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“...THE
CHINA CHRISTIAN
YEAR BOOK
1926
(FOURTEENTH ISSUE OF THE CHINA "MISSION"
YEAR BOOK)
Issued under arrangement between the Christian Literature
Society for China and the National Christian Council of
China under the Direction of the following Editorial Board
appointed by the National Christian Council
Rev. K. T. Chung Dr. D. W. Lyon
Rev. E. H. Cressy Dr. D. MacGillivray
Miss Lily Haas Dr. J. L Maxwell
Rev. Carleton Lacy Dr. W. W. Peter
Dr. R. Y. Lo Dr. E. W. Wallace
Rev. E. C. Lobenstine Miss Helen Thoburn
EDITOR
Rev. Frank Rawlinson, D.D.
Editor, Chinese Recorder.
SHANGHAI
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY
J 926...”
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“...West and are most easily affected
by revolutionary influences. School work has been more disturbed
than any other type of work. In view, therefore, of the excep-
tional difficulties abounding special thanks are due to the many
writers and friends who assisted in the preparation < f the articles
in this Year Book. Especially do we appreciate the generous help
of those who answered a number of questionaries sent out by
different writers.
In this Year Book a number of features stand out which need
only be mentioned here.
(1) The outstanding characteristic of the Christian Movement
and its present environment is a changing mind. As a result a
considerable proportion of space in this Year Book is given up to
opinions on the present situation and existing problems. These
opinions, however, have their source in experience that is widely
scattered and in close contact with "interior" as well as "port
city" conditions. Opinions, however, stand out in this volume
rather more than programs or achievements...”
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“...l with
Chinese principal ...' ...... ...... ... ... 423
Mills, S. J., A.B. (1911) The Present Strength, Distribution,
and Age of the Missionary Body.
American Presbyterian, North. Dean of Department of
Missionary Training, University of Nanking,'Nanking... 151
Rawlmson, Frank, M.A., D.D. (1902) Present Charac-
teristics of the China Christian Movement. Special
Problems in Evangelism. Some Books and Articles on
China (English). .
A.B.C.F.M. Editor, The Chinese Recorder and China
Christian Year Book ............ XIV, 116, 380...”
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“...missionaries. They seem to think
of the Christian appeal as being one of personal influences
only and this embodied primarily in attractive lives. (4)
They seem also to desire greater freedom in expressing
their Christian faith through literature than many of their
Western colleagues feel it safe to permit. (5) There is also
a decided tendency among educated Chinese Christians to
relate Christianity to and attempt to express it in terms of
China's own religious experience and genius. For instance,
a book has recently appeared in Chinese with the title,
"The Idea of God in Chinese History." The author is Mr.
Wong Yeh Sing of Nanking Theological Seminary. He
shows what the best Chinese ideas of God have been,
indicates their similarity to Christian ideas and urges that
such ideas must be recognized and utilized by Christians...”
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“...military
ft is not to summarize the political events
themselves or to comment upon them except as they have
to do with the Christian movement of the present day.
It may at first sight appear not a little absurd, if not
impertinent, for one whose work is done within the
shadow of the largest treaty port in China to attempt
the presentation of a topic having to do with China as a
whole. So it appeared to the writer when he was asked
to undertake the task: only the suggestion by the editor
of the Year Book that a questionnaire be sent to various
centres so that first hand information might be obtained,
overcame the writer's reluctance to undertake the sum-
mary. The main sources for the paper are, accordingly,
some forty-five answers received from more than a
dozen of the twenty-one provinces. In addition various
newspaper accounts, which have not always been accredited
at their face value, and certain materials which have
within recent months appeared in The Chinese Recorder
have been used. The...”
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“...signing of the treaty, he found that
amongst the missionaries there was as much disappoint-
ment as gratification, for the hopes of everyone had been
raised to an undue and exaggerated height by the rumours
which preceded us."* It would seem therefore to be a
somewhat untenable position to suggest that missionaries
may enjoy for fifty or sixty years special privileges secured
through meddling in politics," but may take no steps
fFor the "Toleration Clauses" see Chaf>ter V, China Christian
Year Book, 1926.
*Life & Letters of S. Wells Williams, page 281....”
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“...however, a question of expediency but of principle, and
where a spiritual principle is concerned, the Church in the
past has never been deterred by considerations of danger.
The fundamental question is as to whether the. surrender
of special privilege is the right and Christian course to
follow. It is in the strong conviction that this is the case
that the missionary organizations, and a vast number
of missionaries who share this view, have now taken
action.
tSee Appendix II, China Christian Year Book, 1926....”
