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The Divine Word Missionaries in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, 1922–1953: A Bibliographic Note*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2008

BIANCA HORLEMANN
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Extract

Between 1922 and 1953, the German-Dutch Catholic Congregation Societas Verbi Divini, SVD, also known as the Divine Word Missionaries or Steyl Missionaries, sent approximately 90 missionaries to Northwest China. During these three decades, the Divine Word Missionaries established some 30 missionary stations (plus about 100 out-stations) in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 59 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2008

I. Introduction

Between 1922 and 1953, the German-Dutch Catholic Congregation Societas Verbi Divini, SVD, also known as the Divine Word Missionaries or Steyl Missionaries, sent approximately 90 missionaries to Northwest China. During these three decades, the Divine Word Missionaries established some 30 missionary stations (plus about 100 out-stations) in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Several of the Divine Word Missionaries, among them Matthias Hermanns, Dominik Schröder and Johann Frick, had a special interest in ethnological studies.Footnote 1 These and other academic inclinations were usually actively supported by the Steyl Congregation since they not only helped to provide a better understanding of the indigenous populations but also to improve missionary work among them.Footnote 2 Apart from pioneering academic publications, a considerable number of the SVD missionaries in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang have left behind substantial written material in the form of books, articles in missionary journals, reports, letters and diaries, spanning from accounts of their missionary efforts to observations on daily life in Northwest China, on politics, the local economy, religious life and so on. Unfortunately, very few of these sources have received scholarly attention, presumably because most of the material is in German and is not easily accessible. It should be noted, however, that many of the missionary articles have also been published more or less contemporaneously in English in the American missionary journals of the SVD.Footnote 3 Of special interest also are the many photographs that accompany the articles in the missionary journals.

This article strives to provide an overview of the available source materials on and by Divine Word Missionaries. A short introduction to the history of the Steyl missionaries in Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang begins the article which is followed by a chronological table of main events with regard to the SVD missions. It then closes with a bibliographic list of selected published and unpublished material. Due to the preliminary stage of research, it is beyond the scope of this article to provide a comprehensive bibliography. However, further references to additional material are readily found in the sources listed.

II. History of the Steyl Missionaries in Northwest China

The Societas Verbi Divini, SVD, was a fairly new congregation founded by the German Father Arnold Janssen (1837–1909) in 1875 with its motherhouse St Michael located in Steyl, the Netherlands.Footnote 4 Later in 1889, the Convent of St Gabriel in Mödling (near Vienna) in Austria was founded and in 1913 the mission house in St Augustin (near Bonn) in Germany. The latter gradually became the main SVD centre in Germany. The congregation established its first China mission in Shandong Province in 1882 and from there spread to Northwest China in 1922 and to Henan in 1923.

The predecessors of the Steyl missionaries in Northwest China were the Missionaries of Scheut, CICM,Footnote 5 who were based in Scheutveld in Belgium. They had been active in Inner Mongolia since 1865 and then in Northwest China beginning in 1878 when the Vatican officially established the ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Kansu’Footnote 6 which consisted of modern Gansu Province and portions of Qinghai and Xinjiang. When in ca. 1920 it was decided that the Catholic Missionaries of Scheut were to relinquish their missions in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang in order to concentrate their activities in Ningxia and Mongolia, the German Rhenish-Westphalian Capuchins, OFMCap,Footnote 7 as well as the Steyl Missionaries applied to Rome to take responsibility for the Vicariate of Gansu and the Prefecture of Ili. Thus, in March 1922, the newly established ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Kansu Occidentale’, i.e. West Gansu, which comprised the huge area of Ili/Xinjiang, Kokonor, Alashan and the Gansu Corridor down to Lanzhou, was conferred on the Steyl missionaries whereas the German Capuchins took responsibility for mission work in the ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Kansu Orientale’, i.e. East Gansu.Footnote 8

The Steyl missionaries first established their central mission in Xixiang (variant: Sihiang)Footnote 9 near Liangzhou/modern Wuwei. In 1925, the Vicar Apostolic Theodor Buddenbrock (1878–1959) moved his residence to Lanzhou where it remained until 1953. Lanzhou, as the capital of Gansu, was not only of more political and economic importance than Xixiang and Liangzhou but was also more conveniently located with better access to transportation. This decision saved the bishop's residence from the great earthquake of May 23rd 1927 which was followed by a huge flood and mud slide in the Liangzhou area that cost tens of thousands of lives.Footnote 10 Apart from repeatedly occurring natural disasters such as earthquakes and severe droughts followed by famines and epidemics, the SVD missionaries in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang were eyewitness to never ending warfare, banditry and other such events as the explosion of the weapon arsenal in Lanzhou in October 1935.Footnote 11 They gained first hand experience of the frequent political turmoil that had shaken Northwest China since the middle of the nineteenth century and that continued with little respite until the conquest of the area by the Red Army in late 1949. Events the missionaries witnessed, included the murder of the Chinese governor of Xinjiang, Yang Zengxin, in 1928 in Urumqi, the upheaval caused by the Muslim ‘bandit’ Ma Zhongying in the Minzhou area in 1928/1929, and the coup d'etat in Lanzhou in 1931 when the Gansu Governor ad interim, Ma Hongbin, was toppled by General Lei Zhongtian. The missionaries left vivid accounts of the Red Army's arrival in Gansu in 1935/1936 and of the treatment that the missionaries received under the Chinese communists between 1949 and 1953.Footnote 12

During World War II most SVD priests were temporarily concentrated in the missionary stations of Lanzhou, Longxi, Qinzhou, Liangzhou and Ganzhou and were under house arrest. However, they were well treated and many priests could even continue with their missionary work.Footnote 13 The favourable treatment by the political elite of Qinghai and Gansu came to a definite end when, from February 1950 onwards, the new communist rulers started with the imprisonment of Steyl Missionaries who had not been fortunate or wise enough to leave Gansu and Qinghai in time.Footnote 14 The Steyl Mission in Northwest China was officially dissolved in 1953 when the last missionaries were released from prison and thereafter immediately evicted from China.Footnote 15

In 1922 when the first eight Steyl missionaries arrived under the leadership of Theodor Buddenbrock in the Vicariate of West Gansu, four were immediately sent to Urumqi/Dihua, Manass/Suilai, Kuldja/Ningyuan and Suiding in Xinjiang and the other four posted to Xixiang, Liangzhou/Wuwei, Ganzhou/Zhangye and Xining.Footnote 16 The number of missionaries had already doubled to 17 at the end of 1923, a number that slowly but consistently roseFootnote 17 and by 1936 there were 33 missionaries distributed in 26 main stations with altogether ca. 100 out-stations to tend. Until 1953, when the last Steyl missionary was evicted from Northwest China by the Chinese communists, a total of ca. 75 priestsFootnote 18 and 15 brothers had served at more than 30 main stations in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. The majority of main stations, ca. 23, was situated in what is now modern Gansu whereas Qinghai had ca. 9 stations. Xinjiang had only 4 stations.Footnote 19 The people most susceptible to the Christian belief were the Han Chinese whereas the Tibetans and other adherents of Buddhism such as the Mongols and the Monguor/Turen were deemed quite resistant as were the Muslims.Footnote 20 Thus, most of the missionary stations were situated in areas which were mainly populated by Han Chinese, some among the Monguor/Turen and few among the Hui, the Tibetans or the Mongols. The Fathers Matthias Hermanns, Dominik Schröder, Josef Trippner and Oskar Ledermann were among the missionaries who wanted to work among non-Han populations and who not only studied such local languages as Tibetan, Monguor or Mongol but also the local cultures.Footnote 21 They and other Steyl missionaries had undergone academic ethnological training in Germany or Austria before they went to China and they made good use of the opportunities for field research whenever possible. Such priests as Matthias Hermanns, Johann Frick and Franz Eichinger had also received medical training that enabled them to obtain the trust of the local population through successful medical treatment.Footnote 22 Other missionaries, such as Joseph Eierhoff, were interested in archaeology and undertook excavations in their spare time.

In addition to the missionaries with academic inclinations who published books and articles, many others (including the Brothers and the Missionary Sisters of SteylFootnote 23) left behind written testimony of their daily life and experiences in Northwest China. These are found in missionary magazines, in newspaper articles, letters to family and friends, and in diaries. Apart from these published and unpublished accounts which are still plentiful today, there also exist administrative reports and chronicles of the vicariate and the prefectures which served as internal information for the Steyl headquarters. Of the academic articles, many were published in Anthropos, the acclaimed anthropological journal founded by Wilhelm Schmidt SVD in 1906 that still exists today. Non-academic reports of the missionaries on a wide range of topics are available in such missionary magazines as the Steyler Missionsbote, Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern etc.Footnote 24 The bulk of archive material is stored in the Archivum Generale of the SVD in Rome, but scattered documents can also be found in the Missionswissenschaftliche Bibliothek of the Steyl Congregation in St Augustin. In addition, it is difficult to assess the amount of private correspondence, diaries and notes of the missionaries that might still be in the possession of their respective families.

Although a majority of the above mentioned sources relate to missionary efforts and daily missionary life in Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai from 1922 to ca. 1950, a considerable amount of the material also contains observations on the political, socio-economic and ethnic situation in these areas and describes, for example, the relationship of the SVD priests to the local governments, to other Christian missions and to foreign explorers travelling in China's north-western border area.

