Flood damage, Haicheng, China, 1888

“House ruined by rains, Mr Alex Westwater’s house behind”. Exterior view of a seriously damaged building where the front wall has collapsed. There was major flooding over large areas of Manchuria in 1888 which caused famine and the spread of disease. Dr Alexander McDonald Westwater was a relation of the Rev. Alexander Westwater who died of a fever in 1886 after administrating to the survivors of flooding that year. Rev. Alexander Westwater’s widow remained in China as a missionary and later married Dr Gordon of the Irish Presbyterian Mission. ❧ The image is from an album relating to the Rev. James A Whylie (1863-1894) who was ordained to the Manchuria mission in 1887 and based in Liaoyang, 1888-1894. He did much itinerant work and built upon the work of Old Wang who had been the ‘native evangelist’ in Liaoyang until his death in 1885. When the first Sino Japanese War (1894-1895) broke out troops were being gathered to send to Korea and suspicion of foreigners was heightened. In Liaoyang, on the 10 August 1894, a group of Chinese soldiers wrecked the U.P. chapel and attacked Mr Whylie, who died of his wounds several days later. Missionaries and foreigners then sought refuge in the port of Newchwang where many remained until the war ended the following year