Wen Wei Chieh: Steadfast in Opposition
Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from 12 Faithful Women: Portraits of Steadfast Endurance and is used here by permission.
At 9 a.m. at the dock of Canton, Wen Wei Chieh waited.[1] After years of hope and prayer, she had finally been granted a permit to travel to Hong Kong.
Six long years prior, she had been imprisoned by the Communists for her public witness as a Christian. Under the pretext of false accusations, Wei Chieh had endured tortures and countless attempts to force her to renounce her faith. Even after her release 17 months later, she remained under suspicion and scrutiny.
At the water’s edge, she stood tantalizingly close to freedom and a new beginning. Perhaps she might see her son again. She had not seen him since he left China many years ago. Only one thing now stood between her and the ship: the inspection of her baggage.
Wei Chieh’s luggage held the one thing “more precious than gold”—her Bible. To the Communists, however, her Bible was a symbol of the imperialist West, subversive to the Communist cause, and demonstrated her betrayal of China. She had only arrived at the port through a tenuous chain of interventions by friends and the grudging permission of officials. Her travel permit could be quickly and easily revoked.
As people were lining up to board the ship, another traveler urged her to toss her Bible into the river. Better to discard the Bible than to be questioned, delayed, and possibly be thrown into jail again. Her heart had trembled through her many trials, but just as many times, God had given her grace to stand fast.
She thus answered, “If the Lord allows me to go, the Bible will cause no difficulty or trouble. If He doesn’t want me to go, throwing it into the river will make no difference.”[2] A decade before, in a similar situation, other Christians had pressed her to get rid of her Bible lest it cause complications. She had persisted then as well, “I am not afraid to carry [my Bible]. I must have it with me. If it brings trouble, the Lord will take responsibility.”[3]
This was Wei Chieh’s faith in God: the Lord is sovereign over all things. This was her constant refrain: she belonged to God, so she was his responsibility.
In her teenage years, Wei Chieh pursued her studies with rigor in the hope of educating other girls in China—but her education was halted when her mother commanded her to get married. Wei Chieh’s marriage was not a happy one.
Six years into their marriage, “thorns came up where love should have grown.”[4] Wei Chieh found out that her husband had been living with another woman. After this, the two “were separated as heaven and earth.”[5]
Strangely, her broken marriage made it possible for her to continue her education, attend Bible school, and later, become a missionary. The Lord lit a fire in her soul to “tell the Good News.” This became her “most important thing.”[6]
In 1934, the door opened for her to go to Manchuria, where she spent 14 years. Since she was saved as a child in a hospital, she felt great compassion for orphans and sick patients. The streets and the hospital were her frequent mission fields.
As Communism gained influence throughout the 1940s, Wei Chieh fled from one city to another. Finally, the Communist triumph forced her family to return to her hometown in Tak Hing. In 1949, the Communist government triumphantly proclaimed the “People’s Republic of China” in Beijing. They began a relentless program of indoctrinating atheism and hatred for imperialism throughout the land. Christianity and Christians were to be eradicated.
Wei Chieh was arrested twice. But God’s promise comforted her: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
At the jail, her Bible was immediately confiscated, along with her mirror, hairpins, and the tape that Chinese women used to keep their trousers in place. The first thing she did upon her release was to retrieve her confiscated Bible. The officer asked her, “What book is that?” “This Book,” she responded, “is the compass for my life. [Without it], I would not know where I was or where I was going and would have no power to move. It tells us the Way of Life through Jesus the Son of God . . . I cannot be without it.”[9]
As the days passed, Wei Chieh was troubled to witness more Christians abandoning their faith and betraying Christ to gain the world. In the face of hostility and rage, she continued to proclaim the gospel in public squares. Many church leaders criticized her willfulness. She thanked them for their concern, but repeated her refrain: “God will take the responsibility.”
Some time later, the opportunity came for her to apply for a travel permit to Hong Kong. With her history, there was little hope that a permit would be granted, but God used her physical sufferings to deliver her.
Thus, Wei Chieh stood at the dock of Canton for her inspection. The Bible in her bag was the culmination of many years of trusting God. She belonged to him; she was his responsibility.
The Lord gave Wei Chieh 12 more years of ministry in Hong Kong and in the United States. She was reunited with her son in Los Angeles. She suffered a stroke while translating the account of her cruel imprisonment. Reliving those memories proved to be too much. Her life ended quietly, far from the land and people for whom she had poured out her life. She reflected in her autobiography, “I was like a stranger passing through, but the final records of the Church will show that it was not in vain.”[10]
When Wei Chieh boarded the ship, she left behind a church undergoing severe persecution. She was once asked whether the church in China would survive. Surprised by the question, she responded, “The Church of Christ is His body. He purchased the Church with his own blood. He has promised that the gates of Hell shall never overcome the Church. You ask me if the Church in China will be destroyed? How could it be, in the light of all these great promises?”[11]
[1] Wen Wei Chieh’s birth name was Wan To Hing. The name Wen Wei Chieh was given to her by a teacher after observing her unusually strong character. “Wei Chieh” means “a powerful hero,” and this was the name she used throughout her life and the name by which she was arrested. She was also known as Jeannette Li after she immigrated to the United States in 1962.
[2] Jeanette Li, The Autobiography of A Chinese Christian, trans. Rose A. Huston (Scotland: The Banner of Truth, 1971), 346.
[3] Ibid., 230. She was fleeing from Manchuria as the Communist government came into power (1948).
[4] Ibid., 67.
[5] Ibid., 68.
[6] Ibid., 97.
[7] Ibid., 296.
[8] Ibid., 301–302.
[9] Ibid., 329.
[10] Ibid., 227.
[11] Ibid., viii.
