Nevertheless upon his hardened and indifferent heart there has been wrought a wonderful work. To Christian nations he has learned to look not only for a better educational system but with increasing eagerness for a better religion. Recently an edict was passed declaring Confucianism to be still the State religion, but at the same time thousands were thronging to hear the speakers in a nation-wide Christian campaign. [Sidenote: China no Longer a Closed Land.] Until the middle of the Nineteenth Century China was closed to foreigners. In 1842, at the end of the infamous Opium War by which England forced the opium trade upon unwilling China, five ports were opened, Shanghai, Ningpo, Foochow, Amoy and Canton, and the Island of Hongkong was ceded to England. In these ports missionaries went at once to work. In 1850 the Taiping Rebellion seemed to promise for a while not only sweeping reforms but the possible acceptance of the religion of the foreigners, but it degenerated into a barbarous and cruel rebellion which was eventually subdued by “Chinese” Gordon at the head of the Imperial troops. In 1856 there was another Opium War in which France joined. At its close nine more ports were opened. In 1860 there was a third war and finally twenty-four ports were opened. Now missionaries were allowed free course through the Empire, but they had become more than ever in the eyes of the people “foreign devils”. [Sidenote: The Boxer Uprising.] In 1900, by which time it was estimated that in spite of fearful opposition there were two hundred and fifteen thousand Christians, came the Boxer uprising. Disapproving of the progressive policies of the young Emperor alarmed by the threatening advance of Germany, Russia, England and France, the Chinese determined upon a wholesale slaughter, not only of missionaries and other foreigners, but of native Christians as well. With indescribable barbarity thousands were slain, among them one hundred and thirty-four missionaries, fifty-two children of missionaries and sixteen thousand native Christians. The effect upon Christian missions was extraordinary. As though the rain of blood and fire had been a refreshing shower, the harvest sprang up. Truly the blood of martyrs was once more the seed of the Church. Within ten years after the uprising the number of Christians had more than doubled. [Sidenote: The First Missionaries.] The first Christian mission to the Chinese was that of the heroic Nestorians in the Seventh Century of which little but a traditional account remains. Roman Catholic missions record the names of many heroes, but on account of the hardness of the heart of the people and also on account of the lack of wisdom of the missionaries, no permanent missions were established.