1927 - George King

1927

Lanzhou, Gansu

George King.

Dr. George E. King served in remote Gansu Province.[1] He was the director of the Borden Memorial Hospital and was described as “the only physician for a thousand miles.” The Borden hospital had been established after a young millionaire, William Borden, had died after contracting spinal meningitis in 1913 while studying Arabic in Egypt en route to a life of missionary work among the Muslims of northwest China. When the young Borden, who was educated at both Princeton and Yale universities, announced his intention to leave his family’s wealth and spend his life serving Christ in one of the most isolated places on earth there was widespread astonishment—thanksgiving from Christians, and ridicule from unbelievers.

After Borden’s early death, a gift of $250,000—representing one quarter of his estate—was made to the China Inland Mission. This amount of money at the time was worth much more than today. The CIM used the money to establish the Borden Memorial Hospital in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. Thousands of needy people—Chinese, Tibetan Buddhists, and Chinese and Turkic-speaking Muslims—came for treatment and heard the gospel as a result of this outreach.

During a Muslim uprising in Gansu Province in 1927, thousands of people were massacred in a three-way struggle of violence between Muslims, Buddhists, and Chinese troops. It was decided that 37 missionaries and their 12 children would be evacuated to a safer place until the uprising subsided. George King decided he would remain at his post, but being a strong swimmer, his help was needed to evacuate the missionaries by goat-skin raft down the Yellow River. As they made their escape,

“They were attacked by bandits along one remote stretch. Fortunately, the current was strong enough to allow them to escape. Then a few miles down the river they became stuck on a sand bar. Twelve hours in the water, tugging at the rafts, sapped the doctor’s strength. When all but one of the rafts had been freed, he slipped into a nasty current. ‘Can you make it?’ someone called. ‘I don’t know,’ he replied, and slipped under, never to be seen again.”[2]

1. Not to be confused with another George King and his wife Emily, who in 1879 were the first Protestant missionaries to live in Shaanxi Province.
2. Hefley, By Their Blood, 52.