The Influence of Western Religion on China? (History, Present Situation)

The Influence of Christianity on China Culture

1, get rid of feudal bad habits

(1) Stop infanticide China has a bad habit of infanticide since ancient times, especially for baby girls. Christianity's thought about the sanctity of life and equality between men and women has greatly accelerated the change of the concept of the old society, which is rare today.

(2) Abolishing the bad habit of foot binding has existed in China for at least 1000 years. During this 1000 year, women wrapped their toes (except the big toe) with cloth, so that the four little toes on each foot bent down to resist the meat on the soles of their feet and prevent their toes from growing up. Slowly, the heel is forced down and the instep bulges, which looks like a clenched fist. Foot-binding will lead to foot meat rot, large-scale necrosis of the soles of feet, and in severe cases, toes will fall off one by one. There is only one purpose for women in China to destroy themselves so much: to please men. Nowadays, the world knows the folly of this behavior, but at that time, this cruel habit was very popular, and even those victims blindly agreed. /kloc-in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, some missionaries tried to untie the cloth on girls' feet, but when they turned around and just left, Chinese mothers were immediately entangled again. 19 12 After the founding of the Republic of China, the bad habit of foot-binding was finally abolished by the China government. Christian culture has an indelible influence on the abolition of this bad habit. As Lin Yutang said, "Christian missionaries abolished foot-binding with cross". 19 12 years later, this bad habit still lingers, at least for ten years. Gladys Aylward (see below) served as a "foot-binding inspector" when he preached in Shanxi.

(3) Running a girls' school There is an old saying in China: "A woman without talent is virtuous", so parents rarely agree that girls can read and write. This bad habit led the intelligent and kind women in China to live a life of illiteracy and low status in the long feudal society. In 1930s, the wife of German missionary Guo took in several girls from poor families in Macao and started a women's reading class. It is the first time for women in China to receive school education, which has broken through the imprisonment that men are superior to women for thousands of years. Since then, with the increase of missionaries and their constant preaching in China, more and more girls have received enlightenment education, and the cultural quality of China people has been greatly improved. As Liang Qichao said, "The more prosperous girls' schools are, the stronger the country will be",

At the beginning of the 20th century, Christian missionaries opened the first women's higher education institution in the history of China-Beijing North China Women's United University in China. Since then, missionaries have also opened two famous women's colleges in the south, namely South China Women's College of Arts and Sciences and Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences. The most famous is Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences (formerly known as Jinling Women's University), which was founded in 19 13 by American Church, American-Israeli Aesthetic Society, Supervisory Committee, American Baptist Church and Christian Church. The university has set up 16 fourth-grade subjects, including Chinese, English, history, society, music, physical education, chemistry, biology, housekeeping, medicine and other majors, which enjoy a high reputation at home and abroad. From 19 19 to 195 1, the number of graduates is 999.

(4) Prohibiting arranged marriages The bad habit of arranged marriages prevailed in ancient China. As the saying goes, "marry a chicken with a chicken, and marry a dog with a dog." Girls must obey "parents' orders" and "matchmaker's words". Women have no choice in marriage, and they are completely victims of feudal bad habits. With the spread of Christian equality between men and women and monogamy culture, the bad habit of arranged marriage has been swept into the garbage dump of history. Nowadays, arranged marriage has been banned by China Marriage Law.

5. Breaking idolatry idolatry was quite popular in ancient China. Due to the low level of education, limited cognitive ability and the ignorant policy of the feudal ruling class, people had to pin their hopes on the idols of clay sculpture and wood carving. After Christianity was introduced into China, its doctrine of prohibiting idolatry had a great conflict with the traditional religious ceremonies such as ancestor worship and Confucius worship in China, and was even banned. But Christian culture is not only a religious culture, it goes hand in hand with the spread of modern civilization. With the popularization of science and culture, the enlightenment of people's wisdom, and the spread of democracy and republicanism in China, it is also accepted to get rid of idolatry in a certain range. Especially some great historical figures (such as Sun Yat-sen and Hong Xiuquan). ) openly oppose idolatry, so that the idea of breaking idolatry is accepted by people in the mainstream consciousness field.

