The Dong unreached peoples group

By AO Hong Kong - Rev James Chak  

A Dong celebration

The Dongs are one of the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities that live around the borderlands between Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan provinces. Most Dongs live in villages surrounded by rough mountainous terrain where there are no major cities or roads. Only narrow, unpaved mountainous paths which are often subject to flooding and landslides. They live in villages of 20-30 households located near streams and the Dong people are agricultural people. The women are adept at spinning and embroidering.

The Dong people are very superstitious and believe that all things have spirits and Gods. Ancestral altars are also found in the main room of their homes. Consequently they live fearful lives, full of terror and superstitions and they are constantly making offerings to appease the spirits of the village. For the Dong, the greater the problem means they have seriously offended a God that needs to be appeased with even more offerings and sacrifices.

One of the lavish features of the Dong village is the drum tower. The tower, a representation of worship to the God of the sky, is a place for the villages to relax, hold their religious ceremonies to appease their Gods, greet guest and also to do some recreation activities. The Drum Tower, built of wood and built without nails, is the largest multi-storey pagoda like building in the village.

Equally spectacular is the folk architecture that goes into the construction of a roof bridge dubbed as the ‘Wind and Rain’ bridge, honouring the God of Wind and Rain. The bridges are beautifully carved with patterns and designs which include mountains, rivers birds, animals and flowers.

Among the Dong there is only a handful of Christians, less than 1% of their 3 million populations.

Dong Tribe, the 10th largest Ethnic Minorities in China and the 37th most Unreached Peoples of the World with 0.01% Christian

Northern Dong dialect: 1,468,000

Mostly live around the border of Guizhou and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,680

Southern Dong dialect: 2,396,000

Spread around the borders of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,600

(Statistics taken from Joshua Project)

 Sometimes in a whole village there may be only one person who is a Christian and most of the time he lives in fear of his neighbours and will not admit he is a Christian. The work among the Dong is slow as there are many challenges, one in particular is with cults also penetrating the area, drawing away some of the believers. There is also a lot of opposition from neighbours and family.

My team visited a Dong village deep in the forest on a remote mountain. There they met Ah-Wo, one of the very few Christians among them. He became a Christian through the Christian witness of two English teachers while he was in junior high. Being the only University graduate in the village, he holds an esteemed status and is highly respected. Later, he majored in English Education in the university and after he graduated, he started a children English training centre in the county. Nevertheless, up till now, his conversion to Christianity is still a secret. He is afraid to let others know about his faith in Jesus Christ. Since the  missionary teachers have now left Ah-Wo has no one to disciple him. He feels very lost and alone.

While walking around the Dong village market, my team members noticed that there were a lot of Fir seedlings. Being curious she asked Brother Ah-Wo “Why are there so many fir seedlings for sale? He proudly told her “They are to be bought home to grow on the mountains.  According to the Dong traditions, whenever a child was born, the family would plant trees, so that when the child is grown and starts his family, he could make lumbers from these trees and build his new home.”

We were amazed at this fir tree heritage of the Dong People. To ensure the material wellbeing of their children, they start preparing lumbers for their future homes.  There is a Chinese saying, ‘it takes ten years for a tree to grow but 100 years to bring up a generation of ability.’ There is much truth to this old Chinese wisdom. Planting trees are comparatively easy, but rearing the next generation is another ball game, especially when it comes to a Christian generation.

A Fir Tree seedlings

Asian Outreach Hong Kong works with Guangxi Dong ministry and funded the first Dong church in China, in Bajiang.  Besides Bajiang AOHK also works with the Dong ministry in Sanjiang, Guizhou-Laiping County and Cheng Yang

It is a challenge working with the Dongs and although the ‘harvest’ can be plentiful the ‘labourers’ are few. Weather conditions, living conditions, language barriers and the rough terrain make ministering to the Dongs a hard task for many. 

God has trusted us with such a tremendous task of making Him known before His return. We are all called to preach the Gospel. Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” That is your call and my call too. The Asian Outreach Hong Kong team has received this mandate from the Lord to empower the Chinese churches to adopt this Least Reached Peoples of Asia. Will you join us and engage with your prayer, giving and going?

A typical Dong house in the mountains.