有关：Don't be afraid, just believe（“不要怕，只要信”）。她出身贫困，对穷苦人寄予了较为深厚的同情。比如，她从丹麦募集资金购买土地，将她创建的几所机构合并扩建为“崇正女校”（Nielsen's Family Village），安置来自中国东北和朝鲜各地几百名贫困家庭的孩子。
1921年，她创立崇正贫民救济所，组织男子从事耕种和木瓦匠等劳作；设立丝织部、女子公益部，传授手工刺绣等制作生活用品，从事家务和看护小孩等工作，她按工付酬，并对一些残疾人给予供养，促进了当时当地的许多人就业，并且接受基督教信仰。到1938年，救济所以拥有耕地5,860公顷，收养了370人。她没有亲生的儿女，但是她的“儿女”却有许多许多。
Ellen是丹麦路德会在近代中国东北开展传教活动的早期传教士之一，她行医诊疗、开办学校、扶助孤幼，在把基督教传入东北的同时，也把西方的一些科学文化知识传入当地。
“崇正女校”就是由聂乐信一手创办。女校有幼儿园、初小到初中的班级和师范班。聂乐信的奉献精神非常可贵：她把丹麦信义会发给她的每年1400元大洋的生活费全部交给学校作为运营费用。她曾为女校编写过《圣歌选编》，收录欧美各国赞美《圣经》的诗歌200多首。她还根据马丁·路德的《基督教五要问签》为蓝本，编著了《基督教五要选读》《基督教五要便览》，1920-1925年出版了《圣经易记》两册等，成为在近代中国东北开展传教活动的早期著名的、全面发展的传教士之一。
1927年，基督教信义会哈尔滨教会信徒吴柏祥声明办中国人自办的教会，脱离丹麦差会（因为当时在东北的大多数教会，都属于丹麦差会），成立中华基督教会。聂乐信虽为未公开发表言论支持，却赞成崇正女校校长姜宝珍（曾留学丹麦、英国，是当时著名的幼儿教育家），与吴结婚。
1929年，聂乐信加入中国国籍，丹东孤山绅士曾赠送聂乐信一块金字横匾，上书：“名扬中外”，祝贺她成为中国人。聂乐信常面向妇女行医，日就诊患者有时高达百人。
“二战”结束后丹麦信义会遣华传道士大多相约回国。“聂乐信认为自己是中国人，不离中国。1947年丹东实行土地改革，聂乐信的成分被划为“地主”，因为她在孤山镇的土地比较多，包括学校、教堂等房地产也不少，至今还在，所以她被“打土豪、分田地”，财产被分，留下来帮助她的两位丹麦女传道士卜思温和陈乐实被拘禁，不久释放后也匆匆回国，她从此孑然一身。1949年新政府落实宗教政策，归还她一座教堂、一个果园（现在属于丹东市孤山镇基督教活动点，即孤山镇教会）、一个池塘和四头奶牛。据《辽宁省志·宗教志》说，人民政府安排了她晚年的生活。
1960年2月，年事已高的她走路失足（这里的路由于是山路），跌伤臂骨，加之年迈体衰，此次卧床不起，同年7月荣归主怀，享年89岁。她逝世后被安葬于风景秀丽的大孤山下，终生未婚。信徒们作歌缅怀：“其功与山岳并存兮，其质与金银同贵；千秋万代留芳名兮，虽死犹生。”至今，在孤山镇的民众中，有许多不管信主和不信主的、老年人或青年人都念念不忘的称赞聂乐信为孤山镇留下的杏梅、学校等宝贵遗产，还是继续尊称她为聂乐信教士。
2023年3月12日主日的下午，我和原丹东市基督教三自爱国运动委员会主席、老传道人张兴牧师、师母、元宝山教会负责人张丽明牧师、孤山镇基督教会负责人孙雪慧姊妹、李弟兄一行六人，前往位于大孤山国家森林公园聂乐信教士的墓地瞻仰。我们有幸成为外地到墓地的第一批基督徒。
现在这座墓地实际是空墓，因为在动乱时期原来的墓被毁掉，荡然无存。当地历史研究员指认，几乎就是在原址修建、立碑勒石以志纪念。
她的墓地四周是淡黄色的矮围墙，在大约是朝南的方向留有一个进出的缺口。这是一座白色、隆起而平顶的坟墓，既不是常见的欧洲墓地样式，也不是常见的基督徒墓地的样式，与中国北方的尖顶土丘墓也有区别，而是带有明代一般百姓坟墓的特点：锥形、平顶。墓前正东方向有一统不大的石碑，正面镌刻有“聂乐信之墓”的烫金隶书大字，背面有记载她传福音和做爱心善举事迹的碑文。
（福音时报特约撰稿人于辽宁省丹东市）
大孤山山麓缅怀前辈聂乐信
Nie Lexin (Nielsen Ellen, 1871–1961), at the age of 28, was sent to China by the Danish Lutheran Church as one of the first group of female missionaries.
Much information on the Internet indicates that she is Danish. However, according to the Religious Chronicles of Liaoning Provincial Chronicles, edited by the Liaoning Provincial Local Chronicles Compilation Committee Office, she was a "Hispanic Chinese." Ellen was born in Baynica, Spain, and her family moved back to Denmark thereafter. She was a graduate of the Danish Nursing Academy. In 1897, she came to Gushan, Dandong, where she was substantially devoted to missionary work and charity. Ellen later became a Chinese citizen. She was a respected pioneer and influential figure in Christianity in Liaoning.
