Ruins of Foreign Missionaries' Villas

Ruins of Foreign Missionaries' Villas

The Ruins of Foreign Missionaries' Villas is a cultural tourism attraction.

In the mountains to the southeast of the city stands a high peak called Qiansuiqiu, which rises 987 meters above sea level. It serves as the watershed between the two mountain ranges of Yuhua and Zhaoming, and Shenghua Mountain. The summit is flat and enjoys a pleasant climate, making it a summer retreat since ancient times. Scattered across the area are the ruins of eight stone structures of varying sizes — these were the villas built by foreign missionaries between 1931 and 1937, and the ruins can still be seen today. It is said that around 1931, Catholic missionaries Nie Deqiao and his wife, who were preaching in Qingjiang County (now Zhangshu City) under the Linjiang Prefecture, encountered rain while traveling to Shenghua Mountain for sightseeing. During a thunderstorm, lightning struck the dilapidated hut where they had taken shelter, setting it on fire. Frightened, the couple hurried to take refuge in the ancestral hall of the Yang family in Yangjia Village. After the storm cleared, the charming scenery of Qiansuiqiu captivated the Nie couple deeply, prompting them to decide to preach here. They stayed for three years. In the summer of 1934, a local man named Huang Yousheng from Qingjiang invited them down the mountain to preach. Back in Linjiang, they shared the beauty of Qiansuiqiu with Bishop Sprunt and others, proposing the construction of villas there. After Sprunt visited Qiansuiqiu himself, he was also highly impressed by the feng shui of the place. He then reached an agreement with the village heads of Yangjia and Liujiavillages, Yang Xinliu and Liu Ao’zhan, to establish rental contracts and building agreements, which were submitted to the county magistrate of Fengcheng for approval and record. Subsequently, they hired local workers to quarry stones and built eight Western-style villas on Qiansuiqiu. The roofs were covered with galvanized iron sheets, windows were fitted with glass, and the structures were enclosed with wire mesh. These villas were allocated to 17 individuals from seven countries: Germans Nie Deqiao and his wife, Bishop Sprunt and his wife, John Sung and his wife, Homer H. Brown and his wife, John and Mrs. Merriam, Swiss Bameizhu, British missionary Smith, New Zealander Milpsen, Canadian couple Ross, Russian priest Ji, and Australian Fang Keli. From then on, they would come up the mountain to escape the summer heat for ten days after the Dragon Boat Festival every year, staying until after the Beginning of Autumn. They hired Zhang Jiusheng from Xingu Village in Gaohuping to cook and look after the houses. The missionaries planted German marigolds in front of their houses and yellow wildflowers at the back. Every weekend, they played Western musical instruments — accordion, bugle, and drum — both for their own entertainment and to attract villagers to join their faith. The missionaries preached Catholic doctrine; their homes displayed portraits of Jesus, and they wore crosses around their necks. They read the Bible and sang hymns in the morning and evening, and held worship services every Sunday. Their teachings — rejecting superstitions, loving others, forgiving grievances, not stealing, and not committing adultery — attracted many villagers. By the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), a total of 29 people had converted to Catholicism, including the entire Mao Meizhi family of 18 from Taxia Village, the Yang Maoba family of five, and the Fan Lingen family of six.

During the Sino-Japanese War in 1941, with the fall of Nanchang, the areas of Fengcheng and Zhangshu frequently suffered raids by Japanese troops and bandits. The missionaries all relocated to Hengpai in Nanfeng to escape the chaos. Initially, four members of the "China Inland Mission" in Fengcheng guarded the villas for several months, but later, the management was handed over to the local village head. With frequent rotations of the village heads, the houses fell into neglect. In 1945, Jin Lisheng, a tinsmith from Xinyu, colluded with bandits and thugs from Xingan. Armed, they went up to Qiansuiqiu and stripped all eight villas of their galvanized iron roofing, which was then transported to Yuhua Mountain to be processed into kettles and fuel tanks for sale. In the winter of 1947, Bishop Sprunt returned to Qiansuiqiu to inspect the damage to the buildings. He subsequently purchased fir bark and bamboo from Qingshanpeng in Qingjiang, carried out basic repairs, and in 1948, they returned to spend another summer there. After the liberation in 1949, the missionaries returned to their home countries and never came back. Left behind were these villas, which gradually fell into disrepair amid wind and rain.