CHAPTER I
INTR.ODUCTION
The dissertation
protestant
missions
durj-ng the f irst
opium war (1839-18421.
resulted
trade
freely
with.
work carried,
Board of Conunissioners for
abbreviated
work.
in and
!'tere able to
This study has selected
two of
Canton and Amoy, to study the Chinese response
the treaty-ports,
to missionary
the
Amoy,
to reside
westerners
the missionaries
priviLege
engage in missionary
canton'
Treaty-ports,
for
and shanghai,
With this
d.ecade ( 1842-1852 ) af ter
The defeat of china by the British
in the opening of five
Fuchow, Ningpo,
the Chinese response to
studies
out by missionari'es
Foreign Missions
of the American
(hereafter
as the ABCFM). The ABCFMmissionaries
Canton, the only place
that
$tas accessible
before the war, from 1830-1839.
set by the Chinese authorities
worked' at
to foreign
traders
policy
Because of the excluslve
towards foreigners,
missionaries
couldnotengageinmlssionsopenly.Buttheyacquiredthe
When the doors
Christj-an literature.
langfuage and prepared
opened after
with
t842,
the chinese
restriction.
'Ehey were able to engage in nissions
at canton and Amoy without
directly
much langruage
2
history
Thisisauniquecaseforthestudyofthemissi.on
of China, for the peri.od under study, L842-L852'
firsttirnethatafreeenvironmentwasprovided'forthe
port
protestant
mi.ssion, and that the chinese in the
able to adopt christianity
without
fear
of official
persecution'
the chinese
empire beginning
But the catholic
missionaries
in such a public
christianity
did by public
preaching
with
worked' quietl'y,
century'
never propagating
manner as the Protestant
and distribution
Study of the missiorrary,labors
sixteenth
the late
of christian
of Protestant
centuries
throughout
comnunities
christian
established
missions
missions
books'
in treaty
portsduringthisperiod'isessentia].forustounderstandthe
Presentation of the chri-stian
response to the first
first
to tl€
were
cities
ThisoPPortunityhadneverbeenprovided'before.Catholic
soil for several
missions, however, had been on chinese
and had successfully
was the
message
Chinese Public'
Themethod'employedinthisstudywil]-beprimarily
historicalwithinterpretationbeingdoneinlightof
contemPorarycuLturalrsocial,andpollticalcontexts'The
sourcesfortheanalysiswil].beoriginalmaterialsfromthe
consist of missionary
AB.FM mission in canton and Amoy. These
prrbtished in jour^rals, most of
reports, and writings
letters,
themappearingintheMissi.onaryHerald',d[officia].missionary
a scholarly
journaJ. o f the ABCFM, and in The Chj'nese Repository'
journal
in B n g t i s h o f C h i n e s e s t u d , i e s p r r b l i s h e d i n C a n t o n , e d i t e d '
bytheABCFMmissi-onariesrElijahBrid'grmanand'SamuelW'
!{illiams.
atl
Presumably,thisstudyshoulddrawmoreheavilyuPon
subject
than upon western sources beeause the
chinese materials
to the gospel'
under study is the Chinese response
scarce because most
Chinese sources are relat'ively
unfortunately,
uned'ucated peoPle and' their
of the converts at this stage !'tere
prirnarily
chinese records for this Period deal
numbers ltrere few.
Thir
withthepoliticalconflictbetweenforeignersandChinese.
vJas mentioned"
issues' very little
concerning rel-igious
res
do
Prc
thi
Cat
int
Thus the
sa
tr
studycouldonlyproceedbyutilizLngmissionaryaccountsofthe
Chineseresponsestowardtheirwork.Thusthestudymore
rt
properlydealswiththemissionari.es|viewoftheChinese
responsetowardtheirmissionactivities'However'the
offered here uses chinese scholarly
interpretation
stud'ies
i'n
respecttoChinesehisLory,religionandcultureaswe].]-asthe
missionary
ol
o:
accounts'
Afterreadingthemj.ssionarysourcesd,escribingthework
inthesetwocitiesduringtheperiodunderthisstudy,the
general did' not show much
found that chj.nese aud'i.ences i'n
writer
At canton' people not only
in the new western religi.on.
