Frederick William Baller

💬 Famous Quotes

"Frederick William Baller (1852–1922) became a Christian at seventeen and sailed to China with the China Inland Mission in 1873, learning Chinese in Nanjing just after the Taiping occupation had ended. From 1896 he headed the mission's training home for men at Anqing, helping to train new missionaries in the language; from 1900 to 1918 he served on the committee revising the Mandarin Bible that became the Chinese Union Version. He died in Shanghai, where he was buried, after completing his biography of Hudson Taylor."

📋 Basic Information

👤 Gender

Male

🏴 Nationality

British

✝️ Religion

Christianity

⛪ Denomination

Interdenominational (China Inland Mission)

🏛️ Order / Mission

China Inland Mission

🌍 Mission Region

China

🏯 Historical Era

Late Qing – early Republic

1852

Born

England

1873

Mission Began

Age 21

1922

Passed Away

Age 70

Shanghai, China

🏷️ Tags

missionary

📖 Biography

Frederick William Baller (鲍康宁; 21 November 1852 – 12 August 1922) was a British missionary of the China Inland Mission (said by some to have been a Baptist), a linguist of Chinese, a sinologist and an educator. He took part in translating the Chinese Union Version (和合本) of the Bible. He wrote textbooks in classical Chinese (wenli) and in Mandarin for missionaries to learn from, translated the life of Charles Spurgeon into Chinese, and translated the vernacular version of the Qing Sacred Edict (圣谕广训) into English.

Life

In 1873 he became a missionary of the China Inland Mission. He left England on 3 September and reached Shanghai on 5 November. He studied Chinese in Nanjing, a city that had just come through the Taiping Rebellion. In his first year in China he was responsible for the CIM's work in 2 provinces, Anhui and Jiangsu.

Shortly after completing a biography of Hudson Taylor, he died in Shanghai and was buried there.

📚 Major Works

A Mandarin Primer

An introductory textbook for learning Mandarin, published in at least fourteen editions; an important reference for missionaries in China learning the language.

The Sacred Edict 1892

A scholarly English translation, with notes, of the Sacred Edict of the Kangxi Emperor together with the Amplified Instructions of the Yongzheng Emperor (Shengyu Guangxun); reprinted several times.

An Analytical Vocabulary of the New Testament 1893

A linguistic reference work for missionaries studying the vocabulary of the Chinese New Testament.

Life of Hudson Taylor 1922

A biography recording the life and work of Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission.

📚 References & Sources

📖 Wikipedia (ZH)

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