Evangelism and Its Unintended Consequences: Christian Missionaries in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

This chapter provides an historical account of Christian missionaries working in China during the period from the 1840s to the 1920S. This period witnessed great trans-formation and turmoil in China, reflected in the Chinese phrase, "domestic strife, foreign aggression” (nei you wai huan). Western imperialist aggression forced China to enter into an unequal treaty system in the aftermath of the First Opium War between China and Britain 1839-1842), beginning with the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. In the domestic realm, there occurred a number of rebellions, such as the Taiping Rebellion 1850—1864) and the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. An increasing number of Christian missionaries entered China during this period of turmoil and attempted to promote their values among the Chinese people in the country’s cities, in the inland, and at the periphery.