Go west, young man!

by Tony Lambert

The Chinese government is encouraging investment in the vast western hinterland of the nation. For the last two decades as the rich eastern coastal provinces and cities roared ahead economically, the western regions have fallen further and further behind.

Why is this? For a start, most of the West is barren mountains or desert. It includes the huge, sparsely inhabited regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. Most of China’s one hundred million minority peoples live in the West. Most are impoverished and many are illiterate in Chinese and sometimes even their own language. The lack of rail and road links and of basic infrastructure has put this huge region at a disadvantage. Lack of water, erosion and desertification are also major factors holding back economic development.

Now the government is serious about developing the West. In April President Jiang Zemin again urged officials to take the mammoth project of lifting the entire region out of poverty seriously. He urged cadres to pay attention to market forces when carrying out investment projects. This reminded them not to import inefficient projects which were already obsolete in the more advanced eastern provinces. President Jiang stressed that development plans must be linked to the people’s livelihood to ensure that the public benefits from the program. (SCMP 2 April 2002)

Christians concerned for the spiritual and material welfare of the Chinese people will wish to become involved in practical development programs to help lift millions of people out of poverty in China’s far West. The region welcomes teachers, agricultural development specialists and investors among many other openings.

DEATH OF A PIONEER

Simon Zhao passed peacefully away in Henan on December 3, 2001. He was aged 83.

Zhao Haizhen, to use his original Chinese name, was born on June 1, 1918 in Shenyang in northeast China. He came from a poor family and burned with indignation against the injustice of local officials. As he began to write articles for the newspapers, he came across the Christian gospel and was particularly struck by the message of God’s justice in the Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

He gave his life to Christ and changed his given name to Simon.

For a time he attended the Presbyterian Dongguan church in Shenyang (which today has 20,000 members). He joined a prayer group at which he learned four steps necessary for a committed Christian life:
1) Salvation
2) God’s call
3) Offering
4) Being sent out

He understood the first three but not the fourth. One day when it was his turn to pray in the church tower he brought a large map. It was snowing hard and he had to shovel the snow away from the door of the church tower. Alone in the vast silence of the empty church he laid out the map and prayed. As he opened his eyes he was drawn to the huge territory of Xinjiang, inhabited mainly by Muslim Uygurs and Kazaks. The more he prayed the more he felt Xinjiang was the place he should go. Xinjiang was far away and plagued with political, religious and racial problems. But the Lord quietened his fears.

Later he and his wife studied at the Taidong seminary in Nanjing. There they met two other women from Shandong who shared their vision to evangelize Xinjiang. In 1949, although China was in turmoil due to civil war, all four set out for Xinjiang. They had the blessing of the famous evangelist Yang Shaotang who saw them off. After many months they reached Hami and joined the Chinese-founded Northwest Evangelistic Band (Xibei Linggong Tuan) which had started work there a year or two earlier.

In the winter of 1950 Uncle Simon and five others headed for the southern oasis of Hetian, a stronghold of Islam. But ten days later they were told by the police to leave and went to Kashgar where the Band had set up a preaching station at Shule. In February 1951 he was arrested and thrown into jail and even his pocket Bible was taken away. He could only look to God for support.

At first he thought his arrest was a mistake. But then he caught a glimpse of two others of his co-workers in jail. In 1954 members of the Band were taken from Hami and Kashgar to Urumqi for trial. Simon was sentenced to work on a reform-through-labor farm to carry endless baskets of earth on a shoulder-pole for miles on foot. He was often so exhausted he could only crawl. But whenever there was opportunity he told the other prisoners about Jesus. Because of a picture he had drawn of Jesus on the cross he was falsely accused of being a counter-revolutionary and beaten. Once he was forced to stand upright for seven days and nights with only two hours relief each day. On another, during winter he was made to stand in a freezing courtyard half-naked. But he survived. He felt a fire burning within him and knew the Lord was with him, both inside and out. In 1973 he learned that his wife had died in prison after having been arrested in 1959.

In 1981 after China threw off the darkness of the Cultural Revolution he was released. But he was alone and could find no other Christians. He searched diligently throughout Xinjiang, but it was not until five years later in 1986 that he finally met other believers. He went back to Kashgar to meet old co-workers. The Lord told him: “When you have returned strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22:32) For the last fifteen years of his life he did just that. He encouraged fellow Christians to be united in the Lord. He encouraged them to pray fervently. True surrender will lead to preaching the gospel. To do that well, the brothers and sisters must love the Lord fervently and be of one heart and soul. He believed the quality of church workers is especially important for without good leaders the church will be led astray. Through Uncle Simon’s biblical teaching, Christians in Xinjiang have been enabled to resist false cults and heresies coming in.

Through his own experience, Uncle Simon knew that suffering always heralds the revival of the church. According to the Bible, death precedes life. If Jesus had not died on the cross there would be no resurrection and no salvation for human beings.

Today across China the vision of Uncle Simon lives on. Many house-church Christians have a vision to take the gospel “back to Jerusalem” via northwest China and through central Asia. Some are already in training. Uncle Simon was a faithful pioneer.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15)

HYMN OF THE NORTHWEST EVANGELISTIC BAND

Evangelism in the Northwest—
A big revival in the Last Days.
Brothers and sisters work hard for the Lord, for the Lord,
Bringing the gospel back to Jerusalem,
Tramping over hill and dale, on foot and by boat,
Making way in the wilderness and the desert.