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officials. Therefore, Dr. Morrison decided it would be safer and less troublesome to have the printing done in Malacca under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Milne. When Mr. Milne sailed from Macau to Malacca in 1815, Liang A-fa was one of the staff of cutters and printers sent with Mr Milne.
The following year A-fa was baptised and thus began his career of writing, exhorting and preaching which only ended with his death at Honam, a Canton suburb, in 1855.
About the year 1828, he opened a school in his home district. Associated with him and probably bearing most of the teaching duties was one of his recent converts, the schoolmaster Kwu Tin-ching. This school was the first organised by a Chinese Protestant Christian in China. It was, however, not a success.
Parents did not wish their sons to be associated with teachers who had acquired strange ideas from foreigners. The school was soon closed. It was charged that it taught foreign ideas and its purpose was to undermine Chinese tradition so that the foreign powers might more easily impose their will on China.
One of the results of this educational venture was a small catechism he wrote to be used in the school. It was another of A-fa's books, however, that proved to be an important factor in influencing the course of Chinese history.
In 1843 Liang A-fa and a helper distributed thousands of tracts to the candidates for the official literary examination being held at Canton. One of the candidates was Hung Hsiu-chuan, the future leader of the Taiping Rebellion which almost succeeded in unseating the Manchu dynasty in the middle years of the nineteenth century. Hung paid no attention to the pamphlet he had received, as an examinee he had more weighty cares on his mind. He took it home after the examination, put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.
Some years later after another unsuccessful try at the examination, Hung experienced strange dreams and visions. One day a relative called his attention to Liang A-fa's book.
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officials. Therefore, Dr. Morrison decided it would be safer and less troublesome to have the printing done in Malacca under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Milne. When Mr. Milne sailed from Macau to Malacca in 1815, Liang A-fa was one of the staff of cutters and printers sent with Mr Milne.
The following year A-fa was baptised and thus began his career of writing, exhorting and preaching which only ended with his death at Honam, a Canton suburb, in 1855.
About the year 1828, he opened a school in his home district. Associated with him and probably bearing most of the teaching duties was one of his recent converts, the schoolmaster Kwu Tin- ching. This school was the first organised by a Chinese Protestant Christian in China. It was, however, not a success.
Parents did not wish their sons to be associated with teachers who had acquired strange ideas from foreigners. The school was soon closed. It was charged that it taught foreign ideas and its purpose was to undermine Chinese tradition so that the foreign powers might more easily impose their will on China.
One of the results of this educational venture was a small cate- chism he wrote to be used in the school. It was another of A-fa's books, however, that proved to be an important factor in influenc- ing the course of Chinese history.
In 1843 Liang A-fa and a helper distributed thousands of tracts to the candidates for the official literary examination being held at Canton. One of the candidates was Hung Hsiu-chuan, the future leader of the Taiping Rebellion which almost succeeded in unseat- ing the Manchu dynasty in the middle years of the nineteenth century. Hung paid no attention to the pamphlet he had received, as an examinee he had more weighty cares on his mind. He took it home after the examination, put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.
Some years later after another unsuccessful try at the examina- tion, Hung experienced strange dreams and visions. One day a relative called his attention to Liang A-fa's book.
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