The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Sheet 118

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

living here. Also the students at our American
colleges and schools are therefore not in touch with
them, both for social reasons and because of the
difference in language.

Wong Fong and Li Ling,
Two Young Chinamen who Became Lutherans in America.

Though the Chinese were very welcome in the
early days of settlement of the Pacific coast, in re-
cent years they have been given to understand in
every way that their return to China would be most
desirable.. There are possibly about 70,000 Chinese
in this country to-day, and 55,000 of these are
living in the States bordering on the Pacific and
in the Mountain States. Most of these live in or
near the larger towns, though in certain districts
large numbers of them are still engaged in truck-
farming and gardening. The Chinese of the rural
districts, though they form a most valuable part
of the Chinese population, are almost wholly un-
touched by Christianity, due to the difficulty of
reaching them and the lack of trained workers. In
the cities, race prejudice has made missionary work
among them very difficult and almost barren of re-
sults, and it is greatly to be feared that the large
number of Chinese who are returning annually to
their native country will not be the best advertisers
of Christianity, since the attitude of Christians in

* tural work.

this country towards them was in most cases not
Christlike. On the other hand, it is to be feared
that some Christian workers among the Chinese, in
their protest against the general prejudice, have-
often gone too far in the other direction and failed
to lead those under their care to exercise a reason-
able amount of initiative and responsibility.

The Japanese in our country, whose present
number may be near 80,000, are almost all on the
Pacific slope. The home of most of them is in the-
southwestern coast provinces of Japan. Because-
the Japanese are a more homogeneous people and
therefore do not differ very much among themselves.
in language and customs, the foreign missionaries.
coming home on furlough are able to work success-
fully among them in our country. And to the-
credit of the missionaries and the Japanese be it.
said that the enthusiasm with which these returned
workers labor among these Orientals is equaled by
the hearty welcome given them by those to whom.
they would bring the Gospel. Though there are-
many Japanese in cities like San Francisco, Los
Angeles, and Seattle, most of them have remained.
in the country districts and are engaged in agricul-
These large numbers of Japanese-
farmers are almost wholly untouched by the forces.
of Christianity. Since the Japanese are almost all

* great readers, the wide use of the newspaper could

be made an effective means of influencing them for:
Christ and His Gospel. ‘

Though the number of Hindus in our country
is. not very great, they form easily distinguishable
groups all along the Pacific slope. They are en-
gaged in lumbering or farming. Christianity has-

Our Immigrant Missionary’s Chinese Hearers.

scarcely touched them at all. Being very sus--
picious, work among them is exceedingly difficult.
Many of them are followers of Mohammed, but
most of them are Sikhs in religion, the home’ of
most of them being in the northern part of India..