(6) Before the abolition of polygamy in the Republic of China, polygamy had been practiced in China for thousands of years. Under the influence of the Christian concept of monogamous marriage and the idea of equality between men and women, women in China finally got rid of the shackles of polygamy and started a monogamous marriage model. After the founding of the Republic of China, the government of the Republic of China promulgated the Civil Law in 1930, formally establishing monogamy.

In addition to the feudal vices mentioned above, other vices such as fortune telling, burning paper and bullying orphans and widows have also been greatly improved under the influence of Christianity.

2. Establish a scientific and democratic concept.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, China was still asleep in China's dream of a great country, and modern science was undoubtedly the first brick to awaken China, a sleeping lion. Christian missionaries brought modern scientific and cultural knowledge to China and introduced and disseminated astronomy, mathematics, physics, philosophy and history in detail.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, western missionaries prepared a beautiful gift-modern science, which opened the door to China. Matteo Ricci, as the first representative of western learning in China, formally introduced a lot of western scientific and cultural knowledge to China. 160 1 year, he presented Ming Shenzong with bells, Ya Qin, maps of the world and other gifts, and obtained permanent residency in Beijing. Since then, he has written many books introducing western knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, geography, physics and chemistry, such as translating Euclid's Elements of Geometry, Meaning of Measurement and Meaning of Pythagoras in cooperation with China, Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao. He also wrote The Theory of Making Friends, which introduced the western philosophers Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca and Augustine. He also produced books such as The Western Classics, The Miracle of Western Languages, and Western Qin Quyi to impart other western knowledge.

Followed by Tang Ruowang and ferdinand verbiest, they made a lot of introductions in astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and medicine. For example, Tang Ruowang introduced Ptolemy's famous astronomical works, Copernicus's celestial motion theory, Galileo's new discoveries, etc. He compiled 100 volume "Western New Law Calendar", which is also the basis for China to compile the lunar calendar until today. Ferdinand Ferdinand verbiest has compiled several geographical works and drawn several maps, such as The Story of the Western Regions, The Theory of Kun Yu Tu and The Collection of Kun Yu Wai, which became the symbol of the development of geography and cartography in China in the17th century. Ferdinand Ferdinand verbiest introduced the basic knowledge of mechanics in his two books Yi Xiangzhi and Poor Theory, including gravity, weight, center of gravity, specific gravity, buoyancy, material strength, simple pendulum and free fall. At the same time, the knowledge of refraction and dispersion of light is also introduced. Today, the instruments he designed and supervised are also on display at the Beijing Ancient Observatory.

In A.D. 1807, Ma Lixun, the first Protestant missionary, came to China. In order to facilitate the spread of western science and culture, he compiled the first Chinese-English dictionary, founded the first Chinese monthly magazine, opened the first Christian school, Huaying Academy, and co-founded Ophthalmology and Medicine in Macau. 1863, American missionary Ding Weiliang began to translate American Wheaton's Law of Nations, which made China realize the importance of international law for the first time. The book was played by Prince Gong? The approval of the people is printed and published by the Prime Minister's Office.

In the meantime, play? The Westernization School, headed by Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, saw that western science was indeed advanced, recognized the historical development trend, and founded modern enterprises such as Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. The General Administration has a translation hall and a technical school to introduce western knowledge and cultivate language and scientific and technological talents. And hired many foreign talents for translation and teaching, the most famous of which is John Flair, a British missionary (see below). During the period of 1868-1907, there were 160 kinds of books translated by the General Administration. In addition to military science and technology, there are books on geography, economy, politics and history. The quality of books translated by the General Administration is considered to be several decades higher than that of other translated books in the late Qing Dynasty. Absorbing western scientific and cultural knowledge had a great influence on intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty.

