CAPTIVITY IN CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20656, 30 August 1930, Page 13

CAPTIVITY IN CHINA.

HARDSHIPS OF MISSIONARIES DANGERS FROM COMMUNISTS. DISCOMFORTS OF PRISON LIFE. [BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] DUNEDIN, Friday. A vivid narrative of the experiences of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Porteous during their period of captivity for about three months in Central China has been received by the local secretary of the China Inland Mission. The account states that the three Chinese who braved so many dangers to rescue the missionaries made their way from Hankow to Kiau, which is two and a-half days' journey from Yungsin, where Mr. and Mrs. Porteous were in captivity. This stage of travelling lay through Communist territory. They got safely into the territory of the Reds and were met by a body of Red troops, who, seeing they were carrying medicines, immediately proposed that they be allowed to share them. Just for a time the situation was somewhat critical, but the Chinese wero equal to the occasion, and after tactfully aguing the point with them and giving them a small present of a few medicines, they went on. Agreement for Release. Arriving at Yungsin, they requested the Soviet committee to authorise the release of Mr. and Mrs. Porteous. The request was at first refused, but through the influence of the chairman and the letter which General Peng had written the release was agreed to. The next difficulty was the journey back to friends and home. Mr. and Mrs. Porteous were weak. Their feet and legs were swollen and they could not walk. Sedan chairs had been sent to Tungsin, so that they might be carried on the return journey, but Communist principles did not allow a person to ride in a chair. The chairman of the Soviet committee would not sign an authority relaxing this rule, but Mr. Chen, of the three Chinese, was not dismayed. He signed the document himself, and the chairman, with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders, placed the official stamp on it. The journey was by no means easy. They met many bands of Communist militia, men who ordinarily would be disguised as bandits. They professed to be very incensed that the missionaries were riding in chairs and at times their attitude was very ugly, threatening to kill them all. Yet by patience and forbearance and a soft answer they managed to win their way through, and they arrived safely at Kiau, where Government soldiers were stationed.

They were not out of danger even then, for the river journey from that point went through country held by brigands. In fact, it was along that part of the journey that three Finnish sisters were lately captured and killed, but a Government gunboat was to leave next day, and travelling down the river on this the party passed safely through the dangers and reached safety on July 1. Mr. aud Mrs. Porteous were taken captive by the Communists on March 24. They were treated with no little contumely, but by their meekness and kindly good will toward everyone, and by reason of the good name which those who had known them, non-Christians as well as Christians, gave them, their captors changed their attitude and treated theni as well as they could under the circumstances. It being impossible for them to accompany the Communist army in its long marches, they were given into the charge of the Yungsin Soviet Government and they spent most of their captivity in the prison quarters there. Conditions in Prisons. These were not always in the same place and some of these quarters were worse than others. Generally, it meant living and sleeping in one room with other prisoners and in close proximity to dirt, disease and smells. There was only one occasion when they had a room to themselves.

The Yungsin Communists were not as considerate as the army leaders, but as a rule they did not treat the missionaries with unnecessary severity, and there were some among them who were really kind. Some, however, seemed poisoned against all foreigners and those, in their ignorance and prejudice, heaped abuse upon them. The food, if viewed from the rural Chinese point of view, was on the whole fairly good. It was the same as their guards ate, but from the point of view of a European it was poor. They had a little money and as this was not taken from them they were occasionally able to buy a few things to supplement the food provided.