In 1929, Ellen decided to renounce her Danish nationality. She officially obtained her Chinese citizenship in 1931, and her registered name was "Nie Lexin." The name is probably related to the motto of the Danish Lutheran Church, which is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 5:36, “Bu yao pa, zhi yao xin.” (which means "Don't be afraid, just believe.") She was born into poverty and had deep sympathy for the poor. She raised funds from Denmark to buy land, merged and expanded several institutions, and founded Chongzheng Girls' School (Nielsen's Family Village). It housed hundreds of children from poor families in northeast China and North Korea.
In 1921, she founded the Chongzheng Poverty Relief Center, where men were organized to work in farm fields and in construction. There were a silk weaving department and a women's public welfare department in place to teach women about hand embroidery, making daily necessities, doing housework, and babysitting. She paid these workers accordingly and provided support for people with disabilities. Her ministry provided employment opportunities for many local people and evangelized to them. By 1938, the Relief Center owned 5,860 hectares of arable land and had adopted 370 people. She has no biological children but many "spiritual ones.”
Ellen was one of the early missionaries of the Danish Lutheran Church in Northeast China in modern times. She practiced medicine, established schools, and helped orphans as well as children. While introducing Christianity to Northeast China, she also brought western scientific and cultural knowledge to the local communities.
Chongzheng Girls' School, founded by Nielsen Ellen, started with kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and teacher training classes. Ellen's sacrifice was rare. She gave the school her annual living expenses of 1,400 yuan from the Danish Lutheran Church as operating expenses. She edited Selected Hymns for the Girls’ School. The hymnal collected more than 200 hymns from Europe and the United States on the theme of the Bible. Based on Martin Luther's Small and Large Catechisms, she wrote a short catechism and a guide on the five essentials of Christianity. From 1920 to 1925, she published two volumes of Easy to Remember the Bible. (transliteration of Shengjing Yijing.) She became one of the most well-known and well-rounded missionaries of the early stage who carried out missionary activities in Northeast China in the modern era.
In 1927, Wu Boxiang, a believer in the Christian Lutheran Church in Harbin, declared that he would start a church run by the Chinese, separated from the Danish Mission. Most of the churches in northeast China at that time belonged to the Danish Mission. He then established the Chinese Christian Church. Although Nie Lexin did not give supporting remarks publicly, she was in favor of the marriage of Wu and Jiang Baozhen, the principal of Chongzheng Girls' School, who had studied in Denmark and the United Kingdom and was a famous early childhood educator at the time.
Ellen became a Chinese citizen in 1929. A gentleman from Gushan in Dandong presented her with a golden horizontal plaque engraved with "outstanding locally and overseas" to congratulate her on becoming Chinese. She often practiced medicine for women. There were sometimes as many as one hundred patients a day.
After World War II, most of the Danish Lutheran missionaries sent to China returned to their home countries with one another. Nie Lexin considered herself Chinese and never left China. In 1947, Dandong was undergoing land reform. Nie Lexin was classified as a "landlord" because she had plenty of land in Gushan, including real estate such as schools and churches. They still exist today. Because of her background status, she suffered from the movement of "knocking down local tyrants and dividing their property." Her property was divided. The two Danish female missionaries who stayed behind to help her, Bu Siwen and Chen Leshi, were detained. They hurried back to their home country soon after they were released. Ellen had been all alone with nothing ever since. In 1949, the new government implemented the religious policy and returned to her a church and an orchard (which today is the Christian activity site, the Gushan Town Church, in Gushan, Dandong), a pond, and four cows. According to the Religious Chronicles of Liaoning Provincial Chronicles, the people's government arranged for her life in her later years.
In February 1960, at an old age, she fell while walking on a mountain road and broke her arm. She was confined to bed by old age and deteriorating health. She passed away in July of the same year at age 89. She was buried under the beautiful Dagu Mountain and remained unmarried all her life. Believers commemorate her through poems, "Her legacy coexists with the mountains; her work is as valuable as gold and silver; her name will remain known to the generations after; her spirit is alive even though she is gone.” Many people in Gushan today, believers and non-believers, young and old, have never stopped appreciating the legacy she created for Gushan, such as the Gushan apricot and the school. She continues to be honored as Missionary Nie Lexin.
On Sunday afternoon, March 12, 2023, six of us visited the cemetery of the missionary in Dagushan National Forest Park. Besides myself, the visitors included Senior Pastor Zhang Xing, the former chairman of the Dandong Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, his wife, Pastor Zhang Liming, head of Yuanbaoshan Church, as well as Sister Sun Xuehui and Brother Li, the leaders of the Christian Church in Gushan. We had the privilege of being the first non-local Christians to visit the cemetery.
Today, the cemetery has an empty tomb. The original tomb was destroyed during times of turmoil, and nothing remained. Local historical researchers indicated that the current cemetery was built on its original site. A stone monument was erected to commemorate her.
Her cemetery is surrounded by low walls painted light yellow. There is an opening for entry and exit in the southward direction. This is a white, raised, and flat-topped tomb. It is neither a common European nor a Christian tomb style. It is different from the pointed mound tombs in northern China. It is featured with the conical and flat tops of the general public’s tombs in the Ming Dynasty. To the east of the tomb is a small stone tablet. Its front is engraved with "Tomb of Nielsen Ellen" in gilt official script. An inscription about her evangelical ministry and charity is on its back.
(The author is a special writer for the Gospel Times in Dandong City, Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by June I. Chen
In Memory of Pioneer Missionary Nielsen Ellen at the Foot of Dagu Mountain
