George Leslie Mackay. POJ Scripts. Vintage Photos

Sin-Tiam Church (Photo is the rebuilt in 1885)

A church of rich historical value

Destroyed by Monga (Wanhua) mobs during Sino-French war, rebuilt in 1885, destroyed by typhoon later in 1924.

(Source Leslie Noble Oct 2020) (Sin-Tiam/Xindian 新店)

'Dadaocheng Presbyterian Church' (Ganzhou Street 甘州街)

Identified by Li Chunsheng 李春生 descendant

(Source Leslie Noble Oct 2020)

Leslie Noble, granddaughter of Nellie Mackay, forwarded me in October 2020 a bunch of photos and hand scripts kept in the homes of Mackay descendants in Canada.

(Source Leslie Noble Oct 2020)

Leslie thinks Margaret Noble was her grandfather's (Thomas Noble) sister whom she met only once as a kid in the 60s.

The connection (identity) between Margaret Mackay (one of the Mackay Sisters) and Margaret Noble, at this point and as far as myself is concerned, is unclear and unknown. But I could be missing or forgetting something.

Looking through and in the meantime with unfailingly support from my historian friend we were making significant progress of getting hand scripts translated into Chinese and English. During the process, I was put in touch with Tamsui Church priest and local historian who acknowledged such valuable materials would be highlight features for 2021 - 150th anniversary of Mackay missionary legacy in Taiwan. The Church had plans to invite Mackay descendants from Canada and join Taiwanese and expats to meet in Tamsui remembering and celebrating this historical event. Unfortunately unlikely to proceed under current global pandemic situation, it is therefore appropriate to share now to reach a wider audience.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī  白話字 abbreviated POJ, literally vernacular writing, also known as Church Romanization) is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese Hokkien and Amoy Hokkien.

Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the 19th century and refined by missionaries working in Xiamen and Tainan, it uses a modified Latin alphabet and some diacritics to represent the spoken language. After initial success in Fujian, POJ became most widespread in Taiwan and, in the mid-20th century, there were over 100,000 people literate in POJ. A large amount of printed material, religious and secular, has been produced in the script, including Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News. （Wikipedia)

Two POJ Pages - Both Sent and Signed by Sin Tiam (Xindian) Church 

Translated by 洪美和

Ms Bi-Ho Hong now in San Francisco communicated with her mother in POJ before the latter passed away a few years ago. Hong's father was on the 神靖丸 Shinsei Maru when it was sunk in 1945 Jan 12. (https://shinseimaru.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_1751.html)

A precious youtube of Ms Hong parents' wedding

1939 Tainan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m0meW7Unck

Page on the left

1895論來歷。這一位是呂明延，在新店街做生意。本來是拜偶像的，不信道理，後來是因為腳痛風來求藥，才悔改來做禮拜，才放棄偶像，讓他的弟弟很怨恨。法國來打滬尾時，他也被壞人搶，真淒慘。他卻益發更誠實拜上帝。更熱心信耶穌。就是從1881年聽道理到1884年 4月12號領洗禮，到1889年，你推薦他做教會的執事。他今年58歲。禮拜天他都沒有開店。相當會約束他的兒子，媳婦來做禮拜。晚上的時候，他也常常來做禮拜。
新店教會寄

1895 biography entry. This is Lu min yan, a businessman in Sin Tiam Township. He was originally an idol worshipper, did not believe in Gospels. He came to us looking for medicine for gout-induced pain in the foot but repented and cast away idols to join our Sunday worships. This made his brother very angry.   When the French attacked Hobe, he was robbed by a mob, very miserable. Since then, he became even more devout in worshipping God and believing in Jesus Christ. That was from 1881 when he came to church attending sermons till being baptized on April 12, 1884. In 1889, you have promoted him to become a deacon. He is now 58 years old, always closes down his shop on Sundays, also makes sure his son and daughter-in-law to join our Sunday worships. He often comes to the church service in the evenings too. 
Sent by Sin Tiam Church. 

Page on the right

1895論來歷。這一位姓林的先生名字叫南成。現時是在新店街做生意。他是馬仔的先生。本來是拜佛的，從1879年他只有17歲的時候就來（教會）聽道理。一直到1888年4月1號受洗。到了1891年11月29號，你推薦他為教會執事。這個人會唸白話字。他信救主，服事上帝相當熱心。禮拜日就沒有做生意，他的店窗也就沒開。逐禮拜，上下午都做禮拜。若沒有生病的阻擋。每天晚上都做禮拜。也常常來讀好幾節“唐人字”的聖經（漢字聖經），用白話字解釋。他今年也奉獻了10條用於禮拜堂的長椅，也奉獻了十二塊錢給上帝。
新店教會寄
1895 biography entry.
Mr Lin’s given name is Nan-Chen. The owner of a business in Sin Tiam Township and who is the husband of Ma Zhi. Mr Lin was originally a Buddha worshipper who came to our church in 1879 when he was 17 years old. He was baptized on April 1, 1888.  On November 29, 1891,you have promoted him to become a deacon of the church. He was able to read Pe̍h-ōe-jī quite well, truly believed in God and was quite dedicated in serving God. On Sundays, he would shut down his business in order to worship at the church, in both morning and afternoon sessions. He would come to church worship every Sunday if no illness prevented him from doing so. He often came and recited some Bible verses in Chinese and translations in Taiwanese Pe̍h-ōe-jī. This year, he contributed 10 long benches to the church and also donated 12 dollars in God’s honor. Sent by Sin Tiam Church.  