With regard to the relationship between the Steyl missionaries and local rulers as, for example, the Ma warlords in Xining and the Chinese officials in Lanzhou, they generally entertained friendly contacts and occasionally met at social functions such as banquets and inaugurations.Footnote 25 At one such occasion, Bishop Buddenbrock also met the 9th Panchen Lama in Lanzhou in 1936.Footnote 26 In times of unrest, the missionaries were even asked to serve as mediators.Footnote 27 It repeatedly occurred that local dignitaries or their families took refuge in mission buildings. For example in 1931, when General Lei Zhongtian toppled the Muslim Gansu governor Ma Hongbin in Lanzhou, Ma's wife and children took refuge at the Steyl mission in Lanzhou for two months. And when in 1936, another coup d'etat happened in Lanzhou in connection with Jiang Jieshi's/Chiang Kaishek's being taken captive by the communists in Xi'an, several Chinese dignitaries sought shelter at the Catholic mission.Footnote 28 In return, in 1936, the Catholic mission in Lanzhou received local government aid as reparations for damages suffered by the mission buildings after the explosion of the weapon depot in 1935. However, although in general the missionaries were highly esteemed for providing medical aid, running schools and orphanages and doing technical repair work, they also had to deal with resistance and even open hostility from individual officials and influential personalities. The Catholic schools, for example, were especially targeted by official scrutiny and were occasionally closed.Footnote 29

Apart from having irregular but mostly friendly contact with the missions of the German and Spanish Capuchins in their ‘neighbourhood’, the SVD priests occasionally entertained relations with their counterparts from the Protestant missions, although very loosely. The Catholic and Protestant missionaries usually avoided each other as best as they could, even at places where they were the only westerners.Footnote 30 There was a feeling of competition and SVD missionaries often envied the Protestant missionaries for allegedly having more funds at their disposal than they had. Some of the Protestant missionary societies such as the British China Inland Mission, CIM, or the American Christian and Missionary Alliance, C&MA, had been active in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang since the late nineteenth century and most of their missions had been well established long before the Steyl missionaries arrived.Footnote 31 In such places as Danka'er/Hongyuan, Minzhou/Minxian or Taozhou it was quite difficult for the Catholic missionaries to proselytise successfully especially since they could not offer any special services such as schools, hospitals, orphanages or dispensaries as in Lanzhou or Xining. However, in their competition for converts, the Divine Word Missionaries apparently profited from the fact that most of the Protestant missionaries left their mission stations in 1927 because of rising nationalism and anti-foreign sentiment in China which was also explicitly directed against missionaries. Despite the many threats and attacks against Christian institutions, most Catholic missionaries remained in their missions.Footnote 32

Albeit their competition and the fact that the Protestant and Catholic missionaries did not hold each other in high esteem,Footnote 33 they did occasionally cooperate, as for instance, when they were asked to serve as mediators in peace talksFootnote 34 and in the so-called Famine Relief Committee in Lanzhou.Footnote 35

Furthermore, the SVD missionary stations were popular with western travellers who frequently availed themselves of their hospitality and assistance. For example, Sven Hedin was assisted by P. P. Hillbrenner and Veldman while travelling in East Turkistan in 1928Footnote 36 and Father Volpert in Minzhou was visited by two members of Sven Hedin's fourth expedition to Northwest China in spring 1931, namely by Dr Hummel and Mr Bockenkamp.Footnote 37 Not much later, the 30 members of the French Citroen Central Asia expedition were welcomed as guests of the Steyl Missionaries in Lanzhou, Xixiang/Liangzhou and Ganzhou between November and December 1931.Footnote 38 In 1926–27 and 1935–37, the German explorer Wilhelm Filchner (1877–1957)Footnote 39 received much support from SVD missionaries while en route to East Turkistan and Tibetan areas. Filchner often stayed as a guest at SVD missions as, for instance, in Kuldja/Ningyuan, Urumqi, Lanzhou and Xining, and used some of the stations as his base while preparing for his expeditions.Footnote 40 Furthermore, during Filchner's 1935–37 expedition through West Gansu and South Xinjiang, Brother Gervasius (Heinrich Haak) SVD accompanied him as assistant and interpreter from Lanzhou all the way to India.Footnote 41 Also the German publicist Edmund Fürholzer was assisted by SVD missionaries, especially by Father Hermanns and Father Senge, while travelling in Gansu in summer 1936.Footnote 42

III. In Lieu of a Conclusion

As mentioned in the introduction, the Steyl material has remained largely unnoticed by researchers, although its great diversity should prove fruitful to scholars of history, missiology and cross cultural studies. At the present stage of research it is too early to draw valid conclusions about major contributions or possible impacts of the Steyl missionaries with regard to the socio-economic, political or religious life in China's northwestern provinces. Thus, in lieu of a conclusion, I would like to draw the reader's attention to a few aspects worthy of future studies.

The Steyl missionaries arrived in Northwest China at a time when a wide range of modernisation efforts were initiated by the provincial and local governments in the area of commerce, industrialisation, transportation, education and so on. A comparative study of these endeavours from the point of view of the missionaries – including possible contributionsFootnote 43 and impediments – seems promising in light of the modern Xibu da kaifa campaign. Furthermore, material of the Steyl missionary sisters is of value to the field of gender studies, for instance, with regard to the impact of Catholic girl schools and orphanages on female education and professional occupation as well as missionary sisters as role models.Footnote 44 In the field of cross-cultural studies, the various articles by missionaries on medical issuesFootnote 45 invite studies concerning the contributions of the missions' medical work to local health systems and – vice versa – possible influences of local traditional medicine on western medical thinking.

With regard to missionary strategies the SVD missions apparently differed in certain aspects from their Catholic predecessors, the Congregation of Scheut. For example, the CICM practice of holding real estate and of leasing farmland to converts was gradually abandoned.

Apart from general policies that distinguished most Protestant and Catholic missionaries throughout China in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century such as the wearing of Chinese style clothes by Catholic missionaries and their often very modest living conditions in remote stations, the question of how the SVD missions specifically compared to those of the Protestant missionary societies in Northwest China, begs further research. Foreign travellers to Northwest China repeatedly commented on the often low educational background of Protestant missionaries compared to their Catholic counterparts and on the thinly veiled theological disunity among Protestant sects.Footnote 46 It should be noted, however, that, similar to the Steyl missionaries, the Scheutists and the Protestant missionary societies in Northwest China remain under-researched, and more comprehensive and comparative studies constitute a major desideratum for future examination.

IV. Chronological Table of Main Events with regard to the SVD Missions

The following Chronological Table lists events of major relevance for the history of the Steyl missionaries in Northwest China. The early stage of research renders this table tentative and only very general information is provided. It is hoped, however, that it will facilitate contextualising the development of the SVD missions in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang in the course of the history of the first half of the twentieth century.

The overall situation in China's northwest in the 1920s when the Steyl missionaries arrived, bore both resemblances to and distinctions from central and coastal China. After the fall of the Manchu Empire in 1911/1912, the population throughout China suffered - although to different degrees - from warlordism and banditry, from major natural disasters and from economic hardship. But, apart from these common experiences, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang were still somewhat detached from the political and economic developments in the rest of China owing to strong political conservatism. Progressive political ideas as presented by the Guomindang/Kuomintang and the communists only gradually trickled in and the rise of nationalist and anti-foreign sentiment lagged behind. For example, the peak of anti-foreign and anti-missionary sentiment was obviously reached in Northwest China only in the mid-1930s. Factional strife among the Chinese warlords in the 1920s helped the Muslim warlords in Northwest China, and especially in Qinghai, to enlarge their own sphere of influence. Thus, Ma Qi and his family members rose to a prominent position in Qinghai starting in about 1912 and they remained in power until 1949. Simultaneously, the governors of Gansu eventually changed from Manchu officials, President Yuan Shikai's and warlord Feng Yuxiang's appointees to Guomindang representatives. In Xinjiang, the former Qing official Yang Zengxin was appointed governor in 1912 and murdered in a plot by his subordinates in 1928. He was then succeeded by one of his assassins, Jin Shuren, who was both incapable and unpopular. Jin was finally replaced by the Xinjiang militarist Sheng Shicai whose position was retrospectively acknowledged by the Guomindang in 1934. Sheng Shicai relied heavily on Soviet military and financial aid and mostly ignored orders from Nanjing. Nevertheless, he managed to stay in power until 1944. Thus, even after Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kaishek had consolidated his power base in Nanjing and claimed to rule a unified China, he was unable to exercise substantial control in China's northwest and depended to a large extent on the voluntary cooperation of local potentates.Footnote 47

For the missionaries, constantly changing rulers meant that they had to establish good relations with the local officials regardless of their political affiliations since they could not rely on a distant central government. In this regard the Steyl missionaries were quite successful in Qinghai and to a certain degree also in Gansu, but much less so in Xinjiang, especially after Xinjiang came under strong Soviet influence after the mid-1930s.

Chronology

  1. 2 June 1878: Vicariate Apostolic of Gansu erected.

  2. 28 April 1905: Vicariate Apostolic of North Gansu/Kansu Settentrionale and South Gansu/Kansu Meridionale erected.

  3. 1 January 1912: Republic of China founded.

  4. 1912: Beginning of Ma Qi's political and military career in Qinghai; appointment of former Qing official Yang Zengxin as governor of Xinjiang.

  5. 1913: Zhang Guangjian, former general under Yuan Shikai, appointed Gansu Governor.

1916–1928: Warlord-Era in China

  1. December 1920: Lu Hongtao, former subordinate of Zhang Guangjian, appointed Military Governor of Gansu Province.

  2. 8 March 1922: Vicariate Apostolic of North Gansu changed to West Gansu/Kansu Occidentale comprising Xinjiang/Ili, Kokonor, Alashan and the Gansu Corridor down to Lanzhou.

  3. 1922: Vicariate Apostolic of East Gansu erected in Tianshui/Qinzhou under German Capuchins lead by Bishop Walleser.

  4. 21 April 1922: Arrival of first Steyl missionaries, ie Father Buddenbrock and Father Götsch, in Xixiang/Liangzhou.

  5. 27 August 1923: Theodor Buddenbrock appointed Apostolic Administrator.

  6. November 1923: Departure of the last Missionaries of Scheut from Gansu.

  7. 1924: Rise of General Feng Yuxiang as warlord in North China.

  8. 1924: German Capuchins put focus of missionary work on Qinzhou/Tianshui and ceded Longxi, Zhangxian and Minxian/Minzhou to Steyl missionaries, and Pingliang to Spanish Capuchins; 5 decanatus erected in Gansu: Lanzhou, Longxi, Liangzhou, Ganzhou and Xining.

  9. 25 November 1924: Theodor Buddenbrock appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of West Gansu.

  10. 03 December 1924: Vicariate Apostolic of West Gansu changed to Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou.

  11. June 1925: Theodor Buddenbrock consecrated as bishop.

  12. 15 August 1925: Bishop Buddenbrock moved residence from Xixiang/Liangzhou to Lanzhou.

  13. 1925: 18 SVD priests and 4 brothers in charge of 18 main stations and ca. 50 out-stations in Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou.

  14. 1925: Gansu Governor Lu Hongtao suffered stroke and left Gansu; Warlord Feng Yuxiang's subordinate Liu Yufen entered Gansu with Guominjun troops and became new de facto ruler.

  15. 1926: Northern Expedition of Guomindang [GMD]/Kuomintang started.

  16. January 1927: Arrival of the first Missionary Sisters of Steyl (SSpS/Servae Spiritus Sancti) in Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou.

  17. 23 May 1927: Heavy earthquake in Liangzhou area (followed by severe flooding on June 16th) with casualties amounting to several tens of thousands; heavy damages in SVD missions such as Liangzhou, Xixiang, Henanba, Gulang and Tumenzi.

  18. 1927: Protestant missionaries called back from Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang by their respective embassies because of rising anti-foreign sentiment throughout China; the Catholic missionaries stayed; also anti-missionary demonstrations in Xining initiated by Feng Yuxiang's followers.

  19. 1927: Vicarius delegatus appointed for Xinjiang missions in Urumqi, Manass, Kuldja and Suiding.

