Chinese Saint
🇨🇳Pastor Xi
1836–1896 · Chinese · Evangelist, Opium Refuge Founder & Confucian Scholar
“I was a slave to opium; now I am a servant of Christ, who alone could set me free.”
Biography
Xi Shengmo, also known as Pastor Xi or Hsi Shengmo, was born in 1836 in Shanxi Province into a scholarly Confucian family. He earned the title of licentiate in the Confucian examination system, a mark of significant academic achievement. Addicted to opium for years, he came to faith in Christ through the ministry of missionary David Hill around 1879. His conversion was so dramatic and his deliverance from opium so complete that he took the name Xi Shengmo, meaning 'Overcomer of Demons.' Recognizing that opium addiction was destroying millions of his countrymen, he established a network of opium refuges—rehabilitation centers where addicts could receive Christian care, prayer, and deliverance from addiction. At the height of his ministry he operated over forty such refuges across Shanxi and neighboring provinces. Xi was a gifted hymn-writer, composing over fifty hymns in Chinese literary style, many of which became widely sung. He was also a capable preacher and church planter. He refused financial support from missionaries, insisting that his work be self-supporting. A man of deep prayer and spiritual authority, he was known to cast out demons and pray for miraculous healing. He died in 1896, leaving behind a transformed network of churches and an enduring model of contextual Chinese Christian ministry.
Key Works
Xi Shengmo's most tangible legacy was his network of opium rehabilitation refuges, which represented one of the first systematic Christian responses to addiction in China. He composed over fifty Chinese hymns blending biblical truth with classical Chinese literary forms, several of which remain in use. His life was extensively documented by missionary Geraldine Taylor in the biography Pastor Hsi: Confucian Scholar and Christian, which became a classic missionary biography and inspired generations of workers in China.
Legacy
Pastor Xi demonstrated that the Gospel could penetrate the deepest bondage and transform a life from addiction to spiritual authority. His model of self-supporting, contextually Chinese Christian ministry anticipated the principles of indigenization that would later shape missionary strategy worldwide. His opium refuges combined social service with spiritual transformation in a holistic ministry model. He remains an inspiration for ministry to those trapped in addiction and for indigenous church development in China.