Gladstone Porteous
Encyclopedia
Gladstone Charles Fletcher Porteous, Chinese name 张尔昌 Zhāng Ěrchāng (1874–1944) was an Australian missionary to China who served with the China Inland Mission from 1904 and became Superintendent of the work in East Yunnan
. He was a skilled Bible
translator, devised the romanized Yi
alphabet, and translated parts of the New Testament
into several Chinese dialects.
, Australia
in 1874, the son of John Dempsey-Porteous, who had emigrated to Australia with his parents from Glasgow, Scotland, and Catherine Fletcher of Sandon
, Victoria.
Porteous was an Australian missionary to China who devised the romanized Yi alphabet, and translated the Bible into the Yi language
. After training at Rehoboth Missionary College, Richmond, Victoria
, he sailed for China in 1904. In 1906 he was appointed to the mission station at Sapushan, working amongst the Miao
people, during which time he began to learn Chinese
. He continued in this work for many years, his medical experience enabling him to be instrumental in the treatment and recovery of many sick people.
Known to his friends as "Gladdie" Porteous, he was one of the young Australians who came to China following the death of James Bruce in western Hunan
province in August 1902 aged 30. The influence of this group of Australian missionaries in Yunnan was profound – though one story is incorrect: they did not introduce the eucalyptus
trees into the Luquan District. These had been in Yunnan since the 1850s, and may have been brought back by Chinese miners after the Australian goldrush for use as railway sleepers.
(郭秀峯）and George E. Metcalf
(王懷仁). One of the main influences was the theological school run by Porteous. Another was the location, since Sayingpan (撒营盘镇), 80 km north of the county seat of Luquan, was the original site of Salaowu (撒老乌), chief fortress of the Yi.
He was joined by his wife, Minnie (née Pearson) from England, whom he married in 1908. Together they ministered to the people of Yunnan, and eventually moved three days travel to the north to work amongst the Nosu people at Salaowu, where their fruitful ministry continued for over twenty years. A talented linguist, Porteous set about translating parts of the Bible into at least three separate Chinese dialects, in collaboration with Nicholls
. These included the Gospel of Mark
in the Laqua language (spoken by a people group in south-western China (1912); the Gospel of Matthew
in the Hu
language (spoken in western Guizhou
Province of China and as far southward as Vietnam
and Laos
(together with Samuel Pollard, who was responsible for devising the syllabic script used for the Miao
dialects and its related languages); and the New Testament
in the Nusu language (spoken from Sichuan
Province to the south of Yunnan (Gospel of St Luke, 1923; Acts of the Apostles
, 1926; New Testament
, 1948). His assistant in the Yi language
translation and among the Yi people
was Li Youxian (李友献).
serving with the RAAF). One of his grandsons is the actor Shane Porteous
.
Gladstone Porteous died of Typhus
in Salaowu (also known as Sayingpan) on 10 November 1944. A tombstone was erected by local church members; "When our father died, a large slab of stone was cut by the people and the surface polished by the exhausting but surprisingly effective method of dragging the slab back and forth against another rock. Then the pastor chiselled out an inscription in three languages – English, Nuosu and Chinese, and the stone was erected by the Christians above the grave." At his death 20,000 of the Yi and Miao were Christians. Today (2011) there are 40,000 Christians and each valley is marked by white-towered churches.
His tombstone was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution
and a new one later placed where the site of the grave was presumed to be, a location that was disputed by some of the older villagers, to show when Australians again visited Sayingpan in the late 1990s.
China Candid
(2006) there is an interview with villagers which recounts various tales about Gladstone Porteous, however his Chinese name Zhang Erchang (张尔昌) is mistranslated as "John Williams", possibly a conflation of the John Williams (missionary)
who famously was eaten by cannibals on Vanuatu
, and John Williams, a radio operator with General Claire Lee Chennault
's Flying Tigers
who was based in Kunming at the same time as Gladstone Porteous' last years 100 km further North at Sayingpan. – misnamed as John Williams.
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
. He was a skilled Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
translator, devised the romanized Yi
Yi language
Nuosu , also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language and, as such, is the only one taught in school, both in its oral and written form...
alphabet, and translated parts of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
into several Chinese dialects.
Early life
Gladstone Porteous was born in Carngham, VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1874, the son of John Dempsey-Porteous, who had emigrated to Australia with his parents from Glasgow, Scotland, and Catherine Fletcher of Sandon
Sandon
Sandon may refer to:* Sandon, Essex* Sandon, Hertfordshire* Sandon, Staffordshire* Sandon, British Columbia* Sandon, Victoria* Sandon County, New South Wales* Sandon, ancient Hittite deity* Gotska Sandön, a Swedish islandPeople with the name Sandon:...
, Victoria.
Porteous was an Australian missionary to China who devised the romanized Yi alphabet, and translated the Bible into the Yi language
Yi language
Nuosu , also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language and, as such, is the only one taught in school, both in its oral and written form...