interest
messagle' but they were
to the missionariesr
showed, indifference
At Amoy' though
the conuntrnity'
also opposed to their presence in
peopleshowedthemselvestobefriend'lyandwarmtowardsthe
presence, they expressed the s€rmeindifference
missionariesr
messagre that the cantonese did'
toward' the missi'onariesr
m
I
i
I
ThisdissertationfocusesonthereasonswhytheChinese
did to the missionary work'
at canton and Anoy reacted as they
Thisdissertationmaintai'nsthattheattimescontrasting
I presence in the tt'to ports
responses to the missionaries
had to
dofirst,withCantoneseprovincialismand,withtheless
provincialattitud'eofthelmoypeoPle,and.secondwiththefact
toward foreigners
that the opium war created more hostil'i'ty
at
CantonthanatAnoy.Concerningthesimilarresponseof
indifferencetotheChristianmessageatbothports,itcanbe
t,he Chinese prid,e in their own culture
said to reflect
and' the
traditionalChineseindifferenceshowntoallreligions.
InsuPportofthisthesis,thedissertationproceedswith
the following
chapter
outline'
II
deals with
of the missionaries.
of the missionariest
the religious
and' social- backgrounds
They shaped. the distinctive
message, personality
characteristics
and' approaches'
TheearlynineteenthcenturyAmericanProtestant
a strong evangelical' faj'th'
missionaries to china ltere marked by
in
they were zealous and single-minded
Through this conviction
tryingtosaveasmanyChinesesoulsaspossible.ontheother
hand,theyshowed'alesscompromisingattitudethantheJesuits
No
with chinese culture and religion'
in their confrontation
and
had to do with the religious
doubt these characteristics
culturalenvironmentsinwhichtheygrehrup.Thereligious
backgroundinwhichtheys'ereformedwasthesecondGreat
haLf of the nineteenth
first
Awakening which took place in the
5
family,
underwent their
formative
to the colleges
which they attended'.
organizations
mission
interest
In addition,
and enthusiasm.
and industri.aLization
America.
und.er the influence
of the religious
as representati-ves
of a progressive
throughout
the missionary
These
attenti'on'
the studentsr
conunercial
$tere boomS-ngon the east coast of
of commerce and industry,
saw themselves
speeial
in many ways stimulated
expansion
progress
In addition,
camPuses is given
student
influences
church and school where the missionaries
is given
attention
years.
Particular
of the Christian
movement on college
the reLigious
trace
will
This dissertation
century.
the Protestant
missionaries
faith
not only of the true
civilization
and triumphant
and the
revivals
but
which was to prevaiL
the whole world'
III
chapter
introduces
provides
This chapter
the missi-on field,
a background study of the mission
ord.er to see what the general
mi.ssionariesr
canton and Amoy'
social- and' religious
chinese audience was.
field
in
outLooll of the
their
This woulc affect
response to the missionarY work'
It
first
tells
of the social
characteristics
of the
peopleinCantonandAmoy,and'thegeneralstructureof
This knowledge is essenti-al for us
chinese society.
traditional
pecple who
to understand. how these social f,actors affected' the
responded to the missionary
are cantonese-speaking
message.
chinese ethnic
are a Minnanese(or Fukienese)-sPeaking
dialects
of the two ethnic
The people living
group.
in canton
fhe peoPle in Anoy
Chinese ethnic
groups are unintelligible
group'
to each .
