58 – Fragrant Harbour – Pearl of the Orient
Hong Kong originally belonged to China, but was leased to Britain in 1842 following the opium war. Today it is one of the two special administrative regions (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the other is Macau. When we were appointed to Hong Kong in January 1983 it was still a British colony.
Hong Kong vies with Sri Lanka, Penang, the Philippines and Shanghai for the name “Pearl of the Orient.” The meaning of Hong Kong or as the Cantonese would pronounce it “Heong Kong” literally means “Fragrant Harbour.
On 27 August 1895 a group of officers from Japan led by a certain missionary Colonel Wright visited Hong Kong. They were joined by twenty Salvationist servicemen belonging to the British Army and Navy personnel. About 350 Europeans gathered for an Army meeting in the home of a Mr. Meare. It must be a very big house to accommodate so many peole.
Two days later the group held an open meeting and distributed gospel tracts. A brass band was formed for the occasion. They attracted a large crowd of about 500 people.
The Salvation Army Year Book published annually has this introduction “In March 1930, at a meeting at Government House, Hong Kong, The Salvation Army was requested to undertake women’s work in the crown colony, a work pioneered by Majors Dorothy Brazier and Doris Lemon. This work was directed from Peking until, in 1935, the South China Command was established in Canton to promote wide evangelistic and welfare operations. In 1939 Hong Kong became the Army’s administrative centre. Later, the inclusion of the New Territories determined that the Command Headquarters move to Kowloon.”
One day, my wife and I accompanied by Major Moira Wright the General Secretary and cadets visited Happy Valley Cemetery. We saw the graves of a number of Salvation Army folk buried there. On the gravestones were the dates of their promotion to Glory – Staff Captain Frederick Symons on 25 May 1900 (35 years before the work of the Army officially began) He had served in the Army’s Naval and Military League (now Red Shield Services) from 1898 until his death. The League provided accommodation, counselling and religious services for the servicemen.
We also visited the grave of Brigadier J Sansom who was promoted to Glory in 1936 (father of Mrs. Commissioner Margaret Harris, now with her husband Commissioner Wesley Harris living in retirement in Australia) We held an open air meeting at the grave site, read the Scriptures and gave thanks to God for his life. We took photographs and sent to our friends Commissioner and Mrs.Harris at that time the Territorial Leaders in Scotland Territory.
Buried at the same cemetery was Mrs. Brigadier Darby who went to be with the Lord in 1936. Her husband later was appointed to the then Malaya Command with Headquarters in Singapore as the Officer Commanding. He was the leader of the Youth Councils the year Fong Pui Chan and I both dedicated out lives to officership in 1949. It was on the second day of Chinese New Year. The theme of these special youth meetings was the rather old fashioned - “The old chariot” and we all sang with gusto the chorus, “So we’ll roll the old chariot along and we won’t drag on behind.”
The saints of old finished their tasks before us and now it was our turn to grab the baton and continue the race. We were appointed to take the next lap which lasted seven and a half years. To God be the glory!
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