书城外语ChristianityinChina
48006300000011

第11章 TheDevelopmentoftheChristianChurches(1)

The years after 1900 saw the most dramatic development ofChristianity in China. The number of foreign missions andmissionaries coming to China, and the number of ChineseChristians, both enjoyed unprecedented increase.

According to statistics, there were 61 Foreign ChristianMissions in 1900, and 67 in 1906. The number sharply rose to130 in 1919, with another 36 Christian groups independentlyrunning businesses of various types. Almost all ChristianChurches had sent missionaries to China; in addition, many newlyformed churches mainly from the U.S. with a relativelyconservative theological ideology also started to preach, such asthe Seventh Day Adventists who came to China in 1901, followedsoon afterwards by the Assembly of God and the MennoniteChurch, who entered Fujian Province in 1911. The BritishPentecostal Church arrived in Yunnan Province in 1912. Besides,some Christian international organizations or industrialorganizations also sent missionaries to set up their branches in China, for example, the Salvation Army and Christian Associationof the Postal and Telecommunications Industry.

There were 1,500 foreign missionaries in China in 1900.

The number increased to 3,445 in 1905 and 6,636 in 1919, upmore than four times in only 20 years. From 1914 to 1918, duringWorld War One, few missionaries came to China, but it was inthis period that American missionaries outnumbered the Britishfor the first time, accounting for 60% of the total. Thereafter, theAmericans were dominant. By 1920, the foreign missionarieshad set up 693 centers as well as 1,037 preaching institutions forcarrying out missionary activities. Most of the missionaries stayedin the eight big cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing,Fuzhou, Changsha, Chengdu and Jinan. There were over 100missionaries in each of these cities on average, covering 26% ofthe total. About 57% of the missionaries were scattered in thecoastal provinces, compared to 17% in the inland provinces. Themissionary activities could be characterized as radiating out fromthe coastal areas to inland, and from the central cities to thesurrounding villages.

The total number of Christians in China was 80,000 in 1900,which rose to 170,000 in 1906. This was the period thatChristianity developed fastest. In 1914, the number grew to 250,000, then 360,000 in 1920. From 1900 to 1920, the totalnumber of Christians increased 4.5 times. The Chinese Christiansmainly concentrated in the coastal cities and villages, andChristians in Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong,Zhili and Fengtian provinces accounted for 71% of the total.

Notably, there was a big increase in the number of Christians inchurch schools. From 1907 to 1920, the total number increasedby 105%, while the number of students in church schoolsincreased by 322%, with teachers increasing by 374%。 Accordingto statistics from the Young Men"s Christian Association on 133 church schools in 1920, Christians amounted to 49% of thestudent body; if those who believed in Christianity but not yetadmitted were included, the figure might have exceeded 50%。