189 1951, Dr. Roberts reported that the orphanage in Changsha and all the pro- perty of the School had been seized by the Conununist Government. The Nation- alist Chinese were unable to defeat the Communists, as was hoped.- Not all news was discouraging. For example, in Hong Kong a church, a book room, a clinic, and an orphange had been established and were doing well. The work, to a large extent, concentrated on the refugees coming out of China after the Conununist takeover; and the Scofield Correspondence Course was used for the educational program there. Inspite of all these favorable developments in Hong Kong, the Biola Board began to realize that they should leave the work there entirely to others who were in a better position to conduct it. Another reason it had for making a change was that Biola should concentrate its efforts and re- sources on its academic program. With these convictions, borne out by more than two decades of experience with the chaotic conditions in China, the Board finally made the decision to close the work in China and Hong Kong. To implement its decision, the Board appointed a Special Conunittee to make the necessary arrangements for closing the work in Hong Kong. At a Board meeting on May 11, 1961, Mr. Al Sanders, Vice-President in charge of Public Relations, reported that the date for terminating the work was to be July 1, 1961, and that all the property of Biola in Hong Kong was to be turned over to the Enunanuel Church of Hong Kong. This action ended the min- istry of Biola in China. Prospects were unlikely that Biola would ever recover funds for the confiscated Hunan property. Like many Christian organizations and for- eign businesses filing claims with the State Dapartment from 1949 to 1952, little was expected. However, attempted normalization of diplomatic rel- ations between the People's Republic and the United States during the first Richard Nixon administration, resulted in the delivery of foreign claims ap- plications to the various institutions involved. As a precondition for
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter