Search Results (16)

Scholars have acknowledged that much of the early support for the anti-Christian movement in Shanghai and Beijing in 1922 came from radical individuals and organizations with ties to the Communists, anarchists, and the Guomindang left, but little attention has been given to the overlapping linkages between the Soviet-supported radical activists and the anti-Christian student groups in the Chinese historiography. This article fills this gap in the literature by highlighting the Communist-dominated Socialist Youth League in Shanghai as a key initiating force in managing the anti-Christian movement of early 1922. It shows how the Communists blended their anti-religious and anti-imperialist discourses with Leninist–Marxist ideology to win the hearts and minds of the Chinese youth. Full article

This article identifies and analyzes four passages in the ancient Chinese Christian manuscript Yishen Lun (YSL) that exhibit distinct Jewish characteristics. The phrase “yizhong zuo shenghua” (lines 356–358) mirrors the Book of Acts’ theme of “sanctification of the Gentiles,” rooted in the Jewish dichotomous worldview, placing Jews, or Shihu Ren, at the center. The author’s use of this phrase distinguishes him from yizhong ren (Gentiles) and aligns him with Shihu Ren. In lines 256–263, YSL directly attributes messianic declarations to Jesus, a central issue in Jewish accusations of false Messiahship. In contrast, the Gospel accounts avoid making such direct accusations, as Jesus did not openly declare himself the Messiah. This distinction highlights YSL’s closer alignment with Jewish polemical traditions and legal concerns. Additionally, the use of “City of Judah” in lines 345–347 as an archaic designation for Jerusalem, predominantly found in Jewish traditions, contrasts with the more common “City of David” in other biblical texts. A philological analysis of lines 279–281 reveals imagery analogous to the synagogue parochet covering the Ark of the Scrolls. These four Jewish elements complement the one analyzed in the author’s earlier 2024 article, “The Parable of Wise and Foolish Builders in Yishen Lun and Rabbinic Literature.” That study concludes that the parable of wise and foolish builders in lines 146–156 of YSL aligns more closely with Jewish rabbinic traditions than the Gospel version. These new hermeneutical insights should provide interesting and fresh data for ongoing research into YSL. Full article

This paper aims to uncover a hidden history of Cantonese Christian literature. Written Cantonese has been present since the late Ming dynasty in parallel to the emergence of a distinct Cantonese identity. Western missionaries, for the sake of evangelism, facilitated the development of written Cantonese in South China since the mid-nineteenth century. At that time, missionaries put a lot of effort into translating religious leaflets and booklets, the Bible, the book of prayers, and even Cantonese–English dictionaries. These works contributed to standardizing written Cantonese and indirectly helped to develop Cantonese identity. I will critically examine how Cantonese Christian literature declined for the sake of nationalism, as the first publication of Heheben 和合本 (Mandarin Union Version) in Protestant Christianity in 1919 represented the unification of the Church by using written Mandarin. After elaborating on the unintentional alliance of missionaries with Cantonese in the nineteenth century, in conclusion, I will make a brief comparison of Hong Kong Church in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which is inactive in the continuous written Cantonese movement in Hong Kong. Full article

Robert Morrison 馬禮遜, the first Protestant missionary to China, came to Guangdong as an employee of the East India Company and with the support of the London Missionary Society in 1807. Amongst his path-breaking translation work, he published the first Chinese Bible (Shen Tian Shengshu 神天聖書) in 1823. As many foreigners in Guangdong could not speak Cantonese, Morrison compiled a three-volume Cantonese learning aid, A Vocabulary of the Canton Dialect (1828), using specifically Cantonese Chinese characters and his Cantonese romanization system. In consequence, missionaries translated Christian literature and the Bible into Cantonese, for they realized that proficiency in Cantonese was essential for proselytization among ordinary people. Over the past twenty years, we have collected and identified around 260 Cantonese works written and translated by Western Protestant missionaries, and these Cantonese writings can be categorized as follows: 1. dictionaries; 2. textbooks; 3. Christian literature; 4. Bibles; and 5. miscellanea. In the study of the Western Protestant missions, their linguistic contribution is relatively under-represented. Through analyzing the phonological, lexical, and grammatical features of early Cantonese expressions in these selected missionary works, we strive to highlight the missionaries’ contributions to the diachronic study of the Cantonese language in modern southern China. Full article

The spread of Christianity to China initiated a process of indigenization, particularly evident in Christian art. This study explores the indigenization of early 20th-century Chinese Christian paintings through literature reviews, case studies, and comparative research. The analysis covers four forms of primary research. First, it explores the indigenization of Christian concepts, tracing their development from the introduction of Nestorian Christianity in the Tang dynasty through the establishment of Fu Jen Catholic University in the Republican era. Matteo Ricci’s implementation of the “Ricci Rule” during the late Ming dynasty, subsequently expanded by Celso Costantini, played a crucial role in the indigenous adaptation of Christian painting in China. The second facet focuses on the Beijing Catholic School of Painting, led by Chen Yuandu, a group that innovated Chinese Christian art by integrating local artistic expressions with traditional depictions of saints, assimilating symbols from Chinese literati painting, and preserving time-honored Chinese painting techniques. The third facet examines the strategy behind Christian painting methods. Fourth, this study discusses how the Fu Jen School faced varied reception and evaluations from domestic and international audiences under the complex social currents of the Republic of China and how the artists reflected the national spirit and artistic responsibility in their narrative paintings. Fundamentally, the practice of Christian painting at the early 20th-century Catholic School is not only an innovative artistic endeavor but also a significant case of cultural exchange between East and West and religious localization. Full article

