Kratkaja Istorija Duxonvyx Missij v Kitae, (c. 1915-16)
English trans. by Jeremias Norman. Original posting: 52

Kaifengfu

"Kaifengfu is the most important city in the province of Henan and was formerly the capital of China; it is connected by a branch line to Zhengzhou on the Hankou railway. A mission station was opened here in 1907; it is located in a clean and spacious building. At first, the director of the school, the catechist and founder of the mission was the aged Matthew Huang, a doctor by profession. His son, Theodore, is now the teacher. In 1908 during a visit of Archimandrite Simon, there were 30 students in the school (from 8 to 20 years of age). On that occasion 31 people were baptized. In the following year a girls school was opened with Theodore Huang's wife as teacher along with another woman who taught handicrafts. At present there are 24 students in both schools. Missionary preaching continues successfully after the death of Matthew: every year up to 50 people are baptized from among the local population. For the further development of the mission, it will be necessary to build a church in the city and to have a regular priest who will spervise the activities of the surrounding missionary stations of Qixiang (60 versts distant) and Ninglingxiang (130 versts distant).

Qixiang

In 1908 a school in rented quarters was opened in Qixiang. It was led by its elder Job Zhu and the teacher was Mark Zhou who had lived in Beijing for a a period at our mission. In the same year 11 people were baptized and there were 20 people in the school. In the school there was an oratory where Christians assembled for prayer and religious instruction. In 1909 58 people were baptized and by 1913 around 80 people had been baptized, the majority of which lived in surrounding villages. Due to a lack of resources, the station at Qixiang was closed even though the local population seems interested in Orthodoxy and the reestablishment of the station would be desirable."