C.S. Lewis on China (Incl. a Shocking 1927 Exchange Between Lewis and His Brother in Hong Kong) [China Compass]
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4.6 • 949 Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
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Summary
After a brief intro and the first Lewis letter (1:05), I share all ten C.S. Lewis letters that I found this week related to China (and prayer) (7:24). Then with the time I have left, I go through this week’s Pray for China cities, which include a few I want to talk a bit more about (50:55).
Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. Follow me (@chinaadventures) on Twitter/X where I post new Chinese city prayer profiles every single day, with amazing pics and links to many more China resources. Feel free to email me (bfwesten at gmail dot com) and find everything else at PrayGiveGo.us!
Although I can’t attend Grace Agenda in Moscow, ID, which starts today, entitled “Life Through the Wardrobe”, I can do something unique like look at China through Lewis’s eyes letters.
C.S. Lewis mentioned China numerous times in his personal letters. Here are a few examples, followed by my own thoughts and commentary. The first one in particular stands out for how close it comes to outright racism, especially the original letter from Lewis’s brother, Warnie.
But before getting into his China letters, let me mention one other Lewis letter that I just pulled up. Just after William Borden, the millionaire missionary, died in Egypt (he was about 10 years older than Lewis), there is a letter from Lewis (home sick from school) to his father. He writes:
[In the] afternoon came the essay paper which was one after my own heart, the three alternative subjects being ‘The qualities of a successful soldier’ ‘The possibility of an universal language’, and ‘West is west and East is east, and never the twain shall meet’. I chose the last and applied it chiefly to the Indian question. It was much admired by some masters at the College.
I share this for two reasons: First, to remind myself (and anyone else interested) of where my missionary hero Borden fits in the Lewis timeline (or vice versa). Second, to note that at just fifteen years old, Lewis already held strong opinions about the far East (in this case, India).
Borden of Yale: The Millionaire Missionary
No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets
Pray for China places of the week
(Follow @chinaadventures to see which city daily)
https://open.substack.com/pub/chinacall/p/pray-for-china-aug-10-16-2025
Follow or subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.
And don’t forget: Follow @chinaadventures on X, and find everything else @ PrayGiveGo.us.
Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk to you again soon!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to |
| 0:03.0 | Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laughness Network. I am your China |
| 0:20.5 | Compass on the Fight, Laugh Feast Network. I am your China Travel Guide, well, China and Malaysia |
| 0:26.2 | Travel Guide, Missionary Bin. Follow me at China Adventures on TwitterX, where I post new Chinese |
| 0:33.3 | city prayer profiles. It's a mouthful every single day with amazing picks and links to many more |
| 0:39.9 | China resources included every single day. You can also email me BFWestin at gmail.com, |
| 0:46.5 | BFWesten at gmail.com, and find everything else we are doing at pray give go. |
| 0:53.3 | Dot U.S. I mentioned Malaysia a minute ago. That's where we are living |
| 0:56.5 | at this time. And today we're traveling. So I'm recording from a new location. Never recorded. |
| 1:02.2 | He never been here before until today up in the mountains of Malaysia, a place called the Cameron |
| 1:06.5 | Highlands, the Cameron Highlands, which I believe was founded by the British here at some point |
| 1:11.7 | back in history. It's a hill station escaping the heat of Malaysia down below up here in the |
| 1:17.4 | mountains at about 5,000 feet above sea level. So it is nice and cool outside here. Speaking of |
| 1:24.4 | the British connection is, I guess, apt for today because I'm going to be talking |
| 1:27.9 | about C.S. Lewis in a few minutes and many of his letters that he wrote in relation to China, |
| 1:34.1 | which are more than even I expected to find, I believe. To get started with that, I can't |
| 1:39.7 | attend Grace Agenda in Moscow, Idaho, which starts today. It's called Life Through the Wardrobe |
| 1:45.9 | this year. That's the subject matter this year. I've been a few times in the past few years, |
| 1:50.1 | but I can do something unique like look at China through Lewis's eyes, or eyes, not really |
| 1:58.3 | eyes, his letters. He never went to China. His brother did, lived there for years in southern China and Hong Kong in those places, |
| 2:04.6 | and he comes into some of the letters. I'm going to share with you in a minute. |
| 2:07.6 | C.S. Lewis mentioned to China numerous times in his personal letters. |
... |
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