Liu, Elsie (1907–1940)

Elsie Liu was an early Adventist translator and educator in China in the 1920s and 1930s.

Early Life

Elsie Liu was born on February 12, 1907, in Shanghai, China. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. K. S. Liu,¹ were among the first Chinese believers in Shanghai.² Her brother, Bangnee Alfred Liu, was an Adventist educator, and her sister, Zhennian Liu, was married to Hsu Cheng Shen, an Adventist minister.³

Liu attended the Adventist-operated Ming Jeh Church School from 1915 to 1918, the Chi Sui Girls School from 1918 to 1920, and the Eliza Yates Girls’ School from 1920 to 1926. In January 1920, Liu was baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist by K. H. Wood.

Career

In 1925, Liu officially was employed by the Adventist Church “as a translator for the Signs of the Times Pub[lishing] House in Shanghai.”⁴ Specifically, she contributed pieces to the “Our Homes” section of the Chinese church paper, The Shepherd’s Call, and translated articles for The Sabbath School Helper.⁵ She would translate Adventist material into Chinese for the rest of her career.

During the 1926-1927 school year, Liu taught English and music at Kiangsu Middle School.⁶ In 1929, she became the preceptress at the China Training Institute in Chiao Tou Tseng and held that role for a year. She also attended classes there during the 1929-1930 school year.⁷

On May 4, 1930, Liu (along with several other Chinese Adventists) sailed aboard the Asama Maru, bound for the United States of America.⁸ They arrived on May 22, 1930, six days before the 42^nd General Conference Session, which she apparently attended as a delegate from China.⁹ But Liu’s primary purpose in traveling to the United States was to further her education. She studied home economics at Pacific Union College, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics in May 1932.¹⁰ She then took a course on dietetics at the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University).¹¹ Despite becoming ill,¹² her goal was to return to China and take the principles she learned and “adapt them to the conditions” in her homeland, even if that meant translating “some entire books” to teach from.¹³

Upon learning that the Far Eastern Division and the China Division both had requested her services, but that the China Division was allowing her the choice between the calls, she wrote to the General Conference that although her “pledge is to go wherever the Lord wants me to go and where the need of my service is greatest,” she knew what her choice was. “Having been raised an Adventist in Shanghai and having been connected with our work there for a number of years before I came to the States,” she wrote, “naturally my whole heart and soul is in our work in China. China and her millions of people need the gospel and I am willing to do my part in carrying it to them.”¹⁴

After accepting the call for service in the China Division, Liu returned home, sailing from Los Angeles aboard the President Jackson on May 28, 1933, bound for Shanghai.¹⁵ She arrived in China on June 23, 1933.¹⁶ Following a period of poor health and subsequent convalescence,¹⁷ she became part of the China Division’s Home Commission, serving as part of its advisory committee. She remained on this committee for the rest of her career.¹⁸ She resumed teaching at the China Training Institute in 1936, this time teaching Home Economics. Liu taught at the China Training Institute until the school’s closure.¹⁹ In 1938, she was appointed to serve, along with Bessie Mount, N. F. Brewer, Hsu Cheng Shen, and R. H. Hartwell, on a committee studying the need for a course of Sabbath School lessons aimed at “those who have no background of previous Bible knowledge.”²⁰

Illness and Death

Unfortunately, Liu's health continued to decline, and by 1938, she became bedridden. Still, as she was able, she “found many ways of using her abilities for the furtherance of the cause she loved.” She continued translating Adventist materials from her sickbed, mainly works by Ellen G. White, into Chinese. Her last translation work was of Ellen G. White’s book Education, which was first printed on April 28, 1940.²¹

Elsie Liu died on April 29, 1940, aged thirty-three, after a short life of dedicated service.

Sources

B. A. Liu Appointee File, Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

“Biographical Information Blank,” Elsie Liu, March 12, 1933. Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

“Chinese Student Will Pioneer.” Pacific Union Recorder, January 14, 1932.

