By Norman Cliff
172 pages. £8.95
ISBN 1 0 9533295 1 8
Available from Dr Norman Cliff, Yantai, 4 Hall Terrace, Harold Wood, Essex RM1 3LP
The author's parents, Howard and Mary Cliff, served in China with the China Inland Mission from 1921 to 1942, and their son has used a range of material, including family papers, correspondence and articles written in China's Millions, to reconstruct their history.
But the story has wider implications, since the family roots go back to the Cliff family from the West country, which intermarried with the Broomhall and (Hudson) Taylor families, who were so significant in the last century. For example, Benjamin Broomhall not only served as the first Home Director of the China Inland Mission, but also played a prominent part in the anti-opium campaign in the 19th century. Source material is noted in general for each chapter, so the book is a useful reference tool for those researching the period.
But Howard and Mary's story also reveals the situation in China earlier this century, and the deep commitment of missionaries who only came home on leave after a minimum of seven years' service. Both parents were trained pharmacists, but were drawn into a ministry of evangelism and Bible teaching. As nationalism increased, they faced the urgent task of giving the churches the teaching and training needed to help them to become independent of foreign help. The widening of the Pacific war in 1941, led to agony for Howard and Mary Cliff in Free China, when their three teenagers were interned in the Weixien camp with the rest of the Chefoo missionary school. It was five long years before the whole family was reunited again.
The print is on the small side, which makes some of the family charts difficult to read, although these are valuable in disentangling family names repeated across the generations. But many photos enrich the text, and will make this book absorbing reading for many.
