The Mission to China

American Protestantism determined to a large extent the nature of the mission errand to China, especially in the Chinese Protestant elite’s understanding of social Christianity. American Protestantism, however, suffered from certain weaknesses in its own understanding of the relationship between Christianity and society, and this weakness was most evident in the message of the Social Gospel. The Social Gospel aimed to reshape the modern industrial economy, so that it was more humane to workers and more beneficial to society. That message, though, was compromised in its transmission to China by its association with imperialism. Beyond this message of the Social Gospel, American missions were also the early benefactors of the main institutions—colleges and universities, the YMCA and the YWCA—through which the Protestant elite influenced the larger society.

Protestant Youth Save the Nation

Protestant schools educated a significant percentage of China’s high school and college students, and the YMCA’s Student Division was influential in these schools and also the public schools. Protestant youth sponsored the most significant of the protests connected to the National Salvation Movement, which sought to mobilize the Chinese people to resist Japanese aggression. YMCA and YWCA secretaries and other Protestant elites helped to broaden and legitimate this movement, a movement that unified the Chinese people and prepared them to resist the Japanese. These efforts were further strengthened by the work of the YMCA secretary, Liu Liangmo, and his National Salvation Song Movement.

Epilogue

Protestant elites suffered along with the rest of China’s elite during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. After Mao’s death, many of these elite were rehabilitated and some were returned to positions of leadership. Meanwhile, under China’s economic reforms, the nation has become wealthier and stronger; China has become modern. While mostly controlled by the government, Chinese Protestant churches have grown larger, and their social influence has expanded, helping Chinese Protestants more faithfully fulfill their calling to serve their people, their nation, and their God.

The YMCA and the Protestant Elite Welcome the Revolution

Following World War II, the Chinese began the task of rebuilding their nation. Protestant churches and schools joined these efforts, and Protestant leaders such as Ginling College’s president Wu Yifang represented the Nationalist republic to the world. The wartime alliance between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists broke down in 1946, and a civil war ensued, ending with a Communist victory in 1949. The YMCA secretary Wu Yaozong took the lead in preparing the churches and the Protestant elite for life under the new regime. Consulting with the Communist leader, Zhou Enlai, Wu published the Christian Manifesto, which was a statement confessing the church’s complicity in Western imperialism and expressing her determination to support the revolution. The Korean War added a sense of urgency to these actions, and a new church structure, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, was established to better serve the new relationship between state and church.

Resisting Japan, Fighting Imperialism

In China’s war with Japan, the Chinese people heroically struggled against Japan, especially in the early years of the war, 1937–1941. The Japanese waged a ruthless attack on soldiers and civilians alike. The Protestant elite sounded the call to resistance. One of the most brutal incidents of the war was the Rape of Nanjing, and the Protestant women’s college, Ginling College, served as the center of a safety zone that protected civilians from the onslaught. Another victim of Japan’s aggression was Liu Zhanen, president of the University of Shanghai, a mission-affiliated school, who was assassinated because of his high-profile defiance of Japan. The YMCA through secretaries such as Liu Liangmo and Jiang Wenhan supported the Nationalist war effort through the association’s services to wounded soldiers and to refugee students. Both men also reached out to their Communist compatriots, allies in the fight against Japanese imperialism.

The YMCA and the Gospel for the Urban Elite

The YMCA was one of the most influential organizations in Chinese society during the time of the republic. Its membership was recruited from the urban elite, chiefly the industrial, commercial, and professional sectors of Chinese urban society, while its Protestant leadership represented those sectors, along with the political and educational sectors, as well. The YMCA promoted a Protestant vision of modern China, and sought to realize that vision through a wide range of programs, including citizenship, literacy and hygiene campaigns, and general social service. The YMCA often partnered with the Nationalist government, and Chiang Kai-shek’s New Life Movement was one product of this relationship. The association was not, however, a strong supporter of movements for social reform, much to the disappointment of some of its national secretaries, especially one of the most prominent of those secretaries, Wu Yaozong.

Social Reform and the Campaign to Christianize the Economy

The Chinese Protestant elite supported the modernization and industrialization of the Chinese economy. Like the rest of the elite, they believed China needed to develop its economy to become a strong, modern, prosperous nation. They together with their missionary patrons also wanted to mitigate the impact of these changes. Theirs was a message of social reform. The national Protestant church sponsored two different conferences to consider how they might engage in a Christianizing of the economy. Alongside these conferences, a campaign was launched to address one of the more harmful consequences of industrialization, that of child labor. Protestant organizations also supported the new Nationalist government in passing legislation to curb other harmful effects of industrialization. The most effective organization in these efforts was the YWCA, especially in the work of Eleanor Hinder, chief of the Shanghai Municipal Council’s Industrial Section.

Introduction

While Protestants made up only a small percentage of China’s overall population, they were heavily represented in the urban elite, mostly due to the contribution of Protestant schools and colleges, and the influence of organizations such as the YMCA and the YWCA. This elite was attracted to the Protestant message of national salvation, an extension of the message of social Christianity; they believed that the religion would help make China strong, prosperous and modern.