  20. 1927/28: ‘Muslim’ rebellion in Liangzhou/Wuwei and rising anti-Feng Yuxiang sentiment among Muslim warlords of Gansu and Qinghai; ‘Muslim bandit’ Ma Zhongying, relative of Warlord Ma Qi, started anti-Feng Yuxiang campaign wreaking havoc in several Gansu and Qinghai locales.

  21. 1927 to 1928: 31 missionaries (priests and brothers) in Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou.

  22. 1928–1937: “Decennium of Nanking” of Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-shek.

  23. 7 July 1928: Xinjiang governor Yang Zengxin murdered in Urumqi; Jin Shuren appointed successor.

  24. 17 October 1928: Qinghai Province established; Gansu official and former Feng Yuxiang subordinate Sun Lianzhong appointed Qinghai governor.

  25. 1929: Steyl and Protestant missionaries work together in Famine Relief Committee in Lanzhou.

  26. 1929: Feng Yuxiang's warlord career ended, Sun Lianzhong resigned as Qinghai governor and replaced Liu Yufen as Gansu governor; also Sun's representative Gao Shuxun retreated from Xining; Ma warlords in Northwest China received GMD appointments.

  27. Late 1929: Commencement of work on new bishop's residence in Lanzhou.

  28. September 1929 to April 1931: Journey of Bishop Buddenbrock to Europe and the USA in order to collect funds.

  29. 6 January 1930: Ma Qi appointed Qinghai governor by GMD.

  30. 14 February1930: Xinjiang elevated to an independent mission area as Regio Sinkiang with Father Loy appointed as head of mission; however, due to the Muslim revolts in Xinjiang, he could only take up his duty in 1934.

  31. 1930: Repeated verbal attacks by leading Guomindang members in Lanzhou on the Catholic missionaries including the demand to leave; however, by order of general Lei (Zhongtian?) in Lanzhou Christian missionaries were to be protected and supported by the government.

  32. Spring/Summer 1930: Wang Zhen/Beifan appointed new governor of Gansu.

  33. Until 1931: 38 SVD priests and 10 brothers served in the Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou.

  34. 5 August 1931: Ma Qi died; his brother Ma Lin appointed new Qinghai governor ad interim.

  35. January to August 1931: Muslim Ma Hongbin new Gansu governor ad interim in Lanzhou; General Lei Zhongtian rebelled and took Ma Hongbin captive; at that occasion, Ma's family sought shelter at the SVD mission in Lanzhou for two months.

  36. 1931: French Citroen expedition guest of SVD missions in Lanzhou, Xixiang/Liangzhou and Ganzhou.

  37. 1931: The Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou consisted of four decanatus: Lanzhou, Xining, Liangzhou and Ganzhou; Xinjiang divided into two decanatus: Urumqi/Dihua and Ningyuan/Kuldja.

  38. April 1932: With arrival of GMD troops in Lanzhou, General Lei Zhongtian ousted and Shao Lizi, followed by Deng Baoshan, appointed new governor of Gansu until arrival of Zhu Shaoliang in 1934.

  39. 1932: SVD mission in Xining founded officially recognised elementary school.

  40. 1933: Inauguration of new Catholic church in Xining.

  41. 1933: New Muslim attack on Dihua/Urumqi; Xinjiang Governor Jin Shuren ousted.

  42. 1933: Appointment of General Sun Dianying as commissioner in Qinghai by Nanjing government strongly objected by Qinghai Governor Ma Lin and future Gansu Governor Zhu Shaoliang; military conflict with Sun's army ensued.

  43. 1933–34: Mission's estate in Henanba/near Liangzhou sold.

  44. 1934: Sun Dianying retreated with army from Northwest; Ma Bufang, son of Ma Qi, and Ma Buqing, son of Ma Lin, appointed army generals by Nanjing government.

  45. 1934: Founding of the Progressive Society for the Construction of the Northwest/Xibei jianshe zujinhui by Gansu governor Zhu Shaoliang; thereafter, Reconstruction Commission for China's Northwest, founded by the Nanjing government, paid visits to Lanzhou and Xining.

  46. March 1934: Xinjiang militarist Sheng Shicai appointed new Xinjiang governor.

  47. 27 May 1934: Capuchin mission in Qinzhou attacked and plundered by Chinese pro-communist and/or pro-Guomindang youth and soldiers.

  48. After 1934: Proposal by Xinjiang missionaries to close their stations due to lack of success, rejected by Vatican.

  49. 1935: Work of Missionary Sisters of Steyl commenced in Qinghai missions.

  50. 1935: Capuchins in Qinzhou under pressure by local government and school ministry which closed Catholic schools.

  51. 15 August to 10 September 1935: Capuchins from Qinzhou took refuge in Lanzhou due to anti-missionary threats.

  52. 1935: German explorer Wilhelm Filchner guest of SVD mission in Lanzhou for several weeks while preparing his new expedition.

  53. 20 October 1935: Explosion of weapon depot in Lanzhou destroyed part of the city and some mission buildings.

  54. November and December 1935: Zhu Shaoliang replaced by Yu Xuezhong as Gansu governor.

  55. 1935/36: Arrival of Red Army in Tibetan areas of Sichuan and in South Gansu during Long March.

  56. 1936: New Catholic girls' school established.

  57. 1936: 33 SVD priests and 7 brothers on duty in Gansu tending 26 main stations and 155 out-stations.

  58. 1936: Father Bromkamp in Minzhou witnesses siege by Red Army.

  59. May 1936: Ma Lin on sick leave for six months (and later on hadsch to Mecca); Ma Bufang appointed Qinghai governor ad interim.

  60. July 1936: Journey of German journalist and author E. Fürholzer in Gansu with assistance of the Steyl missionaries.

  61. 14 November 1936: Xixiang mission near Liangzhou plundered by Red Army on Long March; missionaries fled into Qilian Mountains.

  62. December 1936: Military coup in Lanzhou in connection with Jiang Jieshi's/Chiang Kai-shek's being taken captive by the communists in Xian.

  63. 1936/37: SVD priests in Qinghai requested by the Chinese central government to leave missionary stations because of the growing communist threat; however, the missionaries preferred to stay.

  64. 4 February 1937: ‘Prefecture Apostolic of Sining’ erected.

  65. April 1937: Delegation from Lhasa arrives in Xining in search of the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.

Chongqing Era of GHD/KHT government

  1. 12 November 1937: Father Hyeronimus Haberstroh appointed prefect of Xining.

  2. December 1937: Zhu Shaoliang appointed Gansu governor for second time.

  3. 1938: Xinjiang elevated to Prefecture Apostolic.

  4. 2 March 1938: Ma Bufang officially appointed new governor of Qinghai; started new ambitious reform programme for Qinghai.

  5. 13 July 1939: Five SVD Xinjiang missionaries imprisoned for 18 months by Xinjiang Governor Sheng Shicai who ruled with support of Soviets; two Xinjiang missionaries, P. Haberl and P. Golomb had previously left for Rome via India.

  6. 19 August 1939: All Steyl missionaries from Gansu (with the exception of the missionaries from Liangzhou and Ganzhou) were concentrated in Longxi, allegedly for protection against the Japanese air attacks; the American and British missionaries were allowed to stay in their respective missions.

  7. September to December 1939: Lanzhou missionaries were successively allowed to return to Lanzhou.

  8. December 1940: Zhu Shaoliang replaced by Gu Zhenglun as Gansu governor.

  9. 1940/1941: 50 Steyl priests and brothers in Regio Kansu Occidentalis distributed onto 27 main stations; thereof, 34 priests/brothers in Gansu, 11 in Qinghai and 5 in Xinjiang.

  10. February 1941: Former SVD Xinjiang missionaries, i.e. Fathers Loy, Hillbrenner, Moritz, Mötter and von Oirschot, were released from prison and evicted to Lanzhou; they never returned to Xinjiang.

  11. December 1941: After China declared war on Germany, the German Gansu missionaries were sent to concentration camps in Lanzhou, Tianshui/Qinzhou, Longxi, Liangzhou and Ganzhou; the Qinghai missionaries were partly concentrated in Xining, partly exempted.

  12. March 1942: The Qinghai missionaries Hermanns in Xintianpu, Ternay in Datong and Kube in Huzhu were forced to leave their stations and to return to Xining; however, missionary work in Xining was not impeded.

  13. May 1942: The Qinghai missionaries were allowed to return to their respective stations.

  14. August 1942: Visit of Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-shek in Xining on his northwest inspection tour.

  15. 1942–1944: The Gansu missionaries were allowed to continue their work in the five concentration camp areas.

  16. 1944: Kazakh and Uighur independence movement in Xinjiang; founding of East Turkistan Republic.

  17. Autumn 1944: Former Soviet troops in Xinjiang replaced by GMD troops; GMD representative Wu Zhongxin appointed new governor of Xinjiang.

Interlude between World War II and the Establishment of PRC

  1. June 1945: Meeting of US General Wedemeyer with Bishop Buddenbrock in Lanzhou.

  2. September 1945: Journey of Buddenbrock to Chongqing in order to ask for official release of missionaries from concentration camps.

  3. 11 April 1946: The Vicariate Apostolic of Lanzhou elevated to Archdiocese of Lanzhou (Archidioecesis Lanceuvensis) and Bishop Buddenbrock appointed Archbishop.

  4. 1946: Gu Zhenglun replaced by Guo Jiqiao as Gansu governor.

  5. June 1947: Father Ternay rented apartment in Guide/Tib. Khrikha with intention to start new mission for converting Tibetans.

  6. April 1948: Liberation Army started to press into Northwest China.

  7. 17 December 1948: Siege of Lanzhou by Liberation Army.

Communists established control over Northwest China

  1. First half 1949: Some SVD missionaries left Gansu and Qinghai, others did not succeed due to the lack of plane tickets.

  2. July 1949: Guo Jiqiao replaced by Ding Yizhong and Wang Shitai as short term Gansu governors.

  3. 26 August 1949: Liberation Army occupied Lanzhou; Ma Bufang had already left by plane and his troops dispersed.

  4. 5 September 1949: Liberation Army entered Xining and met with no resistance; former Qinghai army dissolved.

  5. 30 October 1949: Father Haas murdered by Tibetan robbers when attempting to flee from approaching communists (together with Father Eichinger) from Danka'er/Huangyuan to the Tibetan nomad area.

  6. January 1950: Deng Baoshan's second term as Gansu governor; Ma Hongbin appointed vice-governor; both were old friends of Steyl missionaries, but both had no real political power.

  7. 28 February to 30 April 1950: Father Senge imprisoned by communists.

  8. 1951: Missionaries in Qinghai under rising pressure by new communist government.

  9. 25 September 1951 to 13 February 1953: Steyl missionaries taken captive in Lanzhou (either under house arrest or in prison), later deported.

