Research On Missionary Cases In Zhili Province Between1860and1874

The research of Region Missionary Cases is the indispensable part of the ChineseModern History. The missionary cases of Zhili Province (which was close to theChinese Capital) were occurred frequently and they were quite typical. This paper willselect the period of1860—1874in which missionary cases were occurred quitefrequently. Through making qualitative and quantitative analysis from time dimension,spatial dimension and the participation of various political forces, this paper will try toclassify various missionary cases of Zhili Province, and then reveal the underlyingreason why various missionary cases were occurred. Finally, this paper will analyzethe contradiction of both sides from the perspective of Game Theory and summarizethe characteristics of Zhili Province missionary cases in this period which is in orderto glimpse the situation of nationwide missionary cases.Since the signing of the Treaty of Beijing in October1860, missionaries obtainedthe right to preach publicly in the mainland of China, consequently, missionary caseswere occurred more and more frequently. As of the end of1874, namely the end ofTongzhi Reign, There was totally61missionary cases occurred in Zhili Province.During that period, missionary case was happened annually, even up to10in someyears. The geographical distribution showed that missionary cases of Zhili Province incentral and south were much more than others, within this phase,the quantity ofmissionary cases in North Apostolic Vicariate, Southeast Apostolic Vicariate andSouthwest Apostolic Vicariate totally account for about94%of the total number. As awhole, missionary cases in this phase were occurred among the lower classes,officials and gentries of Zhili Province didn’t participate much in the anti-Christianactivities. In the game with the power of the church, the non-power of the church wasalways loser.Missionary cases of Zhili Province were very complicated. Based on the originof missionary cases, this paper will divide missionary cases of Zhili Province in thatperiod into five categories, namely property contest class, culture conflicts class,anti-grain&anti-official class, occasional conflicts class, and metamorphosis conflictclass. We can also divide these missionary cases into twelve subclasses, that isreturning churches class, renting or buying houses class, acres contest class, prayingfor rain class, marriage class, public apportioning class, public temples competition class, anti-grain&anti-official class, occasional conflicts class, theft class, rumorsplacard class and note class. At the same time, this paper will try to explain theunderlying causes of various missionary cases with the theories of sociology,psychology, communication studies, and other related theories.In the missionary cases, various political forces fight with each other in everypossible ways, the Premier Government and foreign Ministers stationed in Chinalaunched a fierce Game on the issue of punishment of officials. Facing therequirements of punishing officials from foreign Ministers, the Premier Governmentresponded with protection, reasoning and military preventing measures. Missionariesintervened in local litigation and undermined the administration of justice, whichdirectly threatened the rule and authority of local government, so a fierce contestaround the right to the administration of justice between them was launched. Localgentries were important political force, although local gentry of Zhili Provinceshowed an ambiguous attitude in this period, inevitably, they were still attacked bymissionaries by charging. As a response, local gentries adopted a joint public andintrinsic measure.Relative to other provinces in China and other historical stages in the ChineseModern History, missionary cases of Zhili Province were occurred frequently between1860and1874,and they were quite typical which was closely related to realisticconditions, historical factors, culture and folk status. During this period, missionarycases of Zhili Province mainly involved in Catholic Church and French forces. Themain reason was the French Catholic Church emphasis too much on the number ofCatholic, so as to neglect the quality, moreover, there were too many historical issues(problems of church former site) in Zhili Province; And French Catholic Church had“protectorate of missions”, and their missionary policy was particularly tough toChina. As a whole, missionary cases of Zhili Province in this period had a small scaleand a small casualty (except the Tientsin Massacre). They were scattered and lackedof organization. Political attitudes of local officials and gentries were ambiguous,violent clashes mainly occurred among the lower classes. It is not difficult to find thatcrisis of survival was the total cause by deeply researching the cause of anti-Catholic.