Karl Friederich Gützlaff (anglicized as "Charles Gutzlaff")

Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff, anglicized as Charles Gutzlaff, (8 July 1803–9 August 1851) was a German (Prussian) missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, and for his books about China. He was the first Protestant missionary in China to dress like a Chinese and was able to bring the gospel to people in 14 different languages. He was also the first Lutheran Missionary coming to the Far East, sent by a Calvinist Dutch Mission. Gutzlaff through his personal network (in the The Netherlands Missionary Society on the continent and the cross-denominational London Missionary Society could do more to popularize China missions and to awaken Western Christian congregations to Christ's Great Commission than any other Protestant missionary of the early nineteenth century ever did. Among those Gutzlaff inspired to volunteer for work in East Asia were Issachar Roberts, notable for his connections with the Taiping rebels; J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission; and John T. Gulick, the first of many Gulicks to work in China and Japan. As an independent missionary, Gutzlaff was a pioneer among missionaries such as David Livingstone, who volunteered for China but was sent to Africa, where he went his own way; Albert Schweitzer, also of African fame; and hundreds of evangelicals today. Gutzlaff could not accept borders and limitations for the spread of the gospel. His writing testifies he was aiming for the potentially most efficient way to bring the gospel to the end of the earth. For him the last major unreached people were in Far East, especially in Imperial China.

Early Years

Born at Pyritz (On the left you see an old photographic postcard of the former German town of Pyritz in Pommern, Western Pomerania). His mother died when he was four, and his father soon married a widow with eight children. Relations with his stepmother, according to some sources, were distant and contributed to his becoming a loner at an early age. As an apprentice to a saddler in Stettin, he made known his missionary inclinations to the king of Prussia, through whom he found his way to the Padagogium at Halle. Once when Emperor Frederick William III visited Stettin, Gutzlaff and a friend boldly threw a welcoming poem into the emperor's carriage. Frederick William was pleased and offered to educate the two, designating Gutzlaff for the Berlin Mission Institute. Initially Gutzlaff seemed a misfit in this small pietist institute founded by Johannes Janicke. He did not demonstrate proper humility but rather expressed a desire to become an eloquent preacher; he did not lead a life of prayer; and he showed too much interest in secular learning, enrolling for courses at the University of Berlin. Most damaging of all, he gave no indication of having undergone an emotional conversion. Under the leadership of Janicke and fellow students, however, Gutzlaff did come to acknowledge his sinfulness, and after a night of repentance and prayer, he experienced rebirth. He accepted the minimalist doctrines of Pietism as true Christianity and, in return, was accepted into the community.

Evangelism in Southeast Asia
Gutzlaff next studied for three years in Rotterdam at the seminary of the Dutch Missionary Society (NZG). While there, he composed an appeal to the Dutch on behalf of the heathens and produced an ambitious work on the expansion of Christianity since the founding of the church. He also went to London to visit with Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China. The Netherlands Missionary Society sent him to Java in 1826, where he learned Chinese.

Java
Because of local feuds, Gutzlaff worked temporarily in Java with Walter Medhurst, a London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary. Gutzlaff accompanied Medhurst on itinerations among Malays and Chinese, Medhurst preaching in the dialects of each and distributing tracts. Impressed by Medhurst's linguistic facility, Gutzlaff assiduously studied the Fujian dialect along with classical Chinese and Malay; within two months he was ready to try to communicate with the populace on his own. Gutzlaff left the society in 1828.

Java was too confining for Gutzlaff's ambitions, though; China's heathen millions called him. He moved on to Bintan Island, then to Singapore and Thailand. Here there were sizable Chinese communities as well as traders from Fujian and Guangdong among whom he could evangelize. Perhaps some of the tracts he distributed would reach China and plant the seed of the Gospel. The NZG was not happy; Gutzlaff was too obsessed with the Chinese, a NZG director wrote. Evangelizing China was beyond NZG resources, and the society preferred to concentrate on the Dutch colonies.

