(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Western China: A Journey to the Great Buddhist Centre of Mount Omei
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
Primary Sources, Historical Collections: Western China: A Journey to the Great Buddhist Centre of Mount Omei, with a foreword by T. S. Wentworth
(This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Bo...)
This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Books of the World (Asia and Far East Collection), represents an important historical artifact on Asian history and culture. Its contents come from the legions of academic literature and research on the subject produced over the last several hundred years. Covered within is a discussion drawn from many areas of study and research on the subject. From analyses of the varied geography that encompasses the Asian continent to significant time periods spanning centuries, the book was made in an effort to preserve the work of previous generations.
Virgil Chittenden Hart was an American missionary. He was superintendent of the first Canadian Methodist Mission in West China in the late 19th century.
Background
Virgil Chittenden Hart was born on January 2, 1840 in Lorraine, New York, United States. He was the son of Augustus and Joanna (Horr) Hart.
Reared on a farm under almost pioneer conditions, he received there a training which was probably both a preparation for and an incentive to the type of work to which his mature years were devoted. Although his father opposed his entering the ministry, his home appears to have been one of strong moral and religious conviction.
When about fourteen years of age he passed through the experience of conversion in one of the "protracted meetings" which were then common. Before many years he determined to become a minister, and later, partially through reading an account of the work of David Livingstone - whose explorations were then thrilling the Anglo-Saxon world - he decided to be a missionary.
Education
Hart's formal preparation was obtained in Gouverneur Wesleyan Academy, Northwestern University, and Garrett Biblical Seminary where he got his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1865. True to his convictions, upon graduation from the seminary he accepted appointment under the foreign-mission board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. That same year he was ordained.
Career
Hart arrived at his station, Fuchow, China, in May 1866. The following year, 1867, Hart was chosen to inaugurate the work of his board in Central China, and the major part of the next two decades he spent in fulfilling that commission.
He first established his residence in Kiukiang. From here he made long journeys and succeeded in opening stations in a number of different cities, among them Nanking. In pursuance of his task, he had often to face anti-foreign mobs and the indifference or actual opposition of Chinese officials.
It was a day when foreign missionaries were penetrating the interior of China, often to the intense indignation of the Chinese. In the performance of what he believed to be his duty, Hart did not hesitate to insist upon his treaty rights or to appeal to American officials to support him in them. Whatever a later generation may believe to have been the ethics of this position, Hart maintained it with fine heroism and with no small cost to himself.
In 1887, when about to start for America on a well-earned furlough, he was ordered by his bishop to West China, there to adjust the difficulties brought upon the Methodist mission in Chungking by the severe riots of 1886. He fulfilled this commission and was greatly impressed by what he saw of the vast province of Szechwan. That same year, however, illness forced him to return to America, and in 1889 he resigned the superintendency of his mission and retired to a farm in Burlington, Ontario, to regain his health.
While there, he was asked by the foreign-mission board of the Canadian Methodists to suggest a location for a new enterprise which it was about to begin in China. He advised Szechwan, and not only was his counsel taken, but he was asked to lead in the undertaking. This he did, sailing for China in 1891 with a large party. The following year he reached Cheng-tu, the capital of the province.
He continued as head of the enterprise until 1900, when he was forced to the coast by the Boxer outbreak. His health finally gave way and he returned to America, worn out. After a few years of invalidism, he died in Burlington, Ontario.
Achievements
Virgil Chittenden Hart is famous for his missionary service in China. As a master evangelist eager to convert the Chinese to Christianity, he traveled preaching, exploring, opening chapels, and dispersing religious literature.
