Shimenkan: the Stone Gateway that Leads to the Former Center of Hmong Christian Culture

 

11-9-2006.  I was finally on my way to Shimenkan (literally the stone gateway) in the southwestern Guizhou, China — a place that I had read and heard so much about while preparing my film project about a Hmong personality.

The name of this small town (once just a village) that could only be found in the military map certainly sounds strange to most of Chinese ears, let alone the westerners.  However, in the early part of last century, this place was once hailed as the center of the Hmong Christian culture, a region that had the highest civilization in the southwestern China.  

Many Christians overseas called Shimenkan the Paradise in the East.  The place is located at the high mountains, which had been and is still poverty-driven. 

So what had happened here starting some one hundred years ago?  What has happened since then?  How has the Christian belief among Hmong people survived the socialist China? I had some answers from my research by the time I embarked on this trip.  Still, I was excited as I was going to witness a legend, an old glory, and a part of history. 

I will share some of my discoveries with you through my camera as well as my brief notes.    

11-10-2006.  After several hours’ drive from Zhaotong, a city close to the border of Guizhou and Yunnan, we finally found the street sign that shows the direction to our destination. 

 

The mountain region in southwestern Guizhou is famous for its foggy weather.  This photo was taken through our jeep’s windshield — the local farmers were on their feet or sitting on the horse cart — still considered a valid transportation means in the area these days.

  

Despite the foggy weather and slippery road, the pretty mountain view is certainly refreshing to someone from NYC!

Here we are!  The view of Shimenkan from a distance did not impress me that much as the sign of poverty and remoteness was certainly seen everywhere.

The cypress woods next to the town government had caught my eyes.  According to our guide, they were once planted by the foreign missionary some one hundred years ago.  Weathered but still going strong, these trees are now considered part of the tourist attractions.

This newly-painted building was constructed under the supervision of Western missionaries and now serves as the token of Shimenkan’s Christian culture.  It had been occupied by the town government for years and was recently emptied out to be preserved for the future tourist sightseeing.  

                

Have seen photos of this ruin on the web many times.  But now I was practically standing in front of it — the remains of the old missionary dorm.  Had to catch the moment!

 

The remains of another house built by the missionaries.

 

The Hmong people living in Shimenkan have seen up and down of this remote village because of the Christianity brought in by foreign missionaries more than one hundred years ago.  They have seen more strangers lately as the place being rediscovered and transformed into a “cultural” tour site. 

11-11-2006.  After spending a night in the local motel, I started my day two by setting up the DV cam on location. 

                                    

Once upon a time there was no real road that led to this lonely village on the top of the mountains.  Samuel Pollard, a British pastor, bought the land here to start out the later well-known center for Hmong Christian culture.  It was him who had organized the local Hmong to break the mountains and construct the road — “Breaking the Stone Gate”, as the history book recorded.  I had a photo taken in front of the “gate” with Mr. Zhang, my Hmong guide.

                                  

Mr. Li, my the other Hmong guide, is an army retiree.  He likes to smoke in a traditional way.  I guess it is called the Water Smoke.

A casual shot of a house wall.  But, to me, it is also a style.

Mr. Zhang’s grand daughter insisted putting on her pretty holiday outfit for my camera — the result was stunning. 

The arrival of the Christian culture was not always welcome and peaceful.  I was told that inside this window a Western priest was once killed by locat bandits.  His body was dragged out of the house and deserted on the river dam.

  

 

Saturday is the day for the trade market in town which opens twice a week.  People from nearby villages and counties all came here to do business.  Looking at the overcrowded main street in town, I finally realized that I was still living in the 21st century. 

 

The trade market is also a playground for local young people who don’t have much social life otherwise.  These boys on bikes were from a village nearby and more than happy to pose for my camera. 

There were something in their looks, from the grandpa to the youngest kid , that had really touched my mind.

Later in the afternoon, we came to visit Pastor Samuel Pollard’s tomb site.  The grand style of tomb stone is commonly seen in the area.  However, the tomb we see today is just a replica.  Mr. Pollard’s real tomb was torn down and crushed during China’s Cultural Revolution in 1960’s. 

  Samuel Pollard, who came to China in 1887 at age 22, began his evangelical work in the city of Zhaotong.  He later moved to Shimenkan, from where he and other missionaries worked tirelessly to have found one of the biggest Christian bases in the southwestern China, fostering evangelism, education and social development.  With help from others, he created the first written language for Hmong — the famous Pollard Script, and founded the first school as well as a hospital which had significantly improved the medical conditions for Hmong at the time.  In 1915, he died of saving a Hmong kid who had typhoid.  Today, 120 years after he stepped on Shimenkan’s land, Samuel Pollard is still being remembered by Hmong people as K’an Teh-Glao, the Savior of Hmong or the King of Hmong, among others. 

