RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 187 soon the pet of the pious section of the San Francisco community. Everyone was impressed with this suave, intelligent and seemingly religious young Chinese gentleman. The Rev. Albert Williams, founder of the First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, after meeting A-chick, reported that "his answers to questions touching matters of Christian doctrine are intelligent and satisfactory. He is associated with his uncle, accompanying him in a mercantile venture, and will remain in this city. I have much hope, that through his instrumentality we may bring the gospel more directly to bear upon his interesting country.” A-chick was viewed as a potential medium for missionary endeavour. Soon after A-chick's arrival, a Bible class for Chinese was organised by a Presbyterian Elder. Its first members were A-chick "and his companions.” Among these was Lee A-kan, a former classmate at the Morrison Education Society School in Hongkong. It was realised, however, that if the Chinese in San Francisco were to be reached by the church, it was not enough to have classes for them in English. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was asked to send a Chinese-speaking missionary to San Francisco. The Board sent the Rev. William Speer. Mr. Speer had been in Canton for about three years, returning to the United States in 1849. His wife Cornelia Breckenridge and an infant daughter died within a few months of each other and are buried in the Protestant Cemetery at Macau near the grave of Dr. Robert Morrison. After his arrival in San Francisco, Mr. Speer began looking up the Chinese who had been connected with missionary churches or schools in China. He called on Tong A-chick. By then the young man was already in a position of leadership in the Chinese community and was recognised as a man of wealth. Of the meeting Mr. Speer remarks: “A-chick is regarded by the American community here as a man of more than common ability- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 188 CARL SMITH ty. He received us in his office attached to the hall of the company whose chief he is. His dress is the native silk gown, close pants, and embroidered shoes. His address impresses strangers as both dignified and courteous. His education is perhaps defective in the Chinese classics, but he may reach powers under his own government, on the basis of wealth, and hereafter wield an important influence over the undisclosed but portentous destinies of the vast empire of whose subjects he is begotten.” Mr. Speer, the ever-hopeful missionary, envisaged A-chick playing an influential part in the future of China. Actually it was a brother, Tong King-sing, who played a rather important role in the modernisation of China. However, Tong Mow-chee, or as we have been calling him A-chick, was associated with his brother in some of the enterprises. As hopeful as Mr. Speer was, he was not able to get A-chick as one of the charter members of the congregation he organised. He did, however, assist by raising money within the Chinese community for building a mission house for the small Christian group. Already recognised by the Chinese as a leader, A-chick took around the subscription paper. Some US$2,000 was raised. The Chinese associations as well as business firms contributed liberally. Tong K. A. Chick and Company is listed for US$100. Though not a member of the first Chinese Christian congregation organised in America, A-chick retained the goodwill of the Christian community. In 1853 when he returned to Hongkong for a brief visit, he took with him a letter from the Rev. Mr. Van Mehr to the Bishop in Hongkong. He was still impressed by the young man. “It is impossible not to appreciate his sociable disposition, his kindness, his gentlemanly behaviour, his Christian deportment." The Bishop welcomed him back and listened with interest to his account of both religious and political developments in the Chinese community in California. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 193 US$3 a month on all non-American miners. The Chinese believed the legislature "had spoken wisely. The Chinamen love to labour, but hate to fight. We will pay the tax willingly." American xenophobia produced the charge that the Chinese were exporting vast amounts of gold. They replied: "Why then is it that the Chinaman is so prosperous in this country? Because as we have told your Excellency before, he (the Chinaman) does not drink, gamble, or idle, or spend his money foolishly. Because he is thinking of his parents and his children, and the future, and works hard and saves what he makes." Perhaps a somewhat idealised version of Chinese life in California, but certainly it contained a degree of truth. The letter also pointed out that mutual interchange would be beneficial to both Americans and Chinese. "Our intercourse may benefit us both very much, and that will be better than quarrelling about our respective merits. Why should East quarrel with the West? God made them both, and placed the day between them, that the nations should use it in doing good works to one another." The letter was signed by Tong K. A-chick of the Tun Wo company and Chun A-ching of the Sam Wo Company. Though the writer is not named it was probably composed by A-chick. Some of the sentiments, particularly those last quoted, reflected his missionary education. Several bills were introduced in the legislature in 1853 proposing that “no Asiatic or person of Asiatic descent or Chinese should be permitted to work in any mine in this state." The heads of the four Chinese associations testified at the hearings for the bills. Tong A-chick acted as their interpreter and presented the Chinese position. The Rev. Mr. Speer remarks on the good work done by A-chick as the representative of the Chinese. "This is the individual whose efforts on behalf of his countrymen were the chief means in turning the tide of public opinion in their favour, when those unfriendly to them made the attempt to expel them from the country. And if he remains here, there is no man whose influence will be more Page 210 Page 211 ================================================================================