Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-20
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE prsrArcH.,

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM 10 THE DrsPArCH.i
NEW YORK, August 19.-Wong Chin
Foo, a highly educated Chinaman. con-
nected with the press of this city, has pre-
pared the following for publication:
Lieutenant Wood, U. s. N, in the
Colorado Republican. nearly hit the mark
when he said that Christian missions in
China are ga failure, but he did not give
the reason of that failure. In one respect
the Christian teachers in China have been a
great benefit to the commerce Of their fellow
citizens at home by showing the "heathens"
how to live in style and how to employ
christian methods to obtain modern
Injuries, aud by sowing discomfort among
the masses generally. IF they could only
"convert" the Emperor of China, as they
have the Mikado of japan, they would
probably lend him enough money on his
property to own a part of the throne.
WHERE THEY ARE HURT.
Already the consumption of American
petroleum has greatly reduced the profits
of the bean oil manufacturers Of Northern
China nearly % per cent within the past
few years. American cotton goods, pro-
duced by their labor-saving machines, are
fast supplanting the native hand looms, and
firearms are taking the place of the primi-
tive bow and arrows.
These results are principally brought
about by the talented missionaries who have
learned the native tongue. Otherwise the
English-speaking traders would have had q
hard time in introducing their wares, no
matter how useful. But spiritually their
mission is undoubtedly grand failure, and
here are some Of the reasons, as seen from q
Chinese point of view:
First-The Christians have not been able
to give the Chinese anything new in the
vital principles of their teachings. save in
some few unimportant points of the main
doctrine which cannot be understood by the
Chinese.
NOT DIGNIFIED ENOUGH
Second-The manners and ways of the mis-
sionaries, as a rule, are looked upon as ex-
traordinary at all times. They lack the
austerity and the dignity that become solid
Chinese sage. Such qualities are imperative
ly necessary In China for propagandists. For
this reason the Catholic priests are making
more headway there than those of any other
sect. and also because they are all wifeless.
Third-The majority of the missionaries
attack or hold in ridicule the doctrines of
Confucius and Buddha, which form the pet
religions of the people.
Fourth-Their strong patriotism at home
causes their teachings of religion to be
blended with social and political reforms
abroad. They try to make Cinnamon be-
come Americans, and to act and think like
one of themselves, One of these social ideas
with which they try to imbue the inmates of
the mission schools under their charge is
that when a youth becomes of age, say q
years old, he is
HIS OWN MAsrFR
meaning that be is no longer under the con-
troll of his parents. Nothwithstanding this
is direct violation of their teachings, "that
thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother,
that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord giveth thee" and yet this is
the very doctrine which is alone practiced in
China for thousands of years, to the very let
ter, by all classes, and the missionaries tried
to make them break it by social peculi-
arity of their own. The idea of American
juvenile independence alone is sufficient to
prevent their doctrine from taking root in
well-regulated Chinese families, where the
family ties are so sacred that no matter how
old son may be he is yet the son of the par
ents, and must serve under them.
Fifth-The only new idea that the mission
aries can present to the Cinnamon, spiritual
ly, is the vicarious atonement of Jesus
Christ, or the cruel torture of the Son of
God for the sins of men, which doctrine the
Cinnamon believe was manufactured by q
Yankeeized Hebrew.