Tongchuan Prefecture, as
Santai County was known during the imperial era, was the first place visited by
Robert John and
Mary Jane Davidson, a
missionary couple of the
Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA), after arriving in
Sichuan in 1887. They stayed in the home of a
local Muslim, while trying to rent premises to establish mission stations. Their mission efforts were hindered due to the opposition of the local magistrate. After two years of vain negotiations, they had no choice but to turn to
Chongqing, the only place which seemed open to them. In 1899,
Isaac Mason and his mission group were appointed by FFMA to live at Tongchuan, where they took up residence early in 1900. They opened a dispensary and held
meetings for worship in a very dilapidated chapel made out of unused small rooms. Mason founded the first
Friends meeting house at High Well Street (now Back North Street), which was later transferred along with the mission station to a place called Xiaowan (). In 1954, the communist authorities established the
Three-Self Patriotic Church and forced all
Christian denominations to sever ties with overseas churches. Tongchuan Meeting House has since been subjected to the control of the Three-Self Church. In 1989, the original church building was completely demolished in the name of "demolition of dilapidated buildings", and was replaced by a new building. It is now used as the headquarters of Santai Three-Self Patriotic Association. == See also ==