I

n August 1905, “Tong Kuo-Ann, a Chinese Christian” who was a member of the Imperial Railway Commission was featured with his photo on the cover of the World Missionary Review published in New York City. A businessman in the railroad industry based in Shanghai, he also was on the board of the YMCA and participated in their many pro-reform discussions and activities. The Review committed space in five consecutive issues to his lengthy critique of the mission enterprise in China. The editor told readers “Mr. Tong’s views merit careful and prayerful consideration.” They show “the kind of men who are becoming Chinese Christian leaders” and what they “think of the foreign missionary methods.” In a striking coincidence, the second part in the September issue followed eulogies for Rev. James Hudson Taylor, who had passed away in June.

There were several remarkable aspects to this series of essays on “Obstacles to Christian Missions in China” by Tang Guo’an (in current pinyin), besides insightful content. One was Tang’s willingness and ability to publish openly as a Christian even while he was with the Imperial Railway Commission. This was one hundred years ago when the Manchu dynasty in its last days was highly suspicious of the loyalties of influential Han Chinese in general, not to mention one so clearly affiliated with the Western religious enterprise. One has to sigh in realizing that such is still not possible in China today.

Another was his attitude of “speaking truth in love,” or as he himself put it, ‘without reserve and in a spirit of charity.” He wrote as an insider, giving a constructive critique that he hoped would spur change so that the Kingdom of God would grow in China. How one wishes that we could hear so freely, listen to carefully and follow in action the friendly advice of well-placed Chinese Christians today.

Third was Tang’s evident high regard for missionaries and his intimate friendships with many Chinese church leaders, which I will explore further in Part II of this essay.

What then did this man have to say to the mission community one hundred years ago that is so clearly relevant to those in China ministry today? Tang began with a brief reassurance that he was not sounding “a note of alarm” or “feelings of despair or discouragement” about the slow progress of missions in China. But there was a sense of urgency. “In view of the fact that thousands of immortal souls in this country are perishing day by day,” he sought to explore “whether everything possible is being done for the salvation of the Chinese, and whether there are not obstacles to the rapid propagation of Christianity which could be removed.” Quickly setting aside any discussion of “the thousand and one things which might be set down to the credit” of the missionaries, for whom he had a very high regard, Tang set out to explain the obstacles:

Extrinsic Obstacles

(those over which Missions had little control)

In reviewing Tang’s list of circumstantial barriers to the Gospel, it is very encouraging to realize how much weaker these have become today. He lists: the all-pervading influence of Confucianism; the antagonism of the educated elite; the poverty and ignorance of the people; and the lowly social position of native converts; poor facilities for travel and communication; and last but not least, government opposition to all progressive reforms.

Intrinsic Obstacles

(those internal to the Mission community)

The mixed religious-political character of Christian propagation. This Tang listed as first in importance. Due to the “toleration clause” in the unequal treaties, the introduction of Christianity had been imposed on China and supported by force, so the government and people alike naturally saw religion as serving the goals of politics. “The dread of political usurpation is ever present” in their minds. As in ancient Rome, the Chinese imperial government always has “looked askance at all associations not recognized by and subordinate to the public law.” Here, he faulted missionaries for encouraging Chinese converts to ignore or disobey their own officials.

The “active combative” spirit of Missionaries in dealing with Chinese culture. Tang urged them to adopt a spirit of patience and forbearance, especially regarding ancestral veneration, in order to seek a modus vivendi that allowed the core Chinese value of filial piety to coexist with Christian principles. Here he held up the Roman Catholic approach as better reflecting the policy of the apostle Paul. “It is not the duty of Protestant missions to propagate prescribed forms of theology, dogmatic sentiments, modes of worship, church government or customs, but rather to spread the Gospel of Jesus and implant the new life of fellowship with God in Christ.”

The unprincipled conduct of so-called Christian nations in political and diplomatic relations. “Ever since the foreign powers discovered the military weakness of China, they have consistently acted upon the principle of the “mailed fist… The long series of unjust treaties, extortionate demands for injuries received, … rob[bery] of valuable portions of China’s domains, as well as dictation of the polic[ies] of internal administration, …the presence of foreign troops in the capital…would shame the followers of any pagan religion.”

