1928 - Y. C. Liu

September 27, 1928

Daxian, Sichuan

A group of Sichuan Christians.

The 1920s was a terrible decade for banditry throughout China, and no province was more affected than Sichuan. Banditry there was exacerbated by the flourishing opium trade which operated throughout the province. Drug production earned millions of dollars for the gangsters who controlled it. Christians, especially those travelling through the countryside, often became inadvertently caught up in the violence.

Pastor Y. C. Liu came from the Liangshan mountains in southern Sichuan Province. While working as a schoolteacher at Suiting (now Da Xian) in northeast Sichuan, Liu heard the gospel and placed his faith in Christ. He later became an evangelist and preached the good news in many districts. A missionary said of Liu:

“Definite results have followed his ministry. He was loyal and diligent in business, and gentle and amiable in character. He was a man of good physique, and his scholarship was of a high order. He had gained the respect of Chinese and foreigners, Christians and outsiders.”[1]

In 1926 Y. C. Liu was appointed deacon of the church, and two years later it was unanimously decided he should be promoted to the position of presbyter. On September 27, 1928, he commenced his journey towards Paoning (now Cangxi) for the ordination ceremony. One report said that before he had progressed far,

“bandits suddenly issued from the woods, terrified the coolies, and refused permission to proceed. Mr. Liu was bound and carried off, but we all hoped that in answer to prayer he would quickly be released. Alas! the news has since reached us that he was shot dead by the bandits.”[2]

The church immediately sent men to the scene, where they recovered their beloved pastor’s bullet-ridden body. He was buried at Da Xian, and the church undertook to provide for Liu’s widow. The loss was a tremendous blow to the fledgling church. They lamented, “How sad it seems that we should lose such a man just at a time when we are so greatly needing able leaders in the Church!”[3]

1. “Three Sad Happenings in Szechwan,” China’s Millions (March 1929), 40.
2. “Three Sad Happenings in Szechwan,” 40.
3. “Three Sad Happenings in Szechwan,” 40.