A Brief Analysis On The Church Charity In Modern Sichuan (1901-1939)

Under the protecting of the Treaty system, Modern western missionariesgradually enter China mainland. Located in the southwest of China, Sichuan becomes ahotbed for missionaries. In order to change their bad image in people’s mind inSichuan, to clear away obstacles for missionizing, the missionaries vigorously carryout charitable activities and establish the charity in Sichuan area.However, people’s understanding about the concept of charity is different.Recently many scholars think that the church hospital and mission school areequivalent to charity. The "Church Charity" concept is defined widely by them. At thesame time, the academic achievement related to the modern church charity in Sichuanis also very few.I believe that philanthropy should be free to aid the disadvantaged groups, andchurch hospitals, schools don’t equal charity. Based on this understanding, afterstudying the west china missionary news and some local chronicles, the paper displaysa more comprehensive discussion on church charity in the Sichuan region.By analyzing the international context and the domestic context of thebackground to, this paper believes that two Great Awakening Movements inspires themissionary’s enthusiasm for entering Sichuan. Under the influence of the unequaltreaties, the Chinese central government and the Sichuan local officials’ attitudetowards missionary’s coming to Sichuan gradually changes. Affected by the particularsocial and historical background and geographical conditions in Sichuan, the churchcharity including health charity, educational charity and Salesian business was showingdifferent characteristics, compared with the coastal and inland provinces. Bycomparing the church charity with the traditional philanthropy charity in Sichuanregion, this paper think that their cultural connotation, the purpose of founding, theidea they conveyed and way of management are quite different, but the social effectsproduced these two sorts of charities are same. Meanwhile, by analyzing objectivelythe impact of church charity on society Sichuan, it can be found that these charitybusiness help to improve the medical level, promote the development of education, reform the customs and improve the social status of women in Sichuan Province. Atsome point, it promotes the development of Sichuan society.By affirming the effects of church charity, this paper believes that the runningmodel of the church charity provides a reference for modern transformation oftraditional philanthropy in Sichuan, and running of modern charity, proposing that weshould give re-examination and fair evaluation to the church charity.