New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable AwakeningBrown, Arthur Judson
History
New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable Awakening
Brown, Arthur Judson
China -- Commerce; China -- Foreign relations; China -- Politics and government; Missions -- China
``No, not in that broad sense. They do not seem to fear for the permanency
of their own religion. It is not that they object to missionaries
and the Christian religion as much as it is that the missionaries are
foreigners. A more serious cause of the uprising is the wide-spread
suspicion among the natives, since the Japanese war, that the foreigners
are going to partition China. It is not strange that all these conditions
cause friction and excitement. The Chinese want to be left to themselves
and the one word `foreigners' sums up the great cause of the present
trouble.''
The Hon. Charles Denby, after thirteen years' experience as
United States Minister to China, wrote:--
``I unqualifiedly, and in the strongest language that tongue can
utter, give to these men and women who are living and dying in China
and the Far East my full and unadulterated commendation. . . . No
one can controvert the fact that the Chinese are enormously benefited by
the labours of the missionaries. Foreign hospitals are a great boon to the
sick. In the matter of education, the movement is immense. There are
schools and colleges all over China taught by the missionaries. There are
also many foreign asylums in various cities which take care of thousands
of waifs. The missionaries translate into Chinese many scientific and
philosophical works. There are various anti-opium hospitals where the
victims of this vice are cured. There are industrial schools and workshops.
There are many native Christian churches. The converts seem to be as
devout as people of any other race. As far as my knowledge extends, I
can and do say that the missionaries in China are self-sacrificing; that
their lives are pure; that they are devoted to their work; that their
influence is beneficial to the natives; that the arts and sciences and
civilization are greatly spread by their efforts; that many useful western
books are translated by them into Chinese; that they are the leaders in all
charitable work, giving largely themselves and personally disbursing the
funds with which they are intrusted; that they do make converts, and
such converts are mentally benefited by conversion.'' And after the
Boxer outbreak he added:--``I do not believe that the uprising in China
was due to hatred of the missionaries or of the Christian religion. The
Chinese are a philosophic people, and rarely act without reasoning upon
the causes and results of their actions. They have seen their land disappearing
and becoming the property of foreigners, and it was this that
awakened hatred of foreigners and not the actions of the missionaries or
the doctrines that they teach.''
The present United States Minister, the Hon. Edwin H.
Conger, has repeatedly borne similar testimony, publicly
assuring the missionaries of his ``personal respect and profound
gratitude for their noble conduct.''
The Hon. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State and
counsel for the Chinese Government in the settlement with
Japan, writes:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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