Songshan Presbyterian Church （formerly Sek-kháu (錫口)

"In 1885, the Canadian missionary George LeslieMackay, the founder of the Presbyterian missionary in northern Taiwan, had claimed to rebuild several of his churches in Taipei after they were devastated by the revenge Han-Chinese during the upheaval of Sino-French War that also took place in the Northern Taiwan. One of his rebuilt churches is located in middle section of the upstream River Keelung at port of Sek-kháu (錫口), a name from the former low-land plain tribe inhabited here for thousands of years. This is the first time when this small town became largely documented in the world" history. Source HERE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. A retired priest on POJ

"I occasionally saw some very elderly church members following scripture readings in church with a POJ bible, but very few in the 21st century.  Since the late 90s, when a version of the 1933 Barclay version in mixed Character plus occasional POJ was published, the "pure POJ" versions had dwindled.  The new POJ translation (by the Taiwan Bible Society in about 2004, revised a few years later) is the one used now to test ordinands' ability to read POJ.

The new Taiwanese version put together by a bunch of diaspora Taiwanese Christians in the USA a few years ago is similarly in Character with POJ where necessary.  A few comments on it may be cogent: 

1) The publishers reversed the order of the old and new testaments before printing, putting Matthew as the first book of the bible, and Malachi last.  (That speaks to something, but I'm not sure which.)
2) Of course, like a little boy, I looked up the "dirty bits".  In the Song of songs, where the chorus sings "what shall we do for our little sister for she has no breasts, but mine are breasts like towers", the translators of this version put, "what shall we do for our little sister, for she is not yet grown, but I am all grown up".    When you bowdlerize a classical text like that one, you disqualify yourself from fair consideration. 

My first arrival in Taiwan was 1976. I was a colossal ignoramus with an even larger ego and zeal to "convert the heathen".  Hopefully much of that got knocked out of me in successive years.  Anyway, regarding POJ back then.  The KMT had seized the 1972 "red cover" translation of the New Testament (done jointly by Roman Catholics and Protestants) after only 10,000 had been printed.  The Presbyterians made one of their 1970s' statements, "Our Appeal" about it, and the KMT got bad press. The seized bibles were returned, but further publication was prohibited.  Sometime in the 1990s I acquired a copy. In about 2003 it was published openly and freely again, but its moment had passed. Nobody uses that stuff any more, and the 2004 translation replaced it. 

If you'd like to see something "half-ass scholarly" in POJ, you might ask the library at Tainan Theological College (not the PCT Archives in the other half of the building) for a B. Div thesis from the 1960s.  They should be on file, DEEPLY on file and likely dust covered."

2. From Far Formosa page 194. A-Hoa (who appears on several places in the book) should be 嚴清華 (Mackay's first student and most trusted assistant.) (Very likely seen here in pigtail)

A-Hoa well-known for assisting at Mackay Hospital during Sino-French war treating Hunan Brave 湖南勇 (HERE)

"The ancient graves of Human Brave 湖南勇: This grave site is located at the junction of Chung Cheng East Road and Gang-zen No 2 Street竿蓁二街. ...."

3.

Monthly donation by Mackay 偕宣教師 to this free school 義塾 in Xindian is 5 dollars 圓 (equivalent today around NT $45,000) from the last two sentences.

4. Edward Band (1886-1971) - Play football and spread gospels

In 1914, Edward Band (who was captain of football team at Cambridge University) named ‘football’ - ‘Sui-kiu’ 蹴球 as it’s reverse of ‘Kiu-Sui’ 救主 - Lord and Savior.  Two sides of a coin - Play football and spread gospels. 

5. FB comments from Michael Stainton ( 史邁克 is YCAR’s “retired” specialist on Taiwan, and President of the Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada)

" Presbyterian churches don't have priests. While it is true that Amoy romanized script is a dying language ,it is very much alive amongst Taiwan's Indigenous Christians. New translations using romanized have now replaced the earlier bopomofo based syllabics that translators were forced to use by the KMT. And in the Presbyterian churches at least even young people learn to read it. Some even write letters using it." 

Taiwan Historian HM Cheng response: 
Most aboriginals do not speak Holo, POJ would not have been useful. There is no distinction between priests and ministers as far as the Taiwanese are concerned. 傳道人比牧者的意義高。