General Feng Yuxiang (1882–1948), China's ‘Christian General’, had already been a Christian for about six years before he decided systematically to evangelise his troops while they were stationed in northern Henan. He was convinced that Christianity would save his men and, in the process, would save China. To this end, Feng invited the Canadian missionary Jonathan Goforth (1859–1936) to hold a remarkable series of revivals in the late summer of 1919. During these revivals, which were modelled on the work of the evangelist Charles Finney, Feng himself broke into prayer in front of his men, and eventually 507 of Feng's troops were baptised. By the time of Goforth's second visit to Feng – a little over a year later – over 5,000 of the 9,000-man brigade had been baptised. This study will rely on Goforth's journal from 1919, Feng's own diaries, and other material to see how Goforth and Feng worked together to Christianise a significant segment of Feng's army. So did the ‘Christian General’ ultimately form a ‘Christian Army’ or even an indigenous church? Did Goforth's revivals in Feng's army have any long-term effect? Was Feng a convinced Christian, a Chinese patriot or simply an opportunist? This study seeks to answer these questions. 1
This essay aims to present a detailed account of the restoration of the Catholic Church in Shanghai during 1979–1981 and then to explain how the arrests and suppression of Catholic leaders in late 1981 solidified the division between the official and underground Catholic churches. Two of the major factors that lead to the reemergence of the Shanghai Catholic underground community were the release and rehabilitation of veteran priests and other Catholic leaders and the dissemination of a 1978 Vatican decree that gave great latitude to the church, which was functioning in “difficult circumstances.” The essay ends with a discussion of current prospects of the Catholic Church in China.
In the 1950s, Shanghai witnessed a conflict between the Chinese Communist Party (ccp) and the Shanghai Catholic community. The ccp wanted this community to break ties with the pope and form an “independent” Catholic Church that would fall under the authority of the Chinese government. Many Catholics in Shanghai soon resisted what they perceived to be the unjust religious policies of the ccp. One of the “backbone elements” of Catholic resistance in Shanghai was young women. This study investigates how three young Catholic women dealt with the ccp’s encroaching religious policies. All three came from similar backgrounds and they all initially formed part of the Catholic resistance to ccp religious policies during the early 1950s. Afterward their trajectories differed dramatically due to the particular way in which the Communist revolution intervened in the life of each woman. This study thus illuminates the contested area of religious faith, state power, and gender in the early years of the People’s Republic of China.
上世纪五十年代,上海见证了中共与上海天主教会之间的冲突。中共命令上海天主教会断绝与教宗的联系,成为一个听命于中国政府的“独立”教会。上海的许多天主教徒很快就起来抵制这些他们视为不公正的宗教政策。反抗运动中的许多“骨干分子”是年轻女信徒。本文探究了三位年轻的女天主教信徒如何应对当时中共侵权的宗教政策。她们有相似的生活背景,并都在50年代初期参与了抵制中共宗教政策的运动。但是因为中共革命介入她们生命的不同方式,她们之后的人生轨迹大相径庭。这项研究因此阐述了在中华人民共和国初期,宗教信仰、国家政权与性别之间充满张力的互动。
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