Edward Bliss

Edward Lydston Bliss was born December 10, 1865, in Newburyport, Massachusetts.[1]^: 13 He was the second child of Charles Henry Bliss, a wholesale dealer for Schleicher and Sohne needles, and Emily Lydston Bliss. One of seven children, Edward Bliss had three sisters — Clara, Marian and Mary — and three brothers — George, Charles and Will. The Blisses were a religious family that attended a Congregational church twice every Sunday.[1]^: 14 Charles Bliss served as superintendent of the Sunday school, which the children attended each week after morning service, and Emily Bliss worked on the missionary committee.[1]^: 15

Bliss's religious upbringing influenced his early ambitions. He sought to become a minister and, in his early childhood, Bliss showed signs of this ambition. As early as age four he was found standing upon a tree stump, preaching the words, "Will 'ou, oh will 'ou be dood." At age six he signed a card at Sunday school, reading, "I, the undersigned, hope I have found Jesus to be my precious Saviour, and I promise with his help to live as His loving child and faithful servant all my life." Throughout his childhood and young adulthood Bliss remained active in the ministry. He spoke frequently at Christian Endeavor meetings and at adult services. He received overwhelming positive feedback for his preaching and therefore he believed ministry was indeed his calling. However, Bliss eventually realized that preaching was not his passion and he gave it up.[1]^: 17

While Bliss's first goal was to become a minister, during his adolescence he also experienced influences for the missionary work he would eventually take on. In high school, Bliss's neighbor, General Adolphus Greely, left for the first of his Arctic expeditions. This inspired Bliss so that he read many exploration books, including Henry Morton Stanley's story of Daniel Livingstone in Africa.[1]^: 16

Bliss attended Yale University for his undergraduate education. While in school, he studied under famed professors such as Noah Porter, Edward Salisbury Dana and William Graham Sumner. Bliss took a variety of courses ranging from Latin and Greek to physics and chemistry. He was involved in the Pundits, a Yale literary society,[1]^: 22 and also enjoyed attending baseball and football games as often as he could.[1]^: 23 Bliss graduated from Yale in 1887[1]^: 25 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin and Greek.

After giving up his hopes of preaching, Bliss set his sights on becoming a teacher. After graduating from Yale he took a position as principal, sole teacher and janitor at the high school in Granby, Massachusetts.[1]^: 26 While teaching at Granby, Bliss discovered that teaching, like preaching, was not his passion. He then remembered the adventure stories he read when he was younger and concluded that he wanted to work abroad as a missionary. He said, "As soon as it was settled in my mind to become a missionary, I asked myself in what way I could best serve. The answer I thought was to become a doctor." Before Bliss could attend medical school, however, he wanted to repay a debt he had to his father. He took a new teaching position in Chicago at the Harvard School for Boys, where he stayed for one year.[1]^: 27

After completing a year of teaching work at the Harvard School for Boys, Bliss returned to Yale and began medical school. While there he worked as an assistant to Dr. Herbert Smith, studying water quality in New Haven. Bliss completed the three-year course of study in two years and graduated second in his class in June 1891.[1]^: 29

It was Bliss's belief that in China "much of the disease is attributable to poverty" and that there was "a way to raise the living standards" of the Chinese. The "way" he was referring to was through a cooperative. He persuaded several Chinese Christians to form an association and buy a plot of land to use for agriculture.[1]^: 177 However, this project failed due to political instability in the region in the early 1900s and the resulting uncertainty of potential investors. Furthermore, many who had already invested demanded their money back because they were unsatisfied with the progress of the project. Although Bliss argued that it was long-term project, the investors persisted and the project was ended.[1]^: 209

Bliss spent much of his time in China focusing on the immunization of cattle against rinderpest. Rinderpest is a virus of the Morbillivirus subgroup of the Paramyxovirus group, which also contains measles, influenza and polio.[2]^: 29 Bliss's battle against rinderpest began with his desire for milk, which he considered essential for good health. However, the Chinese did not raise cattle for dairy, but rather for plowing. Therefore, far less milk than was needed was available. When there was a rinderpest outbreak, this milk supply was depleted.[1]^: 151 Bliss raised his own cattle and goats in China and experimented with rinderpest prevention. He found that serums for immunization were available in Shanghai, but realized that the serum used for this was unattainable and unaffordable for farmers in regions like Shaowu. Bliss sought to find another method of immunization that was within the means of Shaowu.[1]^: 169 He built off of the discovery of Robert Koch, who found that if the bile from a rinderpest gall bladder were diluted with an equal amount of pure glycerin, it would lose its virulence and would be safe to inject after 10 days. This would provide immunity lasting several months. Bliss then deducted that if a cow was injected with a small quantity of rinderpest blood ten days after being injected with the bile, it would have immunity. He tested this and found he was correct. Bliss also discovered that the calves of immune cows had a temporary immunity that decreased as they aged. He found that if they were injected with a small amount of rinderpest blood within their first month of life, they would have immunity.[1]^: 222

In his early years in Shaowu, Bliss considered one of his biggest difficulties to be competition with native medical practitioners.[1]^: 43 Traditional Chinese medicine in the early 1900s consisted of purely superstitious practices, such as charms and magic, or medicine practiced by the Chinese physician, who was usually unlicensed and gained his position through heredity.[3]^: 124 Rather than coming to the hospital at Shaowu for Western medical care, many Chinese still sought medical attention from such practitioners. Bliss witnessed practitioners who treated cancer by puncturing the skin with gold and silver needles, eyesores with bile from bear gallbladders, malarial fever with uncooked pears, rheumatism with snake meat, and many ailments with ginseng root.[1]^: 43