While popularizing western scientific and cultural knowledge, missionaries also brought the flavor of western democratic politics to China. They preached the gospel of Christ, emphasized the equal relationship between people, enlightened the concept of democratic politics, and carried out education and charity, all of which brought the people of China, who had been closed for a long time, the ideal and determination to pursue freedom and happiness. Influenced by the Christian China Church's book "The Book of Persuasion", Hong Xiuquan, who failed in the imperial examination, joined the God Meeting founded by Zhu Jiuchou, a descendant of the Ming Dynasty. 1850, Hong Xiuquan launched an uprising in Jintian, Guangxi, and the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement pushed the terminally ill Qing Dynasty to the brink of collapse. Seeing that the Qing government had no choice, British missionary timothy richard and others hoped that China would follow the example of Britain and carry out top-down reforms. He presided over the translation of some famous works, which had a great influence on China society. The main translations are: Forty-five Years of China, Outline of New Learning in Seven Countries, Great Powers on Five Continents, One Hundred Years Awakening, Biography of Eight Emperors in Europe, A New History of Taixi, New Deal, etc. Among them, The Outline of the New History of Taixi introduced the history of European and American reforms in the19th century, which had a great influence after its publication. It was one of the main reference books of Emperor Guangxu during the Reform Movement of 1898.

After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, Sun Yat-sen and Song, who were deeply influenced by Christian culture, led the bourgeois revolution in modern China. After more than ten years of hard struggle, they finally overthrew the feudal monarchy and established the first democratic republic in the history of China.

Since then, the slogan of the New Culture Movement in China is democracy and science (also called "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sai"), and its roots can be traced back to the ideological and cultural enlightenment of Christian missionaries.

3. Cultivate modern talents

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Christian missionaries began to train scientific and technological talents for China, starting with Matteo Ricci's training of Xu Guangqi. In the early Qing Dynasty, a group of China scientific and technological talents trained by Tang Ruowang and others were killed in Daxing "prison" in Ao Bai.

Ma Lixun founded Huaying College in Macau on 18 18. This school is the first China school run by missionaries in modern times. It is taught in Chinese and English, and its courses include theology, mathematics, history and geography. 1in April, 847, three senior students of Ma Lixun school, Yung Wing, Huang Kuan and Huang Sheng, were brought to the United States by American missionary Brown. They were the earliest international students in China in modern times. Huang Kuan 1857 graduated and returned to China, becoming the first western doctor in China to receive formal training from a medical university. Hong Rong was admitted to Yale University in the United States and graduated from 1854. Before returning to China, he had an education plan and a desire to send students to study in the United States. A few years later, his educational plan to send young children to study in the United States was implemented. From 1872 to 1875, the Qing government sent four groups of 120 children aged from 12 to 15 to study in the United States, led by Hong Rong. Undoubtedly, the education of missionaries had a far-reaching impact on Hong Rong, which was continued by Hong Rong's future educational activities. The earliest female student studying abroad in China in modern times was an orphan named Jin Yamei, who was led and funded by an American missionary. She graduated from Women's Medical University affiliated to new york Hospital with a score of 1885, becoming the first university graduate in the field of modern women in China.

1862, in order to train diplomats, the Qing government set up the Shi Jing Wentong Pavilion, starting with the British Pavilion and adding the French Pavilion and the Russian Pavilion the following year. Later, German and Japanese were added. All the staff of the library employ foreigners, most of whom are missionaries. 1867 Add Astronomical Arithmetic Museum. 1869, Ding Weiliang, an American missionary, was appointed head teacher, in charge of school affairs for nearly 30 years. Shi Jing Wentong Museum has a unified curriculum and management regulations, and basically does not learn traditional subjects such as "Four Books and Five Classics". It is regarded as the originator of modern schools in China. From 65438 to 0898, Ding Weiliang served as the chief teacher of Shi Jing University, the first modern university in China.

190 1 gengzi incident, timothy richard requested governments of all countries to take out part of China reparations and set up universities in Shanxi and other places. He believes that one of the fundamental reasons for the Gengzi incident is that education is not universal. If education is universal, such xenophobic incidents can be reduced. 1902, the Qing government agreed to open Shanxi University Hall.

