Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt
| Alfred Bosshardt | |
|---|---|
 Missionary to China | |
| Born |
1 January 1897 Manchester, UK |
| Died |
6 November 1993; Age 96 Pembury, Kent, UK |
| Spouse(s) | Rose Piaget |
Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt (1 January 1897 – 6 November 1993) was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China. He served with the China Inland Mission. He is notable for being one of two Europeans who accompanied the soldiers of the Red Army on the Long March.
Life
Bosshardt was born of Swiss parents in Manchester, England, and was accepted for training by the China Inland Mission in 1920. Within two years he departed for China and was assigned to work in Guizhou province. He was married to Rose Piaget (1894-1965) in Guiyang in June 1931. On 1 October 1934, exactly 12 years after he had left for China, while returning from a prayer conference with Rose and several other missionaries, they were captured by soldiers of the Red Army led by General Xiao Ke. Rose was later released but he and a fellow missionary, Arnolis Hayman, a New Zealander, were forced to join the Red Army on the weary trek which later became known as the Long March. He trudged 2500 miles during the 18 months of captivity. He was released on Easter morning 1936 after 560 days of captivity. The book The Restraining Hand: Captivity for Christ in China, published in 1936, tells the story of this captivity.
Being restored to health in Europe and doing many speaking engagements he returned to China in 1940 until, like many foreign missionaries, he and Rose were expelled from China in 1951. They went on to work in Laos among the many Chinese in Laos. Following Rose's death in 1965, he returned and settled in Manchester in 1966, still opening his house to Chinese students. There he continued a fruitful ministry to the Chinese and was a founder-member of the Manchester Chinese Christian Church, while remaining a faithful member of Union Hall Evangelical Church. The longest mile was his last mile which he spent in a house of retired missionaries of the C.I.M. in Pembury, Turnbridge Wells, Kent. He died at the age of 96 of bronchitis in his room at Cornford House.
In 1973 Bosshardt published The Guiding Hand: Captivity and Answered Prayer in China, written with Gwen and Edward England.
In 1989 General Xiao Ke wrote a lengthy foreword to the Chinese edition of "The Guiding Hand", praising it the most accurate account on the Long March ever written by any foreigner.
Bibliography
- R. A. Bosshardt, The Restraining Hand: Captivity for Christ in China (1936)
- R. A. Boßhardt, Im Schatten des Allmächtigen. Erlebnisse des Missionars R. A. Boßhardt in der Gefangenschaft der Roten. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Dr. Ernst Witt. Bad Liebenzell: Buchhandlung der Liebenzeller Mission 1937 (156 S., einige Abb. auf Bildtafeln)
- R. A. Bosshardt, with Gwen and Edward England, The Guiding hand: Captivity and Answered Prayer in China (1973)
- Arnolis Hayman, A Foreign Missionary on the Long March: The Memoirs of Arnolis Hayman of the China Inland Mission (2010)
- Leslie T. Lyall, A Passion for the Impossible: The Continuing Story of the Mission Hudson Taylor Began (2d ed., 1976), chap. 3
- Harrison Salisbury, The Long March: The Untold Story (1985)
- Jean Watson, Bosshardt: A Biography (1995)
- The Guardian, November 8, 1993 (obit.)
- The Guardian, November 27, 2008.
Further reading
See also
External links
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