Siam (Thailand) and Gutzlaffs's first Marriage
Consequently he first left for Singapore, then to Bangkok to see Jacob Tomlin of the London Missionary Society, and worked on a translation of the Bible into Siamese (Thai). In 1829 he married the LMS English missionary Maria Newell, after their marriage both went to Bankgkok on 11 February 1830. "These two devoted themselves to studying Siamese and translating, hardly allowing themselves time to eat or sleep, and daily employing a number of copyists. Thus they succeeded in evolving a very imperfect translation of the whole Bible in Siamese, a considerable portion of it into the Lao and Cambodian languages, and preparing a dictionary and grammar of the Siamese and Cambodian. These translations were later delivered by Mr. Gutzlaff to Mr. Robinson of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the dictionary was taken over by Mr. Jones of the Baptist Board and became the foundation of the dictionary later prepared by Eliza Grew Jones." (Valerie Griffiths, Not Less Than Everything: The Courageous Women Who Carried the Christian Gospel to China Kregel Publications, 2004). On 16 February 1831 Maria gave birth to twin daughters at Bangkok, Siam. The joy about the double blessing was short-lived. The mother died a few hours later after giving birth. One child had died at birth, the remaining child was left for a time with her Siamese nurse, later, when it became possible she was put in the care of a Mrs. Thomson in Singapore. However, it only lived four more months.

Arrival in Macao and Hongkong
With LMS missionary Jacob Tomlin, Gutzlaff began a Thai translation of the New Testament, though only the Gospel of St. John was published. He composed tracts in Malay and Chinese and, with his wife, drafted a Thai-English dictionary. In addition with Tomlin he gathered small groups of believers, many of them initially attracted by Gutzlaff's distribution of medicines, but Gutzlaff reported baptizing only one convert. He continued to work on mastering several Chinese dialects and made plans for a trip to China.

After his wife's death he boarded for Macao, and went to Hong Kong, where he worked on a Chinese translation of the Bible, published a Chinese-language magazine, and wrote Chinese-language books on several sometimes subjects with the goal to open Chinese eyes for the rest of the world. He explored several options.

Missionary / Civil Service - 2nd Marriage -1831-1843
From 1831 to 1843 Gutzlaff s base was between the ministry axis of Macao-Canton, often he stayed in Hongkong, (where he later due to his poor health remained until his death in 1951). Therefore Hongkong in memory of his dedication to their cause named one of their streets after him (郭實臘 (郭士立), picture). He married a second time,

again to an Englishwoman, Mary Wanstall. The two had no children but adopted two blind Chinese girls, one of whom was educated in England and returned to teach blind girls in a Ningbo school. Mary Gutzlaff founded a school in which she taught for several years before her death in 1849. Gutzlaff continued the propagation of Christianity, circulating in nearby villages, especially to poor Hakka communities, where he found a ready reception. Occasionally he probed the Fujian coast. He formed prayer circles and Bible reading groups, held regular worship services in several Chinese dialects, and taught catechism classes to inquirers. From among the latter, he selected the most promising ones to accompany him on his preaching tours, and he became increasingly impressed by their ability to communicate Christianity to their compatriots, even if their theological knowledge was weak. In December 1834 he accepted a position as Chinese interpreter for British administrators; he need no longer support his missionary activities by participating in the opium trade. Rather, he anticipated that he would be able to promote free trade and the right to evangelize throughout China. During the Opium War Gutzlaff worked as translator for British commanders and negotiators, temporary magistrate of conquered cities, and scout for British forces. With his prodigious energy and drive he still conducted preaching tours, composed Christian pamphlets, and instructed inquirers and converts, but the range of his activities and the time available for evangelism were limited. After the war Gutzlaff became Chinese secretary to the Hong Kong government, a position he held until his death. In this capacity he often acted as spokesman and defender of the Chinese community. He represented their interests, for example, when their rice fields were drained to reduce the incidence of malaria or their lands were bought to make way for roads, markets, and other public centers. When the British tried to institute rules for registration of all Chinese, he helped evolve a compromise that made it less blatantly racist by basing the requirement on income and property. For better or worse, he contributed to the evolution of separate rule for Chinese and Westerners in Hong Kong. Thus, he initiated recommendations for the first government subsidies to Chinese schools and assisted in establishing a Chinese police force, employing collective responsibility according to Chinese custom.