Elsie Liu to E. Kotz, February 22, 1933, Elsie Liu Appointee File, Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

“Group of Foreign Delegates.” ARH, June 12, 1930.

Immigration Arrival Investigation Case Files, 1884 - 1944. NAID: 296445. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787–2004, Record Group 85. National Archives at San Francisco, San Bruno, California. Accessed via Ancestry.com, 11 December 2024.

Liu, B. A. “At Chiao Tou Tseng.” China Division Reporter, November 1, 1936.

Lee, Frederick. “Editor’s Report.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, May 1, 1928.

Oss, John. “Elsie Liu.” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940.

“Resolutions Passed at the Spring Council—January 11-20, 1938.” China Division Reporter, January 1938.

“Senior Class Graduates at P. U. College.” The Napa Daily Register (Napa, California), May 23, 1932.

“The China Division Home Commission.” China Division Reporter, May 1, 1935.

The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At San Francisco, California; NAI Number: 4498993; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85. Accessed via Ancestry.com 11 December 2024.

Untitled news item. ARH, July 13, 1933.

Untitled news item. China Division Reporter, July 1, 1933.

Notes

1. “Biographical Information Blank,” Elsie Liu, March 12, 1933, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.↩

2. John Oss, “Elsie Liu,” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940, 7.↩

3. Romanization of Chinese names vary; these are the names that present records provide. While it is extremely likely that Elsie Liu had a Chinese name in addition to her English name, no records thus far indicate what that Chinese name was.↩

4. “Biographical Information Blank,” Elsie Liu, March 12, 1933, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A. Oss gives the wrong year for her baptism in his obituary for her, conflating her baptism with her start in official denominational work. However, as Liu filled out her own biographical information blank, she can be seen as the superior source on when she was baptized.↩

5. Frederick Lee, “Editor’s Report,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, May 1, 1928, 10-11.↩

6. John Oss, “Elsie Liu,” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940, 7.↩

7. “Biographical Information Blank,” Elsie Liu, March 12, 1933, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.↩

8. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At San Francisco, California; NAI Number: 4498993; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85. Accessed via Ancestry.com 11 December 2024.↩

9. Immigration Arrival Investigation Case Files, 1884 - 1944. NAID: 296445. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787–2004, Record Group 85. National Archives at San Francisco, San Bruno, California. Accessed via Ancestry.com, 11 December 2024; “Group of Foreign Delegates,” ARH, June 12, 1930, 193.↩

10. “Senior Class Graduates at P. U. College,” The Napa Daily Register (Napa, California), May 23, 1932, 6.↩

11. John Oss, “Elsie Liu,” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940, 7.↩

12. This illness is not disclosed in any of the files pertaining to her, but she may be the “sister with tuberculosis” mentioned in M. E. Kern to A. W. Cormack, April 22, 1938, B. A. Liu Appointee File, Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives.↩

13. “Chinese Student Will Pioneer,” Pacific Union Recorder, January 14, 1932, 2.↩

14. Elsie Liu to E. Kotz, February 22, 1933, Elsie Liu Appointee File, Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives.↩

15. Untitled news item, ARH, July 13, 1933, 24.↩

16. Untitled news item, China Division Reporter, July 1, 1933, 16.↩

17. John Oss, “Elsie Liu,” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940, 7. Oss attributes her return to China solely on the basis of Liu’s poor health, but the documentary evidence indicates otherwise.↩

18. “The China Division Home Commission,” China Division Reporter, May 1, 1935, 2; “Report of the Nominating Committee—Home Commission,” China Division Reporter 9:6, 20.↩

19. B. A. Liu, “At Chiao Tou Tseng,” China Division Reporter, November 1, 1936, 6.↩

20. “Resolutions Passed at the Spring Council—January 11-20, 1938,” China Division Reporter, January 1938, 7.↩

21. John Oss, “Elsie Liu,” China Division Reporter, June 15, 1940, 7.↩