. After training at Rehoboth Missionary College, Richmond, Victoria
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, he sailed for China in 1904. In 1906 he was appointed to the mission station at Sapushan, working amongst the Miao
Miao people
The Miao or ม้ง ; ) is an ethnic group recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people, which include Hmong, Hmu, A Hmao, and Kho Xiong...
people, during which time he began to learn Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. He continued in this work for many years, his medical experience enabling him to be instrumental in the treatment and recovery of many sick people.
Known to his friends as "Gladdie" Porteous, he was one of the young Australians who came to China following the death of James Bruce in western Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province in August 1902 aged 30. The influence of this group of Australian missionaries in Yunnan was profound – though one story is incorrect: they did not introduce the eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
trees into the Luquan District. These had been in Yunnan since the 1850s, and may have been brought back by Chinese miners after the Australian goldrush for use as railway sleepers.
Ministry in Yunnan
Porteous arrived in Yunnan in 1907 with Arthur G. NichollsArthur G. Nicholls
Dr. Arthur G. Nicholls, , was an Australian medical missionary of British nationality to the Miao people of Yunnan Province in China....
(郭秀峯）and George E. Metcalf
George E. Metcalf
George Edgar ‘Eddie’ Metcalf, Chinese name 王懷仁 Wáng Huáirén, was a British Protestant missionary serving in China with the China Inland Mission and credited with the first translation of the New Testament for the Eastern Lisu/Lipo minority.- UK :...
(王懷仁). One of the main influences was the theological school run by Porteous. Another was the location, since Sayingpan (撒营盘镇), 80 km north of the county seat of Luquan, was the original site of Salaowu (撒老乌), chief fortress of the Yi.
He was joined by his wife, Minnie (née Pearson) from England, whom he married in 1908. Together they ministered to the people of Yunnan, and eventually moved three days travel to the north to work amongst the Nosu people at Salaowu, where their fruitful ministry continued for over twenty years. A talented linguist, Porteous set about translating parts of the Bible into at least three separate Chinese dialects, in collaboration with Nicholls
Arthur G. Nicholls
Dr. Arthur G. Nicholls, , was an Australian medical missionary of British nationality to the Miao people of Yunnan Province in China....
. These included the Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
in the Laqua language (spoken by a people group in south-western China (1912); the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
in the Hu
Miao language
Miao refers to the various languages of the Miao peoples of China. The Miao languages are part of the Hmong–Mien language family. It is written with Chinese characters or the Latin alphabet...
language (spoken in western Guizhou
Guizhou
' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...
Province of China and as far southward as Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
(together with Samuel Pollard, who was responsible for devising the syllabic script used for the Miao
Miao language
Miao refers to the various languages of the Miao peoples of China. The Miao languages are part of the Hmong–Mien language family. It is written with Chinese characters or the Latin alphabet...
dialects and its related languages); and the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in the Nusu language (spoken from Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
Province to the south of Yunnan (Gospel of St Luke, 1923; Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, 1926; New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, 1948). His assistant in the Yi language
Yi language
Nuosu , also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language and, as such, is the only one taught in school, both in its oral and written form...
translation and among the Yi people
Yi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
was Li Youxian (李友献).
Death and legacy
Gladstone and Minnie Porteous had three children: Ruth Catherine, Christine Olive, and Stanley John (who was killed in action during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
serving with the RAAF). One of his grandsons is the actor Shane Porteous
Shane Porteous
John Shane Porteous is an Australian television character actor, TV screenplay scriptwriter, theatre actor, animation layout artist, and animation voice artist.-Biography:...
.
Gladstone Porteous died of Typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
in Salaowu (also known as Sayingpan) on 10 November 1944. A tombstone was erected by local church members; "When our father died, a large slab of stone was cut by the people and the surface polished by the exhausting but surprisingly effective method of dragging the slab back and forth against another rock. Then the pastor chiselled out an inscription in three languages – English, Nuosu and Chinese, and the stone was erected by the Christians above the grave." At his death 20,000 of the Yi and Miao were Christians. Today (2011) there are 40,000 Christians and each valley is marked by white-towered churches.
His tombstone was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
and a new one later placed where the site of the grave was presumed to be, a location that was disputed by some of the older villagers, to show when Australians again visited Sayingpan in the late 1990s.
China Candid
In Jacqueline Lo's Writing Home (2000) incorrectly uses the name John Williams, who was another Australian resident in Kunming during WWII, and in journalist Sang Ye's collection of oral historyOral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
China Candid
China Candid
China Candid: The People on the People's Republic is a book by journalist Ye Sang published in 2006. The author interviewed a number of citizens of the People's Republic of China; each chapter of the book is a transcript of each interview turned into a single narrative flow, as if the interviewed...
(2006) there is an interview with villagers which recounts various tales about Gladstone Porteous, however his Chinese name Zhang Erchang (张尔昌) is mistranslated as "John Williams", possibly a conflation of the John Williams (missionary)
John Williams (missionary)
John Williams was an English missionary, active in the South Pacific. Born near London, England, he was trained as a foundry worker and mechanic...
who famously was eaten by cannibals on Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, and John Williams, a radio operator with General Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault
Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault , was an American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment...
's Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
who was based in Kunming at the same time as Gladstone Porteous' last years 100 km further North at Sayingpan. – misnamed as John Williams.