1906 On March 6th, American missionary Ming Enpu met with President Roosevelt. He suggested that boxer indemnity, a part of the Qing government in China, should be returned to establish and subsidize schools in China. Under the impetus of Ming Enpu and others, President Roosevelt submitted a consultation document to Congress, pointing out: "China should help China to carry out education with its strength, so that this huge population can gradually get along with the modern situation. The aid method should attract students to the United States, enter universities and other institutions of higher learning in China, and make William. It worked. I believe that the education sector in China will be able to reflect this good will and work together to contribute to the success of the country. " On July 1908 and 1 1, the U.S. government decided to return half of the income paid to boxer indemnity in the United States, totaling more than11600,000 dollars, to China for sending overseas students to the United States. Tsinghua Preparatory School for Studying in the United States (predecessor of Tsinghua University) was established by the Qing government in 19 1 1. From its founding to the end of 1929, the school sent 1279 students to study in the United States.

For hundreds of years, foreign missionaries have made great contributions to the cultivation of modern talents in China. They crossed the ocean, left their homes, lived in the wild, worked hard and even risked being beheaded. Their behavior and spirit are admirable, which truly embodies the spirit of universal love of Christ. Nowadays people may not know or understand their selfless behavior, or always try to attach some selfish ideas to them because they don't understand what the Christian spirit is. China can move from closed backwardness to civilization, the Chinese nation can be revived, and the contribution of Christian missionaries is indelible.

(3) Schools, hospitals and charities founded by Christianity in China.

1, school

In the early days of Christian missionaries' education in China, the missionary schools were mainly concentrated in five open trading ports and Hong Kong and Macao, usually foreign schools attached to the mission, and all of them were primary schools. By about 1875, there were about 350 schools run by Christian missionaries with 6000 students. Primary schools are still the main ones, but missionary middle schools are beginning to appear. By 1899, there were about 1766 missionary schools, and the number of students increased to more than 30,000. 1882, the American Presbyterian Church opened the first Christian university in China, the Dengzhou Literature Museum. /kloc-There were five Christian universities in China in the 20th century. In addition to Dengzhou Wenhui Hall, the American Methodist Church opened Wen Hui College in Beijing at 65438-0888. 1889, the American congregation established Tongzhou North China Union Medical College; 1890, the Anglican Church opened a university course at St. John's College in Shanghai; 1893 American Presbyterian Church established Hangzhou Presbyterian College in Hangzhou.

After the Gengzi Incident, a number of new institutions of higher learning rose rapidly in Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan. 190 1 year, the American Methodist Church opened Soochow University in Suzhou. 1905, Southern Baptist Church, two American missions in China, cooperated with American Baptist Church to establish Baptist University in Shanghai. 1909 officially opened. 1929 Baptist University was renamed Hujiang University. American Methodist Church, North Presbyterian Church and Christian Church founded Nanjing Jinling University on 19 10. 19 15 In Fuzhou, Fujian Christian University was jointly established by the American Church, the Methodist Church, the Reformed Church and the six Christian churches of the English Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Church. 19 16 American Presbyterian Church established Lingnan University in Guangzhou after years of practice and preparation. In Central China, the American Anglican Church, the Reformed Church, the London Church and the Methodist Church established Huazhong University in Wuchang on 1924 and 19 10 respectively. In southwest China, four Christian churches, namely, the American-Israeli Church, the Baptist Church, the Canadian Methodist Church and the English Church, jointly established West China United University in Chengdu. 19 19 yenching university was founded by four American and British churches (now in Peking University, the first president was Si Tuleideng, a Presbyterian missionary in the United States). To 19 10, the number of missionary universities is1000; By 1920, the number of students in missionary universities reached 1600, and that in missionary universities reached 16.

The emergence of Christian universities has also triggered the emergence and development of government-run and private higher education in China. Some government-run and private universities in China began to be established, such as Beiyang University and Shi Jing University Hall. The emergence of missionary universities has shortened the gap between China's higher education and western higher education for hundreds of years, which is worth remembering forever.

