The Spreading Of Christianity And The Early Modernization Of Shanxi Society

Catholicism and Protestantism were introduced into Shanxi in 1620 1876 respectively. This article inquires into the spreading course and the general situation of Catholicism and Protestantism in Shanxi before 1949 .It analyses the missionaries' working way and the believers' motive to join Catholicism, Protestantism too. At the basis of the above, it looks into the effect the spreading of the religion to Shanxi society's modernization.In the first part, by dividing the spreading course into two periods according to 1900,it respectively inquires into the spreading situation before and after the Boxers' Movement, and analyses the policy and attitude the government towards the religion. It also studies the counties accepting the religion, the believers' amount and distribution, and the evolvement of the religious region. The specific reliable numbers testify that the region the religion spreading is wide and the number of the believers is great. Besides, the analysis of the missionaries' working way and the believers' motive to join the religion reveals the social causes that it could gain a foothold and develop in Shanxi society .The external cause is the intrusion of the foreigners. The internal ones are the lowering of educational function, medical function and relieving function, the frequency of natural disasters, the inundation of drugs, the poverty of the people's material life, and the poor of the people's spiritual life which were led to by the decline of agricultural civilization and the rulers' corruption, maltreatment to the people.In the second part, this article inquires into the effect the spreading of Catholicism, Protestantism to Shanxi society's modernization. Firstly, it explains the division of the social structure the religion's spreading leading to, and this was the start that the traditional society evolved into the modern one. Secondly, it expounds the new technology, new things, new living style that the missionaries brought into Shanxi changed the people's material production, material life and spiritual life. These are important contents of the modernization of social life. Thirdly, it investigates the causes the church ran in Shanxi, such as schools, hospitals, relieving work, demonstrates that the church had had effect in the transform of Shanxi society in education, medical and healthy work, and relieving work.Conclusion: Catholicism and Protestantism had had some spread and development in Shanxi. The causes are the problems the decline of the agricultural civilization leading to. The spreading of the religion had had important effect on the modernization of social structure, social life and social function in Shanxi.