Tang highlighted opium trafficking as one of the chief obstacles to the spread of Christianity that should be removed. (A few years later, he would become a prime mover in stopping the trade). He described the opium habit as “so universal in some provinces of China that people will tell the inquirer that ‘eleven out of every ten’ are opium smokers…What is the loss of a few million pounds of revenue when compared with the fate of millions of China’s sons and daughters, whose non-acceptance of Christianity deprives them of happiness in this life and salvation in the life to come?”

The Mistakes of the Missionary Societies.

These included:

• insistence on special rights. “When Paul was requested by the magistrate to leave Philippi he readily complied…In China, many difficulties with the officials and people would have been avoided if missionaries had shown the same tact.
• disunity in the Protestant church. Tang blamed sending societies for failing to learn from 250 years of experience and still sending those under “instructions to pursue independent lines of policy, conforming to the set doctrines and rituals of their particular” church (read, denomination or “stream” or faction).
• poor selection of missionaries. “The intense love for men was the secret of Paul’s success as a missionary, and if the Church in England and America would fulfill her duty, they must send to China only those who are loving, patient, and forbearing, free from the prejudice of race, the pride of superior education, or the consciousness of immunity from the jurisdiction of local laws…and only those with sound judgment and ready tact… One man of proper qualifications is worth scores of impatient zealots, who accomplish no permanent good themselves, and by their indiscretions destroy the influence of others.”
• insufficient education and preparation for ministry. “Paul spent eight or nine years after his conversion in ripening his inner life and acquiring all the necessary accomplishments for doing the Lord’s work, but the mercantile spirit of modern days is apt. to consider a few years spent in preparation as time and money wasted.” Tang cited both St. Paul and Matteo Ricci as exemplars in being well versed in the language and lifestyle of the educated classes in countries they sought to reach. Much more was required than spiritual fervor. “In these days of specialists, when only the best can succeed in the commercial and industrial world, it is hardly likely that ill-equipped men can make a success in the mission field.”
• lack of confidence in native workers. Tang praised the Shanghai Mission Conference of 1890 for recognizing the importance of native Christian workers, but spoke of the discouragement and bitterness among Chinese Christians over mistreatment by missionaries. (More on this later in Part II.)
• the poor quality of Christian literature. Tang stressed the absolute necessity of strategies to reach the educated as well as lower classes, rather than expecting mass conversion of the lower classes to influence those at the top. “In China, as in no other country in the world perhaps, public sentiment is almost entirely molded by the literary classes, and where these classes lead, the people will readily follow.” Yet the educated class had “utter contempt” for the style and (therefore) substance of Christian literature prior to formation of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian…Knowledge by missionary Timothy Richard. “Today their publications are read as they were never read before, and a very much greater influence is being exerted among the scholars.” Tang longed for a Bible that would be “nothing short of a real masterpiece of Chinese literature,” which he viewed as absolutely essential for reaching educated elites, predicting that this would require the involvement of non-Christian scholars and several years of hard work. Also missing were Study Bibles and commentaries of all types necessary to address the complete unfamiliarity with biblical concepts in China.

Tang’s Recommendations

First and foremost, he called for achieving a modus vivendi with the Chinese government, people and educated elite through voluntary abolition of special treaty privileges by the Mission community, placing all Christian establishments throughout the provinces under official supervision [not ownership]. In his view, despite obvious difficulties that would result, a fixed status and official recognition along with regular inspections and reporting would make the missions better known and understood by the government and people. This should be accompanied by total separation of the missions from all political interests, and support only by non-official representation of mission interests.

Secondly, in his view the expansion of Christian schools and especially the education of women, as well as the wider circulation of high-class Christian literature in China, should be supported by a major effort to train young Chinese Christian leaders, pastors, teachers and writers. In this way, he was hopeful that...

the next ten years will see greater results than all the previous years together…and knowing that the light cannot be forever excluded… the hope of seeing Christianity soon established as the national faith in China might well stimulate the Church, the mission societies, the missionaries, the native Christians, and the numerous host of China’s friends to renewed efforts and exertions.

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