He Jinshan

He Jinshan [Ho Chin-shan, Ho Tsun-sheen] 何进善, also He Futang 何进善 and He Runyang 何润has been called “the first modern Chinese theologian.” His family was from Guangdong, and his father was a woodblock carver with LMS in Malacca. In 1837, he followed his father to Malacca, received baptism (in order to please his father) and was given the name Jinshan. In 1838, he learned from John Evans at the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, then continued at the Bishop’s College in Calcutta. He had a personal conversion experience in 1839, and from 1840-1843 was with missionary James Legge for a period of further schooling (in Malacca) “during which Jinshan achieved fluency in English and in reading Greek and Hebrew.” He helped Legge with translation projects and produced the translation of a Chinese novel (1843). 

He followed Legge to Hong Kong and continued as a LMS preacher, and in 1846, he was ordained as pastor of the Union Chapel (Hop Yat Church合一堂), thus becoming the second Chinese pastor. Following Legge’s suggestion, he wrote commentaries to the gospels of Matthew (Matai Fuyin zhushi) and Mark (Make Fuyin zhushi), also known as Shengjing xiyi《圣经析义, (first published 1855, completed 1868-1870) and a commentary on the Ten Commandments. He also penned Shengjing Zhengju《圣经证据 (printed in 1870), an introduction to the Bible. In 1870, he suffered a mild stroke and soon resigned from church duties. He died 3 April 1871. Although he was offered more lucrative positions, he remained pastor, but at the same time he invested in Hong Kong property under the name of Ho Fuk Tong 何福堂, thus leaving one of the largest Chinese estates to his descendants. All his sons were educated abroad, most famous of them was Sir He Qi 何启(1859-1914), who built the Alice Memorial Hospital and co-founded the Hong Kong College of Medicine.