Christianity and culture accommodation of Chinese overseas: The case study on Chinese Methodist community in Sarawak (1901--1951) (Malaysia, Chinese text)

This dissertation attempts to reconstruct the history of Sarawak Chinese Methodist immigration community from the perspective of cultural accommodation and, through the studies of Christian immigrants, explores how modern Chinese Christians adopted their Christian beliefs to the Chinese culture and how they established their religious society while maintaining their identity with the tradition of their race in the context of the challenge of East-West cultural encounter as they made their geographical relocation from China to a foreign land.; In the first chapter, "Introduction", the writer indicates that the study of the immigration of Chinese Christians, which goes beyond the boundaries of space and race, may provide an in-depth understanding and re-interpretation of the issues concerning the cultural accommodation in the history of Chinese Christianity. The second chapter, "The Methodist Episcopal Church and Modern Fujian Society", describes the development of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the homeland. Due to conflicts incurred during the process of cultural accommodation, a group of Chinese Christians and missionaries embarked on the journey of immigration. The third chapter, "The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Initiation of the Immigration", delineates the history of how the Methodist Episcopal Church organized the immigration and how the immigration extended the issue of cultural accommodation of Christian faith in the Chinese community to the overseas Chinese societies context. The fourth chapter, "The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Transition of the Communal Authority", recounts the development of the Sarawak Methodist Episcopal Church from the perspective of the transformation of the communal authority from 1901 to 1951 and how Christian religion acquired the leadership of this overseas Chinese community. The fifth chapter, "The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Economy, Education and Livelihood of the Community", studies the promotion of the mode of capitalist economy and the establishment of the educational system in the overseas Chinese community by the Methodist Episcopal Church, which also exerted great influences upon the kinship system and the regional organization. The sixth chapter, "The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Relationship among Different Races in the Community", discusses the living conditions of the Chinese Christian community within the multi-racial and multi-cultural background. Christianity not only was a symbol of their identity of an immigrant community, but also provided a foundation on which inter-racial and intra-racial conflicts were resolved. The seventh chapter, "Methodist Community and Its Connection and Identification with the Homeland", discusses the multi-leveled relationship between the overseas Chinese Christian community and its homeland. Through the church, the immigrants maintained and even strengthened their identification with the Chinese culture. The eighth chapter, "Conclusion", points out the particular importance of the history of overseas Chinese Christianity in the field of the studies of races, religious community, cultural identity, even a further understanding of the social function of religion. The writer concludes that the cultural accommodation history of the overseas Chinese Christian group illustrates the significance of achieving a balance between inculturation and acculturation. These are issues worthy of special attention when it comes to understanding the cultural accommodation process of the overseas Chinese Christians.