  10. 24 April 1952: Missionaries Haberstroh, Ternay and Trippner arrested in Xining.

  11. 1953: Steyl missions in Gansu and Qinghai dissolved.

SVD missionaries assembled in Liangzhou at the occasion of P. Volpert's (second from left, first row) 80th birthday, Dec. 12, 1943.

9th Panchen Lama (centre) paying a visit to Archbishop Buddenbrock SVD (first left) at his residence in Lanzhou, 1935/36.

Mongolian nomads in Qinghai, 1920s/30s.

Children working in a coal mine, Gansu 1920s/30s.

Catholic church in Liangzhou/Wuwei, 1920s/30s.

View from Lanzhou to opposite bank of Huanghe River, 1920s/30s.

Girls at work in SVD orphanage (in Xixiang/Liangzhou?), 1929.

Footnotes

*

The author would like to thank P. Bosold SVD of the Archivum Generale in Rome and the staff of the Missionswissenschaftliche Bibliothek of the Steyl Congregation in St Augustin/Germany for their valuable assistance and the Gerda Henkel Foundation for providing a generous grant to enable this research.

In this text Chinese words are usually transcribed using the modern Chinese pinyin system, e.g. Gansu instead of Kansu. However, in such terms as ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Kansu Occidentale’, the transcription system used by the missionaries and/or by the Vatican is retained.

1 For a short biography and a comprehensive bibliography of Hermanns' rich academic work see D. Schröder SVD, ‘P. Matthias Hermanns SVD (1899–1972)’, Anthropos 67 (Reference Schröder1972), pp. 1–8. See also the obituaries for Dominik Schröder by A. Burgmann, ‘P. Dominik Schröder SVD (1910–1974)’, Anthropos 70 (Reference Burgmann1975), pp. 1–4 and for Johann Frick by A. Quack SVD, ‘Johann Frick (1903–2003)’, Anthropos 98 (Reference Quack2003), pp. 521–525 as well as the more detailed account by Quack, ‘Missionar und Ethnologe. Zum 90. Geburtstag von P. Johann Frick SVD’, Anthropos 89 (Reference Quack1994), pp. 3–13.

2 The curriculum of the Theological Seminar in St Gabriel not only included philosophical and theological studies but also put much stress on linguistics, ethnology and religious history. Many courses in St Gabriel were taught by well-known university professors from the University of Vienna and several future missionaries also enrolled in proper university courses and later obtained doctorates. See Schröder 67 (Reference Schröder1972), p. 2, Quack 98 (Reference Quack2003), p. 522 and F. Bornemann SVD, Geschichte unserer Gesellschaft (Rome, 1981), pp. 108–111.

3 See, for example, The Christian Family and Our Missions.

4 In the 1870s the foundation of a mission house in Germany was made impossible by the ongoing Kulturkampf, i.e. the conflict between the Catholic Church and the state of Prussia. Janssen then chose a location in the Netherlands close to the German border for his first mission house.

5 Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae, Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as Missionhurst-CICM in the USA. On the history of the congregation see, for example, D. Verhelst/N. Pycke, C.I.C.M. Missionaries Past and Present 1862–1987 (Leuven, 1995).

6 In 1696 the Vatican established nine vicariates for missionary work in China with Shaanxi and Gansu belonging to the Vicariate Apostolic of Peking under the Franciscans. By the mid-17th century the Jesuit Etienne Faber (variants: Févre, Lefévre, Fabro) had reportedly founded missions in Liangzhou/modern Wuwei, Lanzhou and Qinzhou/modern Tianshui and had conducted religious debates with Buddhist monks in front of the viceroy of Lanzhou. Thereafter, during the Kangxi (1662–1723) or Yongzheng era (1723–1736), the Franciscans seem to have been presented land in Xixiang near Liangzhou by an exiled imperial prince. From 1723 to 1736, the two Franciscans Maoletti (1669–1725) and Ottaiano (?-?) are supposed to have secretly served in Lanzhou and Liangzhou. Later, Gansu and Ili/Xinjiang became part of the Vicariate of Shaanxi which was established in 1844. In 1878 Gansu and Ili/Xinjiang were officially conferred as missions onto the CICM congregation which then opened its main station in Xixiang apparently on the estate that had been previously presented to the Catholic Church during the seventeenth century. The Vicariate was divided into a ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Kansu Settentrionale’ and an ‘Apostolic Prefecture of Kansu Meridionale’, i.e. of North and South Gansu, in 1905. After World War I, the missionaries of Scheut suffered from a lack of priests and funds for their China missions resulting in a decision to give up the Vicariate of Gansu and to focus on Ningxia and Mongolia where they had begun missionary work in 1865. Among the CICM missionaries, Louis J. M. Schram (1883–1958) is especially renowned for his pioneering ethnological studies on the Monguor/Turen and other local populations in the Xining area of modern Qinghai Province. See Steyler Missionsbote June/July (1922), pp. 77–78, J. Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (manuscript, 1953), pp. 11–13; Buddenbrock SVD, Kansu Chronik (manuscript, 1953?), pp. 1–2, G. Hillbrenner (?) SVD, Sinkiang Chronik (manuscript, 1958?), p. 4, Verhelst/Pycke (1995), pp. 168–169, Li Fengchun 李 逢 春, Xining shihua 西 宁 史 话 (Beijing 2006), pp. 124–125.

7 Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum

8 The Capuchins established their main station in Qinzhou/modern Tianshui under the leadership of the Vicar Apostolic Salvator Petrus Walleser in 1922. In 1924 the Capuchin vicariate was reduced in area and renamed ‘Vicariate Apostolic of Tsinchow [Qinzhou]’. Since the Capuchins preferred to concentrate their missionaries in a few places rather than spreading out, they ceded Longxi, Zhangxian and Minxian/Minzhou in South Gansu to the Steyl missionaries in 1924 and the Prefecture Apostolic of Pingliang to the Spanish Capuchins in 1930. See Buddenbrock SVD, Kansu Chronik (manuscript, 1953?), p. 2.

9 The Catholic Church apparently owned property in Xixiang after one of the Kangxi era princes presented it to the Franciscans in the seventeenth century (see n. 1). It served as the central CICM mission and was thereafter ‘inherited’ by the Steyl missionaries.

10 Some sources speak of more than 100,000 victims. In these events most of the mission's buildings in the Liangzhou area were either heavily damaged or totally destroyed. See, for example, Steyler Missionsbote, February (1927–28), p. 17, March (1928), p. 82.

11 The explosion on October 20th 1935 caused ca. 2,000 casualties and destroyed part of the city and many missionary buildings in Lanzhou; see W. Filchner, Bismillah! Vom Huang-ho zum Indus (Leipzig, 1938), p. 37, Kansu Echo 1937(?), p. 22, Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern 3 May/June (1936), p. 43.

12 Several accounts by SVD missionaries on the two events are found in the Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang chronicles, in various articles in the Steyler Missionsbote, in J. Trippner(?), Tsinghai-Bericht (manuscript, 1951?), in the Kansu Echo etc.

13 After the outbreak of World War II the Chinese government ordered concentrating all Steyl missionaries from Gansu in Longxi, but since the camp was not ready when they arrived, most missionaries were allowed to return to their former stations shortly thereafter. However, when China declared war on Germany in December 1941, most Gansu missionaries were once again called back from their stations in order to be put under rather loose house arrest in the stations of Ganzhou, Liangzhou, Lanzhou, Longxi and Qinzhou/Tianshui. The Qinghai missionaries were concentrated in Xining only from about March 1942 to May 1942; see P. Han SVD, ‘Triumph through War and Suffering. The SVD Missions in West Gansu 1922–1953’, Verbum SVD (2003), p. 86 and Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (manuscript, 1953), p. 18.

14 The Steyl missionaries in Xinjiang were imprisoned for political reasons for 18 months from 1939 onwards. They never returned to Xinjiang after their release in Feb. 1941; see Han SVD (Reference Han2003), p. 86 and J. Bromkamp SVD, Mission ohne Maske. 26 Jahre in China (Buxheim, Reference Bromkamp1970), pp. 143–144.

15 The last missionaries to leave China were the Fathers Kube, Cwik and Ternay. See Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (manuscript, 1953), p. 31.

16 They inherited 13 main missions from the Scheutists, however, since the Steyl missionaries were under-staffed and unable to occupy all these stations at once, it was decided that some of the missionaries of Scheut would stay on until the SVD priests had fully settled and received additional staff from their headquarters. Thus, the last CICM missionary left West Gansu on October 30th 1923. See Buddenbrock SVD, Kansu Chronik (manuscript, 1953?), pp. 7–9.

17 In 1925, there were 18 priests and 4 brothers. In 1926 the number of priests had risen to 22 and in 1927/28 to 31 priests and brothers.

18 This number includes ca. 15 Steyl missionaries and brothers who had lost their lives while on duty. Most of those who died, were victims of such epidemics as typhus. See, for example, A. Freitag SVD, Glaubenssaat in Blut und Tränen. Die Missionen der Gesellschaft des göttlichen Wortes in Asien, Afrika, Ozeanien und Amerika am Vorabend des zweiten Weltkrieges (Kaldenkirchen, Reference Freitag1948), p. 147.

19 The number of missionary stations fluctuated over time. In 1940, the missions of the Decanatus Lanchow included the following: (I have supplied all variant spellings of those names which I have found in written records. Many do not have their names recorded in pinyin and I indicate this thus in [pinyin?] 1. Lanzhou (variant: Lanchow) and 2. Xincheng (variant: Sincheng), in the Decanatus Lungsi 1. Longxi (variant: Lungsi), 2. Minxian (variant: Minhsien, former Minzhou/Minchow), 3. (variants: Weitseba, Weidseba, Wei tzu pa) and 4. Zhangxian (variant: Changhsien), in the Decanatus Wuwei 1. Wuwei-Xixiang (variants: Sihsiang, Sihiang), 2. Wuwei/Liangzhou, 3. Tumen (variant: Tumentse), 4. Dongjiapu (variant: Dungdjapu, Dung kia pu), 5. Henanba (variant: Honanba, Honanpa) and 6. [pinyin?] (variant: Chakow, Dsakow, Datsekou), in the Decanatus Kanchow 1. Zhangye/Ganzhou (variant: Changyeh/Kanchow), 2. Xu/Sujiazhuang? (variant: Sükiachwang, Sükiachoang), 3. Gaotai (variant: Kaotai), 4. Zhangye-Shahe (variant: Changyeh-Shacho, Schaho), 5. [Yangfang?] (variant: Jangfang, Chenfan) and 6. [pinyin?] (variant: Sehao). The Praefectura Apostolica de Sining comprised of 1. Xining (variant: Sining), 2. Ledu/Nianbo (variant: Lotu/Nienpai), 3. Heishuizi (variants: Heitzueitze, Heitsuitse, Heedsueedse), 4. Datong xian (variant: Tatunghsien, Datung, Dä-tung) and 5. Huzhu xian (variant: Huchu, Huchuhien), and the Praefectura Apostolica de Sinkiang comprised of the Decanatus Tihwa (Urumtsi) with 1. Dihua/Urumqi (variant: Tihwa/Urumtsi) and 2. Suilai/Manass (variant: Manaß), and the Decanatus Ningyüän (Kuldja) with 1. Ningyuan (variant: Ningyüän/Kuldja) and 2. Suiding (variant: Suiting). See Catalogus Sodalium Societatis Verbi Divini (1941), pp. 157–161.

