HISTORICAL BUILDING: One of the 19th century buildings at the Mackay Tourist Site. Mackay Presbyterian Church is still providing services every Sunday. During our tour, we saw a happy newly wedded couple taking photos in front of the church.
HIS STATUE: Mackay statue at Tamsui, Taipeh.
UNI CAMPUS: View of the beautiful Alethiea Campus.
A MUSICIAN friend recommended a Hokkien-English opera called Mackay, the Bearded One, if I ever had a chance to go to Taiwan – and also visit Mackay Street in Tamsui or Danshui.
But who is this Mackay the Bearded One?
Another Malaysian friend who has been studying in Taiwan, explained: “This was the first time I attended a full opera, sung in (Taiwanese) Hokkien and English. It was so unique! Overall, it was a wonderful opera. We would never have anything like this in Malaysia.”
Indeed in 2008, the Taiwan government invested in the production of the world’s first-ever Taiwanese-English-language opera based on Mackay’s life.
Over 100 opera singers and production crew from Europe, Asia, and the US were brought in for the project. Mackay: The Black Bearded Bible Man had its world premiere on Nov 27, 2008, at Taiwan’s National Theater.
Although our small study group from Sarawak went to Taiwan and did not watch the opera, we came to learn about one incredible missionary – Mackay, who gave so much of his life to Taiwan – by visiting the Street named after him.
We were taken to see a statue of George Leslie Mackay, dedicated on Nov 19, 1995, in the northern port town of Tamsui, Taipeh.
According to a brochure, the statue was unveiled by his grandchildren, John Ross Mackay and Anna Mackay. Also present at the ceremony were Jack Chen, Tamsui township chief, Hugh Stephens, director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, and Legislative and Taipei County representatives.
Called Mah Kay in Taiwanese language, Rev GL Mackay brought about tremendous change to the social, religious and even economic map of Taiwan.
His contributions were so great that some people even find it hard to believe. George Leslie Mackay (March 21, 1844 – June 2, 1901) was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Formosa (Taiwan), serving with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission.
Mackay who was among the best known westerners to have lived in Taiwan, was born in Zorra Township, Oxford County, Canada West (now Ontario), Canada.
He received his theological training at Knox College in Toronto, Princeton Seminary in the US and New College, Edinburgh in Scotland – all Presbyterian institutions.
In 1871, Mackay became the first foreign missionary to be commissioned by the Canada Presbyterian Church. He arrived in Tamsui, northern Formosa, in 1872 which remained his home until his death in 1901.
One of the most remarkable features of his life as a missionary was his immense contribution to the dental health of the aborigines there. From 1872-88, he reportedly extracted 18,235 teeth. It was said he pulled out over 40,000 during his lifetime in Taiwan. Many grateful people went away with a missing tooth plus an experience hard to forget.
He set up churches, schools and a hospital, practising western biomedicine. He learned to speak the vernacular Taiwanese fluently. It was said when his friends suggested he should get married, he gave it a good thought, and soon asked a friend to be match-maker for the hand of a lady he converted. That was how he married Tiu Chang-miâ – known as Minnie in the west – a Taiwanese woman.
WEDDING SNAPSHOTS: We witness a wedding photo session in front of the church. — Photo courtesy of Steve Ling
MACKAY BUST: Two Sibu tourists standing behind Mackay’s bust for a snapshot in Tamsui.
Marriage at 34
In his sixth year in Taiwan, Mackay, 34, married his wife, a Tamsun local. Chang gave birth to two daughters and one son. Chang Tsung-ming died in 1925 at the an age of 65. She had been a good partner to Mackay for all her life. In fact, getting married was among the last three things he planned to do – travelling on a sedan chair, getting married and returning home for holiday. But due to circumstances, he was unable to do them all.
He was the most unusual of missionaries. The locals were suspicious of him but he insisted on staying amongst them. He was adamant though as his motto was – Rather burn than rust out.
By the time Mackay had his first home-return holiday in 1880, he had set up a total of 20 churches in northern Taiwan, assigned 10 missionaries to station in these churches and had 300 adult disciples. His establishment of churches on foreign soil in the first nine years is considered a great success – a rare achievement for overseas missionaries indeed.
He was described by a contemporary as a little man, firm and active, of few words, unflinching courage and one whose sound common sense is equaled only by his earnest devotion to the Master.
During the first year of his stay at Tamsui, he began an educational and evangelistic training movement amongst the young men who came about him, and this has been greatly blessed throughout that northern part of the Island.
The churches he planted later became the present Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. In 1896, after the establishment of Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, Mackay met with the Japanese governor-general of Formosa, Maresuke Nogi. Some families in Taiwan today, particularly of lowland-aboriginal Kavalan ancestry, trace their surname (Kai or Kay) to their family’s conversion to Christianity by Mackay.
