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in the muddy shallows of the river. Dusk had already come, the air was "cool and refreshing," and the cowherd responsible for the water buffalo was washing their bodies as they lounged in the cool environment after a hard day's labour. Neither the cowherd nor the buffalo responded to the sight of the strange men. But once the boat rounded the next corner in the river, they silently came up to a "girl driving home two or three cows." When she peered through the darkening light into the boat and realized she was gazing at "strange faces and forms," she spontaneously shrieked and ran away from her cows, yelling that "demons" were coming up the river! To her the word was not simply a casual derogation, but was actually descriptive of what she saw. Certainly it was also believed by many who were her neighbours. There may be other ways to respond to demons, such as lying quietly on the water buffalo you are cleaning and not looking into the faces of suspected ghosts or demons, but the belief remained the same. This demonisation of foreigners easily increased the common people's tendency to fear and despise them, and could erupt into destructive violence, especially if political and military reasons prodded them to express their fears and hatreds more openly.
Still later on the return trip, when the Chinese members of the missionary group had gone ashore during the evening to sleep on firmer supports than the floating boats could offer, those on land were attacked by a mob of “lewd fellows of the baser sort" who obviously spent most of their fury on Ch'ea.72 It is clear that Ch'ëa's methods had threatened and offended others in the Poklo region, to the point that some were willing to hire or incite young thugs to hinder his activities. Legge and others nevertheless remained impressed by Ch'ëa's consistent character, emphasizing instead the positive reports of those influenced by him to embrace Christian traditions. In many ways they considered him an authentic "Golden Light" (Jinguang, which also was his personal name) shining within China, a miraculous hope during a period made dark and bleak by the ensuing war. Yet by the spring of 1861 it was more and more obvious that Ch'ea was already a marked man in Poklo. Even if Legge and other missionaries hoped otherwise, they did so in spite of the evidence of the antagonisms vented against Ch'ea in
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in the muddy shallows of the river. Dusk had already come, the air was "cool and refreshing," and the cowherd responsible for the water buffalo was washing their bodies as they lounged in the cool environment after a hard day's labour. Neither the cowherd nor the buffalo responded to the sight of the strange men. But once the boat rounded the next corner in the river, they silently came up to a "girl driving home two or three cows." When she peered through the darkening light into the boat and realized she was gazing at "strange faces and forms," she spontaneously shrieked and ran away from her cows, yelling that "demons" were coming up the river! To her the word was not simply a casual derogation, but was actually descriptive of what she saw. Certainly it was also believed by many who were her neighbours. There may be other ways to respond to demons, such as lying quietly on the water buffalo you are cleaning and not looking into the faces of suspected ghosts or demons, but the belief remained the same. This demonisation of foreigners easily increased the common people's tendency to fear and despise them, and could erupt into destructive violence, especially if political and military reasons prodded them to express their fears and hatreds more openly.
Still later on the return trip, when the Chinese members of the missionary group had gone ashore during the evening to sleep on firmer supports than the floating boats could offer, those on land were attacked by a mob of “lewd fellows of the baser sort" who obviously spent most of their fury on Ch'ea.72 It is clear that Ch'ëa's methods had threatened and offended others in the Poklo region, to the point that some were willing to hire or incite young thugs to hinder his activities. Legge and others nevertheless remained impressed by Ch'ëa's consistent character, emphasizing instead the positive reports of those influenced by him to embrace Christian traditions. In many ways they considered him an authentic "Golden Light" (Jinguang, which also was his personal name) shining within China, a miraculous hope during a period made dark and bleak by the ensuing war. Yet by the spring of 1861 it was more and more obvious that Ch'ea was already a marked man in Poklo. Even if Legge and other missionaries hoped otherwise, they did so in spite of the evidence of the antagonisms vented against Ch'ea in
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