Before and after 1940, other stations (including out-stations) had been built in Gansu: among them in Gulang (variant: Kulang), Suzhou (variant: Suchow, Süchow), Dongxiang (variant: Dunghiang, Dunghsiang), [pinyin?] (variant: Chengpeikiü, Chengbeitchü), Gongcheng (variant: Kungchang), Taozhou/Lintan (variant: Taochow), Shouyangzhen (variant: Shou-yang-dschen, Schouyangchen, Tschauyang?), Weiyuan (variants: Weiyüän, Weiyüänpu, Wayuenpu), [pinyin?] (variant: Dju-ba), [pinyin?] (variant: Tchiau-dja-se), Yuningpu (variant: Yüningpu), Yongchang (variant: Yungchang, Yungtschang), [pinyin?] (variant: Lintsche), Minluo, Shandan (variant: Shantan) and [pinyin?] (variants: Chenkuanyin, Tscheng-guän-yin). In Qinghai, there were, among others, Ganjiapu (variants: Kandja pu, Kankiapu, Kankiapou, Gändjapu), Xintianpu (variant: Sintienpu) and Luobagou (variant: Loapakou).

20 By 1948, ca. 4,000 people (Han and Turen) had been proselytised by the SVD missionaries in Qinghai whereas in Xinjiang only 739 baptised Christians were counted until the SVD missionaries were first imprisoned and then evicted from Xinjiang in 1939; see Arnoldus 1 (1948), p. 36 and Freitag (Reference Freitag1948), p. 177. In Gansu, in contrast, ca. 13,000 Catholics were counted by 1944; see Freitag (Reference Freitag1948), p. 161. (According to CICM statistics, there were ca. 4,300 Christians in North Gansu and ca. 2,300 in South Gansu in 1920 before the SVD missionaries took over. See Verhelst/Pycke (1995), p. 166). By 1938, no Qinghai Tibetans or Mongols had been converted to the Catholic Church, however, the SVD hospitals and pharmacies/dispensaries were welcomed and frequented by all ethnic groups; see Steyler Missionsbote 8/May (1939), pp. 197–198. The Steyl missionaries also usually entertained friendly relations with the Muslims in their mission areas, but they did not succeed in converting them except for very few singular cases. The intensive efforts by Father Ledermann SVD to convert Mongol nomads in Xinjiang also failed; see Hillbrenner? SVD, Sinkiang Chronik (manuscript, 1958?), p. 6.

21 The first to take up Tibetan studies in 1924 were Father Hesser in Xining and Father Hucklenbruch in Heishuizi. In October 1924, Father Hucklenbruch visited Danka'er/Huangyuan (variant: Tangar) to explore the possibility of establishing a station. However, he could only deplore the lack of means to compete with the Protestant missionaries. It seems that in 1931 Father Bäcker finally opened the station in Danka'er. Nevertheless, in March 1937, Father Volpert felt obliged to propose once again that an independent Tibetan mission be established in Xining or Tangar/Danka'er. Later in 1947, a home was rented in Guide/Tib. Khrikha to start an independent Tibetan mission, but this plan never materialised. See Volpert SVD, letter of March 11th, 1937, p. 2 in AG-SVD 632, Steyler Missionsbote 5/Feb. (1932), p. 98, Steyler Missionsbote 11/Aug. (1925), p. 174, Freundeskreis (eds), Kan-su. Zwischen Gletscher und Wüste (Mödling, 1939), p. 24, Steyler Missionsbote 4, January (1925), p. 62, Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (Reference Ternay1953), p. 21.

22 Eichinger was a trained medical doctor while Hermanns and Frick had only basic medical knowledge that they had obtained in voluntary work as hospital attendants.

23 SSpS/Servae Spiritus Sancti

24 Many of the articles published in the Steyler Missionsbote or Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern were translated into English and then published in such English language missionary journals as The Christian Family and Our Missions (see Bibliography).

25 For instance, on July 1, 1930, Father Müller et al. made a courtesy call on the new general Ma Lin in Lanzhou, and in spring 1931, upon the return of Bishop Buddenbrock to Lanzhou after two years abroad, he was personally welcomed by the mandarin and the general in Lanzhou and invited to a banquet in his honour. In May 1931, the missionaries not only attended the 20th anniversary celebration of the Republic of China, but Bishop Buddenbrock was even asked to address the assembly. See Kansu Echo (1931), p. 21, Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern 10, November/December (1931), p. 93, Steyler Missionsbote October (1931), p. 20. In 1934, Warlord Ma Qi personally congratulated the Divine Word Missionaries on the completion of their new mission buildings and church in Xining and in 1948, Warlord Ma Bufang personally attended the 25th anniversary celebration of the Apostolic Prefect Father Haberstroh in Xining. At about the same time, the Steyl Missionaries presented a silver cup to Ma Bufang's son upon his return as a war hero from the Northwestern front: See Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (manuscript, 1953), pp. 14, 22, Arnoldus 2 (1948), p. 101.

26 See the photograph of the 9th Panchen Lama with Bishop Buddenbrock and Chinese(?) officials sitting at a western style coffee table in Steyler Missionsbote February (1936), p. 115.

27 See, for example, Father Bromkamp in Liangzhou in 1928 or Father Volpert in Minzhou in 1929/1930; Bromkamp SVD (Reference Bromkamp1970), pp. 34–35 and J. Kraus SVD, P. Anton Volpert SVD, 1863–1949, 60 Jahre Missionar in Shantung und Kansu, Analecta (1973), p. 79.

28 See Buddenbrock SVD, Kansu Chronik (manuscript, 1953?), p. 20.

29 However, while SVD schools were closed in Qinghai in 1943 on the grounds of being adverse to the state, the schools in Gansu seem to have thrived at the same time. See Ternay SVD, Tsinghai Chronik (manuscript, 1953), p. 19 and Freitag SVD (Reference Freitag1948), pp. 163, 171. Although Christian orphanages often aroused considerable suspicion and resentment among the Chinese population in other places, it seems - at first glance - that this was less of a problem with regard to the SVD orphanages in Northwest China. Among other things that made the missionaries popular among the local elite and population, were the occasional lending of the mission's motorcars as well as the introduction of new agricultural crops such as sugar beets.

30 For a long, poignant commentary on Protestant and Catholic missionaries and their missionary work in Gansu in 1914 see R. Farrer, On the Eaves of the World, vol. II (London, 1926), pp. 84–95. See also E. Teichman's chapter ‘Some Observations regarding Foreign Missions in the Interior of China’, in Teichman, Travels of a Consular Officer in North-West China (Cambridge, 1921), pp. 197–206 and J. Rock's manuscript ‘Missionaries in West China’, published online by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, easily accessible via www.peopleandplaces.de/joseph_rock_literature.htm. It is, however, noteworthy that Rock himself was accompanied by a Protestant missionary while on his Amnye Machen expedition; see W. Filchner, Om mani padme hum, Meine China- und Tibetexpedition 1925/28 (Leipzig, 1941), p. 70 and H. Walravens (ed.), Joseph Franz Rock. Expedition zum Amnye Machhen in Südwest-China im Jahre 1926 (Wiesbaden, 2003), pp. 9, 23, 113 et al.

31 The non-sectarian CIM, founded in England in 1865, sent the first missionaries to Lanzhou and Xining in 1885 whereas the International Missionary Alliance IMA - the predecessor of the C&MA which was founded in the USA only in 1897 - already established its main base in Taozhou/Daozhou in 1895. Some of their pioneering missionaries such as Harry French Ridley (1862–1944) of the CIM or William Christie of the IMA/C&MA spent several decades in Gansu and Qinghai and their experiences and connections were difficult to match.

Other Protestant societies which were active in Gansu, Qinghai and/or Xinjiang, included, for example, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Christian Church Disciples of Christ and the Mission Convenant Church of Sweden. According to statistics provided by the appendix of M. Cable et al., The Challenge of Central Asia (London, 1929), there were ca. 25 Protestant missionaries taking care of 18 stations in Qinghai, Gansu and Eastern Xinjiang in 1928/29.

32 Starting from the 1920s, rising Chinese nationalism accompanied by anti-foreign sentiment was more and more directed against Christian institutions in China. Especially after the so-called Shanghai Incident in 1925, i.e. the killing of a Chinese participant in a demonstration against Japanese factory owners in Shanghai, anti-foreign and anti-Christian sentiment was once again ignited on a large scale and led to many violent attacks against missionaries. Thus, by 1927, ca. 80% of the Protestant missionaries had left China and only started to return to Gansu and Qinghai from 1928 onwards. Not all the Protestant missionaries wanted to leave, but they were ordered by their embassies to do so. It even seems that the Protestant missionaries in Xining were asked to stay by the local Chinese Muslim government and promised protection. See P. A. Varg, Missionaries, Chinese, and Diplomats. The American Protestant Missionary Movement in China, 1890–1952 (Princeton, 1958), pp. 180–193, Filchner (1941), p. 74, Steyler Missionsbote April (1926), p. 98 and May (1931), pp. 189–190.

33 In general the dislike of Catholic and Protestant missionaries was mutual. For example, when in May 1934 the Protestant missionaries had a meeting in Lanzhou, they complained strongly about the Catholic missionaries; see Kansu Echo June (1934), p. 46. See also commentaries made by Father Volpert on the Protestant missionaries in Minzhou in Kansu Echo (1931), p. 19, Freundeskreis (1939), p. 90 and Kraus SVD (Reference Kraus1973), pp. 79–80. In contrast, Father Bromkamp, Volpert's successor in Minzhou, spoke of a good and friendly relationship with his colleague from the Protestant mission in Minzhou; see Bromkamp SVD (Reference Bromkamp1970), p. 131. (Here, Bromkamp obviously confused the Protestant denominations, namely the Pentecostal Assemblies of God with the Methodists.)

34 See, for example, Father Bromkamp and his CIM colleague who were asked to mediate an armistice in Liangzhou in 1928 or Father Volpert and the Pentecostal missionary Simpson in Minzhou in 1929/1930; Bromkamp SVD (Reference Bromkamp1970), pp. 34–35, Kraus SVD (Reference Kraus1973), p. 79.

