New-York tribune., 1903-03-29
"CHRISTOpHOBIA" IN THE CHINESE EMPIRE.
4N ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE OPPOSITION TO
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES THERE

her great resources, her vast population the age
and of b her f9'f IS chnss FIRST
primary need to-day. it is lamentabe that Cnrlsu-
throughogt dhey the eighteen provinces Perhaps in the
higher that no power is lost t4at - eH Ssy
that efforts to Introduce Christianity into China
have failed But Ut hTmsne vsp aRd or on
they have apparently not met with great suCGsS ;t
| of hatred and antagonism to Christianity so in
tense and so peculiar that certain brliiant ms
WoPd He M has caed the feeling of provincial
Esaay f is speca
! when foreign teachers are engaged lot recsnNSX
| make no reference even in the remotest way, to
the Bible to anything connected with H. IN Inc fne
Of foreigners warned to keep away from troubled
sFt are bSrs ay ,beH aPe Enough
form community by themselves CnTistlaa con con
shsns saved the lives Of all the missionaries IN his
able to missonsries than almost any other promi-
'enu Versation With friend he said am glad that
l dig not permit murder | know much n more ,,G OF
risns and ANN am eonVinced that the heed
pay to their teaching the better it viii I be for u.s.
The chief obstacle to the spread Of Christianity
as an imported religion. but fear and an obiec-
tion to certain foreign concomitants which because
ST Reni IS DUE
dSs 0 10 b which e Ss of sS TO
and good viii to men has been presented to them
have nothing to do: they are as cruel and unjust
as.s as She & are b IN M all IL the the mission
| did not find one who was not both brave and
gH bi o or IN who t would ~ not OF ngy
which he believed. The faults of missionaries are
'nd es the that they
the Gospel above and beyond anything else but he
a 6hinaman cannot be Christian unless his Chris
IN na and from
which the he missionary has emigrated. The mis-
Chinanan is non-believer in Christianity. He
goes a step further. and calls the Chinainan a
ing men who are leading lives Of denial and SELF
ssSnnee S nee, IN sne interior OF China one must hear
ciste what a heather is. Heather is both noun
verted Of whom there are more tSsn
three hundred millions. He is child of the devil
he has been taught to worship are now living in a
o hnk is t6ft o the he F may sy 9E DO
{ae ner to countless generations of inherited sin:
Eoodness. 'S
In the adjective sense just about all of China
Al the word-old literature Of the empire all Con
even the extreme honorns Of parents By their chiI
dseGMsI are heather, and must receive unqualified
chEsti,anty =, means much more than It would in the
exDeen Gs en or p . ust n not only
q complete revolution Of opinions and sentiments.
before their tablets that he may Keep uns1Iiie9 the
honoreo name they have left him. It is not per-
ntteG TO him to take pride in the traditional aIoYes
of palaces ana gray walled ciaies; he must learn
the history of his country again; he must dis
cover that all the great sages and rulers of his
countrys past are eternally lost: ne must expert
snee constant feeling of pity II not Of contempt
Tor the civilization and government Of China and
ing heat then. In other words in order to become q
Christian according to missionary standards
Chtnaman must be denationalized. In sentiment
ne must become foreigner. And naturally enough
his heathen countFymen who still love their coun
try and reverence their ancestors do not like the
denationalizing process
''If, is frequently the case the process of con
version to Christianity is begun In extreme youth
the convert receives supplementary in de-
naturalization in of the large educafipna
missions IN a city on the coast. Here he learns
the English language. Chopsticks are releSated tt
the past. and he uses knife and fork. He sleeps
between sheets on an American made spring mat
treSE He may be a godly and righteous man, but
no longer Chinaman. When his graduation
he returns TO his native town. he Is ahunned anC
pitiea and hated by his relatives and former friends
They point to him sadly he goes his way re-
9oicinE and remarknR. Few there be that shall bt
saved They shake their heads and say one to an
other, That is what the missionarys religion does
for man.
The cause of all this Decentralization is thu
missionary. All over China he Is regarded as the
man who teaches disloyalty. who turns Chinese
INTO Americans or Enghshmen. and who induces
fnem to despise their country, and this purel!
chinese reason which has been explained to me al
the chief cause of the hatred of Christianity In thu
eighteen provinces To-day - ~'>