NOTES ON FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF TAIPING LEADERS 121
cared for by friends of the family, and his wife and children fled to her parents' home. Tsin-kau tried to make a living by travelling about the area between Macao and Canton offering his services as a fung-shui expert. After a time, he moved east to the districts of Kuei-shan and Po-lo. After more than a year, he ventured to return to his home district. Here he met up with Hung Jen-kan. The two of them, accompanied perhaps by other friends and relatives, came down to Hong Kong hoping that they could from here find a way to join Hung Hsiu-ch'uan at Nanking, the capital of the Taiping Kingdom. As Hakkas, they sought out the missionaries of the Basel Society, which had devoted itself to work among this dialect group. Jen-kan met the Rev. Theodore Hamberg for a second time at Pu-kit in Hsin-an District. Here he received further instruction in preparation for baptism and was baptized on 20 September, 1853. Hamberg reports six baptisms on this date. The first was "Fung or Hung, from Faheen, aged 31 years, teacher and doctor”, of whom he remarks that he was a relative and youthful friend of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, the Taiping Wang. Four others were members of the Kong family of Lilong, and the sixth was "Fung Tet-schin, from Thatipun, aged 31 years, schoolteacher".
Li Tsin-kau did not remain at Pukak with Jen-kan but continued on to Hong Kong with two friends Khi-sem and A-kap. Here they were welcomed by the missionaries and taken on as inquirers to receive instruction. The Rev. Rudolph Lechler had come down from his station in the country to await the arrival from Germany of his fiancé. He assisted Hamberg in the instruction of the new arrivals. The basis of the instruction was the Lutheran catechism. In the light of it, Li Tsin-kau confessed he previously had held a distorted view of the Christian faith. He had understood, under the influence of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, "the discourses concerning the power of God and false idols, but had no understanding of sin and forgiveness through Christ". His prayer had been patterned after a form taught by Hsiu-ch'uan. After three months instruction, he was baptized by Hamberg, although on the urging of Hung Jen-kan, he had some years previous been baptized by Hung Hsiu-ch'uan.
The Day-book of the Rev. Lechler in the Archives of the Basel Missionary Society under date of 28th February, 1854, has the entry of the baptism of four who were instructed by Hamberg at Hong Kong: "Li Khi Lim, from Tseang ye, Li Hin Long, from Tseang ye, Li Chin Kau, from Tseang ye, and Fun Shen Fong from Tung...