A Study On The Charitable Activities Of Protestant In Gansu, Ningxia And Qinghai During The Republic Of China

Christian missionaries treated Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai as a place of lacking of christian belief that was a distance place full of darkness during the Republic of China.Many Christian missionaries could not used to stay these places for geographical conditions and human environment, they sho affected by that the development of the Protestantism missions were patchy,and the results were not so good.Even though,there were many difficult things, protestant missionaries didn’t give up continuing to open up the missions, but to gather experience and take the initiative adapt themselves to environment,ceaselessly.With the help of the charitable activities, Protestant missionaries paid close attention to the ordinary people who lived in the bottom of society in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. At the same time, by means of social practice activities such as medical treatments, education and disaster reliefs, they gave the urgent boons and concerns to the grassroots. Among contradictions,collisions and amalgamations, Protestant missionaries opened up the routes for preaching and developing of their religions in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai,gradually, in addition, to some extent,the process sped up the historical process modernization of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai.Finally,by Protestant missionaries’ hard work, appearing the church hospitals and clinics more than 16 in Gansu,Ningxia and Qinghai during the Republic of China, these church hospitals and clinics that not only treated Hui, Han, but also treated Mongolian,Manchu, Salar, Tu, and so on. Among these church hospitals and clinics,the famous Borden Memorial Hospital in Lanzhou,whose patients were even not confined to Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. About education, Protestant missionaries built schools more than 18, and their influences and scales were different. In addition, the Protestant missionaries were also involved in the rescue of major geological disasters and famine reliefs in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, actively. Such as the Haiyuan earthquake, Liangzhou earthquake, and the Worst Drought Year to occur in the Northwest China,they not only recorded and published the reports of disasters, but also organized forces to carry out work reliefs and other works, timely. Some missionaries even lost their lives in disaster reliefs. At the same time, the process of Protestantmissionaries walked in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, for some bad local habits and atmospheres, they also carried out the appropriate works. For example, to help smokers quit opium, encouraging women to give up foot--binding, advocating sexual equality,and rescuing trafficked women and children, and so on.Synthetically speaking, Protestant missionaries brought Protestant to Gansu,Ningxia and Qinghai as well as let these places went into the Chinese perspectives, and even let them go to the world. Equally, the grassroots accepted and partook foreign Protestant, meanwhile, they also got rid of handicaps of foreign missions, and began to set up the independent and indigenous missions in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai,generally. At the same time, the indigenous missions were developing well.Admission in response to Protestant missionaries charitable reliefs and the people in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, the results of the two-way interactions for the both gave the protestant a spring during its developing process in these areas. Further more, totally speaking, the charitable activities from Protestant missionaries is successful in Gansu,Ningxia and Qinghai during the Republic of China, and the charitable activities also help the missionaries expand their missions, enormously.