书城外语ChristianityinChina
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第7章 ResistanceoftheChinese......(1)

Resistance of the Chinese People-MissionaryCases Occurred Repeatedly From the , with a series of unequal treaties that defined"tolerance in treating missionaries‘, the Christian churches hadentered China with a legal identity. In the next 30 to 40 years,their activities marched into a new phase of development.

However, contrary to what the missionaries had expected, thespread and development of Christianity in China still met withall kinds of misunderstandings, obstructions and resistance fromthe Chinese people.

The missionaries entered China along with the colonialistpowers. The privileges laid down by the unequal treaties oftenled to their boldness, fearlessness and violence towards theChinese people, which sparked the discontent and resistance fromrural farmers and urban civilians, and sometimes even noblesand low-ranking officials. Since the , anti-Christianmissionary cases had occurred all over the country. The followingare some of these cases:Qingpu Missionary CaseThis was the first missionary case to occur since Christianitywas introduced into China. In March 1843, three missionariesfrom the London Missionary Society in Shanghai violated thelocal regulations by distributing gospel tracts in Qingpu County,Jiangsu Province. Tens of thousands of local people and sailorscrowded to watch the foreigners whom they had never seenbefore. The missionaries wielded sticks, hitting and injuring somepeople, which aroused the outrage of the crowd and led to aconflict. The county governor hurried to escort the missionariesback to Shanghai. The Shanghai governor promised to arrest the"criminals‘, however, the British consul in Shanghai took it as anexcuse to repudiate tariffs, blockade the local sailors‘ grain ships,and even deploy troops to intimidate the governor of Liangjiang(an upper provincial level official to whom the aforementionedtwo governors were responsible at that time) based in Nanjing.

As a result, the two local governors were discharged andprosecuted, 10 villagers were punished, and the missionaries got300 taels of silver for compensation.

Taiwan Fengshan Missionary CaseIn September 1868, some villagers in Fengshan (Taiwan Province) were bullied by a Christian named Zhuang Qingfeng,resulting in local people burning several local churches anddriving out the British missionaries. The British merchants whomonopolized the camphor industry in Taiwan soon came to rescuewith weapons. The British government, on the pretext ofprotecting the merchants, even sent warships to Taiwan andbombarded Anping County, killing the general of the localgarrison, burning the barracks and arsenal. The Governor ofMinzhe (an upper provincial level official who was in charge ofthe Taiwan affairs at that time) was forced to negotiate.

Consequently, he dismissed some local officials and paidindemnities to the British. Besides, the Qing government wascompelled to give up the franchise of camphor previouslybelonging to a state-owned factory in Taiwan.

Yangzhou Missionary CaseRelying on the British colonist forces, James Hudson Taylor,a missionary from the Chinese Home Missionary Society,coercively rented a civilian house for preaching in Yangzhou,Jiangsu Province in August 1868, and was vehemently opposedby the local people who even smashed up his residence, forcinghim to run away to Zhejiang Province with his family. Being informed of what had happened, the British consul in Shanghaipromptly went directly to Nanjing with a warship and put pressureon Zeng Guofan, Governor of Liangjiang. Consequently, theGovernor of Yangzhou was dismissed and reparations were paidto the church. Zeng Guofan even put up an announcement infront of the church for its protection. However, when news ofthis case reached to Britain, it stirred up the British criticism ofTaylor, saying he had brought the trouble on himself and causedwar. Some even requested that all British missionaries in Chinashould be withdrawn, which reflected the fact that the Britishpeople were also against missionary wrongdoing in China.

Despite this frustration, Taylor sent people back to Yangzhou toset up a base only one year later.

Chongqing Missionary CaseThe missionary case caused by the British and Americanwho used coercion to build churches in Chongqing in July 1886,was actually the second incident following one by the Catholics23 years before. The American missionaries not only builtWestern style houses in important locations by force, but alsohired gangsters to oppress the dissatisfied local people, whichcaused outrage. As a result, people stopped working, businessmenceased doing business, and examinees refused to take their exams.

Over 3,000 people burned three houses belonging to themissionaries, as well as 250 houses of Christian believers. Theythen went on to destroy the British consulate when supporters ofthe churches fired on them and killed some people. The result ofthis case was the British and U.S. consuls asking the Qinggovernment for compensation of 41.57 thousand taels of silverand two Chinese were executed.

Caozhou Missionary Case (or Juye Missionary Case)