Journey to the West and Early Work (1921-1922)

“Let me assure you we do enjoy it!”

Wood went to Shanghai with his Fiance in 1920, and they started their Journey to West China over there. It was a tedious and long travel to the west, and when they were travelling through the Three Gorges area in Yangtze River, they had to get off the boat and witness all the strong man-draggers to pull their boats on the beach to overcome the drained and shallow areas in the river. Finally, they made their way to Chengtu (Chengdu, 成都) in Szechuan and continued to learn language and Chinese custom to get more prepared for the following evangelism.

China’s situation, especially in Szechuan, was in need for renovation but had its own features. Wood tried to learn how to engage with the local culture and he observed that even lack of resource and the abundance of equipment in local Christian churches, hospitals and schools, the people who attended the practices were faithful. He was also intimidated by the warlords’ behaviors towards normal citizens and the suffers from famine and poverty of the locals.