The Mission And Local Society In Shandong Around The Boxer Uprising

There are two major research perspectives in the previous researches of Churches and the local society in Shandong before and after the Boxer Uprising. One is about studying what associated with the anti-Christian cases in Shandong, from the perspective of Shandong local society, and paying attention to Shandong local society and churches in the view of the conflict between China and Occident, which shows a distinct indigenization orientation both in historical materials and views. The other is focusing on the Shandong Christian missions, and analyzing the psychology and behaviors of local officials and the public according to the records of Shandong churches and missionaries, and studying Shandong local society by means of the reaction of the churches. But these research works always ignored diplomatic documents and the views of diplomatic staffs that ran foreign affairs and were important force in China, just like missionaries and traders.John Fowler who acted as American consul in china, paid attention to Chinese politics, economy, commercial trade and church affairs out of his diplomatic work and national interests.John Fowler paid close attention to the relationship between Chinese people and churches, especially when they clashed, and he must negotiate with local officials. The relationship between Chinese people and churches and missionaries was very complicated, which involved the competition among different nations and forces. As Christian churches and Shandong local society, US and Qing Government had different interests and standpoint, they would have different views on a same event.There were different western powers in modern Shandong society, where anti-church cases and conflicts involved many different nations’ game equilibrium. So when John Fowler managed the diplomatic affairs, he had to coordinate with various forces. The interests and relationship among different powers was very complicated, so an anti-church case and conflict might cause a chain reaction.After Boxer Uprising, "The Boycott Movement" had become one of the most important contents between China and America. "The Boycott Movement" was a kind of resistance of civilization, which was different with the violent movements. On the meantime, it was an important symbol of the rising of modern Chinese nationalism. Fowler’s archives paid more attention to the lower class, including the businessmen, officers, missionaries and so on, which provided a new angle to investigate the Shandong local society.As an American consul, John Fowler was the bond between the United States and China. From the viewpoint of traditional impression, diplomat was working for the church maintenance and defending the rights of missionary. Certainly missionary was also one of the US citizens, so consul must maintained the safety and rights of the missionaries. But it didn’t mean that the diplomat would always shield the missionaries. Standing on the viewpoint of the whole country, the minister and the consul must consider the national interest before the church interest.The way of how to deal with Shandong affairs embodied colonialism and the gunboat policy of the U. S. Consul Fowler. As the emerging of the imperialist powers, the point was plundering raw materials and Commodity markets, liking Britain, France and other countries. However, subjected to temporal national strength and international political order dominated by the British, under the balance condition of mutual acceptations between Chinese and Western World, America tried to avoid conflicts with all parties and seek the maximization of self-interest.