By Nigel Tomes
First & Last
Jessie McDonald, known as “Jessie Mac,” had an impressive number of “firsts” to her credit.
- She was among the first women to study medicine at the University of Toronto. When she enrolled at U of T in 1905, Jessie McDonald was one of 5 women in a class exceeding 350.
- When she arrived in China in 1913 with Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission at age 26, she was the first and only female surgeon with this mission.
But Jessie Mac also had a “last” to her credit—
- She was the last foreign missionary to leave China in 1951-2.
From Vancouver to China, via Toronto
Jessie Mac’s journey to China began as a child in Vancouver, BC. Her mother taught English to Chinese immigrants to Canada at their neighborhood church. At age 7 Jessie asked for a pupil of her own to tutor. Her first pupil was an adult Chinese man; he had never heard of Jesus. He asked “why hasn’t anyone gone to China to tell us about Jesus?” Unable to answer, young Jessie decided she would go. Hearing about medical missionaries’ effectiveness, Jesse Mac attended U of T medical school, then interned in Boston & Philadelphia. She also studied at the Glasgow Bible Training Institute (Scotland) before sailing for the Orient from London (UK) in 1913 with the China Inland Mission (CIM). 
For decades she labored as an “intrepid medical pioneer” in China’s inland provinces bringing physical healing to the local people. Working in Kaifeng, in central China’s Henan province, Dr. Jessie Mac dealt with eye problems, disfiguring tumors, bubonic plague, opium addiction, and wounds inflicted by civil wars & foreign invasions. Chinese women responded to the arrival of a female doctor—women patients at the Kaifeng Hospital increased from 300 in 1915 to 700 in 1917. But her ultimate goal was to spread the gospel, bringing Christ’s salvation to the Chinese people. Her desire for the local people was “that they may know Him [Christ].” She rejoiced over small victories, like when one Chinese woman, on being discharged from hospital, whispered to Dr. Jessie, “Pray for me; I am going to take down my kitchen gods when I reach home.”
Japan’s invasion—Major relocation
Over the course of her 40 years in China Jessie Mac witnessed tectonic changes. She saw the end of the Manchu dynasty, civil war & revolution, the reign of local warlords, Japan’s invasion of China in World War II and finally the communist triumph.
Japan’s invasion of China initiated a major relocation. Jessie Mac turned her hospital over to a German missionary doctor, shipped herself and valuable medical equipment to Shanghai, around the coast to Burma (Myanmar), then up-river and across the Burma Road to the remote province of Yunnan, SW. China. There in Dali, Yunnan, Dr. Jessie Mac built, staffed and ran a hospital for the next decade. Her 40-bed facility became “the medical centre for a million people for whom no other up-to-date medical treatment is available” and “the means of meeting their spiritual needs…through the preaching of the gospel.”
Jessie Mac also ran an out-station 250 km. away among Yunnan’s ethnic minorities. Sleeping in a room with a dirt floor & cracked walls, she wrote, telling her family, “This job is for a younger person.” But, at 60 years of age, she was the only one available; so she pressed on.
Jessie Mac built upon earlier mission work in Yunnan. Mr. and Mrs. George Clarke of the CIM, pioneered the way when they moved to Dali in 1881. George Clarke buried his wife there two years later. Her devotion and optimism during her final days inspired the neighbors; after her death, many believed and were baptized. By 1920 there were 28 mission stations, staffed by 75 missionaries scattered across a large area. From 1940 onwards Jessie Mac joined this team, spread thin among the mountains & valleys of remote Yunnan. She was one of “the most formidable and effective of the modern missionaries.” Through her medical and evangelistic efforts, the church grew steadily. By 1949 there were an approx. 5,500 Christian believers, drawn mainly from the ethnic minorities—the Miao, Lisu, Yi, and Bai peoples of Yunnan.
The Last One Out
After the Communists gained power in 1949 it took a year for them to penetrate to Dali in remote SW of China. Meanwhile the work of the hospital continued unabated. Jessie Mac was not afraid; she had learned, “It does not do to run away from duty–the only safe place is where God would put us.” On May 4, 1951 Communist officials abruptly seized the hospital with its equipment and ordered McDonald out of China. The large Red Cross sign was painted over with the slogan—“Kicking Imperialists out of China.” Many Christians were afraid; they quit the church. Some renounced their faith; others denounced the missionaries and their church-leaders. Yet many resolved to be faithful through whatever tribulation might lie ahead.
On her last day at her post, Jessie Mac ignored the communist solders’ threats and went to pray in Dali’s Protestant Church, built by missionaries in 1905. It had been the scene of many conversions and periodic revivals. Now she sat alone, surrounded by empty pews. After praying, Jessie Mac struck the church bell for the last time; its chimes sounded across the city. Fifty years later, Dali’s senior citizens still remember—“The chiming came in waves, resounding waves, one after the other; people could feel the vibrations,” one recounts. Then Jessie Mac made for the coast; she was the last one out, the last foreign missionary to leave China.
The Aftermath
Dr. Jessie McDonald returned to North America in 1952. She joined the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) School of Missionary Medicine, contributing to missionary training. She passed away in 1980, aged 92.
After Jessie Mac’s departure, the Church in China experienced severe tribulation, climaxing in Mao’s “cultural revolution.” Among ethnic minorities oppression was especially harsh; all the churches were closed and Christians ruthlessly persecuted. In late December, 1973, 10,000 ethnic Miao-minority Christians witnessed the execution of their beloved minister, Wang Zhi-Ming. [He is among the ten 20th century martyrs honored at Westminster Abbey, London, UK.] But the “blood of the martyrs is still the seed of the church.” In the midst of Mao’s purges, in 1965, there were only 2,800 Christians left in the Dali area of Yunnan. But by 1980—the year Jessie Mac died—the number of Christian believers had grown to 12,000. By 2007 there were approx. 30,000 believers in the area—a tenfold increase since 1965. More generally, the Miao-minority churches in China had 20,000 members in 1970 during Mao’s “cultural revolution.” But by 2000 they numbered 30,000—a growth rate of 9.5% p.a. over those 30-years. Similarly the Lisu church grew from 40,000 members in 1970, to 350,000 in 2000—a 7.5% growth rate.
Today, a new hospital stands on the site of the missionary hospital which Dr. Jessie MacDonald built in Dali. The Peggy Health Centre is the 1st hospital in China dedicated to AIDS education, prevention, treatment & care. Via this means Jessie Mac’s medical legacy is being continued in China.
Sources:
Anne McDonald, “A MISSIONARY IN CHINA: DR. JESSIE MCDONALD” Proceedings of the 16th Annual History of Medicine Days, March 2007, Calgary, AB. Pp. 149-158.
Liao Yiwu God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China Translated from the Chinese by Wenguang Huang, HarperOne, a division of HarperCollins Publishers (2011) pp. 3-7; 102-116
Jessie was my great-aunt and I last saw her in 1972 in Southern California. I loved reading about her again and having the family history as it had been relayed to me confirmed. I first met Aunt Jessie within a year or so of her return from China. The China Inland Mission was always spoken of with great reverence in my household.
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