CARL T. SMITH
lished there in a responsible position, he wrote to Li Tsin-kau invi- ting him to join him. Tsin-kau set off for Nanking but turned back before arriving there, because, as he claimed, he had heard alarming accounts of the religious and moral aberrations of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan. On his return to Hong Kong, he was taken on by Lechler as a helper in his ministry to the Hakka population in Hong Kong.
Li Tsin-kau continued as a valuable assistant in the Basel Mission in Hong Kong, serving as a catechist until his death in 1885. For some years in the 1860's he was a travelling preacher, using Hong Kong as his home base. His mother, wife and children, and a younger brother joined him in Hong Kong and all of them became members of the Basel Society congregation on High Street, Saiying- poon. In 1858, he mentions a brother, Schiu-siu, in California. The Eighth Report of the Berlin Society, for the years 1861 and 1862, mentions A-tat the unbaptized brother of the Basel Mission helper Lichenko.
Li Tsin-kau after his initial efforts to join the Taiping forces spent the remainder of his life serving the church in Hong Kong. However, his friend Hung Jen-kan became an important figure in the Taiping government under the title Kan Wang. Before assum- ing this political role, he also was a valued assistant in the Protestant Mission work in Hong Kong. While Li Tsin-kau worked among the Hakkas under the direction of the Rev. Rudolph Lechler, of the Basel Missionary Society, Hung Jen-kan worked with the Rev. Dr. James Legge, of the London Missionary Society, among the Canton- ese speaking population.
Dr. Legge took an interest in the Taiping movement and saw within it a potential for providing a turning point in the relation of the Christian church with the whole of China. In the summer of 1853, he sent two of his assistants to Shanghai to open communica- tion with the Taiping government so as to prepare the way for a missionary to enter Nanking. The delegation consisted of a long- time assistant in the London Missionary Society, Keuh A-gong, alias Wat Ngong A, and a young theological student of Dr. Legge's school, Ng Mun-sow. Their efforts were unsuc cessful, so after spending six months in Shanghai, they returned to Hong Kong. 4
We have already noted the unsuccessful effort of Hung Jen-kan and Li Tsin-kau to reach Nanking by way of Shanghai in 1854. Upon returning to Hong Kong, Jen-kan became a language teacher
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CARL T. SMITH
lished there in a responsible position, he wrote to Li Tsin-kau invi- ting him to join him. Tsin-kau set off for Nanking but turned back before arriving there, because, as he claimed, he had heard alarming accounts of the religious and moral aberrations of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan. On his return to Hong Kong, he was taken on by Lechler as a helper in his ministry to the Hakka population in Hong Kong.
Li Tsin-kau continued as a valuable assistant in the Basel Mission in Hong Kong, serving as a catechist until his death in 1885. For some years in the 1860's he was a travelling preacher, using Hong Kong as his home base. His mother, wife and children, and a younger brother joined him in Hong Kong and all of them became members of the Basel Society congregation on High Street, Saiying- poon. In 1858, he mentions a brother, Schiu-siu, in California. The Eighth Report of the Berlin Society, for the years 1861 and 1862, mentions A-tat the unbaptized brother of the Basel Mission helper Lichenko.
Li Tsin-kau after his initial efforts to join the Taiping forces spent the remainder of his life serving the church in Hong Kong. However, his friend Hung Jen-kan became an important figure in the Taiping government under the title Kan Wang. Before assum- ing this political role, he also was a valued assistant in the Protestant Mission work in Hong Kong. While Li Tsin-kau worked among the Hakkas under the direction of the Rev. Rudolph Lechler, of the Basel Missionary Society, Hung Jen-kan worked with the Rev. Dr. James Legge, of the London Missionary Society, among the Canton- ese speaking population.
Dr. Legge took an interest in the Taiping movement and saw within it a potential for providing a turning point in the relation of the Christian church with the whole of China. In the summer of 1853, he sent two of his assistants to Shanghai to open communica- tion with the Taiping government so as to prepare the way for a missionary to enter Nanking. The delegation consisted of a long- time assistant in the London Missionary Society, Keuh A-gong, alias Wat Ngong A, and a young theological student of Dr. Legge's school, Ng Mun-sow. Their efforts were unsuc cessful, so after spending six months in Shanghai, they returned to Hong Kong. 4
We have already noted the unsuccessful effort of Hung Jen-kan and Li Tsin-kau to reach Nanking by way of Shanghai in 1854. Upon returning to Hong Kong, Jen-kan became a language teacher
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