In the early years of the Shaowu mission, foreign hostility was common. The first doctor who arrived, Dr. Philip Osgood, was stabbed in the foot by a spear. Another early missionary was shot in the shoulder. Furthermore, the Chinese would not sell the missionaries any land to build on for two years. However, over time, hostility decreased and the people of Shaowu became more open to Western medicine and Christianity.[1]^: 39 In fact, Bliss stated in a letter home, "You must remember that Shaowu people are different from many of the Chinese in their attitude toward foreigners. Never since I came here have I seen any indication that the people don't wish us here."[1]^: 73

In summer 1894, China and Japan went to war over control of Korea. A peace treating was signed on April 17, 1895, which required China to surrender the island of Formosa, present day Taiwan, and a section of Manchuria, the Liaodong Peninsula.[1]^: 73 There was then European interference, ending with new loans forced on China. This led to growing antiforeign feeling and the massacre of several missionaries in Gutian, just 200 miles from Shaowu. Therefore, Shaowu missionaries, including Bliss, were advised to retreat to Fuzhou, a port city with a large mission, for safety. Bliss remained at Fuzhou for two months until the danger passed.[1]^: 75

While on furlough in 1900, Bliss received news of war in China. The Boxer Rebellion had just occurred. The conflict began as early as the late 19th century, when a rebel group in the Shandong Province began expressing resentment toward foreign missionaries. In 1897 they killed two German missionaries in the province.[4]^: 21 Anti-foreign sentiments increased and led to killing of foreigners and Chinese Christians.[4]^: 22 In fact, in the Shanxi province, more than 200 missionaries were killed.[1]^: 89 While, the Fujian province experienced less conflict than many other regions, there was still a significant impact and Bliss received notice that the Shaowu mission had undergone some damages. He returned to China in 1900 to find his house empty and stripped of all doors and window frames. The hospital was damaged, as well. Its doors and window frames were also stolen and the waiting rooms were destroyed. All of the medicines and Bliss's microscope were stolen from the dispensary. The missionaries rebuilt the damaged buildings that year.[1]^: 100

The Xinhai Revolution or the Revolution of 1911 was a nationalistic movement against the Manchu or Qing dynasty. The impact of this movement was felt even in the Fujian province. Starting on October 31, 1911, and continuing until November 8, 1911, there was a widespread evacuation from Fuzhou. Women in children of the mission board in Fuzhou were evacuated to a foreign settlement outside of the city, near the United States consulate. Men remained in Fuzhou with protection from soldiers from the USS Bainbridge. The artillery battle between the rebels and the Manchus in Fuzhou began on November 9, 1911, and ended with a rebel victory.[1]^: 139 Rebel brigands also took control of the area just 25 miles south of Shaowu, where the missionaries now feared an impending outbreak. Bliss noted a "peculiar air of excitement" in the city, as if before a storm. The people of Shaowu were taking precautions, closing down and shuttering shops, as well as placing barricades in the streets. The imperial troops had left the city and there was now an almost complete breakdown of law enforcement. Bliss and the other missionaries began to take their own precautions, instituting a nightly watch.[1]^: 140 Then, on November 16, 1911, the Shaowu prefect declared the city's alignment with the Revolution and business returned to normal in the city. While Bliss believed there was no danger for the mission in Shaowu, the United States consul insisted that all Americans in the interior Fujian province retreat to Fuzhou.[1]^: 145

Bliss remained in Fuzhou for over seven months. In this time period, the Qing dynasty ended and the Nationalist Party founded a new government, the Republic of China.[4]^: xvi Thousands of young men joined the defense of this government. In fact 300 boys quit the Shaowu middle school in order to join. Two of Bliss's students became medical officers in the Revolutionary Army. Instability persisted as changes in political power, including the change of the leader from Sun Yat-sen to Yuan Shikai and the change of the capital, occurred. [1]^: 147

From 1916 to 1928 instability existed in the newly founded Republic of China. In this era, many different warlords assumed power throughout Chinese regions. Reunification only occurred when Jiang-Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) led the Northern Expedition of 1927,[4]^: xviii setting up a government in Nanking led by the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang. The instability associated with China's unification affected Shaowu, where opposing armies invaded, took over, and then withdrew many times. In Fujian province, Bliss and all other missionaries in the region were evacuated to the Fuzhou mission.[1]^: 209

In this time period, anti-foreign feeling increased. British economic interests were heavily criticised and the United States perceived ambivalence toward Japanese attempts to gain Chinese territory were also flash points. Christianity again became a topic of protest.[5]^: 395 Two women working near Shaowu at an Anglican mission were kidnapped for ransom and then executed.[1]^: 211 Beginning in 1927 with the onset of the Chinese Civil War, there was a split between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. Southern Communist Revolutionary forces captured both Bliss and his colleague Judd at separate times. In both cases, the men were released because the local people, who knew the men and their work, interceded on their behalf.[1]^: 216 By 1928 however the situation in Shaowu appeared relatively safe, as Jiang and the Nationalists had gained control of the province. However, within the next two years, Jieshi's control diminished as the Communist party gained power and set up their own state in Jiangxi. There were rumors that the communists would attack Fujian next so the women and children of the Shaowu mission were evacuated to Fuzhou.[1]^: 218 The Communist army finally invaded Shaowu in 1932, and would later set up a short lived Fujian People's Government.[1]^: 223 Bliss was forced to evacuate as the army reached city gates of Shaowu. He returned to America.