Global Chinese Ministries October 2010
Worst Floods in a Decade
In the worst floods for a decade or more, at least 823 people have been killed and 437 missing as floodwaters have swept through three quarters of China’s provinces. Overall damage has already totaled more than US$22 billion, according to China’s Flood Prevention Agency.
China’s main rivers: the Yangtze, Yellow, Huai and Han, along with 20 others, have seen waters rise beyond danger levels. In Anhui and Henan water levels were five feet above the warning level along the notorious flood-prone Huai River.
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Book Recommendations
CHINA – A HISTORY, John Keay. (London, Harper Press [HarperCollins], 2008)
Despite being a tome of more than 500 pages, this is the best history of China your editor has read in a long time! It is also controversial. The author shows that the huge number of exciting archaeological discoveries in China in recent decades are forcing a re-interpretation of the history of early China.
THE TAMING OF XINJIANG, by Christian Tyler. (John Murray Publishers, 2003)
Xinjiang was much in the news last year because of violent ethnic riots in Urumqi between the Han and the Uygurs. This huge, land-locked area of desert, mountain and oases is as big as the whole of Western Europe, but there are surprisingly few books about it.
HABIL – A CHRISTIAN MARTYR IN XINJIANG, by Gustaf Ahlbert. (Malmo, Sweden, Pathways Publishing, 2009)
This is an English translation of a rare book first published in Swedish by the Swedish Covenant Church in 1934, just after the tragic slaughter of Christian Uygur converts outside Kashgar by a Muslim warlord. This event savagely destroyed what was probably the most outstandingly successful mission work among Muslims during the early 20th century.
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October Prayer Points
1. Pray for the families of the many hundreds dead or missing in the worst flooding to hit China in many years.
2. Pray for the small Uygur church in Xinjiang, possibly numbering 200-300 converts, as they face strong pressures from their families, Islamic leaders and the local authorities.