1. Liu Ba Jin Rose From The Dead To Admonish His Relatives.

At the beginning of this century opposite of the high mountains at Da Wan Zi Church in Yi Liang County, a religious friend named Liu Shou Fu lived.  When he was born, he was much bigger than ordinary babies and weighed "Ba Jin" (8 half-kilograms).  Hence the name Liu Ba Jin.

Liu Ba Jin was a very faithful religious friend but unfortunately he married a woman who did not belong to his religion.  His wife was very stubborn and her temperament strange.  He once persuaded her to take part in his religious group but she abandoned the promise which she had made before marriage.  He persuaded her several times but she still wasn't willing to join the religious group.  Infact, she wouldn't even let her sons or daughters take part in the religious group.  Liu Ba Jin had no say concerning this matter.  He had to remain faithful himself and obey the religious doctrine.

Finally, one day Liu Ba Jin became seriously ill and it looked like he was going to die soon.  So, he called his wife, sons and daughters to his bed and told them, "After I die, my body will be burried alone at one side because you weren't willing to join the religious group and have not followed me.  I prefer not to be burried with you but rather alone."  Soon afterwards he passed away.

Following his death, his wife invited a group of Taoist priests and asked them to perform the Taoist rites and readings of the Taoist scriptures.  When the Taoist priests came he had been dead for three days.  His body was put into a coffin and placed in the center of the room, not yet covered.  Once the Taoists arrived, they hurried to arrange the room and decorate it with Taoist decorations and after a while everything was finished.  The priests and his daughters and sons were in their mourning dresses and began to perform the Taoist rites ceremony when suddenly Liu Ba Jin got up from his coffin with much strength and beheld his surroundings.  Then he said in a stern voice, "I don't want you to do such rubbish to me.  I want you to quickly go and invite the people in the opposite room to chant scriptures for me.  After this he lied down again with his face up and the priests were sore afraid.  They carelessly collected their things and fled from his house in much astonishment.  His wife, sons and daughters were also panick-stricken and didn't know what to do.  Consequently, they had to ask the religious friends who were in the opposite room to come and read the scriptures for the dead.  However, his stubborn wife, sons and daughters without upbringing still didn't join the religious group.

So far the religious friends in Da Wan Zi all knew this miraculous story.  Everyone could tell it just like it was and they kept on repeating the story.  Eventually the later generations of Liu Ba Jin were moved emotionally.  This year (1987) on October 21st, Priest ? travelled to Da Wan and the grandson of Liu Ba Jin, Liu Ji Yun heard this.  So, he immediately took his family (12 people) and went down from the high mountain, crossed the river and brook, went through the deep valleys, climbed the opposite hill and told the priest, "Ah, dear priest, I have been willing to join the religious group for a long time and follow the way of my grandfather.  My wife, sons and daughters also have the same willingness.  Especially within the past two or three years we have longed for a priest to come baptise us and allow us to join the religious group, but there has been no one for a long time.  This morning my son-in-law heard there was a priest come, so he hurriedly ran up the mountain and told me.  I was so glad and then took all of my family here right now to plead with you to baptise us no matter what happened."

This priest was just travelling and had not come to visit his religious friends, so he hadn't planned on doing anything religious.  However, when he heard the eager speech of Liu Ji Yun and saw their faithfulness and willingness, he was moved.  He couldn't find a word to refuse them.  Then he joyfully agreed and afterwards briefly spoke with them, baptised them, and accepted them into the religious family.

(Told by a religious friend in Da Wan, Yi Liang.)

2. The Defeat Of Guo Er Ding.

Who was Guo Er Ding?  He was an Italian Ling Yi Hui and an Italian priest.  At first he worked in the Hui Dong hospital of Zhao Tong in medical care but after the Liberation, the former priest, Zhu Tian You, who had worked for 13 years in Da Wan church, was transferred to another post.  Because of it, Guo Er Ding was appointed to be priest of the church by Ji Li Zhi who was the bishop at that time.  Although priest Guo didn't stay in Da Wan for long, he was very kind, modest and zealous to help the religious group's friends.  His reputation was very high.

At the beginning of 1952, the local authorities took him to Jiao Kui, another church, and gathered the Jiao Kui, Da Wan and nearby village's religious friends together to struggle with Guo Er Ding against their own will.  Priest Guo found the situation terrible.  He thought it might bode ill rather than well and saw that a struggle was inevitable.  Then he put on his short white coat, wore his tie, and prepared to be a martyr.

The Square of Jiao Kui church was crowded with people, some of them not of the religious friends, and everything for the struggle had been prepared.  A person shouted, "Take Guo Er Ding here!"  and then Priest Guo appeared at the door of the church.  Once he got to the door, he stood there and raised his hands in the form of a big cross and blessed the crowd.  After this, he lowered his head waiting for "condemnation" and a "struggle."  After a long time of the authorities asking the people to condemn him, the people still wouldn't do it.  Some of the authorities were agitated.  Then Dai Qi Hua, Mei Guang Hui, Zhang Shun Chang, Huang XX shouted very loudly, "Beat down Guo Er Ding!  Beat down Imperialism!"  (slogans such as these), but the echo of the people was not much and not so warm.  Nevertheless, when Priest Guo heard which direction the echo came from, he raised his hands to form a cross to bless the crowd in that direction.  His religious friends that received the blessings formed crosses back to him.  Because of this, the echos became fewer and fewer.  Among those four active persons, Dai Qi Hua was the most active.  He was shamed into anger, raised his right hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "BEAT DOWN GUO ER DING!"  This time not only was there no reply but also his right arm was no longer controlled by him.  Once he had raised it, he couldn't put it down.  He felt very embarrassed and didn't know what to do.  Then Priest Guo saw this, approached him slowly, and watched him kindly and seriously.  Meanwhile he stretched his hand and very gently touched the arm which was still raised in the air.  Dai Qi Hua's hand could then be withdrawn to his body.  The crowd was very astonished and everyone said it was a miracle.

After this, the struggle could no longer be developed.  It stopped silently without any decision.  After two days, Priest Guo was escorted to Kunming by the authorities and expelled out of the country through Hong Kong.  There also were several foreign priests expelled with him out of China.

The story about Guo Er Ding is still told by the religious friends in the Zhao Tong religious region and especially by Zhao Kui and Da Wan's religious friends.  They can tell you the details and the place can still be seen.  When the local people tell you the story, you can see the whole story take place in your mind.  The local people remember it very clearly and can talk about its details.  Moreover, they still say that shortly after the incident those four persons all died suddenly.  Among us, no one knows why they died and none of them had a good end.  The details which the religious friends told us concerning the deaths, we cannot bear to record them any longer.

(Told by religious friends in Jiao Kui and Da Wan, Yi Liang County.)  (next page)