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“...PART II
RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND ACTIVITY
CHAPTER VI
TRENDS IN CHINA'S RELIGIOUS LIFE
Gilbert Reid
Timely Book ^ valuable book, dealing not only with the
Christian movement in China but with other
religious movements, and giving information applicable
to present conditions, is "The Quest for God in China "
by Rev. F.W.S.O'Neill of the Irish Presbyterian Mission
in Manchuria. This book is based on lectures delivered
by Mr. O'Neill at the Belfast Theological College in 1925.
Ant. During the last year foreign missionaries,
Movemsnts as distinct from Chinese Christians, have
experienced greater intensity of antagonism
than in any other year for the last few decades of the
missionary cause in China. If the antagonism is not
greater than that of past years, it has at least been more
wide-spread and has presented new aspects of thought
and action difficult of approach on the part of the
missionary body and the home societies. There has
been a mixture of opposition that may be described as
anti-Christian...”
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“...have
been eclectic or syncretic, first as to China's three
religions and now, as more commonly called, of five
religions.
As in India there are several reforming
Reli ious movements called Samaj, so in China
Groups Among similar movements are called a Hui, or a
the Chinese Sheh, or a Yuan. There is, however, a
difference. In India these societies deal with
Hindooism; in China, with Confucianism, Buddhism and
Taoism, and to a lesser degree with Islam and Christianity.
In the 4'China Mission Year Book" for 1924 I made
reference to nine of these Societies. Only three of them...”
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“...needs to ask here, what
should be the attitude of Christians towards such coopera-
tion ?
The Reforma- ^ 'Attitudes this attitude is by far
tive Attitude the most important. The number who share
this attitude may be quite limited, but scat-
tered over all the churches in the country like brilliant
stars 011 a dark night, they are destined to mould the
whole fabric of Christianity and of the Christian Church
in China in the future. They are in perfect accord with
George Santayana, who says in his book entitled, "Reason
in Religion," The Life of Reason is the seat of all
ultimate values, to which every thing in the world should
be subordinated." He states further, The Life of Reason
makes right eternally different from wrong. Religion does
the same thing. It makes absolute moral decisions." In
the light of this conviction they hold that many of the
Christian beliefs and practices need to be revised, but they
believe at the same time that the fundamental Christian
truth has a permanent and vital...”
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“... The
Shanghai Missionary Association refused to make any such
pronouncement though asked to do so by a local body of
Chinese Christians and urged to do so by a group of its
own members. In some cities, as in Nanking and
Yunnanfu, missionary associations have chosen to dis-
continue their separate existence, so as to join forces with
a more inclusive church council. A similar course is
being considered in other cities. In Taiyuanfu the
missionaries have organized during the year a book club
for cooperative book buying and reading.
Pastors'Unions A goodly number of cities also report
pastors7 unions, uniting usually the pastors of
all or most of the denominations in the city. It is
interesting'to note, however, that the same denominations
which fail to participate through their missionaries in
missionary associations are also, found unrepresented by
their Chinese workers in pastors unions. The aims of the
pastors' associations are very similar to those of the mis-
sionary associations, with...”
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“...fact that, however divided
the Christian Church may be in China in matters of
" faith and order," Christian churches and individuals
of almost all denominational affiliations are finding
themselves drawn together in cooperative enterprises of
many different lines. In a number of cities this
cooperation has been placed on a more or less permanent
and comprehensive basis through the organization of
local federations. Dr. Henry T. Hodgkin, in an article
published in last year's China Mission Year Book, reported...”
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“...World Missionary
Atlas (1925) lists 138 societies working in China, the
Directory of Protestant Missions (1925) lists 200 different
organizations. This would seem to explain in part why
the Atlas gives the total number of missionaries in 1925 as
7,663, the Directory as 8,158. Since 1918, 11 missions
have disappeared, 7 missions have joined with other bodies
and 21 new missions have been listed.
Missions m^ssioris whose names have disappeared
Discontinued from the list in the China Mission Year Book
between 1918 and 1925 are as follows:
(1) Angarrack Christian Mission (Japanese).
(2) Baptist Missionary Association.
(3) Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion.
(This mission has recently resumed work in Shanghai).
(4) Christian Faith Mission.
(5) China New Testament Mission.
(6) Grace Evangelical Missions.
(7) Grace Mission.
(8) Hildersheim Mission for Blind....”
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“...Institute Mission.
(11) Pentecost Church of Nazerene.
New Missions The following are missions that do not
appear in the 1918 China Mission Year Book.
