# NOTES AND QUERIES
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Neumann who was supervising the Union after Gützlaff's death. Eventually, Neumann made a statement that there was no doubt that Feng had been in Hong Kong with Gützlaff in 1848 (by letter dated May 1854) but without mentioning baptism. These two instances only prove the strong influence of the false report.
Even if Feng had paid a brief visit to Gützlaff in Hong Kong in 1848, after failing to see Hung at home, it is difficult to believe that he was baptized by Gützlaff; in as much as he could not afford to stay long enough for the necessary schooling under Gützlaff, whilst on Gützlaff's part he could not baptize a stranger after one or two interviews with him. Moreover, Feng had by then founded the Society of God-Worshippers for over two years with a membership of about 3000 whom he himself had baptized and it seems unlikely that he would condescend to be baptized by Gützlaff and join his Union which had less members than his own Society. Absolutely there was no need for the baptism by Gützlaff. Moreover, Gützlaff was usually very methodical in keeping a record of the name, address, etc of every person whom he had baptized. A double checking on the list that Carl T. Smith found in the detailed reports that Gützlaff sent back to Germany showed that Feng Yun-shan's name was not there. This list consists of all the persons he had baptized from 1840 through 1848 to 1850. Even Clarke stated in a seminar held in the University of Hong Kong some years ago that all he could find in Gützlaff's private archive was the baptism of a school teacher on a certain date. It cannot be taken for granted that this teacher, without his name being mentioned, was Feng.
Last but not least, the silence of Hung Jen-kan and Hamberg on Feng's having visited Gützlaff should not be passed over lightly. Jen-kan, so closely associated with Feng, must have known such an important event had Feng made the visit. Hamberg, being an assistant of Gützlaff in the Union must also have known of the event. Yet, Gützlaff's name was not mentioned in Hamberg's book The Visions of Hung-Siu-tshuen and Origin of the Kwang-Si Insurrections (1854) which was based on Jen-kan's information. It simply narrates that Feng waited in the village for Hung Hsiu-ch'üan's eventual return. This silence should not be interpreted as an intentional negligence of something to Gützlaff's credit, but should be highly and appropriately regarded as strong negative evidence.
Hong Kong, 1978.
JEN YU-WEN