Chow Leung was a Chinese author, educator, and missionary in the United States. He was the co-author of Chinese Fables and Folk Stories, which he wrote with Mary Hayes Davis. Born in China, he was a Baptist missionary in Chicago's Chinatown, where he started a Chinese language school for children in 1900, likely the first in the city. [1] Chinese Fables and Folk Stories claimed to be "the first book of Chinese stories ever printed in English". [2] Compiled and published prior to the rise of vernacular Chinese, the book was later called one of the most "reliable" works by Western scholars on Chinese folktales before 1937. [3]
Chow Leung received a Confucian education in China. [1] His grandfather was said to have been a "high-ranking Confucian" and “one of the emperor’s favorites.” [1] He converted to Christianity in San Francisco at a “street meeting”, and joined the American Baptist Home Mission Society. [1] [4] He was ordained as a Baptist minister. [5] [a]
In 1900, Reverend Chow Leung was sent to Chicago to take over as pastor of the Central Baptist Chinese Mission. [6] He succeeded Reverend Lee Tsai Leung. [6] William Pickett was the superintendent. [6] The mission was located in the "old" Chinatown, on South Clark Street in the Chicago Loop. [6]
When Wu Tingfang, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, visited Chicago in 1901, he made a point of visiting Chinatown. [7] One of the stops on his visit was the Baptist Chinese Mission, hosted by Reverend Chow Leung. [7]
With assistance from the Young Men's band from Moody Church and the Christian Endeavorers of Chicago, the Central Baptist Chinese Mission held regular open-air musical performances from the rooftop of its one-story building. [8] Known as the "rooftop garden act", the music drew crowds who stopped to listen. [8] Chow Leung himself played a baby organ. [9] Between sets, Reverend Chow Leung and others would preach on the street in Chinese and English. [8] In the evening, the band went indoors, drawing the crowds inside the mission for meetings. [8] On at least one occasion, participants were arrested for blocking the streets. [9]
In the summer of 1904, Chow Leung was involved in a highly publicized "battle of noise" between the Christian evangelists and the "joss house" or temple in Chinatown. [9] Frustrated with the music and noise coming from the Christian mission, the joss-house priest played a kettle drum from the temple balcony, which was answered by gongs, drums, and rattles from either side of South Clark Street. [9] According to The Inter Ocean, Chow Leung smiled and stated that he fully expected his opponents to be even louder the following Sunday. [9]
In September 1904, Chow Leung reported on progress at the Chinese mission at the Chicago Baptist Association conference. [10] In April 1907, Chow Leung addressed the largest gathering of native Chinese to have been assembled in Chicago, as the only ordained Chinese minister in the city. [5] The interdenominational congregation gathered at Assembly Hall, where the Presbyterian minister Andrew Beattie, a former missionary in China, gave a sermon in Cantonese. [5] He was visiting to raise donations for victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. [5] At that point, the Chinese population in Chicago had grown to approximately 4,000, in part due to the earthquake in San Francisco. [5]
In 1900, Chow Leung founded a Chinese language school for children in Chicago. [1] It was a departure from the Sunday schools offered by the Christian missions in Chicago, which had focused on providing English-language instruction to Chinese adults since 1878. [4] [11] Under Reverend Chow Leung, the Baptist Chinese Mission offered Chinese language classes on weekdays from four o'clock in the afternoon, and in the evenings. [1] [4] Pupils also attended "regular" public school during the day, where they received instruction in English. [1] The Chinese school operated year-round, with no vacations. [1] Tuition was free, but pupils were expected to attend regularly. [1]
In 1904, Chow Leung taught 21 children, nearly all of whom were Chinese. [1] Boys and girls were taught together. [1] [4] A feature article in The Inter Ocean described one of his classes:
Chinese books are used exclusively and the Chinese language is spoken. Seventeen little tots surround the teacher, Rev. Chow Leung, grasping at his coat tails, asking him questions, acting in a manner that speaks plainer than words of his popularity among the children. [1]
A typical lesson was taught in two parts. In the first part, the children traced pictures and characters that told a story, using brush calligraphy. [1] In the second part, they were taught orally, individually and in small groups. [1] The school taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. [1] Pupils were introduced to stories relating to Chinese history, as well as Christian thought "in a kindly way". [1] Although the school had initially been regarded with suspicion, its popularity grew by word of mouth. [1]
Community support for Chinese language instruction gained momentum in the years that followed. [11] In 1905, a community leader petitioned Minister Wu Tingfang to allocate funds toward a Chinese Education Commission in Chicago. [11] By 1906, several more Chinese language schools had been established by the Chinese Association and the Chinese YMCA. [11]
Mary Hayes Davis was writing for a major daily newspaper in Chicago when she "stumbled" onto the idea of writing Chinese Fables and Folk Tales with Chow Leung. [12] In the preface of the book, Davis called him "an invaluable collaborator" with "an evident desire to serve his native land and have the lives of his people reflected truly." [2] She thanked him for his "patient courtesy" and wrote that "he has given much time to explaining obscure points and answering questions innumerable." [2] While developing the book, Chow Leung managed to get most of his points across in pidgin English, although at times they relied on an interpreter. [13]
First published in 1908, Chinese Fables and Folk Stories was well received by American educators and by major newspapers nationwide. [14] [15] By 1911, it was used extensively as a supplemental reader in Chicago public schools. [13] By 1922, it was said that the book was used in schools throughout the United States, China, and Japan. [16] The book continues to be widely reprinted today. [17]