Situated in the unique historical context of Hong Kong—a contact zone between East and West—this study explores how Christianity’s introduction through British colonialism and missionary efforts has intertwined with and influenced Chinese cultural traditions. By examining selected works of Xu Dishan and Chen Zanyi, this study reveals the dynamic negotiations of identity and values between these two cultural and religious traditions. These literary works not only depict the complexities of cultural hybridity but also provide insights into the evolving nature of cultural identity in Hong Kong, illustrating how global religions and local traditions can merge and transform each other. This study contributes to understanding the intricate dance of religious exchange, conflict, and compromise in Hong Kong’s cross-culture setting, suggesting that such literary explorations can bridge Christianity with the socio-economic, cultural, and historical fabric of Chinese society. Full article

The Seven Victories is one of the most influential works in Catholic literature from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The seven victories spiritual cultivation contained therein is the result of the localization of the practice of the Christian faith in the West. It is still a living tradition in the Christian religion and even in Western culture. Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, The Seven Victories has aroused significant repercussions in the ecclesiastical and academic worlds. Some scholars converted to Catholicism because of The Seven Victories and wrote preambles in response to it; some scholars wrote essays criticizing the ethical ideas of The Seven Victories; and some scholars were inspired by The Seven Victories to write about Confucian ideas of sin, the work of reform, and the liturgy of repentance. Together, these constitute the history of the reception of The Seven Victories in China. Through Confucian culture integration, Chinese Christian scholars have developed a localized interpretation of the seven victories spiritual cultivation, resulting in a localized Chinese spiritual cultivation of sin. Full article

In this paper, the modification methods of the Chinese Christian painting created by the missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty (1573–1644) were analyzed with the Chinese Catholic studies of the “Song nianzhu guicheng” and the “Tianzhu Jiangsheng Chuxiang Jingjie”. After carefully studying the differences between the Chinese Christian painting and the original European version, the study shows that these Chinese Christian paintings were integrated with the Chinese literati paintings’ elements and literati symbols, which include the “Yudiancun” (raindrop texture stroke), “Pimacun” (hemp-fiber texture stroke), “landscape screen” (painted screens with natural landscapes), and the mark of Chinese famous literati such as Dong Qichang. These adjustments conducted by missionaries aimed to make religious paintings more in line with literati aesthetics, which could build connections between the missionaries and the literati community for proselytization. However, the missionaries neglected that the literati community certainly would not sacrifice the existing social order and the vested interest brought by the current Confucian culture to support new ideas of “liberty” and “equality” in the Catholic doctrine, which caused a huge setback in the missionary work since the Nanjing Teaching Case in 1616. This research makes significant contributions to the understanding of cultural exchanges in the 17th century through a detailed exploration of the adjustments made by missionaries in the visual representations within Chinese Catholic literature. Full article

The current literature on Christian mission universities in Modern China (1840–1949) pays specific attention to their efforts to adapt to the intellectual and political context of their time. Through extensive archival works, we contribute to this research orientation by documenting the academic activities of the first Catholic university in China, Université l’Aurore (1903–1952) in Shanghai. Established and managed by the French Jesuits, Université l’Aurore exemplified the mission’s tradition of evangelization through science education. Its pedagogical arrangements, selection of teachers, and moral education showed high levels of professionalism and almost no religious influence. The Jesuits, who took as their motto, “to find God in all things”, believed that their scientific excellence could indirectly promote the Catholic spirit among future Chinese intellectuals and elites. Thanks to their strategy of indirect evangelization, not only did Université l’Aurore survive in a period when the government imposed draconic restrictions on mission entities in the name of “educational sovereignty”, it also contributed to the modernization of China’s education and society. Full article

In the history of Chinese Bible translation, the Psalms have been a privileged site for the encounter between biblical thinking, poetics, and Chinese classical literature. This encounter was initiated by the translators of the Delegates’ Version, followed by John Chalmers, and outstandingly represented in particular by John C. H. Wu吳經熊. In his version of the Psalms, underpinned by his cultural stance of “beyond East and West”, Wu borrows numerous Chinese idioms and popular verses and transposes Chinese traditions from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. Specifically, Wu’s rendition inaugurates an intertextual dialogue between the Psalms and Shijing, involving the disciplines of both comparative literature and comparative scripture at the same time. By adapting various Chinese classical poetry styles for his version of the Psalms, Wu transforms their spiritual traditions and broadens their representation spaces by injecting a Judeo-Christian spirit. Relocating the biblical texts among multifarious Chinese literary traditions, Wu’s translation of the Psalms achieves a deep interaction between the Bible and Chinese culture, provokes questions, and provides insights regarding the relation between biblical theology and intercultural poetics. Full article