 

11-12-2006.  This Sunday was a big day for Shimenkan’s Christians – they were going to celebrate 100 years anniversary of the founding of Shimenkan church.  However, the grand-looking church on this photo had a life shorter than a year!  The old church was destroyed many years ago and the Christians here had lost home for a long time. 

The ceremony has started.  The decorations inside the church gave me a kind of semi-official feel.

 

The singing and dancing are the major components of the ceremony.

 

This 17-year-old Hmong high-schooler told me about his  goal to be a Christian pastor in the future.  Bravo!

The girls engaged in a chitchat during a break from the church service.

 

The majority of churchgoers is women and the elderly.

11-13-2006.  The light rain started from the night before, which could be dangerous for driving around the mountain path.  However, we still got on the trip to visit Su Ke Village, about 30 miles away from Shimenkan.  As the rain had gradully stopped, the wet and foggy mountain view was unfolded in fron of us like a beautiful water-color painting.

Su Ke Village is located in even more remote area and the living conditions there are worse.  This type of straw-roofed house used to be the typical Hmong home and is still used for living in many places today. 

 

The children of Su Ke Village.  Samuel Pollard once stated that playing with Hmong children was the most pleasant thing he could remember during his mission in the Hmong region.  I also enjoyed my quality time with them.

 Well, sometimes I admit that it was a bit hard to work with non-professionals! 

The Su Ke Village Christian church is well-known in the region and widely reported through the internet.  But pretty soon you would realize that it is a real grass-roots type of church that still utilizes the old-fashioned oil light (they do have the electricity supplies in the village).

I was setting up the camera inside the dark church.  The head of a curious boy appears in the background.

Mr. Wu Zhongqun, the catechist of the church and his wife posed for my picture.

In the afternoon, we rushed back to Shimenkan to take part in the ceremony to re-erect the Hmong History Monument that has recorded the inchoation of Christian movement in Shimenkan.  The original one was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and only part of the stone base left to this date. 

 

As part of strategies to promote Shimenkan as a cutural tour site, the town government had decided to re-erect a replica of the monument not far away from the old base.  The photo shows a Hmong dance expert reading the posy on the new monument.

11-14-2006.  The big event of the day was my visit and interview of Mr. Yang Huaming, the grand son of Mr. Yang Yage, one of the most praised Hmong assistants to Samuel Pollard.  He was forced to live in other places for many years and only returned to Shimenkan not too long ago.  Ironically, he claimed that he had no longer been a Christian for fear of future persecution.  Nowadays, besides running a small grocery in town, he dedicates his time and energy to collecting Hmong history-related books and art works, including a whole set of Flowery Hmong outfits that shows the evolvement of texture and style. 

 

The Flowery Hmong version of The New Testament.

 

An early edition of Flowery Hmong female costume.

 

Part of Mr. Yang’s collections that includes different editions of Bibles and other Christian-related books.

11-15-2006.  The day we had been waiting finally arrived - the 100 anniversary of establishing the Shimenkan Primary School.  The celebration was one of the biggest events in this small town’s history, which had been financed by the local government and attended by the provincial leaders and the guests from all over the world.  The education, rather than Christianity, has been emphasized by the authority in today’s rediscovery of Shimenkan’s heritage.

 

               

 

Shimenkan Primary School, which was founded single-handedly by Samuel Pollard in 1905, has now been turned into the Shimenkan Ethical School.  The school’s thousands of students were the main attractions in the events.

Thousands of local people turned out for the celebration.  Covered by the thick fog of the day, they quietly sat there waiting for the event to start.

The event was attended by people from many different ethnic groups other than Hmong.  This lady talking on the cell is from Yi minority and co-owner of a well-known local restaurant.  According to our guide, she is also the member of the town government.  A local power house, so to speak.

The boys from the school band - a long tradition at Shimenkan school history.

 

The fog was finally dispersed to reveal the magnificent sea of clouds over the high plateau.  The unexpected fine weather made our returning trip much easier. 

 

11-16-2006.  We were back to Zhaotong, the mid-sized provincial city where Samuel Pollard started his evangelical works before he had settled down at Shimenkan in 1905.  After spending some time I finally found the Christian church in the downtown area, rebuilt from the old one where Rev. Pollard used to serve.  According to the female presbyter in the church, the building that Mr. Pollard used to live in is still there and now being occupied by others.  The photo shows that the lady led the way to where the building was. 

 

I also took a walk around the city.  The old buildings and small-town life style  are always parts of what fascinate me. 

 

Chinese culture has never been very religious and always had rooms for all thoughts and beliefs.   This shaman, who was performing some kind of fortune-telling service, probably never thought or cared about the Christian church not far from where he was. 

People from Guizhou, Yunnan and other parts of southwestern China like to eat spicy food.  The pimientos are among the most welcome food in the households here regardless they belong to Hmong, Chinese or other ethnic minorities.  Sometimes I even think that this kind of food resembles the characters of people here — small, tough, hot and easy to harvest no matter where they grow.