Political Facts and Tips

One hundred years ago, British missionary S. Pollard came to the mountainous areas of southwestern China where the Miao reside to start his career. He was fascinated by their culture and amazing silver jewelry, so he decided to stay.

At that time, the Miao lived in extreme poverty and were enslaved by the local nobles. The first thing Pollard decided to do was set up a church and a school.

He went to visit a local noble to buy a piece of land to found the church and school. The noble asked him how much land he wanted. Pollard said he only needed a piece of land as big as a cowhide. The noble thought it was funny, and promised to give Pollard that piece of land for free. So they signed a contract.

Later Pollard made a cowhide into thin threads with a special chemical. And after the threads are set out, they measured one square kilometer!

Pollard founded churches and schools on this land. The Miao learned science, math, Chinese, English, music, and basic hygiene at the schools for free. The oldest student was in his 40’s, and the youngest was 8.

Pollard often dressed him up with the ethnic Miao garment, and he was very interested in learning the Miao language from his disciples. The Miao didn’t have a written script at that time. So Pollard worked together with his disciples and created Miao letters based on English and Chinese characters. The Bible was translated and printed in this Miao language. More and more people became Christian, and they went to Pollard’s school to learn the Miao script. Even today, this form of writing is still used by the Miao people.

Besides schools and churches, Pollard also set up an orphanage, hospitals, soccer fields, and swimming pools on the land.

Pollard helped the local people repair roads, build house, and improve their spinning machines. A safe and environmental friendly stove invented by Pollard was widely used instead of the old one which consumed lots of wood. People called him LaMeng, which means King of the Miao.

In 1915, Pollard died of typhoid at the age of 51. Thousands of local people attended his funeral.

By the time of his death, there were about 10,000 Christian in the Miao areas. From 1905 to 1949, thousands of students graduated from his primary schools. About 200 finished their high school education. 30 went to universities in other areas of China. Mr. S. Pollard created a wonder in this remote village.

Today, Christianity still has an overwhelming influence among the Miao. If you examine their batik, silver jewelry, and embroidery art, you can find lots of patterns that come from the stories of the Bible.