Editor’s note: This March, we are praying for the southern China city of Guilin. Guilin is famous for its beautiful karst hills, rising up out of the misty air. The area is home to many ethnic minorities, and is one of China’s top tourist destinations. We spoke today with three Guilin pastors, who shared about the culture and gospel history of their beautiful city.

The Pastors

Yang Xi: I pastor at a Reformed Baptist church. We have more than a hundred members and two pastors, but our senior pastor is currently on a six-month sabbatical.

I became a Christian in 2014, and joined this church in 2015. I am married with two children. I started serving the church full-time in 2017, and was ordained in 2020.

Du Panhe: I truly repented and believed in 2009, then joined a local church. Later, that church sent several of us out to establish a new church, which is actually the church where Pastor Yang now serves. A few years ago, we were sent out to a new district in Guilin to plant another new church. When we started, we had about 20 members, but now we have more than 30.

I’m married with two daughters, ages 10 and 5.

Guilin is famous around the world for its beautiful scenery. As the saying goes: “Guilin’s scenery is the best under heaven!””

Tan Yexuan: I became a Christian nearly 20 years ago, and my wife and I were then baptized together. Back then I was lukewarm – you probably could have called me nominal. But about 10 years ago, I started participating in ministry and leading small groups. About two or three years ago, some of us decided to plant a new church. Our church is still growing, and has about 20 people attending regularly. My wife and I serve together in the church.

China Partnership: What is unique about Kunming among other Chinese cities? What is special about the city’s local culture? What is unique about Kunming’s gospel history?

The Scenery and Culture

Yang Xi: Guilin is famous around the world for its beautiful scenery. As the saying goes: “Guilin’s scenery is the best under heaven!”[1] Guilin is a historical and cultural city. Although it is in south China, it is a transportation hub. Many historical and cultural figures have visited Guilin, leaving behind calligraphy and historical anecdotes. So, Guilin is a city of landscapes, and also of history and culture.

Although Guilin isn’t my ancestral home, because I grew up here, I’m considered a native. The city has a population of about 1.2 million in the urban area, with a total of 5.4 million in the greater metropolitan area. That larger area includes six urban districts, a county-level city, eight counties, and two autonomous counties. [In China, autonomous areas are places with a large population of ethnic minorities, and theoretically give the minority population a large say in how the area is run.]

There are many ethnic minorities in the Guilin area, including Yao, Miao, Dong, and Zhuang. Guilin has 28 ethnic minorities, who together make up about 10 percent of the total population. Guangxi Province [where Guilin is located] is officially known as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Guilin is laidback and comfortable. It doesn’t have the fast-paced, high-pressure life of a bigger city. It’s relatively small, and quite livable, with great air quality. Because it has been an international tourist city for a long time, it is also very inclusive.

Guilin has 28 ethnic minorities, who together make up about 10 percent of the total population

Du Panhe: Guilin is famous for its mountains and waters. I used to work in tourism, trying to bring foreigners to China. Their four favorite Chinese cities to visit were Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, and Guilin. A picture of Guilin’s landscape is on the back of the 20 renminbi note, so it has become a calling card for China, a way to introduce China to the world. Guilin is a tourist city, and tourism is the pillar industry. The pandemic heavily affected tourism, which significantly affected Guilin’s economy.

In Guilin, the new district of Lingui has some unique characteristics unlike the rest of the city. There is a lot of cultural influence from northern China there; many people from the northeast and other northern areas have settled here long-term.

Lingui was known as the hometown of many zhangyuan, the scholars who got the nation’s top score in the imperial examination. There are several famous ones from this area.

Guilin Church History

Yang Xi: I also wanted to share a brief history of Guilin churches.

Guilin’s church history started at the end of the 19^th century, when an American Baptist missionary named Robert Edward Chambers[2]  arrived in Wuzhou. He traveled from Wuzhou to Guilin, but was expelled and faced opposition. However, he resolutely continued his mission to Guilin, and eventually landed here. Although the missionaries had been expelled, they still persevered in spreading the gospel and expanding in Guilin.

Pastor Chambers said something that moved me deeply. He said that, after he baptized the first two people in Wuzhou, he was expelled and mocked. Yet even then he believed that the Lord’s victory in Guangxi had begun, and that the future church in Guangxi would flourish immensely. Now, over a hundred years later, although Guangxi has been very resistant to God’s word, his word has triumphed and flourished here. This continues to encourage us.

Elephant Trunk Hill is a famous landmark in Guilin. Along the docks at Elephant Trunk Hill, people arrived in Guilin from Wuzhou, or along the river. Several denominations (Anglican, Baptist, and the Christian and Missionary Alliance) landed here to spread the gospel, mostly through medical missions. Several of today’s hospitals were founded by missionaries, including the hospital where I was born!

A hundred years after the first Baptist church was established in Guilin, our own church was planted. God’s hand is amazing – after a hundred years, he again established a Baptist church here.

Later, another pastor set out from Wuzhou, and established the first Baptist church in Guilin. This church practiced church membership, and had about a dozen members. The church was destroyed during World War II, then rebuilt. Finally, the property was confiscated by the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. That church used book rooms and gospel boats along the river to preach and spread the gospel, which, for a time, flourished in Guilin.

Believers had “preaching points” throughout area counties and schools, and established a girls’ school and a Bible school in the area. Between 1913 and 1925, the number of believers in the Guilin area grew, until there were about 5,000.

A hundred years after the first Baptist church was established in Guilin, our own church was planted. God’s hand is amazing – after a hundred years, he again established a Baptist church here.

[1] Literally: “桂林山水甲天下,” or, “Guilin’s mountains and waters are the best under heaven.”

[2] Robert Edward Chambers, or 季豪弼 (Ji Haobi), was an American Baptist missionary to China.

Yang Xi, Du Panhe, and Tan Yexuan are all pseudonyms for Guilin house church pastors.

Praise God for how he has sustained and guided his church over the past hundred-plus years.