35 The Famine Relief Committee was probably established in Lanzhou in ca. 1929/1930 when drought and famine were widespread in Gansu. It was obviously connected to the China International Famine Relief Commission which had been founded in 1921; see Varg (1958), p. 231. With regard to this cooperation, the Catholic missionaries evidently envied the Protestant missionaries who had returned to their former missions in Gansu with some extra $200,000 in hand for relief work such as the distribution of flour and clothes, the building of wells, dams etc. (Although it is not stated whether the Dollars are US Dollars, Mexican Silver Dollars or Chinese (paper or silver) Dollars, it seems likely that the sum mentioned was in Mexican Silver Dollars.) See Kansu Echo (1930), p. 32, Steyler Missionsbote May (1931), pp. 189–190, January (1932), pp. 90–91.

36 See Reichspost July 12 (1929), ‘Katholische Missionare im Dienste der Forschung’.

37 Dr Hummel and Mr Bockenkamp belonged to the large corps of foreign experts who had been invited to join the international German-Swedish-Chinese expedition of 1927 to 1935. Surprisingly, the two were allowed to move freely among the Muslim bandits who haunted the Minzhou area at that time, probably because Dr Hummel was a medical doctor who also treated the bandits and their leaders. See Kraus SVD (Reference Kraus1973), p. 81.

38 See, for example, Kraus SVD (Reference Kraus1973), p. 83 and Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern 11/November-December (1932), pp. 87–88.

39 Wilhelm Filchner went on three expeditions which crossed parts of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, one in 1903 to 1905, one in 1926 to 1928 and one in 1934 to 1937. He published several – academic and non-academic – books on his travels; for more information see W. Filchner, Ein Forscherleben (Wiesbaden, 1950) or E. Rühle, Im Herzen des Schweigens. Aus Wilhelm Filchners Leben (München, 1962). On Filchner and his relation to the SVD missionaries see, for example, Filchner (1941), pp. 12–13, 16, 30–32, 40–41, 53–54, 69, 78, Filchner (1950), pp. 276, 300, Buddenbrock SVD, Kansu Chronik (manuscript, 1953?), p. 21, Steyler Missionsbote October (1940), p. 7, Br Konrad (30.01.1937) and Senge SVD (15.01.1937) in AG-SVD 632. Some correspondence between Filchner and SVD missionaries is stored in the Archiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Political Archive of the German Foreign Office, i.e. Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes.

40 Filchner also received considerable support from British and American Protestant missionaries in Lanzhou and Xining which he thankfully acknowledged in his books Om mani padme hum (1941), passim, and Ein Forscherleben (1950), pp. 201–202.

41 See the account of this expedition in Filchner (1938), Filchner (1950), p. 301 and Br. Gervasius SVD in Steyler Missionsbote 10, July (1939), pp. 269–270, Steyler Missionsbote 11, Aug. (1939), pp. 297–299, Oct. (1940), pp. 7–14, November (1940), pp. 32–39, December (1940), pp. 63–67, Janauary (1941), pp. 117–122. Originally, P. Hermanns SVD was supposed to accompany Filchner, but because of mutual disagreements this plan did not materialise. Filchner is later criticised by P. Hermanns for not staying true to the facts in Filchner's above-mentioned book ‘Bismillah!’; see M. Hermanns SVD, Die Nomaden von Tibet (Wien, Reference Hermanns1949), p. XV.

42 In Fürholzer's account of his travels in Amdo in summer 1936 he explicitly thanked the SVD missionaries for their assistance; see E. Fürholzer, Arro! Arro! So sah ich Tibet (Berlin, 1942), pp. 15–16. However, Matthias Hermanns SVD who accompanied Fürholzer to the Tibetan monastery of Labrang in 1936 and arranged an audience with the Panchen Lama, later complained that Fürholzer did not acknowledge him as his guide and interpreter but pretended to have travelled more or less on his own; see Hermanns (Reference Hermanns1949), p. XIV.

43 For example, the introduction of sugar beets by the missionaries obviously led to new modes of sugar production in Gansu; see Arnoldus 1 (1949), pp. 62–63. Likewise, the Catholic schools affected the local education system.

44 Sr. Edberte Moroder is presenting an internal publication on the history of the Steyl Missionary Sisters in China 1905-1953.

45 See Bibliography.

46 See n. 30.

47 See H.T. Lin, ‘Nationalists, Muslim Warlords, and the “Great Northwestern Development” in Pre-Communist China’, China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly 5/1 (2007), pp. 115–135.

References

V. Source Material (published and unpublished) on and by the Steyl Missionaries in Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai

