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We apologize for the need for an account, but it serves to protect the integrity of the works and prevent their being used without permission.

The province of Shan-si, immediately to the west of Chih-li, is about as large as an England and Wales, and is the original seat of the Chinese people. It is perhaps best known in England through the fearful famine of 1877-8, which had its principal center in that province, and to alleviate which large sums of money were contributed by British Christians.

The work of the China Inland Mission in the province commenced in the autumn of 1876, when an exploratory journey was taken by Messrs. Turner and James into the three southern prefectures, Tseh-chau Fu, P’ing-yang Fu, and P’u-chau Fu. Early in the following year our brethren returned to Shan-si designated for permanent work, to be located, if possible, in the capital, T’ai-yüen Fu. They crossed the Yellow River in March, and reached the capital in April 1877, in or near which one of them remained till November, the other having taken a journey in the meantime. Both suffered from famine fever, and deemed it needful to make one more journey to the south. On their way they witnessed the fearful horrors of the famine, then at its height. The reports they brought of the sufferings of the people did much to arouse Christian liberality in China and in England, and to bring help to the relief of the sufferers.

On November 28th, 1877, they left T’ai-yüen Fu, proposing (D.V.) to return the following spring. But immediate help was at hand: during their absence the Rev. T. Richard of the Baptist Missionary Society came to aid the sufferers. In the spring, when Mr. Turner returned, he was accompanied by the Rev. David Hill of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the Rev. Mr. Whiting of the American Presbyterian Mission (who died of famine fever, and was buried at T’ai-yüen Fu). The Rev. Mr. Scott (now Bishop Scott of North China) and a few others also took part in relief operations.

In the autumn of 1878 Mrs. Hudson Taylor went to T’ai-yüen Fu, taking with her Miss Horne and Miss Crickmay to rescue girls left orphans by the famine, and to work among the starving women. They were followed by Mrs. Richard and Mrs. James (and their husbands who had been to the coast). After the famine has passed away the missionaries of the China Inland Mission continued their work; but Mrs. Hudson Taylor, and all those who had gone to give temporary help, retired, with the exception of Mr. And Mrs. Richard.

In the year 1879 our work in P’ing-yang Fu was commenced; and in 1881 the American Board sent missionaries to T’ai-yüen Fu, who subsequently removed to T’ai-kuh, a city thirty or forty miles south of T’ai-yüen Fu.

In the autumn of 1885 we dispatched Messrs. T. H. King, Stewart McKee, Terry and Beynon to Kwei-hwa-ch’eng to commence work there. We had determined in 1880 to work that city, and the prefectures of Soh-p’ing Fu and Ta-t’ung Fu, after the visits of Messrs. Cameron and Pigott, but were unable to commence till 1885. Mr. And Mrs. G. W. Clarke followed them in the spring of 1886, to superintend the work in the part of Shan-si north of the Great Wall, and that included between the two Walls.

Most of the Cambridge Missionary Band went to P’ing-yang Fu and the neighboring regions with Mr. Baller in June 1885, and since then many new stations have been opened, and further reinforcements have been sent to South Shan-si.

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