The Independence Movement Aiming at Shaking Off Control of the Foreign Missions
The self-independent churches mainly referred to thoseestablished and run independently by Chinese clergymen， whichhad already got rid of foreign mission control in organizationand rejected their financial support. Owing to the restrictionsimposed by the specific historical conditions， the ChineseChristians had always been caught in a low status with no powerin the churches. However， in the mid-19th century， there hadbeen some examples of Chinese Christians trying to establishindependent churches.
Chen Mengnan， a scholar in Guangzhou， who had admiredChristianity for quite a long time after he made a self-study of it，had hesitated to be baptized and gain admittance to the church，because according to the rules， there must be a priest touchinghis head while praying before he could be admitted. He thoughtthat he was a noble Chinese scholar， and how could he be baptizedby a foreigner? Later， he heard there was a Chinese priest inZhaoqing. Then， he spent many days getting there to ask thisChinese priest to baptize him. After baptism， he thought since Christianity was the rule of God， the latter would be a foreignerin foreign countries but a Chinese in China. That was to say， aforeign God only belonged to foreigners and there must be aGod of the Chinese; therefore， Chinese Christians naturallyshould establish their own churches and do missionary work bythemselves. In 1872， he rented a house to set up a Church withthe help of some Christians in Guangzhou as well as overseasChinese. The next year， he established a totally Chinese runMissionary Association， which later developed with over 40affiliated churches.
Zou Liwen， a student in the Dengzhou Literature Associationof the American Presbyterian Church in Shandong Province，worked on bible translation after his graduation. In 1885， withthe assistance of over 40 of his schoolfellows， he established theShandong Chou En Preaching Association. He declared that thenew association was separated from the American PresbyterianChurch and was independent， and had its own set of rules. Therules defined that any admitted member should donate money tosponsor its missionary and educational activities. All memberspaid their tributes actively， though they had only meager income.
The famous young student priest Ding Limei and the translatorWang Xuanchen， who had independently translated the Bible，came from this association.
In the 20th century， the increasing mood of the Chinesepeople in their anti-imperialism patriotic struggles helpedpromote the development of the independent churches and pushedit from a kind of Chinese Christians‘ spontaneous act to a generalmovement. Many churches that were previously affiliated to theforeign mission systems declared independence. As a result， theindependent churches emerged almost simultaneously in southernChina， eastern China， Beijing， Tianjin and other places.
Shandong Province was the cradle of the Yi He TuanMovement. Nearly 100 Shandong Christians were killed duringthat uprising. The Christians there were shocked by the localpeople"s anti-foreign and anti-religious actions. In the late 19thcentury and early 20th century， there appeared many independentchurches in Shandong， among which the independent associationestablished by Liu Shoushan from the American PresbyterianChurch was the most famous. Christians from other churchesalso originated some independent institutions. These independentchurches operated affiliated facilities such as hospitals， schools，and old people"s homes etc. All this showed that the developmentof independent churches had achieved some scale.
North China， with Beijing and Tianjin at its core， alsobecame one of the focuses for the development of independentchurches. In 1902， Zhong Zifeng， a Christian from thePresbyterian Church in Tianjin， united some Christians from theLondon Missionary Society， Congregational churches and otherforeign missions to prepare for the establishment of anindependent church. He was obstructed by some foreign priestsand was forced to stop， but several years later his plan was raisedagain. In 1908， a Christian named Zhang Zhiting from the LondonMissionary Society appealed for the establishment of an Evangelical Church of the Independence Association. In 1910，Xu Huichuan and Zhang Boling united their colleagues indifferent churches and established the Chinese Christian Church，which later admitted more than 600 believers. In some southernareas， like Guangdong， Hong Kong and Fujian Province， therealso appeared many independent churches. In GuangdongProvince， for example， many independent churches came intobeing after 1903， such as the Guangzhou Xing Hua BaptismAssociation， Guangzhou World-Relief Baptism Association，Guangzhou Presbyterian Association， etc. At that time， even thosechurches that had not yet gained a complete independence added"China‘ or "Chinese’ ahead of their titles， just to show theirdetermination to split with the foreign missions.
In Shanghai， worried about the repeated missionaryincidents and the people"s discontent， 13 Chinese Christiansinitiated the China Christian Association in 1903， appealing fortheir countrymen to unite and conduct missionary workindependently. They also established a newspaper entitled TheChristians to publicize the meaning of this independence. Theiractions won the support of Christians from Hong Kong， Beijing，Tianjin， Ningbo and Tanyuan， who founded branch associationsin these cities and did a lot of preparatory work in terms of winning over public opinion to promote the independencemovement.