(Amerikanisches) Familienblatt, missionary journal, published since 1902, Techny/Illinois.Google Scholar
Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachkunde/International Review of Ethnology and Linguistics, academic journal, published since 1906, at first edited in St Gabriel/Austria, then Fribourg/Switzerland and later in St Augustin/Germany.Google Scholar
Arnoldus – Societas Verbi Divini Inter Se Filii, notitiae internae, published 1948–1972 in Rome, thereafter fused with SVD Nota to Arnoldus Nota.Google Scholar
Bibliotheca Missionum, Dreizehnter Band, Chinesische Missionsliteratur 1885–1909, vol. 13 (Rome, 1959).Google Scholar
Bibliotheca Missionum, Vierzehnter Band, Chinesische Missionsliteratur 1910–1950, vol. 14 (Rome, 1960).Google Scholar
Catalogus Sodalium Societatis Verbi Divini, internal SVD membership catalogue, Moedling: Domus Missionum ad S. Gabrielem Archangelum.Google Scholar
Kansu Echo/Kansu-Tsinghai Echo, internal SVD journal edited by the Gansu and Qinghai missionaries on topics of general interest to them; a few odd issues from 1930 to 1951 still exist in the SVD Archives; (another internal journal, the Kreuz Christi am Blauen See/Blausee of the Qinghai missionaries which was started around 1940, seems to have been completely lost. For more information see Arnoldus 1948/2:100 and Quack 1994/89:11).Google Scholar
Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern, missionary journal, published 1922–1941 and 1949, Vallendar a. Rh.Google Scholar
(Heilige) Stadt Gottes, missionary journal, published since 1878, edited first in Steyl, later in Kaldenkirchen, then Nettetal.Google Scholar
Steyler Chronik, internal SVD journal, published from 1919–1939.Google Scholar
Steyler Missionsbote, Monatsschrift zur Glaubensverbreitung, missionary journal, published 1902–1941, Steyl.Google Scholar
The Christian Family and Our Missions, missionary journal, published since 1906, Techny/Illinois.Google Scholar
Bromkamp, J. [SVD], Mission ohne Maske. 26 Jahre in China (Buxheim, 1970).Google Scholar
Freitag, A. [SVD], Glaubenssaat in Blut und Tränen. Die Missionen der Gesellschaft des göttlichen Wortes in Asien, Afrika, Ozeanien und Amerika am Vorabend des zweiten Weltkrieges (Kaldenkirchen, 1948).Google Scholar
Freundeskreis (eds), Kan-su. Zwischen Gletscher und Wüste (Mödling, 1939).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], Zwischen Himmel und Erde, Riten und Brauchtum in Nordwest China (St Augustin, 1995).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], China erlebt und erforscht (Buchendorf, 1974).Google Scholar
Hartwich, R. [SVD], Steyler Missionare in China, 6 vols. (Nettetal, 1983–1991).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Die Nomaden von Tibet (Wien, 1949).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Mythen und Mysterien, Magie und Religion der Tibeter (Köln, 1956).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Die Familie der A mdo-Tibeter (Freiburg, 1959).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Das National-Epos der Tibeter: Gling König Ge sar (Regensburg, 1965).Google Scholar
Kasbauer, S. [SSpS], Du hast für mich dein Herz verschwendet. Katholisches Frauenheldentum in China (Kevelaer, 1956).Google Scholar
Kraus, J. [SVD], P. Anton Volpert SVD, 1863–1949, 60 Jahre Missionar in Shantung und Kansu, in Analecta SVD – 28 (Rome, 1973).Google Scholar
Lenzen, L., In China bebt die Erde. Das Schicksal der deutschen Kansu-Mission (Berlin, 1961).Google Scholar
Lenzen, L., Rot färbt sich Chinas Himmel. 26 Jahre als Missionar in Kansu (Trier, 1965).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. 1. Teil: Das weiße Glücksschaf (Sagen, Märchen, Lieder), Asiatische Forschungen 6 (Wiesbaden, 1959).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. 2. Teil: In den Tagen der Urzeit (Ein Mythos von vom Licht und vom Leben), Asiatische Forschungen 31 (Wiesbaden, 1970).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD] (ed.), Geser-rëdzia-wu: Dominik Schröders nachgelassene Monguor (Tujen)-Version des Geser-Epos aus Amdo, Asiatische Forschungen 70 (Wiesbaden, 1980).Google Scholar
Thauren, J. [SVD], Die Missionen in Kansu, Ost-Turkestan und Honan (Kaldenkirchen, 1931).Google Scholar
Thauren, J. [SVD], The Missions in Kansu, Eastern Turkistan and Honan (Techny/Ill., 1932).Google Scholar
Burgmann, A., ‘P. Dominik Schröder SVD (1910–1974)’, Anthropos 70 (1975), pp. 1–4.Google Scholar
Cwik, P. [SVD], ‘Die völkische Eigenheit der Mohammedaner von Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 234–263.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Kinderlosigkeit und ihre Bekämpfung in der Volksmedizin’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 167–201.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Fellverarbeitung bei den Chiamri-Zelthirten’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 202–221.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Frauenarbeit bei den tibetischen Nomaden im Kukunor-Gebiet’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 837–847.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F./J. Frick [SVD]/A. Quack [SVD], ‘Der Werdegang des lamaistischen Gurtum’, Anthropos 83 (1988), pp. 365–394.Google Scholar
Eierhoff, J. [SVD]/Pei, W. C., ‘On a Collection of Prehistoric Pottery at the Catholic Mission in Lanchow’, Momumenta Serica 13 (1948), pp. 376–384.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘43 Tage von den Roten umzingelt’, Ostasiatische Rundschau (18.10.1936).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Magische Schutzmittel für Kinder aus dem Westtal von Sining’, Anthropos 45 (1950), pp. 787–800.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Magic Remedies used on Sick Children in the Western Valley of Sining’, Anthropos 46 (1951), pp. 175–186.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘How Blood is used in Magic and Medicine in Ch'inghai Province’, Anthropos 46 (1951), pp. 964–979.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Hochzeitssitten von Hei-tsuei-tzu in der Provinz Ch'inghai (China)’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 1–102.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Lohnverhältnisse der Landarbeiterinnen in Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 148–156.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD]/F. Eichinger [SVD], ‘Tiere im Volksleben’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 125–147.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Der Traum und seine Deutung bei den Chinesen in Ch'inghai’, Anthropos 49 (1954), pp. 311–313.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Märchen aus Ch'inghai’, Anthropos 49 (1954), pp. 511–552.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Wiederversöhnung des verletzten Erdgeistes. Ein Brauch im chinesisch-tibetischen Grenzgebiet’, Wiener Völkerkundliche Mitteilungen 2 (1954), pp. 39–43.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Mutter und Kind bei den Chinesen in Tsinghai’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 337–374, 659–701, 51 (1956), pp. 513–550, 1055–1063.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Medicinal Uses of Substances Derived from the Animal Organism (in Tsinghai)’, Anthropos 52 (1957), pp. 177–198.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Körpergeruch als Krankheit’, Anthropos 58 (1963), pp. 477–484.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Die Regenprozession in Lungsi (Nordwest-China)’, in Festschrift Paul Schebesta zum 75. Geburtstag (Wien-Mödling, 1963), pp. 385–400.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Bäuerliches Spruchgut aus Tsinghai’, Sinologica 8 (1964), pp. 13–33, 8 (1965), pp. 211–240, 9 (1967), pp. 108–131.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Neujahrsbräuche im Westtale von Sining’, Anthropica (1968), pp. 86–125.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Bäuerliches Spruchgut aus Tsinghai’, Sinologica 11 (1970), pp. 145–170.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Mutterschaft – Lebensziel der Chinesin vonTsinghai’, Sinica-Festschrift (München, 1972), pp. 29–71.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Totenriten der Chinesen im Westtal von Sining (Provinz Tsinghai)’, in Köster, Hermann (ed.), China erlebt und erforscht (München, 1974), pp. 43–190.Google Scholar
Han, P. [SVD], ‘Triumph through War and Suffering. The SVD Missions in West Gansu 1922–1953’, Verbum SVD 44/4 (2003), pp. 77–97.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Die Uiguren und ihre neuentdeckten Nachkommen’, Anthropos 35–36 (1940–1941), pp. 78–99.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Schöpfungs- und Abstammungsmythen der Tibeter’, Anthropos 41–44 (1946–1949), pp. 275–298, 817–847.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Überlieferungen der Tibeter. Nach einem Manuskript aus dem Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts n. Chr.’, Monumenta Serica 13 (1948), pp. 161–208.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Le mystère autour du Dalai Lama’, Asiatische Studien 2 (1948), pp. 133–144.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Das Geheimnis des Dalai Lama’, Wissenschaft und Weltbild 2 (1949), pp. 195–205.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Inside Tibet. Two Articles on the Dalai and Two on the Pan chen Lama’, The Tablet (1949?/1950?), pp.?Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘The Uigur and Angar Language in Kan su, China’, Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 26 (1950), pp. 192–213.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Tibetan Lamaism up to the Time of the Reform of Tzon kha pa’, Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay (1951), pp. 7–36.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Tibetische Dialekte vonA mdo’, Anthropos 47 (1952), pp. 193–202.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘The Status of Women in Tibet’, Anthropological Quarterly 26 (1953), pp. 67–78.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Zur Polyandrie in Tibet’, Anthropos 48 (1953), pp. 637–641.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Heilbringer und Erlöser der Tibeter’, Kairos 3–4 (1964), pp. 180–194.Google Scholar
Kube, J. [SVD], ‘Der Kaiser im Volksdenken’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 157–166.Google Scholar
Oberle, A. [SVD], ‘Der Hundekopfdämon im Volksglauben des Westtales und des chinesisch-tibetischen Kontaktgebietes im Osttale von Kuei-te in der Provinz Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 222–233.Google Scholar
Quack, A. [SVD], ‘Missionar und Ethnologe. Zum 90. Geburtstag von P. Johann Frick SVD’, Anthropos 89 (1994), pp. 3–13.Google Scholar
Quack, A. [SVD], ‘Johann Frick (1903–2003)’, Anthropos 98 (2003), pp. 521–525.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Das Herbst-Dankopfer der T'ujen im Sining-Gebiet, Nordwest-China’, Anthropos 37–40 (1942–1945), pp. 867–873.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Die Fandse. Ein Beitrag zur Volkskunde von Kham. Aus dem Chinesischen übersetzt und kommentiert’, Folklore Studies 5 (1946), pp. I-IV, 1–190.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Ying-hsi. Bewillkommnung der Freude’, Anthropos 41–44 (1946–1949), pp. 185–192.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Einige Hochzeitslieder der Tujen’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 306–354.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Zur Religion der Tujen des Sininggebietes (Kokonor)’, Anthropos 47 (1952), pp. 1–79, 620–658, 822–870, 48 (1953), pp. 202–259.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Zur Struktur des Schamanismus. (Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des lamaistischen Gurtums)’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 848–881.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Bemerkungen zur “Scheffel-Zeremonie” bei der Hochzeit der Tsinghai-Chinesen’, Anthropos 51 (1956), pp. 1085–1093.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Über die Chia-Fandse vonBengbar (Tsinghai) und ihre Hochzeitssitten’, Anthropos 52 (1957), pp. 459–496.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Der Dialekt der Monguor’, Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 5: Altaistik, section 2: Mongolistik (Leiden, 1964), pp. 143–158.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘P. Matthias Hermanns SVD (1899–1972)’, Anthropos 67 (1972), pp. 1–8.Google Scholar
Ternay, J. [SVD], ‘Familienjustiz im Trauerhaus’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 103–124.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Die “shao nien”-Lieder in Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 264–305.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Ackerdüngung in der Provinz Ch'inghai, China’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 735–768.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Das “Röstmehl” bei den Ackerbauern in Tsinghai, China’, Anthropos 52 (1957), pp. 603–616.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Islamische Gruppen und Gräberkult in Nordwest-China’, Die Welt des Islam VII/1–4 (1961), pp. 142–171.Google Scholar
Volpert, A. [SVD], ‘Etwas über die T'u yen, Ureinwohner von Westkansu’, Anthropos 18–19 (1923–24), pp. 553–556.Google Scholar
Letters and reports from Archbishop Theodor Buddenbrock [SVD] and other missionaries are mainly found in AG [Archivum Generale]-SVD 631–633 and 27 as for example:Google Scholar
Buddenbrock, T. [SVD], Chronik der SVD Mission in Kansu-China [Kansu Chronik], manuscript (1953?), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Gärtner, J. [SVD], Die Annalen von Honanba, Kansu-Tsinghai Echo February (1951), pp. 40–44 and July (1951), pp. 29–33, AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Unsere Reise von Urumtschi bis Rom, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Die gegenwärtige Lage der Mission von Sinkiang, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Geschichtliche Entwicklung des Kommunismus in China und Folgen daraus für die Katholische Mission/PLG/Nov. 1939, manuscript (1939), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Mutmaßliche Entwicklung der Provinz Sinkiang, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Nach unserer Abreise, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Hillbrenner, G. [SVD], Die Revolution in Sinkiang. Lage der Kath. Mission, manuscript (1933), AG-SVD 633.Google Scholar
Hillbrenner, G.(?), Die Apostolische Präfektur Sinkiang [Sinkiang Chronik] (1958?), typed manuscript found among scattered papers of H. Möllers [SVD] in the Missionswissenschaftliche Bibliothek in St Augustin.Google Scholar
