Since Christianity (or at least a certain form of Christianity, the Nestorian Church) arrived on the shores of China in 635 AD, it was seen as a foreign religion and therefore unimportant to Chinese culture. The song “One more Christian, one less Chinese” in 1919 May 4th Movement has further reinforced and perpetuated the misconception that when one chooses to follow Jesus, one has denounced one’s Chinese identity to attack a foreign or Western god and ideology. A Chinese commits a grave offense against his ancestor and his nation when he pledges allegiance to Jesus.
According to the historian Wu Xiaoxin, the propaganda that has most affected the Chinese is the assertion that “religion is the opium of the people.” One of the main factors contributing to the backlash against Christianity is nationalism. Anyone familiar with events in this part of the world in the mid-1800s will realize the baggage this statement carries.
Connection with Western imperialism
Since the 19th century, Christianity has been associated with Western imperialism in the minds of the Chinese. Catholics and Protestants came to China alongside Western imperialists.
In fact, many Western missionaries of this generation followed in the footsteps of European opium traders to bring the gospel to the Chinese.
For example, Karl Gützlaff, one of the first Protestant missionaries to China, joined the Jardine Matheson. opium fleet as an interpreter to reach more Chinese people with the Gospel. Jiang Menglin, former president of Peking University, rightly describe this historical baggage when he compared the arrival of Buddhism and Christianity in China: “Buddha entered China on a white elephant, while Jesus arrived on a cannonball. »
Antimissionary sentiment was understandable given the circumstances in which the modern missionary movement in China began: the same gate that was forced open by military and naval power to expand trade was the gate through which missionaries entered China. This compromised the Gospel in the eyes of the Chinese for the next century.
Although Christianity was not identical to Western imperialism, they were synonymous with it in Chinese perception and memory. As a result, the encounter between Christianity and Chinese culture in the modern missionary era was accompanied by a struggle between nationalism (and patriotism) and imperialism.
Although personal relationships extended to deep friendships between the Chinese and the missionaries, the fact that the missionaries were still representatives of foreign powers whose assault on China was all too evident lingered behind- plan. As the Chinese watched their country suffer one humiliation after another at the hands of foreigners in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they came to view Christianity as the representative of Western cultural imperialism.
Positive contribution of Western missionaries
While it is undeniable that at some point in Chinese history, Westerners who called themselves Christians were involved in the oppression and exploitation of the Chinese, we must differentiate Western imperialism and colonialism from Christianity. These Westerners did great harm to the Chinese, but many Western Christian missionaries also contributed greatly to the communities in which they worked.
Many sacrificed their lives to serve the Chinese people and built institutions like schools, hospitals and orphanages. For example, during the tumultuous years of World War II, many Western missionaries (such as Minnie Vautrin) and doctors remained behind when most Westerners were evacuated, risking their lives to treat the wounded and dying.
And before the war, many Christian missionaries were instrumental in establishing schools and universities throughout Asia in the 19th century. The ubiquitous schools like Anglo-Chinese schools and Methodist colleges were all established by missionaries like James Legge, Robert Morrison, and others. Tu Weiming, the famous modern-day Confucianist and Sinologist, points out that graduates of Christian universities provided important human resources for virtually every profession, and that by emphasizing a liberal arts education, the schools produced several generations of modern scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
The belief that Christianity is a Western religion or that of Westerners is also far from true, as Christianity is a divine plan of salvation for all humanity, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. . In fact, to be historically accurate, the origin of the Christian faith was the East rather than the West. Neither Jesus nor the apostles were Westerners. Although Christianity came to us from the West due to historical development, it actually originated in Asia.
Conflict with Chinese cultural worldview
Added to anti-imperialist sentiment is a conflict between Christian belief and traditional Chinese culture. The Gospel as well as the beliefs it represents are completely foreign to the Chinese cultural worldview, and therefore some have viewed the spread of Christianity as a kind of cultural invasion.
Chinese Christian scholar Xie Fuya, who spent most of his life analyzing the relationship between Christianity and Chinese culture, believes The reason for the many misunderstandings and conflicts between the two is that Christianity has not yet understood Chinese culture. Therefore, Chinese culture fails to fully grasp the essence of faith, while Christianity has failed to impress and influence Chinese culture.
This may be an oversimplification of a much more complex problem, but I think that in doing so, Xie stumbled upon something unique in the Christian faith. Unlike the other dominant foreign religion in China (Buddhism), Christianity is a canonical and exclusive religion. It exclusively affirms the truth about God and reality. Buddhism is much more doctrinally inclusive. As such, it was able to pleasantly assimilate into Chinese cultural spirituality, adapting and conforming to local philosophies, which resulted in various indigenous permutations of the religion, giving it local status.
The Chinese cultural emphasis on maintaining peace in relationships also further obscures the objectivity of truth. Because telling the truth can involve the inconvenience of upsetting the other person, it is difficult to achieve a genuine discussion about the truth. It is more virtuous to impress and remain agreeable than to discuss truthful matters and offend. There is therefore a general reluctance to address the truth directly and openly.
Being a Paul for Chinese culture
So what is the most effective apology strategy we should employ with a person of Chinese culture? Maybe we don’t need it. After all, the Great Commission is not about making excuses against all non-Christian worldviews, but about bearing witness to the world about Jesus Christ and making disciples in His name. Apologetics is just one approach in which we need to remove intellectual or cultural obstacles that may stand in the way of someone’s understanding and acceptance of the gospel.
The Book of Acts records Paul’s famous sermon in Athens. However, what preceded this event in Acts 17 was the claim that Paul was preaching a god foreign to the Athenians (Acts 17:16-20). The Athenians called Paul a talker who presented bizarre ideas and they wanted to know more. Of course, our audience may not be as interested in our message as the Athenians, because, after all, the pragmatism of the cultural Chinese would have no time for such ventures. Instead, like Paul, we must consider whether there is a way to situate some of their values within the Christian worldview.
If we want to meaningfully share the Christian faith with the more than 1.3 billion cultural Chinese people around the world, we must understand their worldview. It is our responsibility to learn and study Chinese cultural worldview and cultural expressions. We need to think about how to tactfully ask probing questions and learn to listen attentively as we seek the Holy Spirit’s help in discerning the fundamental issues at hand. We must learn to articulate the Gospel in terms that are attractive and meaningful to this quarter of the world’s population.
I-ching Thomas is a writer and speaker on Christian apologetics specializing in the relevance of the Christian faith in Eastern cultural contexts.
This is an excerpt from chapter 1 of Jesus: the path to human flourishing by I’ching Thomas, ©2018. Used with permission of Graceworks Private Limited, www.graceworks.com.sg