The Commuication,Conflict And Social Change Of Christianity In Modern Anhui (1840-1912)

In a sense,China modern history is the history of China's foreign Relations,and Christianity as one of the important sources of Western civilization is an important part of the relations.Similarly,the introduction of Christianity and its conflicts and impact on the social changes in modern Anhui are one of the main subjects of the study of modern history of Anhui that can not be bypassed.In the pre-modern China where"executive power dominates society",according to Marx's view:"Each of us is more dominated by the environment,rather than by our own will".Corresponding to the traditional Chinese society is the official dominated all aspects of society.In the pre-modern China,a highly authoritarian society,the spread of Christianity and subsequent prohibition were largely due to the will of the state power overriding society.In the pre-modern China the spread of Christianity in China can be traced back to the middle and late Ming dynasty,and its activities in China were mainly from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty.Corresponding to this background,the local spread,stagnation and even death of Christianity in the pre-modern Anhui were integrated into this historical environment.China was a large country,where the land was vast and had a large population,regional development were unbalanced affected by geographical,climate and other factors.This imbalance was also manifested in the north and south of Anhui.It was not only confined to the fields of economy and culture,and particularly remarkable performance was in the difference of the local elites social control ability.In the south of Anhui Province,where the Confucian culture was developed,the social and economic conditions were superior and the clan forces were huge,Christianity as a"foreign domain"or even"Yi"culture and its development was difficult.Instead,since the tang and song dynasty,the social ecology in northern anhui tended to decline,but on the overall pattern presented a relatively"opening"pattern,and then for the spread of Christianity lay the foundation of the history and realitybasis in northern anhui.Since modern times,China was declined and was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties in China's foreign relations,which were involved in interests of missionaries in China and to widely open the floodgates for the spread of Christianity in China.Daoguang twenty-two years(1842),the Sino-British treaty of Nanking basically ended the first opium war for up to two years,since then,opened more than hundred years of humiliation history in modern China.After more than ten years,under the coercion of the powers,the Qing government had signed a series of unequal treaties with the powers such as the Wanghia Treaty,the Huangpu Treaty and the Tianjin Treaty.Due to the importance of missionaries of the treaty negotiations,therefore,the relevant provisions that was conducive to the spread of Christianity in China had been written into the treaty,thus gradually Christianity established from"to live"in the treaty port to the final freedom of preaching in China.Christianity gradually established a Christian from the original in port"live"to the final free missionary work in China.The spread of Christianity in modern Anhui is under such a background.The"results"of missionary work are manifested in the scale of the number of church growth.Marxism holds that conflict is an important phenomenon in class society.It involves resources,power,culture and other aspects.Since modern times,with the spread of the power of the church,Anhui revolt against foreign religion was successive.Christianity as a foreign culture,with the passage of time and the state in modern China,With the passage of time and the decline of modern China,Christianity beyond the purely religious beliefs,and even turned into a political force.As a kind of cultural belief,it mutually reacted and developed irreconcilable contradictions with Neo-Confucianism orthodox thought since the Song Dynasty.As a political force,it has become the patron of local "vulnerable" groups,which can easily lead to social conflicts.Meanwhile as privileged force,they directly played the initiators of revolt against foreign religion.It is worthy noting that the revolt against foreign religion in modern Anhui was not revolutionary activities of local people to rise up oppressed by feudal forces and the foreign powers,but the gray forces well known the background who scourge the local people to led to the revolt against foreign religion with the help of Christian garb.The influence of Christianity as a religious and cultural force on modern Anhui society can not be linked with all aspects of modernization,and its impact on the modernization of politics and economy was not obvious.If the overall investigation of modernization is not appropriate,therefore,we should be more from the perspective of social change to see the positive impact of Christianity.The related influence and contribution mainly focused on the fields of medical and health,culture and education,which have important enlightenment significance for the modernization of Chinese people's traditional idea.