The Tamsui Presbyterian Church today is not only a place of Sunday worship but a tourist attraction s well. This house of worship was built during the Japanese colonial period. Designed and built by renowned architect Huang A-shu, it was built for the 60th anniversary of Dr Mackay’s arrival in Taiwan. It opened for services in 1933 and, at the time, was the tallest building in Tamsui with its four story belfry rising toward the sky.
The animated tour guide explained: “In those days when the bell was sounded on a Sunday morning to call the area’s Christians to worship, it could easily be heard across the river in Bali.”
Today, it’s no longer loud enough against all the traffic and urban noises!
Mackay was honored in his own homeland by the Canadian Church during his two furloughs home. In 1880, Queen’s College in Kingston, Ontario, awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity, presented by Principal George Monro Grant and Chancellor Sandford Fleming.
Before departing in 1881, he returned to Oxford County, where monies were raised to start Oxford College in Taiwan. A number of young people in the county were inspired to follow Mackay’s example and entered into missionary service with a number of Christian denominations.
After returning to Tamsun from his last inspection tour of the churches in Lan-Yang plain in May of 1900, Mackay died of throat cancer on June 2 at his home in Paotaipu, aged 58. His family and church buried him according to his will in his private cemetery behind Tamkang Middle School instead of the foreign cemetery (which is separated by a wall).
A writer admiringly wrote: “In his 30 years in Taiwan, Mackay had established more than 60 churches and baptised more than 3000 people. He identified with Taiwan all his life and called himself a Tamsun local. His heart, his love, his blood and his legacy are all in Taiwan. This one person’s love of the land marks a major contrast to the foreigner rulers who came and went without identifying with Taiwan in the past 400 years.”
RESTING PLACE: Upon his request, Mackay, was buried in the backyard of his beloved hospital and college. His family members were also interred here.
DEDICATED TOUR GUIDES: Mackay Street, under the National Bureau of Tourism, Taiwan, has some of the most dedicated and specialised tour guides who are on hand to help on request.
Awesome legacies
The Taiwan Church News (1885) was the first printed newspaper in Taiwan. The Taiwanese language was rendered phonetically, using a Latin orthography developed by Mackay.
His 1896 book – From Far Formosa – is considered an important early missionary ethnography of Taiwan and an important contribution to the anthropological understanding of the culture and customs of the people of Taiwan during that period.
Mackay was an enthusiastic collector of cultural artefacts and specimens of local flora and fauna. Many items he collected are today preserved at the ethnology department of the Royal Ontario Museum (Ontario, Canada) and the Aletheia University Museum (Tamsui, Taiwan).
The Taiwanese language first entered written form in the 19th century when Mackay and his colleagues adapted the Latin alphabet to render it phonetically. The orthography, called pe̍h-oç-jî (POJ), meaning vernacular writing, was used by the Presbyterian missionaries and became standard in the indigenous Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.
The first printed newspaper on the island was a church bulletin in Taiwanese. The Presbyterians continued to use Taiwanese in their services and communications even in years when pressure from first Japanese and then Chinese authorities was intense in suppressing public use of the language.
The Aletheia University was set up by Mackay. This University was originally constructed under his supervision and opened in 1882. He named it Oxford College, and it offered courses in theology and Bible study, sciences including medicine, anatomy and general science, sociology, Chinese history and classical Chinese literature, and is recognised as being the beginning of general education in Taiwan.
Today, the university takes pride in being Taiwan’s oldest university. The name Aletheia, meaning truth in Greek, was only bestowed on the institution in 1999.
The major private Christian hospital in downtown Taipei is named Mackay Memorial Hospital, built in 1912, to replace the smaller Mackay Hospital he started in Tamsui in 1882. Locals and tourists alike love to visit this hospital and the little café within its premises.
In November 2006, a Canadian Television documentary was aired titled The Black Bearded Barbarian of Taiwan. It was broadcast in both Mandarin and English on OMNI 2 as part of their Signature Series.
Indeed, Mackay had left an indelible mark on Taiwan. And because he was instrumental in bringing educational, social, language, health and philosophical changes to Taiwan for more than 30 years, the Malaysian Taiwan Graduates have, no doubt, also indirectly benefitted from his role.
As we watched a modern photographer shooting some wedding scenes in front of the beautiful old Presbyterian Church, what would Mackay have said about modern technology and all the changes around Mackay Street?
It’s in this street in Taipeh that so many different kinds of religions, languages, cultures and governments came together to give it a special remarkable and dynamic life.
Mackay’s life and contributions had made Tamsui more than a entrepot and more than a melting pot. He brought meaning and sensibilities to all the different racial groups found in this area by his simple and courage belief in God.