In 1834 he published his "Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832, & 1833 with notices of Siam, Corea, and the Loo-Choo islands." The publications contain his diary of his experiences along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832 and 1833. On this journey he succesfully opened doors for later mission work in Formosa, Okinawa and Fukien, by handing out tracts and giving self printed bibles to local governors (in South Formosa and Okinawa). According to his journal, he brought the first Han-Chinese bible to Formosa Taiwan in April 1831(In his dairy he writes at the April 11, 1831: “On awakening this morning we were near the level coast of Formosa. As I can remember no effort here to spread the gospel since the Chinese conquest (1662), I rejoice to embrace this opportunity of giving them at least the means to know it“ (Charles Gutzlaff, Tainan, April 11th 1831)
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In a third voyage which he undertook in 1832 he was shipwrecked, and almost frozen to death. The vessel was subsequently rescued, and pro­ceeded on her voyage. He touched at Zhapu, a place where an extensive trade is carried on between Japan and China, and availed himself of the opportunity to send Bibles into the interior.
Having taken in several shipwrecked Japanese sailors, Gutzlaff began to study Japanese and translate the New Testament into Japanese, though only the Gospels and Epistles of John were published (in katakana). In 1837 Gutzlaff, along with American missionaries S. Wells Williams and Peter Parker, M.D., used the excuse of returning the Japanese seamen to their homeland to test the possibility of opening Japan to commerce, evangelism, and international intercourse. Although their ship was rebuffed with gunfire at Tokyo and Kagoshima, the mission added momentum to sentiment already building. When the U.S. president dispatched Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853 to demand diplomatic relations with Japan, Williams was official interpreter, and his assistant was one of the Japanese sailors.

Literary Work
Gutzlaff composed approximately fifty Chinese religious tracts between 1831-1843 . He also translated the Augsburg Confession and selections from the Anglican liturgy for use in training assistants and in worship services. Gutzlaff, like other missionaries, also published secular works in Chinese, for he came to believe it was necessary to educate Chinese about the West in order to gain their respect. Evangelists must demonstrate that there were other worthy civilizations besides that of China. Thus, Gutzlaff composed a history of England, a world geography, and a universal history. Since he believed in the reality of Western Christendom, with religion integral to political liberty and scientific progress, religion was not absent from the works, but ordinarily it was not overly obtrusive. From 1833 to 1839 Gutzlaff also edited 東西洋考每月统记傳 (Dong-Xi yang kao meiyue tong jizhuan, The East-West monthly magazine), which included essays on the British Parliament, the U.S. Congress, Western law and individual rights, trade, descriptions of European and Southeast Asia countries, and elementary articles on Western science and technology. How widely the missionaries' secular works circulated in China is difficult to ascertain, but extensive sections from them were excerpted in writings of the scholar-officials Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan, and Xu Jiyu at a time when interest in the sources of Western power was growing and information in Chinese was scarce.

After the first full translation of the Chinese bible was completed in 1835, which was spearheaded by Robert Morrison (Lond Missinary Society) it was soon clear, that its quality was not good enough.The Morrison’s version, like that of Marshman, had defects. He hoped that his son, John Robert Morrison, who gave him promise of being a great Chinese scholar, would at some future time revise Morrison and Milne’s Translation. When Morrison died the son, following his father s office as Government translator, did not have time to devote to the work.For the production of this version, and the numerous and successive editions through which it passed, was paid mainly by the British and Foreign Bible Society, who contributed more than 10,000 pounds for the translation and circulation costs. Financial support however was not sufficient to improve the bible.

In 1840, a group of four people (Walter Henry Medhurst, Charles Gutzlaff, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, and John Robert Morrison) cooperated to translate the Bible into Chinese. The translation of the Hebrew part was done mostly by Gutzlaff , with the exception that the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua were done by the group collectively. This translation, completed in 1847. Due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader Hong Xiuquan of the Taipingtianguo movement (Taiping Rebellion) with its influence this version became instrumental for the shaping of an alternative value system for a new China. At the same time the same movement showed the need to better understand Christian teachings from its context and provide more assistance for the creation of Chinese theology. This Bible translation (in High Wen-li, Traditional Chinese: 深文理) which compared with the available texts of those days, was not only impressively correct and faithful to the original, it really brought along "light" in spiritual darkness.