Ternay, J. [SVD], Liber Historiae Districtus Tsinghai – Sining, China [Tsinghai Chronik], manuscript (1953), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Trippner, J.(?) [SVD], Tsinghai-Bericht, manuscript (1951?), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Volpert, A. [SVD], Lebensdaten eines vielgeprüften Chinamissionars, manuscript (1935/1936), AG 93.520.Google Scholar
(Amerikanisches) Familienblatt, missionary journal, published since 1902, Techny/Illinois.Google Scholar
Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachkunde/International Review of Ethnology and Linguistics, academic journal, published since 1906, at first edited in St Gabriel/Austria, then Fribourg/Switzerland and later in St Augustin/Germany.Google Scholar
Arnoldus – Societas Verbi Divini Inter Se Filii, notitiae internae, published 1948–1972 in Rome, thereafter fused with SVD Nota to Arnoldus Nota.Google Scholar
Bibliotheca Missionum, Dreizehnter Band, Chinesische Missionsliteratur 1885–1909, vol. 13 (Rome, 1959).Google Scholar
Bibliotheca Missionum, Vierzehnter Band, Chinesische Missionsliteratur 1910–1950, vol. 14 (Rome, 1960).Google Scholar
Catalogus Sodalium Societatis Verbi Divini, internal SVD membership catalogue, Moedling: Domus Missionum ad S. Gabrielem Archangelum.Google Scholar
Kansu Echo/Kansu-Tsinghai Echo, internal SVD journal edited by the Gansu and Qinghai missionaries on topics of general interest to them; a few odd issues from 1930 to 1951 still exist in the SVD Archives; (another internal journal, the Kreuz Christi am Blauen See/Blausee of the Qinghai missionaries which was started around 1940, seems to have been completely lost. For more information see Arnoldus 1948/2:100 and Quack 1994/89:11).Google Scholar
Missionsgrüße der Steyler Missionsschwestern, missionary journal, published 1922–1941 and 1949, Vallendar a. Rh.Google Scholar
(Heilige) Stadt Gottes, missionary journal, published since 1878, edited first in Steyl, later in Kaldenkirchen, then Nettetal.Google Scholar
Steyler Chronik, internal SVD journal, published from 1919–1939.Google Scholar
Steyler Missionsbote, Monatsschrift zur Glaubensverbreitung, missionary journal, published 1902–1941, Steyl.Google Scholar
The Christian Family and Our Missions, missionary journal, published since 1906, Techny/Illinois.Google Scholar
Bromkamp, J. [SVD], Mission ohne Maske. 26 Jahre in China (Buxheim, 1970).Google Scholar
Freitag, A. [SVD], Glaubenssaat in Blut und Tränen. Die Missionen der Gesellschaft des göttlichen Wortes in Asien, Afrika, Ozeanien und Amerika am Vorabend des zweiten Weltkrieges (Kaldenkirchen, 1948).Google Scholar
Freundeskreis (eds), Kan-su. Zwischen Gletscher und Wüste (Mödling, 1939).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], Zwischen Himmel und Erde, Riten und Brauchtum in Nordwest China (St Augustin, 1995).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], China erlebt und erforscht (Buchendorf, 1974).Google Scholar
Hartwich, R. [SVD], Steyler Missionare in China, 6 vols. (Nettetal, 1983–1991).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Die Nomaden von Tibet (Wien, 1949).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Mythen und Mysterien, Magie und Religion der Tibeter (Köln, 1956).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Die Familie der A mdo-Tibeter (Freiburg, 1959).Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], Das National-Epos der Tibeter: Gling König Ge sar (Regensburg, 1965).Google Scholar
Kasbauer, S. [SSpS], Du hast für mich dein Herz verschwendet. Katholisches Frauenheldentum in China (Kevelaer, 1956).Google Scholar
Kraus, J. [SVD], P. Anton Volpert SVD, 1863–1949, 60 Jahre Missionar in Shantung und Kansu, in Analecta SVD – 28 (Rome, 1973).Google Scholar
Lenzen, L., In China bebt die Erde. Das Schicksal der deutschen Kansu-Mission (Berlin, 1961).Google Scholar
Lenzen, L., Rot färbt sich Chinas Himmel. 26 Jahre als Missionar in Kansu (Trier, 1965).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. 1. Teil: Das weiße Glücksschaf (Sagen, Märchen, Lieder), Asiatische Forschungen 6 (Wiesbaden, 1959).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], Aus der Volksdichtung der Monguor. 2. Teil: In den Tagen der Urzeit (Ein Mythos von vom Licht und vom Leben), Asiatische Forschungen 31 (Wiesbaden, 1970).Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD] (ed.), Geser-rëdzia-wu: Dominik Schröders nachgelassene Monguor (Tujen)-Version des Geser-Epos aus Amdo, Asiatische Forschungen 70 (Wiesbaden, 1980).Google Scholar
Thauren, J. [SVD], Die Missionen in Kansu, Ost-Turkestan und Honan (Kaldenkirchen, 1931).Google Scholar
Thauren, J. [SVD], The Missions in Kansu, Eastern Turkistan and Honan (Techny/Ill., 1932).Google Scholar
Burgmann, A., ‘P. Dominik Schröder SVD (1910–1974)’, Anthropos 70 (1975), pp. 1–4.Google Scholar
Cwik, P. [SVD], ‘Die völkische Eigenheit der Mohammedaner von Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 234–263.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Kinderlosigkeit und ihre Bekämpfung in der Volksmedizin’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 167–201.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Fellverarbeitung bei den Chiamri-Zelthirten’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 202–221.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F. [SVD], ‘Frauenarbeit bei den tibetischen Nomaden im Kukunor-Gebiet’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 837–847.Google Scholar
Eichinger, F./J. Frick [SVD]/A. Quack [SVD], ‘Der Werdegang des lamaistischen Gurtum’, Anthropos 83 (1988), pp. 365–394.Google Scholar
Eierhoff, J. [SVD]/Pei, W. C., ‘On a Collection of Prehistoric Pottery at the Catholic Mission in Lanchow’, Momumenta Serica 13 (1948), pp. 376–384.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘43 Tage von den Roten umzingelt’, Ostasiatische Rundschau (18.10.1936).Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Magische Schutzmittel für Kinder aus dem Westtal von Sining’, Anthropos 45 (1950), pp. 787–800.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Magic Remedies used on Sick Children in the Western Valley of Sining’, Anthropos 46 (1951), pp. 175–186.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘How Blood is used in Magic and Medicine in Ch'inghai Province’, Anthropos 46 (1951), pp. 964–979.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Hochzeitssitten von Hei-tsuei-tzu in der Provinz Ch'inghai (China)’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 1–102.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Lohnverhältnisse der Landarbeiterinnen in Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 148–156.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD]/F. Eichinger [SVD], ‘Tiere im Volksleben’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 125–147.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Der Traum und seine Deutung bei den Chinesen in Ch'inghai’, Anthropos 49 (1954), pp. 311–313.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Märchen aus Ch'inghai’, Anthropos 49 (1954), pp. 511–552.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Wiederversöhnung des verletzten Erdgeistes. Ein Brauch im chinesisch-tibetischen Grenzgebiet’, Wiener Völkerkundliche Mitteilungen 2 (1954), pp. 39–43.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Mutter und Kind bei den Chinesen in Tsinghai’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 337–374, 659–701, 51 (1956), pp. 513–550, 1055–1063.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Medicinal Uses of Substances Derived from the Animal Organism (in Tsinghai)’, Anthropos 52 (1957), pp. 177–198.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Körpergeruch als Krankheit’, Anthropos 58 (1963), pp. 477–484.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Die Regenprozession in Lungsi (Nordwest-China)’, in Festschrift Paul Schebesta zum 75. Geburtstag (Wien-Mödling, 1963), pp. 385–400.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Bäuerliches Spruchgut aus Tsinghai’, Sinologica 8 (1964), pp. 13–33, 8 (1965), pp. 211–240, 9 (1967), pp. 108–131.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Neujahrsbräuche im Westtale von Sining’, Anthropica (1968), pp. 86–125.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Bäuerliches Spruchgut aus Tsinghai’, Sinologica 11 (1970), pp. 145–170.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Mutterschaft – Lebensziel der Chinesin vonTsinghai’, Sinica-Festschrift (München, 1972), pp. 29–71.Google Scholar
Frick, J. [SVD], ‘Totenriten der Chinesen im Westtal von Sining (Provinz Tsinghai)’, in Köster, Hermann (ed.), China erlebt und erforscht (München, 1974), pp. 43–190.Google Scholar
Han, P. [SVD], ‘Triumph through War and Suffering. The SVD Missions in West Gansu 1922–1953’, Verbum SVD 44/4 (2003), pp. 77–97.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Die Uiguren und ihre neuentdeckten Nachkommen’, Anthropos 35–36 (1940–1941), pp. 78–99.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Schöpfungs- und Abstammungsmythen der Tibeter’, Anthropos 41–44 (1946–1949), pp. 275–298, 817–847.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Überlieferungen der Tibeter. Nach einem Manuskript aus dem Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts n. Chr.’, Monumenta Serica 13 (1948), pp. 161–208.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Le mystère autour du Dalai Lama’, Asiatische Studien 2 (1948), pp. 133–144.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Das Geheimnis des Dalai Lama’, Wissenschaft und Weltbild 2 (1949), pp. 195–205.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Inside Tibet. Two Articles on the Dalai and Two on the Pan chen Lama’, The Tablet (1949?/1950?), pp.?Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘The Uigur and Angar Language in Kan su, China’, Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 26 (1950), pp. 192–213.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Tibetan Lamaism up to the Time of the Reform of Tzon kha pa’, Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay (1951), pp. 7–36.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Tibetische Dialekte vonA mdo’, Anthropos 47 (1952), pp. 193–202.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘The Status of Women in Tibet’, Anthropological Quarterly 26 (1953), pp. 67–78.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Zur Polyandrie in Tibet’, Anthropos 48 (1953), pp. 637–641.Google Scholar
Hermanns, M. [SVD], ‘Heilbringer und Erlöser der Tibeter’, Kairos 3–4 (1964), pp. 180–194.Google Scholar
Kube, J. [SVD], ‘Der Kaiser im Volksdenken’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 157–166.Google Scholar
Oberle, A. [SVD], ‘Der Hundekopfdämon im Volksglauben des Westtales und des chinesisch-tibetischen Kontaktgebietes im Osttale von Kuei-te in der Provinz Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 222–233.Google Scholar
Quack, A. [SVD], ‘Missionar und Ethnologe. Zum 90. Geburtstag von P. Johann Frick SVD’, Anthropos 89 (1994), pp. 3–13.Google Scholar
Quack, A. [SVD], ‘Johann Frick (1903–2003)’, Anthropos 98 (2003), pp. 521–525.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Das Herbst-Dankopfer der T'ujen im Sining-Gebiet, Nordwest-China’, Anthropos 37–40 (1942–1945), pp. 867–873.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Die Fandse. Ein Beitrag zur Volkskunde von Kham. Aus dem Chinesischen übersetzt und kommentiert’, Folklore Studies 5 (1946), pp. I-IV, 1–190.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Ying-hsi. Bewillkommnung der Freude’, Anthropos 41–44 (1946–1949), pp. 185–192.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Einige Hochzeitslieder der Tujen’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 306–354.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Zur Religion der Tujen des Sininggebietes (Kokonor)’, Anthropos 47 (1952), pp. 1–79, 620–658, 822–870, 48 (1953), pp. 202–259.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Zur Struktur des Schamanismus. (Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des lamaistischen Gurtums)’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 848–881.Google Scholar
Schröder, D. [SVD], ‘Bemerkungen zur “Scheffel-Zeremonie” bei der Hochzeit der Tsinghai-Chinesen’, Anthropos 51 (1956), pp. 1085–1093.Google Scholar
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Ternay, J. [SVD], ‘Familienjustiz im Trauerhaus’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 103–124.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Die “shao nien”-Lieder in Ch'inghai’, Folklore Studies, suppl. 1 (1952), pp. 264–305.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Ackerdüngung in der Provinz Ch'inghai, China’, Anthropos 50 (1955), pp. 735–768.Google Scholar
Trippner, J. [SVD], ‘Das “Röstmehl” bei den Ackerbauern in Tsinghai, China’, Anthropos 52 (1957), pp. 603–616.Google Scholar
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Letters and reports from Archbishop Theodor Buddenbrock [SVD] and other missionaries are mainly found in AG [Archivum Generale]-SVD 631–633 and 27 as for example:Google Scholar
Buddenbrock, T. [SVD], Chronik der SVD Mission in Kansu-China [Kansu Chronik], manuscript (1953?), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Gärtner, J. [SVD], Die Annalen von Honanba, Kansu-Tsinghai Echo February (1951), pp. 40–44 and July (1951), pp. 29–33, AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Unsere Reise von Urumtschi bis Rom, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Die gegenwärtige Lage der Mission von Sinkiang, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Geschichtliche Entwicklung des Kommunismus in China und Folgen daraus für die Katholische Mission/PLG/Nov. 1939, manuscript (1939), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Mutmaßliche Entwicklung der Provinz Sinkiang, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Haberl, M. [SVD], Nach unserer Abreise, manuscript (1939/40?), AG-SVD 27-Haberl.Google Scholar
Hillbrenner, G. [SVD], Die Revolution in Sinkiang. Lage der Kath. Mission, manuscript (1933), AG-SVD 633.Google Scholar
Hillbrenner, G.(?), Die Apostolische Präfektur Sinkiang [Sinkiang Chronik] (1958?), typed manuscript found among scattered papers of H. Möllers [SVD] in the Missionswissenschaftliche Bibliothek in St Augustin.Google Scholar
Ternay, J. [SVD], Liber Historiae Districtus Tsinghai – Sining, China [Tsinghai Chronik], manuscript (1953), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Trippner, J.(?) [SVD], Tsinghai-Bericht, manuscript (1951?), AG-SVD 632.Google Scholar
Volpert, A. [SVD], Lebensdaten eines vielgeprüften Chinamissionars, manuscript (1935/1936), AG 93.520.Google Scholar