The
6
other.
some social
Nevertheless,
characteristics
both are culturalLy
are also dlfferent'
homogeneous insofar
as they are
shaped bY the Chinese tradition'
Concerningthetradi.tional.socia].structure,the
d.issertationpointsoutthatthefamilyisfarmoreimportant
sociar
the traditionar
rn addition,
than the individuar.
stratificati.onisdiscussed,.Fromthiswecantellthesocial
status
of the native
converts'
In the second' pl.ace, the dissertation
outlines
aspects of
theChinesereligiousbackground.Aftergivingageneralaccount
indicates
system, the dissertation
of the chj.nese religious
some
importantfeaturesoftheChinesereligiouscharacterbecause
thischaracterisdecisivefortheChi'neseresponsetoward
ChristianitY
rt
as a religion'
ChapterlVdealswiththeimmediatecontextofthemissions.
part 1 deals with the earry stage of the ABCFM
has two parts.
missionsatCantonbetweenls30andlS3g.lfhisstageof
oPium war (1839-18421'
missionary work occurred before the
labored under great
missionaries from the ABCFMmissions
praced. upon them by the chinese
of activi-ties
restricti-ons
The
contact
They were not allowed, to have any sociaL
character of chinese
the chinese because of the exclusive
authorities.
with
foreignpolicy.Partofthj.schaptergivesacontextforthe
chapters'
d.iscussion which takes place in later
events bet$teen 1839 and'
PaxX 2 focuses on the political
LSS2whichwered'irectl.ytoaffectthemisslonafterthewar.
Lg42l i the first
Edicts
are di-scussed : the oPium war (1839-
contexts
Three political
with
treaties
western povters (1942-1845) and the
between foreigmers
and the conflict
of toleration;
woI
and
Cantonese(1842-1.852).Thesepoliticaleventsaffectedthe
assert that the
will
The d,issertation
missions immediately.
with foreigrners in canton
conflict
opium war and, the continuing
on
mission work'
made canton an unfavorable place for christi'an
made
and edicts of toleration
the other hand., the treaties
which
cities
in the five treaty-port
missionary work legitimate
were opened as a result
chapter
of the war'
v is concerned with
First,
between Lg1z-!gsz.
mel
18
rni
3)
ea
cl-€
gz
it
the ABCFMmission
in canton
gives a short
the dissertation
ht
history
in
in canton to show how the mi.ssion was conducted
between the chinese and the
the context of the ongoing conflict
L842'
even after the Treaty was signed' in Augrust of
British
which was provided
confl'icts
Against the background, of political
that
situation
the difficult
in the second. part of chapter III,
work becomes more
the missionari.es faced in their missionary
of Canton to$tard
of the residents
clear.
Ehe hostil-ity
missions'
is a major obstacle to the progress of the
foreigners
of missions
Thesecondpartdealswiththemajormissionary
activities,
such as prrblic
books, medical
work and, educational
the missionaries
examined.
d,istr"ibuti-on
In this
tr;ork.
of christj'an
section'
employed these means, what difficulties
met, and above all,
closely
preaching,
how and why the chinese
The point
is mad'e that
how
they
resPonded, will
those who came for
be
the
o
o
c
r
c
I
,rrorship services
!{ere actually
message, and indifferent
contemPtUOUS Of the christian
toward religj'ous
matters'
ChapterVlconcernstheABcFl[missioninAmoybetween
ls42.lS52.Thechaptershowshowthemissionariesconducted
1) L842-L844' 21 1845-1848'
nission work in three time periods,
toward the mission in
3) 1849-1852; and how the chinese resPonded
each of these periods.
favorable
social
The dissertation
conditions
shows how due to the
in Amoy the missionaries
were able to
gainaccesst'oallclassesofpeople,eventotheofficialc].ass'
also indi'cates
The dissertation
in the begi.nning of every year.
throughout this period'
how the aud'ience shifts
response
friendly
But the conclusion is reached that the
of the Amoy people to the missionaries
was not an accurate
j-ndex
ofthepeoplelswil].ingnesstoaccepttheirmessage.Thiswas
onlyanexpressionofthepeople'samicablecharacterand
Actuarly, most of the Arnoy
toward the foreigners.
curiosity
message although they
people did not respond to the christian
acceptedthemissionariesaspersonswarmly.Neverttreless,the
or uneducated
did gain some converts Elmongthe lower
missionaries
class.Theconversionprocessofthefewbelieverswil].be
examined'toseewhatproblemstheymetinthecontextofthe
conclud'es with
the dissertation
Finally,
society.
traditional
sunmary of the findings
reflective
contrnents'
arrd' their
interpretation'
along with
a
some