Missionary grandfather becomes hero of China

Mark O'Neill December 08, 2024 22:33

“He saved the 30 million people of northeast China. Disregarding his own safety, he handed over the evidence (to the Lytton Commission).”

This is Wang Jianxue (王建學'), a professor at the Communist Party school of Liaoning province in northeast China. He is one of two authors of a book just published by the Liaoning Education Publishing Company – “Guolian Midang” (國聯密檔), The Secret Archive of the League of Nations”.
He was speaking of my grandfather, the Reverend Frederick O’Neill, a missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Church in Faku (法庫 ), Liaoning from 1897 to 1942.

The event he is describing occurred in the spring of 1932. The League of Nations had sent a commission under the leadership of Lord Lytton, a British peer, to investigate whether the new state of Manchukuo (滿洲國) reflected the will of the Manchurian people or was a puppet of Japan.
The Japanese army had occupied the three provinces of Northeast China the previous autumn. The Commission spent six weeks there but found it impossible to meet Chinese people without the presence of Japanese officials. How could they learn the true opinions of Chinese?

A group of influential Chinese needed someone to deliver a package of material to Lord Lytton in person, to ensure that he and his colleagues read it. Through a missionary doctor in Shenyang, they learnt of Grandfather, who was a relative of Lytton.

“He left a safe and comfortable life in Belfast to live in the small, remote town of Faku, without a railway, running water, electricity, a post office or telephone. The roads were made of mud,” the book said. “In Faku, he built schools that were a pioneer in modern education and a mission clinic offering Western medicine which saved an enormous number of people.”

Grandfather accepted the assignment and went to Shenyang. He explained that God had given him the mission to serve in Faku. “Conditions of life are not as good as in my hometown, but the Chinese are very good-hearted, honest and hard-working. I deeply love them.”

A westerner and a missionary, he had a freedom that the Japanese did not give Chinese people.
He invited Lytton and his secretary to a dinner at the home of a Chinese pastor in the west of Shenyang. Since the house was small, there was no space for the Japanese accompanying Lytton. Grandfather asked them to wait outside. Their officer agreed, believing that this would be a private dinner between friends. He ordered his soldiers to stand guard outside.

In the small dining room, Grandfather and Lytton reminisced about their childhood. As time passed, so the Japanese outside relaxed.

Grandfather explained the source of the material and the good quality of those who had prepared it. He vouched for them and the accuracy of what they had written.

He handed over the materials to Lytton without being seen by the Japanese. Lytton was delighted to receive what he believed was an accurate account of the views of the Chinese in Manchuria.
They were the basis for the commission’s report, published on October 2, 1932. It found that Manchukuo could not have been established without the presence of Japanese troops and did not reflect a genuine independence movement.

On February 24, 1933, the General Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva voted on the report. Only Japan voted against it. The other 42 countries voted in favour, condemning the Japanese aggression and demanding the withdrawal of its troops and restoration of Chinese sovereignty.

In protest, Japan’s representative walked out of the League of Nations. It was the first step toward World War Two.

In Professor Wang’s account, Grandfather’s handing over of the material was the main reason behind this decision in Geneva.

“We wrote the book as a novel to make it more accessible to ordinary people and not simply scholars. It was easier to write,” he said. “Your grandfather’s contribution has not received sufficient international recognition.”

He has sent a copy of the book to the United Nations library in Geneva, where is stored “The Book of Truth”, the papers of the Lytton Commission -- the documents they received from Grandfather and other missionaries.

Wang said that, when he learnt of Grandfather’s enormous contribution in Shenyang, Liaoning and the anti-Japanese war, he was very moved and sent a report to national leaders. “We call him the John Rabe of Shenyang.”

A German, Rabe worked for Siemens in China from 1910 to 1938. After the Japanese army captured Nanjing in December 1937, he organised the International Committee and a Nanjing Safety Zone in which 200,000 Chinese took shelter from the Japanese military. They provided the Chinese with food and protection.

Chinese consider Rabe one of the most righteous foreigners during World War Two.
In 2012, Joint Publishing of Hong Kong published “Frederick, The Life of My Missionary Grandfather in Manchuria” in English and traditional Chinese, which I wrote. Joint Publishing in Beijing also published a simplified Chinese version. It has been widely sold in Liaoning province.

Mark O'Neill

A Hong Kong-based writer, teacher and speaker.