2. Hospital

Since Ma Lixun, Christian churches have always adopted medical missionaries. In addition to providing free medical advice and medicines to the poor, they also set up hospitals or clinics in various missionary positions, among which many skilled missionary doctors. 1835165438+1October 4th, Guangzhou Eye Hospital was opened, which can be regarded as the starting point of Christian medical services in China. The Health Bureau has been treating people in Guangzhou and its nearby areas for free, which has won the good impression of China people on Christianity. 1859 65438+ 10, American missionary John Jia founded the hospital in Guangzhou and served as the dean for 44 years. He once claimed: "For Christ's sake, love the sick as a brother." He worked tirelessly to treat people and spread western medicine. In his life, he treated 740,000 patients, performed 49,000 operations, trained 0/50 western doctors, and compiled 34 books on western medicine, making outstanding contributions to the Christian medical cause in China. Pastor Hillary Clinton 1883 came to Hong Kong and often preached in villages in Enping, Kaiping, Xinning and Yangjiang, Guangdong. He "studied medicine, and every time he went to the countryside, he had to prepare medicines to heal the wounded and rescue the dying, take medicine and preach, and do his best." Missionary hospitals generally have higher-level doctors, better equipment, medicines and nursing conditions, which are favored by wealthy residents in China. The hospital adopts the method of making up losses with profits, charging high fees for the rich, but reducing medical expenses for poor believers in order to gain their goodwill and facilitate missionary work. 1903 The "Ji Bo Hospital" founded by Canadian missionaries in Jixian County, Henan Province was completed. In order to expand the influence, the hospital announced "free medical care for poor patients", and the number of patients who came to see a doctor gradually increased. The new hospital was completed on 1920, and Ji Bo Hospital was moved here and renamed Huimin Hospital. During 1920, a serious drought occurred in Zhangde. After the disaster, many people were poor and ill. Guangsheng Hospital, run by the Canadian Mission, reduces or waives charges for the masses, treats diseases, gives preferential treatment to pregnant women, and sets up bathhouses for women to bathe. 1938, Guangsheng Hospital treated 1 13 16 person-times, of which 4,776 were newly diagnosed and 2,645 were treated free of charge. By the end of 1937, there were 254 missionary hospitals in China, including Zhongshan Medical College of Sun Yat-sen University (namely, the Ophthalmology Medical Bureau founded by American missionary peter parker in 1835), wuhan union hospital (traced back to "Renji Hospital" founded by British missionary Yang Yu 1866 in Hankou) and Union Medical College Hospital affiliated to Fujian Medical University (formerly known as Union Medical College Hospital)

The role and influence of medical services organized by Christianity in China has actually gone beyond the scope of religion and treatment, which is of positive significance to the spread and development of western medicine in China, the popularization of medical and health knowledge and the improvement of social customs.

Step 3 be generous

In China, early Christianity established various institutions to help the disadvantaged groups, such as orphanages, colleges for the blind and dumb, and nursing homes. Due to historical reasons, the specific figures can no longer be verified, and some of them are scattered in celebrity biographies. In the early days of Christianity, many churches were established in China. Because of the doctrine of opposing abandoned babies and cherishing life, many churches have nurseries for adopting abandoned babies. For example, in 1877, Timothy Richard built a church and Jesus Hospital in Taiyuan, and also set up a primary school and an orphanage. 1896, the Anglo-American Society established the first nursery in Chengdu Sisheng Temple in memory of Fu, a female doctor. 19 10, Ms. Xia Ling, an American missionary, founded the Fujian Christian orphanage in Lingxiali, Fuzhou. Some missionaries set up schools for the blind and dumb, such as John Flair's Shanghai School for the Blind.

In addition to the scattered charitable acts of Christian missionaries, in the event of major natural disasters, Christian missionary societies joined forces, with missionaries as the main body, to jointly engage in activities such as raising donations, distributing relief funds and food, and collecting and publicizing the situation in disaster areas. For example, from 1876 to 1879, severe droughts occurred in Shandong, Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces in North China, and the Catholic Mission sent 60 or 70 missionaries to the disaster-stricken areas, while the Christian Mission sent more than 30 missionaries to the disaster-stricken areas. 1878 65438+1On October 26th, missionaries, diplomats and foreign businessmen jointly formed the "China Disaster Relief Fund Committee", headquartered in Shanghai. After entering the 20th century, missionaries and other foreigners in China set up relief groups in Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Kaifeng, Taiyuan, Hankou and Shanghai. From 65438 to 0920, these groups jointly decided to set up a national international relief group, and formally formed the "China Huayang Relief Society".

Christian missionaries' charity in China provided material and spiritual help to the people of China who suffered from natural and man-made disasters, and also provided a good reference and inspiration for local charity in China.