Jing Dianying (1890–1957) was born to a Confucian family in Mazhung village, Tai’an county, Shandong. He first received traditional education and became well versed in Confucian and Daoist classics. His hope to become a Confucian scholar-official ended with the abolishment of the civil service examination in 1905 and the fall of Qing Dynasty in 1911. In 1912, Jing began to study at the Cuiying Middle School of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Tai’an. Jing was baptized into the Methodist Church in 1914.

While serving as the Chinese language instructor of Nora Dillenbeck (1883…