186 to Dr. Keller: "We recognize you as the Superintendent and all our negot- iations will be with and through you. You are authorized to appoint a Temp- orary Conunittee to carry on the work, and we will cooperate to the best of . our ability." This phase of the controversy finally ended when Dr. Keller informed the Board in Los Angeles that Dr. Wang had called a meeting of the self-ap- pointed Board in Hunan, read the conununication from Los Angeles, and an- nounced that according to the instructions, "This Board is now dissolved." As a result, a Temporary Corrunittee was appointed which included all those willing to serve on the new committee. This action failed to resolve the issue permanently. There were pro- tests and disagreements, among which was reaction to the financial support to be provided by Biola and Dr. Keller's replacement by Dr. Roberts, who was on furlough in the United States. Protests were received from the Chin- ese leaders and a majority of the student body who sent a cablegram to the Los Angeles Board, in which they strongly protested the appointment of Dr. Roberts. The Japanese invasion and occupation of the area left these pro- blems unresolved. Added to the financial and internal problems of the Hunan Bible Insti- tute were the difficulties brought on by the Japanese-Chinese War which be- gan in 1937. The Japanese had invaded Manchuria and occupied that territory in the early 1930's. This brought them into conflict with the Central Chi- nese Government, and war between these two powers broke out. Although Hunan Province, in which the School was located, was in the interior of China, it was eventually occupied by the Japanese which forced the School to suspend operations and cease all other missionary activities in China until the War ended. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, brought Japan and the Vnited States into a sate of declared war, which changed the situation in
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