Griffith John

Griffith John (Chinese: 楊格非; pinyin: Yáng Géfēi; 14 December 1831 – 25 July 1912) was a Welsh Christian missionary and translator in China.

A member of the Congregational church, he was a pioneer evangelist with the London Missionary Society (LMS), a writer and a translator of the Holy Bible into the Chinese language.

He set up schools, hospitals and training colleges, with a permanent base at Hankou (now part of Wuhan city) in Hubei.

In 1861 he went from Shanghai through the provinces of central China, and he later claimed that with his colleagues he had established over 100 mission stations in Hubei and Hunan.

[5] They resolved to continue their opposition to the opium traffic, urging Christians in China to arouse public opinion against it.

The desire of the missionaries that their ideas be carried out caused them to form "continuation committees" that were assigned tasks to assure that action would be taken on whatever matters had been approved by the conferences.

[1] In 1889 he was elected chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, but declined the honour and remained in Hankou among the Chinese whom he loved.

[6] In September 2013, a blue plaque was unveiled in memory of John outside Ebenezer Chapel, Swansea, where he worshiped as a boy.

Griffith John in 1905
Blue plaque commemorating John in Swansea, Wales