I. Missions with stations dated later than 1918.
Number of
Missionaries
(1) Good News' Mission 3
(2) Baptist China Direct Mission 11
(3) Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society 3
(4) Bible Mission 2
(5) Christian Mission to Buddhists 3
(6) Christian Reformed Mission 12
(7) Hephzibah Faith Mission 8
(8) Krinmen Mennonite Brethren 5
(9) Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the
Methodist Protestant Church 2
(10) Missionary Society of Orebro 10
(11) Pai-Hsiang Mission 2
(12) Pentecostal Holiness Mission 9
(13) South China Peniel Holiness Missionary
Society 7
(14) South Yunnan Mission 6
(15) Tibetan Forward Mission 4
(16) Tibetan Tribes' Mission 2
II. Missions whose names appear in the China Mission
Year Book since 1918, but with some stations given
as having been established earlier than 1918.
(1) Church of Nazerene 22
(2) Evangelical Lutheran Mission...”
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“...shared in this increase.
A e Of the 8,158 missionaries in the 1925
ge Directory, 4,647, or 56%, came out to China
before or during 1918: 44% of the present missionary
staff, therefore, arrived in China during the last seven
years. It was reported to the National Christian Con-
ference that 50% of the missionaries had arrived.in China
during the previous ten years. The turnover in missionary
personnel appears to be rather large. Of the total force,
1,306 or 16%, are ordained. According to the 1925 book,
1,392 people, or 17%, were absent that year from China.
In 1925, there were 562 single men, or 6-4/5% of the total;
this is only slightly in excess of the percentage reported
to the National Christian Conference. There are 2,548
single women, or 31-1/4% of the whole; this also is about
the same as that reported in the survey volume. In 1925,
58 stations were staffed by women only and there were 29
stations staffed by women only in places where there were
members of other missions: i.e. nearly...”
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“... Nanking, Hangchow, Hainan, etc., diplomas
from mission schools have been stamped by provincial
authorities a form of government recognition. One
mission urges friendly welcome and facilities for all
government inspectors visiting the Christian schools.
Treaty Many missions and Chinese-foreign church
Revision bodies* have expressed themselves openly in
favor of revision, others have reserved their
judgment for the Home Board, and others declined to pass
*£ee Appendix III, China Christian Year Book, 1926,...”
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“...commercial interests of
our country. If possible, we desire the official representa-
tives of the United States to make these facts known to the
Chinese Government. Further, we would express the hope
that in the revised treaty these facts regarding the relation
of missionaries to their governments be clearly stated."
Literature This presents a knotty problem on which
mission reports are generally silent. Of any
large comprehensive policy there is little evidence only
items about some particular book or writer. The need
for more literature is keenly felt, and the subject has been
much discussed in 44 retreats" for some years past. On
the one hand, it is felt that organizations suppling the funds
for publishing must hold themselves responsible for all ideas
and points of view going out under their imprimatur. On...”
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“...brothers
Polo reached Acre in Syria in April 1269,
only to learn that there was a papal interregnum. Pope
Clement IV had died in the preceding November and,
owing to ecclesiastical politics, his successor, Gregory X,
was not elected until almost three years later. Although
the new Pope considered the Great Khan's request for
missionaries "to be of great honour and advantage for the
whole of Christendom," he was nevertheless able to send
only two Preaching Friars with them on their return
*The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Yule-Cordier edition (London,
1921) Vol. 1, pp. 13-14....”
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“...than have the Protestants. Had the
leaders of these two branches of Christianity in China
acted upon the injunction of the Founder of their religion,
that they love one another, and that they may be one even
as the Father and the Son are one, and had Christianity
survived among them in its pristine purity, it is impossible
to imagine a limit to what might have been accomplished
by Christianity in China and Asia as a whole. That
something of this was felt by the Archbishop of Soltania
who wrote a book about the year 1330, entitled The Estate
and Governance of the Grand Gaan is shown in his statement
that "it is believed that if they (the Nestorians) would
agree and be at one with the Minor Friars and with the
other good Christians who dwell in that country, they
would convert the whole country, and the emperor likewise
to the true faith." But instead of co-operation in main-
taining and spreading a religion pure and undefiled, we
find mutual antagonisms and persecutions of the sharp-
est on...”
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“...CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN 1925
225
the recognition of schools maintained by foreign con-
tributions," and with the complete failure, in all but a few
places, of promised 44 anti-Christmas demonstrations."*
Forces Back These startling events were the outcome of
of Storm forces that had long been growing throughout
the country. In the China Mission Year Book,
1925, Mr. Sanford Chen outlined these forces, which at the
time that he wrote were already gathering toward the
outbreak of the summer. They may be summed up as
being actively anti-religious, anti-Christian, anti-foreign,
and anti-existing-social-system. In the schools of the
country the restiveness against authority, which had been
so pronounced a feature for the past few years, became still
more marked. Heretofore, Christian schools had suffered
less than the government institutions, but in the wTinter of
1924-1925 a number of schools passed through periods of
extreme difficulty when students revolted entirely against
all control.
This...”
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