1967 - Zhang Yujing

1967

Shanghai

When the massive persecution against the Catholic Church in Shanghai was launched on September 8, 1955, a young Carmelite sister, Zhang Yujing was among the hundreds of believers arrested by the authorities in Shanghai. The Carmelite Order was founded by Saint Theresa of Avila, Spain, in the 16th century, modelling itself on earlier versions dating back to the 12th century. A motto of the Carmelites was “Being born into this world, one must be prepared for suffering and death.”[1]

Zhang Yujing was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. She moved to Shanghai to attend high school at Zikawei when the Communists took control of the city. In 1955 she was arrested and sent to the White Lake Prison Farm in Anhui Province, along with many other Catholics from Shanghai. One observer commented, “The Communists wanted to rehabilitate them and turn them into atheists, yet the Lord transformed them into sons and daughters who patterned themselves after His only Son Jesus through the Way of the Cross.”[2]

What exactly happened in Zhang’s years of confinement have not been recorded, but it is known that she was placed into a special unit, consisting of those prisoners the authorities decided were particularly resistant to change. On one occasion she penned the following poem:

“I love Mother Church,

I love Jesus who is the source of all love.

True love bears suffering patiently and lasts to the end of time.

The road of the Carmelite is indeed one that is full of obstacles,

I will walk till my feet bleed in ascending to the summit,

So that I can pick a red rose for Jesus.

I am not worthy to be the bride of Jesus,

I am only His handmaid.”[3]

In 1967 Zhang Yujing contracted cirrhosis of the liver, which later turned into liver cancer. She was finally allowed medical treatment in a Shanghai prison hospital. By the time this permission was granted Zhang’s condition was beyond recovery and she died a short time later. When her brother collected her personal belongings, he discovered a prayer she had written soon before her death:

“When I look back on my sickness,

I find the Lord to be so very good and merciful.

When He saw me about to fall, He admonished me.

So short and empty is this life,

That now when He wants me to leave this miserable life,

I cannot think of a happier fate than this.

I willingly dedicate my life to God

In the hope and prayer that every soul will be saved.”[4]

1. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 178.
2. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 179.
3. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 180.
4. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 181.