Gutzlaff assisted in negotiations during the Opium War of 1840-42. In 1844, in response to the Chinese government's unwillingness to allow foreigners into the interior, he founded a school for "native missionaries" and trained nearly fifty Chinese during its first four years. Unfortunately, Gutzlaff was victimized by his own native missionaries. They reported back to him glowing accounts of conversions and sold New Testaments. While some of Gutzlaff's native missionaries were genuine converts, others were opium addicts who never traveled to the places they claimed. Eager for easy money, they simply made up conversion reports and took the New Testaments, which Gutzlaff provided and sold them back to the printer who resold them to Gutzlaff.

Gutzlaff died in Hong Kong in 1851. However, the Chinese Evangelization Society which he formed continued to send out missionaries. The China Evangelization Society was set up 1852, after failed attempts to work with Gutzlaff's Chinese Union. In two years they sent out Lobscheid, Hudson Taylor, A. Taylor, (to Saiheng and Shanghai), and Parker to Ning-Po. In the same year the society printed ten thousand copies of Gutzlaff's Chinese New Testament. It aimed to be read by doctors, to train Chinese evangelists, to disseminate Scriptures in Chinese, and to penetrate Central China. Because this method did not channel enough money to prosper, CES disbanded in 1859. Hudson Taylor in 1862 renamed the society into China Inland Mission. Hudson Taylor who while working in Hongkong with Gutzlaff for several month, before he had to go back to England, already had made Gutzlaffs burden, to reach Central China his own, but aimed to do it better. In respect of Gutzlaffs example and vision he therefore called him the "grandfather of the China Inland Mission".

Selected Bibliography Works by Gutzlaff

1828 Geschiedenis der uitbreiding van Christus Koningrijk op aarde, sedert de dagen der Kerkhervorming tot op den tegenwoordigen tijd. Rotterdam: Contze & Overbroek.
1832 Journal of a residence in Siam and a voyage along the coast of China to Mantchou Tartary. Canton. Also Dutch, German, and Norwegian editions.
1833 (with H. H. Lindsay) Report of proceedings on a voyage to the northern ports of China, in the ship Lord Amherst. Extracted from papers, printed by order of the House of Commons. London: B. Fellowes.
1833-35,1837-39 Dong-Xi yang kao meiyue tongji zhuan (The East-West monthly magazine). Canton and Singapore. Collections of articles from this magazine were also published separately.
1834 Journal of three voyages along the coast of China, in 1831,1832, and 1833. London: Frederick F. Westley and A. H. Davis. Published in numerous editions and languages.
1834 A sketch of Chinese history, ancient and modern: comprising a retrospect of the foreign intercourse and trade with China. London: Smith, Elder.
1834 Da Yingguo tongji (A comprehensive account of England). Malacca: LMS Press.
1836 Jiu yizhao sheng shu (Old Testament). First six books in collaboration with Medhurst, Bridgman, and J. R. Morrison.
1837 Jiushizhu Yesu xin yizhao shu (New Testament). Batavia. First edition was mainly the work of Medhurst; Gutzlaff published many revisions.
1838 Gujin wanguo gangjian (A history of the world from ancient times to the present). Singapore: ABCFM Press. Selected Bibliography Works by Gutzlaff
1828 Geschiedenis der uitbreiding van Christus Koningrijk op aarde, sedert de dagen der Kerkhervorming tot op den tegenwoordigen tijd. Rotterdam: Contze & Overbroek.
1832 Journal of a residence in Siam and a voyage along the coast of China to Mantchou Tartary. Canton. Also Dutch, German, and Norwegian editions.
1833 (with H. H. Lindsay) Report of proceedings on a voyage to the northern ports of China, in the ship Lord Amherst. Extracted from papers, printed by order of the House of Commons. London: B. Fellowes.
1833-35,1837-39 Dong-Xi yang kao meiyue tongji zhuan (The East-West monthly magazine). Canton and Singapore. Collections of articles from this magazine were also published separately.
1834 Journal of three voyages along the coast of China, in 1831,1832, and 1833. London: Frederick F. Westley and A. H. Davis. Published in numerous editions and languages.
1834 A sketch of Chinese history, ancient and modern: comprising a retrospect of the foreign intercourse and trade with China. London: Smith, Elder.
1834 Da Yingguo tongji (A comprehensive account of England). Malacca: LMS Press.
1836 Jiu yizhao sheng shu (Old Testament). First six books in collaboration with Medhurst, Bridgman, and J. R. Morrison.
1837 Jiushizhu Yesu xin yizhao shu (New Testament). Batavia. First edition was mainly the work of Medhurst; Gutzlaff published many revisions.
1838 Gujin wanguo gangjian (A history of the world from ancient times to the present). Singapore: ABCFM Press.
1851 Bericht seiner Reise von China nach England and durch die verschiedenen Under Europa's, im Interesse der Chinesischen Mission. Cassel: Chinesischen Stiftung.
1852 The Life of Taou-kwang, late emperor of China. London: Smith, Elder. Also German and Dutch editions.
-N.d. Yohannes no tayori yorokobi (Gospel of John). Singapore.
Gutzlaff wrote approximately fifty religious tracts in Chinese. His papers are scattered. Significant holdings are at the archives of the Basel Mission Society, Basel, Switzerland; Council for World Mission, London; Dutch Missionary Society, Oegstgeest, Netherlands; United Evangelical Mission, Wuppertal, Germany; Harvard-Yenching, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Jardine Matheson Papers, Cambridge University. Works about Gutzlaff
1851 Bericht seiner Reise von China nach England and durch die verschiedenen Gegenden Europa's, im Interesse der Chinesischen Mission. Cassel: Chinesischen Stiftung.
1852 The Life of Taou-kwang, late emperor of China. London: Smith, Elder. Also German and Dutch editions.
-N.d. Yohannes no tayori yorokobi (Gospel of John). Singapore.
Gutzlaff wrote approximately fifty religious tracts in Chinese. His papers are scattered. Significant holdings are at the archives of the Basel Mission Society, Basel, Switzerland; Council for World Mission, London; Dutch Missionary Society, Oegstgeest, Netherlands; United Evangelical Mission, Wuppertal, Germany; Harvard-Yenching, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Jardine Matheson Papers, Cambridge University.