The sweeping spread of Christianity in China since the late Qing Dynasty contributed to the construction of modern Chinese literature. Among scholars, this view is widely recognized. However, how the Bible as literature crossed the linguistic boundary and specifically influenced modern Chinese literature, especially the study of Chinese vernacular poetry, has not been thoroughly researched. Yenching University (1919–1952), a legendary ecclesiastical university in Peking, is famous for producing many famous modern writers. In the 1920s, at this university, the Bible deeply inspired and influenced several key writers in the history of modern Chinese literature and culture. This paper will review the poetry of these writers and analyze the following three questions: (1) How did biblical poetry take root in a historically non-Biblical cultural context through Christian higher education? (2) How was biblical poetry inherited and recreated in early twentieth century China in the circumstances of Yenching University? (3) How did Bible-inspired poetry contribute to and change the creation of modern Chinese literature? Full article

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, traditional Chinese society experienced a significant period of gradual development toward modernization. Along with the transformation of social institutions, people’s thoughts were also changing. Christian missionaries in China began to continue their mission by establishing Christian universities in the midst of the drastic changes in modern Chinese society. These Christian universities brought Western scientific and cultural knowledge to China, and gradually bridged the gap between the Chinese intellectual community and the outside world. From the acquisition of the right to award degrees to the approval of the Chinese government and, subsequently, to the development of graduate education localized in modern China, Christian universities have made new attempts on the ancient Chinese land. The existing literature, however, often ignores the cultural value and ideological enlightenment contributions made by these Christian universities. This paper attempts to describe the arduous exploration process of Christian universities, employing historical examples to analyze the motivations of Christian universities to develop degree education. The key argument of this article is that Christian universities in modern China are not only “imported” but also a product of “sinicization”, which represents the exchange and collision between Chinese and Western cultures during a special period of time. Full article

Although the positive relationship between religion and happiness has aroused heated debate, empirical studies on this are limited in the Chinese cultural context. Furthermore, there is a lack of heterogeneity analysis concerning this influence. This paper aims to address this gap in the existing literature. Using the Chinese General Social Survey data from 2015 for empirical analysis, the results show that people with religious beliefs have an increased probability of feeling very happy. This positive association does not exist in urban and eastern groups, but it still holds up in other remaining sub-samples (i.e., rural group). This study further finds that the effect of religiosity on happiness varies by different religious identification. Muslims are more likely to feel very happy compared with non-Muslims, but people of the Christian faith do not rate themselves higher on the happiness scale than non-Christians. Moreover, the results also reveal that religious involvement is significantly and positively related to happiness. Specifically, vulnerable groups are more likely to perceive themselves to be happier from continuous religious participation, whereas advantaged groups do not. This is because vulnerable groups generally have a lack of social security, and religious practices provide them with social support among their members. They therefore can enjoy larger and denser social networks. These are vital mechanisms for them to cope with stress and risk. Full article

The introduction of Shakespeare to China was through the Chinese translation of Mary and Charles Lamb’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays, Tales from Shakespeare. The Western missionaries’ Chinese translations of the Lambs’ adaptation have rarely been studied. Isaac Mason and his assistant Ha Zhidao’s 1918 translation of the Lambs’ book, entitled Haiguo Quyu (Interesting Tales from Overseas Countries), is one of the earliest Chinese versions translated by Christian missionaries. Although Mason was a Christian missionary and his translation was published by The Christian Literature Society for China, Mason adopted an indirect way to propagate Christian thoughts and rewrote some parts that are related to Christian belief. The rewriting is manifested in several aspects, including the use of four-character titles with Confucian ethical tendencies, rewriting paragraphs with hidden Christian ideas and highlighting themes closely related to Christian ethics, such as mercy, forgiveness and justice. While unique in its time, such a strategy of using the Chinese translation of Shakespeare for indirect missionary work had an impact on subsequent missionary translations. Full article

Yijing benzhi 易經本旨 (original meaning of the Yijing, 1774) constitutes a unique piece of Christian literature produced by the Chinese Catholic believer Lü Liben 呂立本 in the Qing period. Following in the footsteps of Jesuit missionaries such as Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730), Lü represents a rare Chinese voice of the Figurist interpretation of the Yijing by claiming that ancient Chinese sages had received and recorded God’s divine revelation in this venerated Chinese classic. Focusing on his narratives of Christ’s Passion, this paper examines the ways in which Lü interprets the symbolic meanings of the trigrams/hexagrams and deduces their theological connotations in light of Catholic thought. The interweaving of religious devotion, tradition and experience underpinned a creative re-interpretation of the Passion narratives, which strives to sustain the faith of Chinese Catholic communities in the context of the Qing prohibition and persecution of Christianity. Full article