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As we study Chinese history from 1800-1950, we see two main dynamics happening in relation to foreigners and foreign missions in China. On the one hand, we see foreign imperialists forcing China to sign unequal treaties and taking advantage of an obviously weakened Chinese state, unable to defend itself. With these unequal treaties, we see an opening for foreign missions organizations that come into China on the coattails of the imperialists. On the other hand, we cannot ignore all the wonderful works that the foreign missionaries accomplish, including Bible translation, setting up schools, Universities, and the start of the modern day Christian church in China.
Missionaries have been criticized for a wide variety of reasons: In China, they came in with the European gunboats, which forced open the door to trade, including the import of opium. This led to one humiliation after another, and it was hard for Chinese to distinguish missionaries from their governments.
Does anything uniquely “Chinese” remain stable and steady in the midst of the vortex of shifting values and practices that we are now witnessing? If so, what characteristics provide a common identity among so many different people scattered around the world? Wherever they are found, Chinese people around the world tend to exhibit the following traits.
Although containing much useful information, some illuminating insights, and a fresh perspective on the early years of the China Inland Mission, this revisionist history is almost fatally flawed by a profound prejudice that prevents objectivity in dealing with the sources and leads to misinterpretation and at times even misrepresentation.
