Cited by 2Chinese history and philosophyChristian Theology and MissionReligion and Society Interactions

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 4 of the 4 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 12 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Western Missionaries in Modern China: From Ministers of Foreign Teachings to Agents of Imperialism?

Open access
Laamann, Lars Peter·2021·History of Religions

Abstract

Western missionaries working for the proselytization of Christianity during the early twentieth century were predominantly representatives of a new worldview that put scientific objectives on a par with the aim of converting the Chinese to their faith. Conventional wisdom stipulates that the 1920s brought about a sea change in public attitudes, transforming the missionaries’ perceived role in China, as well as in the colonized world, into “agents of imperialism.” This article posits that this may well have been the case within the ranks of a radicalizing and ideologically reorienting intellectual elite. However, the majority of the population within the Republic of China held a variety of views, from deep-rooted suspicion (“Western clerics as alien magicians”) to high esteem (“clerics as medical experts”). The May Fourth Movement’s axiom of a monolithic, “patriotic,” and “scientific” opposition to the Western missionaries thus needs to be replaced by a more nuanced interpretation.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

The article argues that Western missionaries in late imperial and Republican China were often opposed by Qing authorities less as agents of foreign imperialism than as perceived threats to Confucian orthopraxy, public morality, and anti-heresy law. It contends that while nationalist elites later cast missionaries as imperialist intruders, many ordinary Chinese valued missionary medicine, schooling, and healing, so the missionary legacy is best understood through local perceptions rather than a single teleological narrative.

Key findings

  • Qing objections to Christianity were concrete: missionaries were accused of endangering public morality, violating anti-heresy legislation, aiding potential rebels, and competing with indigenous healers and sectarian movements; the state’s core condemnation was framed around “wizardry” rather than imperialism until the late nineteenth century.
  • After the 1724 Yongzheng prohibition on unauthorized proselytization, Christianity shifted from urban centers to the rural periphery, where nonordained local clerics sustained communities; Zhili and the North China Plain absorbed many Christian refugees during Qianlong’s reign.
  • Medical missionary activity was a major point of contact and conflict: in 1806 Sichuan missionaries reported nearly 7,000 baptisms of foundlings, compared with 1,371 adult christenings and 1,760 infant christenings; Catholic healing led to bans on selling medicines, while later medical missionaries used modern drugs and surgery, and even distributed free heroin injection kits to combat opium smoking.
  • In the early twentieth century, missionary schools and hospitals attracted both affluent and poor Chinese despite anti-imperialist and anti-Christian movements; elites often condemned missionaries as culturally incompatible, but popular choices frequently favored the effective education and health care they provided.

Methods

  • Qualitative historical study drawing on Qing memorials and edicts, Vatican missionary archives, missionary correspondence, periodicals, pictorial press, and secondary scholarship.
  • Interpretive local-history analysis comparing official, missionary, elite, and popular perceptions across the late imperial and Republican periods.

Limitations

  • The article does not include a formal limitations section; stated limitations are not stated in the paper.
  • Evident from the text: the source base is heavily mediated by official Qing documents and missionary archives, which may overrepresent state and missionary perspectives.
  • Evident from the text: claims about majority popular trust and local reception are broad and not supported by systematic sampling or quantification, and the wide chronological and geographic scope means coverage is uneven and often anecdotal.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1086/714964

Cites

4 of 4 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

38 Own interpretation · 29 No basis given · 11 Sources not found · 2 Not checked yet · 1 No full text of the sources

Show all 32 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 37
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 19
49 of 49
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The archival and missionary sources used by the paper accurately reflect the conditions and perceptions of the local population.

    “the safest method of avoiding a teleological interpretation of the missionary involvement in modern China is to interrogate the relevant sources that reveal the conditions and perceptions of the local population.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The popular press reliably reflects mainstream public attitudes.

    “which can be easily gleaned from the popular press.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The missionaries came to China primarily to spread Christianity.

    “But it was this very aim that had brought the missionaries to China in the first place”
3 of 3

Citations

Cites

Show all 4 references

Research works printed but not linked: 52

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  5. For, as recorded in a memorial by the chief magistrate for the capital area (shunyin 順尹) Jiang Bing 蔣炳, dated Qianlong year 11 / 1746. "Acknowledged testimony concerning Fu Zuolin
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  16. Amendments, 1817, Whether Christianity was included is unclear, since it was hardly "new, 12
  17. Calcuttan Yang Chun, Malin
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  26. An, seditious door scrolls
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  43. Hunter William C., 1885, Trench & Co., 139
  44. Segers Arthur, 1932, La Chine: Le peuple, sa vie cotidienne et ses cérémonies (Antwerp: Editions "De Sikkel
  45. Wieger Léon, 1921, Chine moderne
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  47. Nevius John Livingstone, 1897, Being an Inductive Study of Phenomena of Our Own Times
  48. Zhou Zuoren, 1930, Qiming 豈明), "Riben xinjiu yixuede xingfei, 2
  49. Oral Interesting, accessible via Listening and Viewing Service of the British Library, catalog number C816/04/05-C816/31/02 (recorded on tapes, part of "Oral History of British Science
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  52. December 27, 1926.

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Metadata

Authors
Laamann, L. P.
Affiliations
University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Laamann, Lars Peter
Venue
History of Religions
Published
2021-08-01
Volume
61
Issue
1
Pages
105-125
ISSN
  • 0018-2710 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-6935
OpenAlex
W3194989996
Cited by
2
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 1
FWCI
2.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • History of Religions (publishedVersion)
  • SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (acceptedVersion)
  • Center for International and Regional Studies (Georgetown University) (acceptedVersion)
  • SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Christian Theology and Mission
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
Keywords
Western missionaries, imperialism, May Fourth Movement, Republic of China, 1920s China, science and religion

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