A Chinese evaluation of the Western missionaries' penetration of China: How they responded to China's problems from 1582 to 1937

Since its inception the Christian movement has experienced a series of pulsations in its life, first expanding and then retreating, as it has sought increasingly to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. Its encounter with China and the Chinese people characteristically reflects this pulsating pattern. Prior to the coming of the Jesuits in the 16th century, Western missionaries largely concentrated on the non-Chinese peoples within the country, but from this time onward, a Chinese Christian movement came into prominence and its leaders demonstrated ability and willingness to extend the church.; Protestant mission work began in 1807 and missionary work grew in diversity and in its geographical penetration of China. Although anti-foreignism continued deep into the 20th century, the missionaries did not draw back from their evangelistic task. Many projects were undertaken to meet the varied needs of the people, ranging from social rehabilitation to medical services, flood and famine relief, literacy promotion, agricultural reform and the development of rural cooperatives.; Early in the 20th century, and with missionary encouragement, Chinese Christian leaders began to assume responsibility alongside their Western co-labours, in the administration of the emerging churches and in the direction of their evangelistic outreach. They became prominent in China's most turbulent decades and despite her growing anti-Christian nationalism. Unfortunately, the full story of the Western missionary contribution to China has yet to be told. Whereas volumes have been written on every conceivable aspect of China's encounter with the West, the contribution of missionaries has not yet become the object of adequate scholarly scrutiny. The author, a Chinese from the mainland, feels that historians have yet to explore in depth the missionary impact on the Chinese people and their institutions. He hopes that this study will serve as an honest though sympathetic appraisal of the strengths as well as the short-comings of the Western missionaries. Furthermore, as a Chinese he is grateful that they sought to help his people and knows that their labors were anything but "in vain in the Lord" (I Cor. 15:58).