Magnus Bäcklund

Teaching Himself Three Languages at a Trading Firm

Magnus Bäcklund was born on 12 December 1866 at Alstakan in Gunnarskog parish, Värmland, Sweden. He grew up in a poor family and had to work hard from childhood. Later he found work at a trading firm in Arvika, and it was during those years of earning a living that he taught himself German, French and Greek. These languages were not needed for his livelihood, yet they later became what he relied on.

Nearly Two Years to Reach Kashgar

He belonged to the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. It should be noted that this mission is not the same as the Swedish Mission in China, whose Chinese name is similar: the Mission Covenant Church worked in Hubei and Xinjiang, while the Swedish Mission in China worked in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan. In 1895 he set out for Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan. He was held up along the way, but rather than waste the time, he studied Uyghur in Bukhara in Central Asia. Only in June 1897 did he finally reach Kashgar, nearly two years after setting out.

Six Years

Kashgar lies at the far western end of China, where the northern and southern routes of the Silk Road meet, and it was one of the most remote mission stations of the time. The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden had been working in this region since 1892; among his co-workers was Lars Erik Högberg, who also has an entry in this database. Bäcklund worked in Kashgar for six years.

Buried in Kashgar

Magnus Bäcklund died in Kashgar on 26 June 1903, aged only thirty-six. A young man from a poor Swedish family, who had mastered several languages by teaching himself, spent two years travelling to China's westernmost city, worked there for six years, and died there. Little is recorded about him, and what can be found is roughly the above. But of the people in this database, he is the only one who died and was buried in Kashgar.