References:
· Herman Schlyter, Der China-Missionar Karl Gützlaff und seine Heimatbasis: Studien über das Interesse des Abendlandes an der Mission des China-Pioniers Karl Gützlaff und über seinen Einsatz als Missionserwecker (Lund: LiberLäromedel/Gleerup, 1976) ISBN 9140043738
· Winfried Scharlau (ed.), "Gützlaffs Bericht über drei Reisen in den Seeprovinzen Chinas 1831-1833" (Hamburg: Abera Verlag, 1997) ISBN 3934376134
· Thoralf Klein/Reinhard Zöllner (eds.), "Karl Gützlaff (1803-1851) und das Christentum in Ostasien: Ein Missionar zwischen den Kulturen" (Nettetal: Institut Monumenta Serica, Sankt Augustin/Steyler Verlag, 2005) ISBN 3805005202
· H. und G. Taylor: Hudson Taylor. Ein Lebensbild. Barmen: Emil Müllers Verlag 1924
· Paik Lak-Geeon: The History of Protestant Missions in Korea 1832–1910, Pjöngjang 1929
· Thoralf Klein und Reinhard Zöllner (Hrsg.): Karl Gützlaff (1803-1851) und das Christentum in Ostasien. Ein Missionar zwischen den Kulturen. Nettetal: Steyler Verlagsbuchhandlung 2005. ISBN 3-8050-0520-2.
· Robert Blake, Jardine-Matheson - Traders of the Far East, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1999, ISBN 0-297-82501-1
· Winfried Scharlau (Hg.), Gützlaffs Bericht über drei Reisen in den Seeprovinzen Chinas 1831-1833. Hamburg: Abera Verlag, 1997. ISBN 978-3-934376-13-7
· Marianne Winner-Lüdecke: Karl Gützlaff - ein vergessener Rufer?. Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, 1981.
· Hermann Schlyter: Karl Gützlaff - als Missionar in China. Lund: Gleerup, 1946
· Sylvia Bräsel: Ein Mittler zwischen Ost und West: Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff - der erste Deutsche in Korea in: Baltische Studien, Neue Folge, Band 89, Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2004, ISBN 3-933598-95-8, Seiten 137–150
· Hermann Petrich: Gützlaff, Karl. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, S. 236 f.