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A True Story of
Christmas in China
On a frozen December night in 1970,
a young Chinese boy discovers the real meaning of Christmas
Anonymous
BOUT 26 YEARS AGO, A CALAMITY took place
in China. It lasted more than 10 years. During that time, many faithful Christian
believers in China were persecuted and put to death. My parents were among them.
Because of my parents' background, I was considered
a "black child" from a counter- revolutionary family. No one dared to take
care of me. I became homeless and started to live on my own at the young age of 9.
During the day, I helped people push their carts in exchange for money. At night,
I slept in the street. If it was a rainy or snowy day, no one worked outside and
I could not make any money. Hunger and cold were part of my daily life.
One and a half years later, I met a man who was more than 50 years old. I called
him Uncle Shen. Uncle Shen was a strong believer in Jesus. When he found out I was
homeless, he decided to take care of me. Actually, Uncle Shen had escaped from prison
and did not have a family, so he asked me if I would like to stay with him. I agreed
because I felt he was a very nice man.
Uncle Shen decided to go to northwestern China because he thought it would be safer
there. Many places in northwestern China were very poor. Most of the people in the
countryside were not educated. They did not know how to read or fix their machines.
Uncle Shen, however, was a skilled mechanic, so we went to many places to fix machines
for the peasants in exchange for our food and lodging. Since there were not many
machines in any one place, we had to move frequently to find enough work. Otherwise,
we would not have survived.
One day, near the end of December 1970, we were out of work. Uncle Shen decided we
should go look for work somewhere else. We were in one of the poorest areas of China.
There was no bus available, so we walked a whole day. Before dark, we went to a country
inn on a rugged country trail, a single mud house on the roadside. Outside, on the
wall, there were four Chinese characters - "Che Ma Da Dian" (Horse- Cart-
Grand- Inn)- a grandiose name for such a simple place. The inn had four mud-brick
walls and a thatched roof. The entrance was about six feet wide and seven feet high.
The "door" was made of dry cornstalks. To get into the "Grand Horsecart
Inn," we pushed the dry cornstalks aside. Once inside, we pulled the cornstalks
back in place to block the cold wind outside.
The inside of the inn was like a rectangular barn. There were only two oil lamps
in it, one near the entrance, another near the farthest corner. In the middle of
the inn stood a long row of mangers. On one side of the mangers, there were sleeping
areas made of dry straws along the wall. No heat, no blankets, just some mud brick
to be used as pillows.
That "Grand Horsecart Inn" welcomed both men and women. It cost 50 cents
for an overnight stay per person. People who wanted to get a bowl of noodles had
to pay 50 cents more. After we paid, we were assigned a mud brick and shown where
we could sleep. No matter who came, a man or a woman, old or young, everybody was
treated the same. On the other side of the mangers there were spaces for horses,
oxen, and donkeys. It cost 50 cents for each horse, ox, or donkey because of the
fodder.
That December night of 1970, Uncle Shen and I stayed overnight in that "Grand
Horsecart Inn." To keep warm, we snuggled together. I fell asleep quickly. Sometime
after midnight, the sound of the animals woke me up. Because it was so cold, I couldn't
fall back to sleep again. Unconsciously, I started to think about my parents. My
mind overflowed with memories of when my parents were taken away; my father was tied
up and beaten so badly, he could not stand up again . . . my mother was forced to
kneel down and her hair was shaved off, her face was blackened with ink.
As I was thinking about them, I asked myself, "Where are my parents? Are they
dead? When can I see them again?" I could not hold back my grief and tears rolled
down my face silently.
I did not realize that Uncle Shen was awake, but he had felt my sobbing. Gently,
he held my hands and tried to comfort me. We sat in the dry straw silently. After
a while, Uncle Shen thought my tears had dried up and in a tender voice he asked
me, "Are you still sleepy?"
I said, "No, I do not feel sleepy."
"Do you know what day is today?" he asked me softly.
"Not exactly," I replied. "Probably the end of the year."
Uncle Shen said, "Yes, today is December 25. It's Christmas morning. Today is
the birthday of Jesus. But, do you know how Jesus suffered before He was crucified
on the cross?"
He talked as if he knew I was thinking about how my parents suffered before they
were taken away. Uncle Shen quoted from the Gospel. "They stripped Him and put
a scarlet robe on Him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on
His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt in front of Him and mocked
Him. They spit on Him, and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again..."
As Uncle Shen recited these Bible verses, my heart was moved. From my parents' suffering,
I tried to imagine how Jesus, my Lord, suffered before He was crucified and how He
died. Uncle Shen continued, "The soldier pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing
a sudden flow of blood."
At that moment, I felt my own heart was bleeding. "Jesus, the LORD of my parents
and Uncle Shen, is my LORD," I said in my heart.
It was early in the morning. Except for Uncle Shen's small voice, the snoring of
the other people, and the sound of animals eating their fodder, it was a very quiet
and cold night. After a while- I don't know how long- Uncle Shen started to sing
a song, "Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright."
Since then, 20 years have passed. For me, it is just like yesterday. I can still
feel Uncle Shen beside me and hear him singing. I still hear Uncle Shen telling me
the story of the birth of Jesus:
The poor carpenter Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem from Nazareth to be registered.
They traveled about 100 miles. It was very difficult for them, because Mary was pregnant.
They were poor, so they could not afford a good place to stay. That night, Jesus
was born in a humble place just like the "Grand Horsecart Inn" where Uncle
Shen and I stayed. Indeed, on this side of the manger, perhaps there may have been
dry straw for Mary and Joseph to sleep on. On the other side of the manger, perhaps
there were oxen or donkeys.
In that cold stable, amid the manure and the animals, the manger was the only clean
place. The manger was above the wet, smelly stable floor and above the sleeping area
on the ground, so no one could jostle the baby Jesus. The manger was the best place
for the baby. It was on that night that the LORD Jesus came into this world and started
His life as the Son of God, a servant of people, of whom Scripture says, "A
bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out."
It was on that night, in that humble place, that our LORD Jesus was born, not too
far from Golgotha, where 33 years later He was crucified on a tree.
On that night so long ago, there was no Santa Claus, no bright lights, no Christmas
trees, no jingle bells, no family reunion...It was a cold, silent, holy night.
The author was imprisoned twice
in China because of his own faith in Jesus. He is now working in the U.S.
Related Topics:
China's Future is Written
in Scripture ---New Window
by Tom Stewart
"Though China is mentioned only in passing in the Apocalypse, the Sixth
Vial Judgment (Revelation 16:12) represents the Kings of the
East as vital to the last conflagration that will be fought at Armageddon, before
the Second Advent of the LORD Jesus Christ. '12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East
[including China] might be prepared. 13
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of
the beast [the Antichrist], and out of the mouth of
the false prophet. 14 For they
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the
Earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God
Almighty. 15 Behold, I
[Jesus] come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue Armageddon' (Revelation 16:12-16).
For those who believe the testimony of God, the Scripture is plain concerning the
destiny of the Kings of the East, i.e., including the People's Republic of China.
Jesus Christ, Whose 'Name is called The Word of God'
(Revelation 19:13) and who is truly the 'KING
OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS' (19:16), is prophesied
by Scripture to vanquish certainly, totally, and eternally the Kings of the East,
and all that oppose Him at Armageddon."
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